Quotes from Óscar Arias

I like to build bridges... not walls.

We seek in Central America not peace alone, not peace to be followed someday by political progress, but peace and democracy, together, indivisible, an end to the shedding of human blood, which is inseparable from an end to the suppression of human rights.

It is essential that justice be done, it is equally vital that justice not be confused with revenge, for the two are wholly different.

It often seems... the human race has twittered away its existence singing an endless song - a song of waste and hatred, where there should be progress and love.

In 1995, world military spending totaled nearly $800 billion. If we redirected just $40 billion of those resources over the next 10 years to fighting poverty, all of the world's population would enjoy basic social services, such as education, health care, nutrition, reproductive health, clean water and sanitation.

It is in the U.S. interest to have a more prosperous neighbor to the south. Because if we cannot export goods, we will keep exporting people. And that's not what the U.S. wants.

Although fostering a peaceful, prosperous and equitable hemisphere is clearly in the best interest of the United States, Washington has not always supported Central America's struggle for economic survival.

The effect of one good-hearted person is incalculable.

Nuclear arms kill many people all at once, but other weapons kill many people, little by little, every day, everywhere in the world.

It's not fair for the U.S. to spend, on arms and weapons, so much money and then not spend on health care the money that is needed.

At one time in the history of the Americas, weapons and armies were associated with liberty and independence, and with new opportunities for our peoples. At one time in the history of the Americas, there were liberating armies.

Our experience shows that security does not lie in weapons or fences or armies.

I often say that poverty needs no passport to travel.

Many developing countries continue to be burdened by high percentages of their population living in poverty. Yet, instead of addressing this root cause of conflict, many states, ironically, increase their military might in order to control increasingly desperate populations.

The children of the world, what they want and what they need are health clinics and schools, not tanks or armed helicopters or fighter jets.

The existence of nuclear weapons presents a clear and present danger to life on Earth.

In a democracy, a leader must be the head teacher, someone eager to respond to doubts and questions and explain the need for and the benefits of a new course.

The plight of the terrified Central American children who have flooded across the U.S. border to escape violence and poverty in their homelands has launched a passionate and often bitter debate in Washington.

The best way to perpetuate poverty is by spending on arms and military, and the best way to fight terrorism is by fighting the basic needs of humanity, because hunger and poverty perpetuate crime.

Latin Americans glorify their past so ceaselessly that they make it almost impossible to advocate change.

We need a force that recognizes that only through development and liberty, through education and health care, through better priorities and wiser investments, can we achieve the stability we seek.

During the 41 years that have elapsed since Costa Rica abolished its army, our fundamental freedoms have never been threatened, nor do we know a shameful history of repression.

During my administration, our desire has been to strengthen the civilian spirit of our people. Thus, we have eliminated military ranks and salutes from our civil guard.

In the United States, resources exist to retrain displaced workers and promote the development of technologies that create new job opportunities for American workers.