Global Leaders Draw on Diverse Sources for UN Speeches
From ancient Babylonian kings to 1980s new wave bands, world leaders quoted a wide array of figures and texts during recent UN General Assembly sessions.
World leaders speaking at the United Nations General Assembly have drawn from a varied spectrum of sources for their addresses, quoting ancient texts, modern thinkers, and even popular culture.
During recent sessions, leaders referenced figures ranging from the Babylonian king Hammurabi to the band Talking Heads. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi invoked Hammurabi's ancient legal principles, stating, “Laws are made to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak.”
Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine shared a Marshallese proverb, described as “the coral reef where different species of fish congregate to feed and seek shelter,” to illustrate a point.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis quoted David Byrne from the 1980s new wave band Talking Heads, using the lyric, “We're on a road to nowhere.”
Yemen's vice president, Abdullah Abdulkader al Alimi-Bawzer, quoted a Yemeni poet who stated, “We are the land, its custodians and its inhabitants. To us it belongs, for we are its people and its home. Today belongs to the people, and the glorious yesterday belongs to them, as well. To them belong the future, history and time itself.”
Finnish President Alexander Stubb cited Mahatma Gandhi, saying, “The breach of one rule inevitably leads to the breach of other rules.”
Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley quoted Barbados’ poet laureate, Esther Phillips, who said, “Members of the United Nations General Assembly, your very name implies commitment, through your peace initiatives and humanitarian policies, to igniting the fires of conscience, empathy, unity and equity.”
President Azali Assoumani of The Comoros referenced author Chinua Achebe: “When we gather together in the moonlit village ground, it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.”
President Godwin Friday of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines quoted calypso singer David Rudder in remarks on global solidarity: “When there is anguish in Port-au-Prince, it’s still Africa crying. We're outing fires in faraway places when our neighbors are just burning.... I refuse to believe that we good people will forever turn our hearts and our eyes away. Haiti, I’m sorry.”
Palau President Surangel Whipps used local sayings, including, “Knowledge is like the ocean’s waves: It comes in many forms and sizes, yet no wave overpowers another, and all ultimately reach the same shore.”
Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten referred to Anne Frank's sentiment, “How wonderful it is that no one has to wait, but we can start right now to gradually change the world!” Jetten also quoted Mahatma Gandhi, Nuremberg war crimes trial prosecutor Robert H. Jackson, and an inscription from a cemetery for American World War II soldiers in the Netherlands.