“About ten years, a guy told me about his father's death. He had to send twenty seven people on different buses and trains to inform relatives all over the country because phones didn't work. When his mother died, there were STD/PCO facilities in most-all villages. He had to only make twenty seven calls, and they were all informed in under half an hour.”
— Dr. Sam Pitroda
Telecom Pioneer & Advisor to Indian Government on Technology Policy

The quote archive

Justice

A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.

In order to fix bias you have to admit to them, you have to admit they exist and bring them out of the shadows. Then you can call them out. We have to stop pretending that there's no adversity, or that we can't do anything about the adversity we face.

— Sheryl Sandberg

COO of Facebook & Author of "Lean In

More than one hundred million have been uprooted in the first eighty years of the twentieth century- millions permanently displaced as a result of revolutions, division of countries, annexations or boundary changes and other territorial arrangements. The political refugee has become the symbol of worldwide political and social change.

— Gunther Beyer

A refugee, we might say, is a person fleeing life-threatening conditions. In daily parlance and for journalist purposes this is roughly the meaning of refugeehood. Predictably, in legal and political circles, among those officials who formulate refugee policies for states and international agencies, the meaning is considerably more circumscribed.

— Andrew Shacknove

The twentieth century has been called the century of the homeless man. The number of persons permanently displaced for political reasons as a result of wars, treaties or sometimes obscure reason is startling.

— Gunther Beyer

We live in the age of the refugee, the age of the exile.

— Ariel Dorfman

Chilean-American Writer & Human Rights Activist, Author of "Death and the Maiden

We don't currently have the accountability mechanisms in our digital life that we do in our physical life.

— Mitchell Baker

CEO and Chairwoman of Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation

In the United States, we had over $940 billion dollars of fraud in 2017, that's almost $1 trillion. There isn't enough law enforcement in the world to deal with that.

— Frank Abagnale

Notorious con artist and impostor who inspired the film "Catch Me If You Can

For the vast majority of financial crimes, embezzlement, credit-card scams, information selling and so on; this comes down to one simple motivation- making oneself richer, greed. I've been teaching at the FBI academy for 42 years, and the level of greed you see out there is unbelievable.

— Frank Abagnale

Notorious con artist and impostor who inspired the film "Catch Me If You Can

There has been a pathetic failure of governments to invest in educating people about the rights that they hold and enjoy; I suspect because if people knew their rights, they would claim them and put the governments of the world under pressure.

— Kumi Naidoo

Environmental activist & former Executive Director of Greenpeace International

According to Global Witness, 4 environmental activists are killed somewhere in the world each week, predominantly in Latin America but also in Africa and Asia. These are individuals doing everything from defending water, land and forests to the rights of indigenous communities.

— Kumi Naidoo

Environmental activist & former Executive Director of Greenpeace International

The sad reality is that if we tried to pass that declaration today, the UN General Assembly would fail to do so. Firstly, we don't have someone like Eleanor Roosevelt as an advocate for human rights, and where previously the US played a leadership role, Trump would no doubt block virtually every human rights pillar associated with the declaration.

— Kumi Naidoo

Environmental activist & former Executive Director of Greenpeace International

We have to constantly evolve how we make an impact, and make sure that we're doing what the communities we work in want us to support rather than enforcing some kind of model. Our work has to be led by the leaders of communities telling us what will work.

— Richard Curtis

British Film Director & Screenwriter of Romantic Comedies

People in power live in fear of their power being taken away, and they fight like bears in a cage that are being backed into a corner. I had no idea how hard those in power would fight me, and it's an extraordinarily difficult thing to be on the receiving end of.

— Rose McGowan

Actress & #MeToo activist who exposed Harvey Weinstein harassment

It's amazing how little data the world has about women and girls. There are even gender gaps in the data we use to measure gender gaps.

— Melinda Gates

Co-Founder of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Health Advocate

I believe that if we want technological innovation to live up to its potential, we have to ensure that everyone has access to it. If technology is just for the privileged few, then it will concentrate power in the hands of those who already have it.

— Melinda Gates

Co-Founder of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Health Advocate

I had this burning passion in me to prove to myself, and on behalf of other women, that if my voice was being stifled... and if I was being treated a certain way... that I had to stand up. What type of example would I set to other women and girls? I had to show that if you get knocked off the horse, you get right back up.

— Whitney Wolfe Herd

Founder and CEO of dating app Bumble, feminist entrepreneur