Mahathir Mohamad Quotes

• If you can't be famous, at least you can be notorious.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Notorious, Ifs

  132 Copy quote

• We need an opposition to remind us if we are making mistakes. When you are not opposed you think everything you do is right.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Mistake, Thinking, Needs

  Twitter post from Jan 31, 2017

  126 Copy quote

• Knowledge has always been important, of course. The ancient Egyptians did not raise the stones for the pyramids relying on the incantations of their gods. The waters in the irrigation canals of the great Indus Civilisation did not flow according to the laws of ignorance. Knowledge has always been power and wealth.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Ignorance, Knowledge, Law

  149 Copy quote

• I not only think but also look and study things carefully. When I travel around, I look at things carefully, make comparisons of what I see. I don't accept things at face value, you cannot trust what you hear or see. Don't jump to conclusions without thinking.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Thinking, Looks, Faces

  FaceBook post by Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad from Jan 26, 2013

  146 Copy quote

• I'm brash and abrasive but that's because I've noticed when people are nice and polite they never get anywhere.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Nice, People, Polite

  73 Copy quote

• I cannot keep quiet even when I am a lone voice.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Voice, Quiet, Lone

  Twitter post from Jan 06, 2017

  79 Copy quote

• Any organisation has a future, provided it is properly led and it sticks to the objective of that organisation.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Sticks, Organisation, Objectives

  "Interview with Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad". Interview with Sue Onslow, commonwealth-oral-history-project.blogs.sas.ac.uk. February 11, 2015.

  49 Copy quote

• No one should have extra influence on an organisation. We should always regard ourselves as equals in the organisation, and we should be concerned about each other's problems.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Should Have, Influence, Problem

  "Interview with Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad". Interview with Sue Onslow, commonwealth-oral-history-project.blogs.sas.ac.uk. February 11, 2015.

  59 Copy quote

• If you know each other well, you want to do business with people you know well. You don't do business with strangers.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  People, Want, Stranger

  "Interview with Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad". Interview with Dr Sue Onslow, commonwealth-oral-history-project.blogs.sas.ac.uk. May 12, 2014.

  29 Copy quote

• When I became Prime Minister, I looked back on what was done before – what were the policies and actions before – and I thought that I need to be critical if I’m going to do anything at all.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Needs, Done, Action

  "Interview with Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad". Interview with Sue Onslow, commonwealth-oral-history-project.blogs.sas.ac.uk. February 11, 2015.

  53 Copy quote

• I'm a fundamentalist in the true sense. That is to say, I follow the fundamentals of religion... But for over 1,400 years people have been interpreting and re-interpreting the religion to suit their own purpose! ... These [extremist and terrorist acts] are not Islamic fundamentals any more than the Christians who burned people at the stake are fundamentalist. They are actually deviating from the teachings of the religion!

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Christian, Teaching, Islamic

  76 Copy quote

• The Malays are spiritually inclined, tolerant and easy-going. The non-Malays, and especially the Chinese, are materialistic, aggressive and have an appetite for work. For equality to come about, it is necessary that these strikingly contrasting races adjust to each other.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Race, Chinese, Materialistic

  "The Malay Dilemma". Book by Mahathir Mohamad, 1970.

  70 Copy quote

• Membership of an organisation is good, as long as you can make yourself heard.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Long, Membership, Heard

  "Interview with Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad". Interview with Sue Onslow, commonwealth-oral-history-project.blogs.sas.ac.uk. February 11, 2015.

  42 Copy quote

• Developing countries like Malaysia should have a say in changing the world financial system since we have faced the problems that it has caused.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Country, Should Have, Developing Countries

  Mahathir bin Mohamad (2002). “Reflections on Asia”, Pelanduk Publications Sdn Bhd

  56 Copy quote

• History should remember Blair and Bush as the killers of children, or as the lying prime minister and president.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Children, Lying, President

  "Mahathir Criticises Bush, Blair". www.thestar.com.my. February 05, 2007.

  46 Copy quote

• Some people say that we here have no freedom of religion, ... In reality, the people in that country are the ones who were forced to embrace a religion.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Country, Reality, People

  "Parting salvo from Malaysia's iron man" by John Aglionby, www.theguardian.com. October 30, 2003.

  54 Copy quote

• When you have elections in which 90% or 95% or 99% of those elected come from one party, then I think there is some fraudulent act.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Party, Thinking, Election

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

  25 Copy quote

• Most developing countries would know Malaysia quite well. Why? It is because we believe in contacts. We offer them some help for training, for example. We call it 'technical cooperation'.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Country, Believe, Training

  Source: www.commonwealthoralhistories.org

  23 Copy quote

• Currency trading is unnecessary, unproductive and totally immoral. It should be stopped.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Unnecessary, Currency, Should

  34 Copy quote

• Once started, religious strife has a tendency to go on and on - to become permanent feuds. Today we see such intractable inter-religious wars in Northern Ireland, between Jews and Muslims and Christians in Palestine, Hindus and Muslims in South Asia and in many other places. Attempts to bring about peace have failed again and again. Always the extremist elements invoking past injustices, imagined or real, will succeed in torpedoing the peace efforts and bringing about another bout of hostility.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Christian, Religious, Real

  32 Copy quote

• Malaysians, during the colonial period, were not given the top positions: we were always subordinate. Fortunately for us, the people who took over were mainly civil servants: people who were serving the Government.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Government, People, Given

  "Interview with Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad". Interview with Sue Onslow, commonwealth-oral-history-project.blogs.sas.ac.uk. February 11, 2015.

  20 Copy quote

• I know the situation of the Commonwealth generally, and I know that the aim should be to make the Commonwealth much more relevant to the poorer countries.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Country, Should, Relevant

  "Interview with Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad". Interview with Sue Onslow, commonwealth-oral-history-project.blogs.sas.ac.uk. February 11, 2015.

  19 Copy quote

• I thought that the United Nations is a creature of the five super-powers who were given veto powers. I don't like veto powers at all.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Given, Veto, United Nations

  "Interview with Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad". Interview with Sue Onslow, commonwealth-oral-history-project.blogs.sas.ac.uk. February 11, 2015.

  9 Copy quote

• The Commonwealth is a mixture of developing and developed world, in which the developed countries were very influential and their policies hold sway most of the time.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Country, World, Mixtures

  Interview with Sue Onslow, commonwealthoralhistories.org. May 12, 2014.

  7 Copy quote

• Even in South Africa, the Commonwealth were not doing anything, and their attitude was to tolerate apartheid in South Africa. There was a lot of lip service being paid to the need to stop this practice, but nothing was done.

  Mahathir Mohamad

  Attitude, Practice, Lips

  "Interview with Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad". Interview with Sue Onslow, commonwealth-oral-history-project.blogs.sas.ac.uk. February 11, 2015.

  7 Copy quote

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