Benazir Bhutto

21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007

Pakistani politician, first woman to lead a Muslim state (1988), assassinated 2007 during election campaign.

 

Every dictator uses religion as a prop to keep himself in power.

Interview on 60 Minutes, CBS-TV, 8 August 1986

 

You can't be fuelled by bitterness. It can eat you up, but it cannot drive you.

Daughter of Destiny, 1989

 

No, I am not pregnant. I am fat. And, as the Prime Minister, its my right to be fat if I want to.

When asked by a journalist if she was pregnant, quoted BBC News 29 December 2007.

 

The Pakistan Peoples Party and I represent everything they (Al-Qaeda) fear the most — moderation, democracy, equality for women, information, and technology.

Boston Globe, 18 October 2007

 

Democracy is necessary to peace and to undermining the forces of terrorism.

 

Democracy is the best revenge.

Quoted by her son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, after her death.

 

Despite threats of death, I will not acquiesce to tyranny, but rather lead the fight against it.

 

You can imprison a man, but not an idea. You can exile a man, but not an idea. You can kill a man, but not an idea.

 

To make peace, one must be an uncompromising leader. To make peace, one must also embody compromise.

Reflections on Working Towards Peace, 2000

 

Leadership is a commitment to an idea, to a dream, and to a vision of what can be. And my dream is for my land and my people to cease fighting and allow our children to reach their full potential regardless of sex, status, or belief.

Reflections on Working Towards Peace 2000

 

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