Sukarno Quotes

If I am not mistaken, it was a British poet who said that 'no one is properly dressed unless he wears a smile.'

- Sukarno

I am not an economist... I am not a business technician. I am a revolutionary, and I do what is right for an economic revolutionary.

- Sukarno

We are a fighting nation, continually struggling to overcome diseases from within... and to face up to foreign intervention from without.

- Sukarno

I was weaned not on television or Wild West sagas but on stories of nationalism and patriotism. I would sit at my mother's feet by the hour and drink in these exciting tales of the freedom fighters in our family.

- Sukarno

We feel free... Now we are really self-reliant. This is the great advantage of teaching ourselves to become a free people, no longer one that always asks, 'Aid, aid, please.'

- Sukarno

Crush Malaysia! Indonesia may change its tactics, but our goal will remain the same.

- Sukarno

Even a child, if he looks at a map of the world, can point out that the Indonesian archipelago forms one unity. On the map, there can be shown a unity of the group of islands between two great oceans - the Pacific Ocean and the Indies Ocean - and between two continents - the continent of Asia and the continent of Australia.

- Sukarno

If I used to say that Indonesia would be free when the corn ripens, I can now say that Indonesia will be free before it blossoms.

- Sukarno

At least Russia and China didn't call us names when we smiled sweetly at America.

- Sukarno

Hatta always gave the impression of rain. If I was in a real good mood and full of ideas and then happened to encounter Hatta, I felt I was suddenly surprised by a shower of rain and got wet all over the body. My good mood was gone, and also my ideas.

- Sukarno

Our socialism does not include extreme materialistic concepts, since Indonesia is primarily a God-fearing, God-loving nation. Our socialism is a mixture. We draw political equality from the American Declaration of Independence. We draw spiritual equality from Islam and Christianity. We draw scientific equality from Marx.

- Sukarno

Indonesia is rich in natural resources. Indonesia is rich in manpower with its 103 million inhabitants - not like Malaysia with its 10 million.

- Sukarno

If we truly understand, remember, and love the people of Indonesia, let us accept this principle of social justice, that is, not only political equality, but we must create equality in the economic field, too, which means the best possible well-being.

- Sukarno

Which other people in this world stop up holes in their sidewalks with cassava, brothers and sisters? Only Indonesia itself, on account of the abundance of its food.

- Sukarno

Upbuilding is necessary for the uplifting of our soul... Indonesia must be a strong country packed with factories. This is our utopia.

- Sukarno

We must have a blueprint not only for a guided economy but for a social order based on justice and ensuring the well-being of the people.

- Sukarno

I don't want to be a dictator, because it is contrary to my own conscience. I am a democrat, but I don't desire democratic liberalism. On the contrary, I want a guided democracy... I have a conception of my own, which I will put at the disposal of the party leaders if required.

- Sukarno

I am very unhappy about reports that I was seeking asylum in Manila.

- Sukarno

What America did in Vietnam and the Congo - we feel. And as a result come these demonstrations. I am not defending the act of burning USIS books. We deplore it. But we can understand the motives of the students.

- Sukarno

The sophisticates of Java, the traders of Sumatra, the peasants from the outer islands found no common ground. During siesta time from one to five, the Islamic group met separately, the Nationalist group met separately, the Federalist and Unitarians met separately.

- Sukarno

We must all build national unity, build all revolutionary forces, into one powerful wave to sweep away our main enemy, political imperialism and economic imperialism.

- Sukarno

I hate imperialism. I detest colonialism. And I fear the consequences of their last bitter struggle for life. We are determined that our nation, and the world as a whole, shall not be the plaything of one small corner of the world.

- Sukarno

To intoxicate the masses until they were heady with the wine of inspiration was all I lived for. To me, this was elixir... I wax lyrical. I literally am overcome, and this is transmitted to my listeners.

- Sukarno

It is, of course, true that I have given priority to the settling of the problem of security and the problem of Irian Barat, although I knew that in order to do these things, almost three-quarters of our national product had to be spent.

- Sukarno

If some nation says to us, 'You can have aid, but you have to end confrontation,' then I say, 'Go to hell with your aid.'

- Sukarno

We are not facing great economic difficulties. The Indonesian people are faring reasonably well - just compare us to India or some other countries.

- Sukarno

Insofar as Pancasila is concerned, I am only its formulator: a formulator of those feelings which have been present silently in the heart of the Indonesian people.

- Sukarno

I always start from the stand that it is imperialism that needs us, not we who need the imperialists.

- Sukarno

The principle of building an economy without foreign monopoly capital has become a principle which, for us, is no longer subject to amendment.

- Sukarno

Peking welcomed me with tremendous parades and gun salutes. The people with me are proud of me, proud that our downtrodden country has taken its place among the great nations. And now, people of America, I ask you, why didn't Eisenhower accord me the same respect?

- Sukarno

I love life.

- Sukarno

Yes, definitely we want to see A or B or C and so forth live safely and soundly. But as mortal creatures, they will disappear in the end. No, we are not struggling above all else for mortal individuals, but rather for the idea of the glorious and powerful nation which sustains the eighty million Indonesians.

- Sukarno

To me, both the Declaration of Independence and the Communist Manifesto contain underlying truths, but the West doesn't permit a middle road.

- Sukarno

It has been the case for some time that I have made myself dizzy thinking about the fact that the implementation of the Three-fold Program of the government, above all in the area of food and clothing, has been experiencing difficulties.

- Sukarno

How terrifically dynamic is our time! We can mobilize all the spiritual, all the moral, all the political strength of Africa and Asia on the side of peace. Yes, we! We, the people of Asia and Africa!

- Sukarno

I myself am sometimes fed up with Hatta's policies. Hatta and I sometimes bug each other, but omitting Hatta from the Proclamation Text... that is the action of a coward!

- Sukarno

If Marcos wants to aid Malaysia, that's his business, but we will continue to crush Malaysia, even if we have to fight alone.

- Sukarno

We are living in a world of fear. The life of man today is corroded and made bitter by fear: fear of the future, fear of the hydrogen bomb, fear of ideologies. Perhaps this fear is a greater danger than the danger itself because it is fear, which drives men to act thoughtlessly, to act dangerously.

- Sukarno

What, exactly, did Sjahrir do for the Republic? ... His entire underground effort can be summed up by saying that he sat quietly and safely away somewhere listening to a clandestine radio.

- Sukarno

Like David Copperfield, I was born amidst poverty and grew up in poverty. I did not own shoes. I did not bathe in water from a tap. I did no know about forks and spoons.

- Sukarno

Am I not peaceful? We want to be free - completely free. Free to be free. We want to be left alone.

- Sukarno

I embrace the PKI because it is a revolutionary force. PKI go forward. PKI never retreat. PKI grow. PKI be strong. Onward.

- Sukarno

Even if you were a general in 1945, if you split the revolutionary national unity today, if you are an enemy of the main pillars of the revolution today, then you have become a force of reaction!

- Sukarno

I liked Kennedy. So far, he is the only American president who could talk with me and with whom I could talk. I know Johnson, but I have not yet a clear opinion of him.

- Sukarno

I would adore to make up with the United States of America... Oh, America, what is the matter with you? Why couldn't you have been my friend?

- Sukarno

America likes you only if you're on the side she selects. If you don't go along with her totally, you're automatically considered to have entered the Soviet bloc.

- Sukarno

No one shrieked, 'We want Bung Hatta.' I did not need him. Just as also I did not need Sjahrir, who refused to show himself at the time of the reading of the Proclamation. Indeed, I could do it myself, and indeed, I did it alone.

- Sukarno

Let us not be bitter about the past, but let us keep our eyes firmly on the future.

- Sukarno

The worst cruelty that can be inflicted on a human being is isolation.

- Sukarno

The defense of the revolution is the defense of the people.

- Sukarno

Never, ever forget history.

- Sukarno