Best, Top 100 United Nations Day Quotes, Wishes and Sayings

Indeed, the very first resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations – adopted unanimously – called for the elimination of nuclear weapons. – Joseph Rotblat

We must keep on trying to solve problems, one by one, stage by stage, if not on the basis of confidence and cooperation, at least on that of mutual toleration and self-interest. – Lester B. Pearson

The aim of political institutions like the United Nations is to draw the line between struggle and conflict and to make it possible for nations to stay on the right side of that line. – Javier Perez de Cuellar

There is perhaps no greater boogie-man for Republican lawmakers in Washington than that bloated monstrosity of a bureaucracy called the United Nations. This year, the Trump administration appears to be deadly serious in curtailing the UN’s resources–a campaign that, if successful, would severely handicap the amount of influence that the United States currently possesses within the international system. – DANIEL R. DEPETRIS

Despite its shortcomings, the U.N. remains a good investment for the international community considering that the costs for its peacekeeping operations, albeit not a small sum, account for less than 0.5 percent of the total military expenditures worldwide. – HITOKI DEN

In today’s world, commitments tend to fade, and lofty promises vanish bit by bit, as we defer and compromise, breeding new injustices that snowball into greater obstacles for future generations. The gap between the hopes reflected in the UN conventions, reports and structures, and the reality on the ground, where power prevails over humanity and violence begets violence, remains as wide as ever. – JOSÉ RAMOS-HORTA

The United Nations cannot do anything, and never could; it is not an animate entity or agent. It is a place, a stage, a forum and a shrine … a place to which powerful people can repair when they are fearful about the course on which their own rhetoric seems to be propelling them. – CONOR CRUISE O’BRIEN

We, the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal right of men and women and of nations large and small….And for these ends to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors… have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims. – Preamble, Charter of the United Nations.

The United Nations is failing abysmally, and dangerously, in its mission. Founded in 1945 as a vehicle to avert war and promote human dignity and freedom, the U.N. has instead become a self-serving and ever-expanding haven of privilege for the world’s worst regimes, rife with bigotry, fraud, abuse, and corruption, both financial and moral. – CLAUDIA ROSETT

I believe that UNICEF is the most important branch of the U.N.; they do exceptional work to help the neediest children around the world – Liam Neeson

At (UNHCR’s) headquarters, I met extraordinary people, men and women, especially from the emergency team, who shared with me their passion, their dedication and their commitment to this organisation and refugees. They told me about the daily difficulties they have to face and also the joy they felt when they managed to save a person whose life was threatened. – Julien Clerc

If the United Nations is to survive, those who represent it must bolster it; those who advocate it must submit to it; and those who believe in it must fight for it. – Norman Cousins

The global work of the United Nations is not without reason compared to that of a family — striving for a common goal in concert with all members for a better future. – Kofi Annan

The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members. We shall not realize our objectives, however, unless we are willing to help free peoples to maintain their free institutions and their national integrity against aggressive movements that seek to impose upon them totalitarian regimes. – HARRY S. TRUMAN

I am convinced that the United Nations provides the best road to the future for those who have confidence in our capacity to shape our own fate on this planet. – KURT WALDHEIM

In short, habit, indifference and certain beliefs can combine to explain war or render it admissible or justifiable. An emphatic voice must therefore be raised in defense of peace. The United Nations is the place par excellence where this appeal has resounded with a power that has continued to amplify as it progressed towards universality. – B. G. RAMCHARAN

Objective processes are making our complex and diverse world increasingly interrelated and interdependent. And it increasingly needs a mechanism which is capable of discussing its common problems in a responsible fashion and at a representative level and being a place for the mutual search for a balance of differing, contradictory, yet real, interests of the contemporary community of states and nations. The United Nations Organization is called upon to be such a mechanism by its underlying idea and its origin. We are confident that it is capable of fulfilling that role. – MIKHAIL GORBACHEV

The United Nations exists not merely to preserve the peace but also to make change – even radical change – possible without violent upheaval. The United Nations has no vested interest in the status quo. It seeks a more secure world, a better world, a world of progress for all peoples. In the dynamic world society which is the objective of the United Nations, all peoples must have equality and equal rights. – Ralph J. Bunche

And our enduring strength is also reflected in our respect for an international system that protects the rights of both nations and people — a United Nations and a Universal Declaration of Human Rights; international law and the means to enforce those laws. But we also know that those rules are not self-executing; they depend on people and nations of goodwill continually affirming them. – BARACK OBAMA

Through your support of UN peacekeeping, you can help to make this tantalizing word—peace—a reality for all the world’s citizens. Together, we can spread the message that UN peacekeeping is essential. Without it, the world would be a much less stable, and more violent, place. – Timothy Wirth

The U.N. acts as the world’s conscience, and over eighty-five percent of the work that is done by the United Nations is in the social, economic, educational and cultural fields. – Shirley Temple

The United Nations is primarily a political organization, irrespective of the areas of work it is involved in. Everything at the United Nations depends on the political will of Member States. To be more accurate, it is the political will of some of the Member States, namely, those that have the most influence, due to their advanced stage of economic development and the high level of their assessed contribution to the budget of the United Nations. The successes of the United Nations, which should not be downplayed, have occurred when the national priorities of the most influential Member States coincided with international priorities. – KAMIL IDRIS & MICHAEL BARTOLO

I hope the United Nations will ever remain the supreme forum of peace and justice, the authentic seat of freedom. – POPE JOHN PAUL

UNESCO is the conscience of the United Nations. – Federico Mayor

I believe that our world needs an instrument of global action as never before in history. I believe that the United Nations is the instrument for securing peace and for giving people everywhere, in poorer countries as in richer, a real stake in that peace by promoting development and encouraging cooperation. But the United Nations is only an instrument, an actor in need of props and cues from its directors, And so I will paraphrase Winston Churchill: Give us the tools—the trust, the authority and the means—and we will do the job. – Kofi Annan

In the 21st century, I believe the mission of the United Nations will be defined by a new, more profound awareness of the sanctity and dignity of every human life, regardless of race or religion. – Kofi Annan

The United Nations is our one great hope for a peaceful and free world. – Ralph J. Bunche

The one common undertaking and universal instrument of the great majority of the human race is the United Nations. A patient, constructive long-term use of its potentialities can bring a real and secure peace to the world. – Trygve Lie

If all the diplomats were kicked out, the UN could be turned into the finest bordello in the world and do just as much, if not more, for international harmony. – F. PAUL WILSON

There are millions of people all over the world, right now, who are looking to the United Nations for protection and redress against the violation of their rights and deprivation of their freedoms. – Louise Arbour

The nations must be organized internationally and induced to enter into partnership, subordinating in some measure national sovereignty to worldwide institutions and obligations – Arthur Henderson

The United Nations is being reborn, its peace-making potential is expanding and faith in its ideals and principles is becoming stronger. – VLADIMIR PETROVSKY

A world without the United Nations or with a paralyzed United Nations would be far more costly to all of us and far more dangerous to peace and stability. – Richard Holbrooke

The United Nations stands for the freedom and equality of all peoples, irrespective of race, religion, or ideology. – Ralph J. Bunche

We need to support the governments of the world to create the world we want and I also think we need to empower the UN so that the secretariat, the people who work day in and day out, know that the people are behind them. – Jeremy Gilley

Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves. – U Thant

The United Nations is again acting as a wannabe global government and perverting the meaning of human rights. – ALEX NEWMAN

The UN’s unique legitimacy flows from a universal perception that it pursues a larger purpose than the interests of one country or a small group of countries. – Atal Bihari Vajpayee

More than ever before in human history, we share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together. And that, my friends, is why we have the United Nations. – Kofi Annan

The UN wasn’t created to take mankind into paradise, but rather, to save humanity from hell. – Dag Hammarskjöld

The reality is that international institutions like the UN can only be as effective as its members allow it to be. – Atal Bihari Vajpayee

The motto of the United Nations is, “It’s your #World.” Perhaps that should be amended to the words of the great Irish Statesman Edmund Burke, that, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – BOB ROBERTSON

The UN Declaration of Human Rights laid down what any person might reasonably expect, yet there are remarkably few people who enjoy these rights. With cameras in the hands of activists and meaningful distribution of those images, we will witness what really goes on in this world and hopefully want to change it. – Peter Gabriel

The United Nations is not failing. We are collectively failing its Charter and ideals through the decisions we make or fail to make. When we are ready, and collectively decide to fulfill the ideals of the UN, we will see the conventions, reports and structures as invaluable tools for getting there. – JOSÉ RAMOS-HORTA

One means of paying attention to smaller countries that have sometimes been overlooked is by revitalizing US leadership in the United Nations. The UN is committed to the goal of ensuring that all nations share in economic, social, & scientific progress. It delivers humanitarian assistance to the victims of wars and natural disasters. It provides a mechanism through which the US can help in dozens of conflicts around the world in which our vital interests aren’t directly involved but where we feel a more imperative to respond. Working with the UN’s diplomacy and development arms, we can prevent minor differences from escalating into wars. When conflicts do break out, UN peacekeepers should play a role in defusing and settling them. Without giving up our sovereignty, we can help the UN with better training and better command and control in order to develop more effective peacekeeping forces. – Bill Bradley

The United Nations is one of the most sacrosanct forums for establishing international legal mechanisms. – CARLA STEA

Peace is not just a colored ribbon. It’s more than a wristband or a t-shirt. It’s not just a donation or a 5 K race. It’s not just a folk song, or a white dove. And peace is certainly more than a celebrity endorsement. Peace is a fulltime job. It’s protecting civilians, overseeing elections, and disarming ex-combatants. The UN has over 100,000 Peacekeepers on the ground, in places others can’t or won’t go, doing things others can’t or won’t do. Peace, like war, must be waged.– George Clooney

No achievement can be higher than that of working in harmony with other nations so that the lash of war may be lifted from our backs and a peace of lasting friendship descend upon us. – Cordell Hull

World federalists hold before us the vision of a unified mankind living in peace under a just world order. The heart of their program – a world under law – is realistic and attainable. – U Thant

We should change our attitude toward the United Nations. There has to be some power in the world superior to our own. We should not have attacked Iraq without the okay of the United Nations. Now we have to live with that mistake. We’re living with it, and too many of our guys are dying with it. – Andy Rooney

Of all our dreams today there is none more important – or so hard to realize – than that of peace in the world. May we never lose our faith in it or our resolve to do everything that can be done to convert it one day into reality. – Lester B. Pearson

Today, we have more than 110,000 men and women deployed in conflict zones around the world. They come from nearly 120 countries — an all-time high, reflecting confidence in United Nations peacekeeping. They come from nations large and small, rich and poor — some of them countries recently afflicted by war themselves. They bring different cultures and experiences to the job, but they are united in their determination to foster peace. Some are in uniform, but many are civilians and their activities go far beyond monitoring. They train police, disarm ex-combatants, support elections and help build State institutions. They build bridges, repair schools, assist flood victims and protect women from sexual violence. They uphold human rights and promote gender equality. Thanks to their efforts, life-saving humanitarian assistance can be delivered and economic development can begin. – Ban Ki-moon

For the first time since World War II the international community is united. The leadership of the United Nations, once only a hoped-for ideal, is now confirming its founders’ vision…. The world can therefore seize this opportunity to fulfill the long-held promise of a new world order. – GEORGE H. W. BUSH

The United Nations is like a great big bus with 50 passengers in it. As to five of them, each has a separate brake with which he can stop the whole bus. Now, the nations can, if they want, provide an auxiliary bus, a safety bus, an extra one, that can come along afterward; and whenever one of the Big Five stops the big bus, all the others have to do is to get out and get into the safety bus. – AUGUSTIN FREDERIC HAMON

This organization is created to prevent you from going to hell. It isn’t created to take you to heaven. – HENRY CABOT LODGE

The United Nations rose from the ashes of destruction, and created a magnificent vision for all of humankind: to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, and protect universal human rights. – JOSÉ RAMOS-HORTA

The United Nations is our world’s greatest mechanism for making peace – Gillian Sorensen

Basically, the only thing the United Nations has done somewhat well is to provide limited humanitarian aid during natural disasters or epidemics. – JOHN SHIELDS

Trump once said he could convert the U.N. building into a luxury hotel. This may be the very best idea of all rather then leaving the building as a luxury meeting place for people who do virtually nothing but cost this nation money and problems. – JOHN SHIELDS

What matters is the people. We must ensure that the United Nations is supported by the people and that it reflects the will of the people. – Anwarul Chowdhury

The heroes of the world community are not those who withdraw when difficulties ensue, not those who can envision neither the prospect of success nor the consequence of failure–but those who stand the heat of battle, the fight for world peace through the United Nations. – HUBERT H. HUMPHREY

The United Nations is like a spade; it is not self-operating. It is what we make of it, for purposes that we can find in common with our neighbors in the world. – ADLAI STEVENSON

I am very pleased to have been invited by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to become a United Nations Messenger of Peace. This is an opportunity to champion the United Nations’ Millennium goals in a meaningful way. I look forward to being an advocate for the cause, working both through my own community engagement organizations and in collaboration with United Nations programmes. – Midori

Despite a decade of criticism and budget cuts, the specialized UN agencies have far more expertise and hands-on experience than any other organizations in the world. – Jeffrey Sachs

The Trump administration would be smart to listen to diplomats who have served in the UN and have seen up close and personal how instrumental the global body can be in meeting America’s foreign policy objectives. – DANIEL R. DEPETRIS

Everything will be all right – you know when? When people, just people, stop thinking of the United Nations as a weird Picasso abstraction and see it as a drawing they made themselves. – Dag Hammarskjöld

The UN is committed to the goal of ensuring that all nations share in economic, social, & scientific progress. It delivers humanitarian assistance to the victims of wars and natural disasters. – Bill Bradley

In a nutshell, this United Nations non-profit organization [World Food Programme] feeds millions of starving children at schools in third world countries as an incentive for them to attend school, which in turn might better their futures. They do so much more but I was so struck by this story. – Sheryl Crow

Since its formation, there has been no World War III. Self-determination has replaced colonialism and millions have been freed. Diseases have been conquered, extreme poverty reduced. Today there is far more awareness about human rights and international law. – JOSÉ RAMOS-HORTA

Convince all nuclear powers, including those which have been more reluctant up to now, of the necessity to respect the vital interests of all peoples and to become fully aware of the profound truth of the following conclusion which the United Nations approved by unanimity four years ago: Mankind is confronted with a choice: we must halt the arms race and proceed to disarmament or face annihilation. – Alfonso García Robles

For all the civilians saved thanks to the presence of peacekeepers, there have been those who were lost – the United Nations personnel who sacrificed their lives for a noble cause. Even as we mourn our fallen colleagues, we are all uplifted by their unflinching commitment and are inspired to strive even harder for the collective cause so eloquently envisaged in the United Nations Charter: a world free from the scourge of war. – Jan Eliasson (Former President of the UN General Assembly)

The whole basis of the United Nations is the right of all nations–great or small–to have weight, to have a vote, to be attended to, to be a part of the twentieth century. – ADLAI STEVENSON

I have long felt the United Nations is an under-performer but has tremendous potential…. I mean, I see a day when there’s a conflict where the United Nations, you get together, and you solve the conflict. You just don’t see the United Nations, like, solving conflicts. I think that’s going to start happening now. I can see it. And the United Nations will get together and solve conflicts. It won’t be two countries, it will be the United Nations mediating or arbitrating with those countries. – DONALD TRUMP

There is a story which is not being told strongly enough of the Afghan employees of the UN inside the country who are saving hundreds of thousands of lives everyday by their bravery and nobody talks of them. – Lakhdar Brahimi

The main tool available for the international community to try to reduce bloodshed — the $8 billion-a-year United Nations peace-keeping forces — are increasingly overstretched and ineffectual. – MARC CHAMPION

The idea that UN commitments should be followed by action is indeed a radical one, especially for the United States, where willful neglect of its own commitments is the rule. – Jeffrey Sachs

The United Nations, whose membership comprises almost all the states in the world, is founded on the principle of the equal worth of every human being. – Kofi Annan

Tell the people of all lands.. Let’s get together the future is in our hands.. United nations have to agree.. To say no to war, and yes to peace. – Country Joe McDonald

Of course the UN brings in a lot of moral authority. – Lakhdar Brahimi

The United Nations is an organizational body where people, through their Governments, come together; and it can be the only place where there can be a melting pot. – Asma Jahangir

From this vision of the role of the United Nations in the next century flow three key priorities for the future: eradicating poverty, preventing conflict and promoting democracy. – Kofi Annan

If the United Nations once admits that international disputes can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the foundation of the organization and our best hope of establishing a world order. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

The purpose of the United Nations is to separate the United States from its money. – RUSH LIMBAUCH

There’s no longer a superpower standoff. But there are real problems that divide countries around the world. And the UN is still the place where we can get together and try and discuss them. – Shashi Tharoor

The primary, the fundamental, the essential purpose of the United Nations is to keep peace. Everything it does which helps prevent World War III is good. Everything which does not further that goal, either directly or indirectly, is at best superfluous. – Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.

There was an implicit conviction that the UN would be stronger than the sum of its constituent member-states – Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Universality of the UN is a worthwhile thing in its own self because it means that every country belongs, feels it has a stake, and participates, rather than going away and finding other methods of conducting international relations. – Shashi Tharoor

In the most idyllic depiction, the UN is: a global community that protects the world’s most vulnerable people, a forum for states to sit down and resolve their differences peacefully, and a place to prevent territorial disputes from deteriorating into full blown warfare. To many Americans, however, the United Nations is nothing more than a bureaucracy on steroids, where American taxpayer money is misappropriated or mismanaged. – DANIEL R. DEPETRIS

In a sense, the United Nations is like a vase. Without a vase there can be no lasting bouquet of flowers; but the aroma–or perfume–depends on the flowers, not on the vase.

Nuclear disarmament is not just an ardent desire of the people, as expressed in many resolutions of the United Nations. It is a legal commitment … for the sake of humanity – we must get rid of all nuclear weapons. – Joseph Rotblat

Human nature being what it is, peace must inevitably be a relative condition. The essence of life is struggle and competition, and to that extent perfect peace is an almost meaningless abstraction. Struggle and competition are stimulating, but when they degenerate into conflict it is usually both destructive and disruptive. The aim of political institutions like the United Nations is to draw the line between struggle and conflict and to make it possible for nations to stay on the right side of that line – Javier Perez de Cuellar

The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members – Harry S Truman

What the U.N. needs, first and foremost, is firm political commitment from the member states, and particularly the Security Council, to provide it with effective and better equipped forces that could be more costly under certain circumstances but are able to deliver results as a credible deterrent. – HITOKI DEN

The heroes of the world community are not those who withdraw when difficulties ensue, not those who can envision neither the prospect of success nor the consequence of failure — but those who stand the heat of battle, the fight for world peace through the United Nations. – Hubert Humphrey

Supra-national organizations nearly always fail, with NATO during the Cold War being, perhaps, the only exception. The United Nations is a monstrosity, the League of Nations was a farce, and the European Union is an idea whose time is past. Nations are real things connected to culture and history and values and interests. The peaceful assertion of that culture and history and those values and interests is not a threat to peace, but the best promise of peace. – BRUCE WALKER

I am working for a better United Nations. Nothing is perfect. You should never rely on only one source, but rather rely on those you believe in the most. – Angelina Jolie

The mythology about the UN is absolutely breathtaking. People believe it costs a great deal of money to the United States. Completely untrue: it doesn’t. The United States makes a net gain. People believe it’s a world government, although the UN is a pathetically weak organization which improvises in emergencies to try to prevent the worst from happening. – Sir Brian Urquhart

As a result of the Holocaust, the United Nations pledged that nothing like that “sin against humanity” would be allowed to happen again…. this pledge has not been honored. We’ve had and continue to have Holocaust incidents by Russia, China, Cambodia, North Korea, and in Africa, the Mideast and other countries where millions of people have been tortured and/or murdered. – JOHN SHIELDS

The plain truth is the day is coming when no single nation, however powerful, can undertake by itself to keep the peace outside its own borders. Regional and international organizations for peace-keeping purposes are as yet rudimentary; but they must grow in experience and be strengthened by deliberate and practical cooperative action. – ROBERT MCNAMARA

Today, we have more than 110,000 men and women deployed in conflict zones around the world. They come from nearly 120 countries … Thanks to their efforts, life-saving humanitarian assistance can be delivered and economic development can begin. – Ban Ki-moon

War! Huh? What is it good for? Well, for start? It sorts out who is the strongest out of the two countries. Also, you get to see some amazing explosions. But, there is some people out there who not only don’t enjoy the war, but they try to spoil the fun for everyone else. And those chickens is called the ‘U.N.’ Me went to New York to meet these player-haters. – SACHA BARON COHEN

The whole basis of the United Nations is the right of all nations – great or small – to have weight, to have a vote, to be attended to – Adlai Stevenson

Fortunately, the war has brought with it not alone a stark realization of what another war would mean to the world, but as well the creation of an international agency through which the nations of the world can, if they so desire, make peace a living reality. – Cordell Hull