It has been women who have breathed gentleness and care into the harsh progress of mankind.

In judging our progress as individuals we tend to concentrate on external factors such as one's social position, influence and popularity, wealth and standard of education... But internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one's development as a human being. Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others - qualities which are within easy reach of every soul - are the foundation of one's spiritual life.

An organisation can only carry out its mandate if there is discipline, and where there is no discipline there can be no real progress.

The more we can break the rules, the better off we're going to be.

As long as women are bound by poverty and as long as they are looked down upon, human rights will lack substance. As long as outmoded ways of thinking prevent women from making a meaningful contribution to society, progress will be slow.

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is a success.