The mandate you go with is intimidating and also is a source of respect that you gain, because you have come with this mandate from the United Nations.
Lakhdar Brahimi

Be modest, be respectful of others, try to understand.
Lakhdar Brahimi

There again, that is a fundamental principle: no two situations are alike.
Lakhdar Brahimi

I think a failed state is the responsibility of the people who have made that state fail, and those are generally the people of that country.
Lakhdar Brahimi

What again I tell my people is that no matter how much you know, it's never enough. You will always discover, after the fact, that you've missed something.
Lakhdar Brahimi

But you've got to understand what the other guy is about, even if at the end of the process you decide that there is no ground with this man or woman except to fight them.
Lakhdar Brahimi

You are dealing with people who have taken the responsibility of killing their own because they think that they are right, they think that they are serving the interests of their people. They not going to give that up easily, just because you've shown up.
Lakhdar Brahimi

There is an expression now that is commonly used about these so-called internal conflicts which are not really internal, because they have connections to the outside world.
Lakhdar Brahimi