John Hume who passed away on Monday, was renowned for his straight talking.
Here we share his most famous and influential quotes.
"The only thing I shall talk about is my sporting achievements at school. My primary sporting achievement at school was that I dodged games for two complete years and was well through the third year before they discovered that I had completely avoided all games."
"This is about principled compromise, not compromised principles."
"I never thought in terms of being a leader. I thought very simply in terms of helping people."
"If the word ‘No’ was removed from the English language, Ian Paisley would be speechless."
"Difference is of the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace: respect for diversity."
"I grew up in Derry, of course, and it was the worst example of Northern Ireland’s discrimination. They divided the city into three electoral wards, and in one ward there was 70 percent of the people, the Catholic population, and they elected eight representatives to the city council."
"Difference is of the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace – respect for diversity."
"I read an awful lot of pulp fiction. But at the same time, I also read quite a bit of history and read that as much for pleasure as part of a curriculum."
"I was the eldest of seven children. We were very poor."
"In my opinion, what changed the situation eventually - and, of course, it took a lot of time to change it, things like that don’t change in a week or a fortnight - was the new educational system."
"My father was a civil servant, fairly sort of middle ranking, low to middle ranking. He worked almost entirely in what was then called Administrative Labour, dealing with employment and unemployment issues."
"People were so keen to get investment. In those days, there was quite significant unemployment in Northern Ireland, and that had been the general pattern in Northern Ireland for many, many years."
"I went to the local schools, the local state primary school, and then to the local grammar school. A secondary school, which technically was an independent school, it was not part of the state educational system."
"Every child growing up will look to their parents, my mother and my father. My grandmother lived with us. I picked up quite a bit of family lore and history from her, which was interesting."
"Before the arrival of the Credit Union, people who were from the poor background or a working class background couldn’t borrow from banks."
"I never thought in terms of being a leader. I thought very simply in terms of helping people."
"Being in working class districts, you had several families living together in the one house, and it was very difficult to get a house, because the politicians who controlled housing were doing so in a very discriminatory fashion."
"The civil rights movement in the United States was about the same thing, about equality of treatment for all sections of the people, and that is precisely what our movement was about."
"The violence had broken out in both sides, but our philosophy as a party was very, very clear."
"There were two mentalities, and both mentalities had to change. There was what I called the Afrikaner mind set of the Unionist politicians, which was holding all power in their own hands, and discriminating, and their objective was to protect their identity."
"When people are divided, the only solution is agreement."
"I was grateful for the opportunity to make a difference."
"The political violence really started in 1970-1971. The political difficulties start a little bit beyond that."
"The basic policy of the British Government was that since the majority of people in Northern Ireland wished to remain in the United Kingdom, that was that."
"We asked what would happen if the majority wanted something else, if the majority wanted to see Irish unity."
"They believed that Britain was in Ireland defending their own interests, therefore the Irish had the right to use violence to put them out. My argument was that that type of thinking was out of date."
"In coming to that agreement, my party had a clear philosophy throughout. In Northern Ireland, we should have institutions that respected the differences of the people and that gave no victory to either side."
"The real duty now, if we want to have a totally peaceful and stable country, is for all true democrats to implement the will of the people."
"Let’s work together and build together, and as we do that, the real solution will begin... The real healing process will begin, and we will erode the distrust of the past."
"Leaving the past behind us and building a new future together."
"I believe we now have a great opportunity to transform our society and harness the massive international goodwill that is out there towards us and to translate it into real benefits for all our people."
"Our people have the success of the entire peace process in their sights."
"Gerry Fitt was the first MP from Northern Ireland to be allowed to even raise the Northern Ireland problem in the House of Commons. Gerry’s political legacy really was that he was a down to earth, working class, totally involved in trying to improve the living standards of his people."
"I see this award as a very powerful endorsement of the peace process ... because it underlines massive international goodwill towards it."
"The whole world is in favour of this agreement, ... as fascists if they try to wreck this agreement."
"This isn’t just an award to David Trimble and myself. It’s an award to all the people of Northern Ireland and to all the parties that have participated in the peace process and to both governments."
"It’s all really a matter of distrust, which is very natural given what this community has been through over many years."
"It took immense effort by two governments, the US president, all the political parties on this island and the massive support of the people of Ireland to achieve this prize, ... I ask ]the IRA] to demonstrate for all to see their patriotism and the desire to move the situation forward by ... beginning voluntarily the process of decommissioning."
"In working class districts, you had several families living together in the one house, and it was very difficult to get a house, because the politicians who controlled housing were doing so in a very discriminatory fashion."
"The civil rights movement in the United States was about the same thing, about equality of treatment for all sections of the people, and that is precisely what our movement was about."
"Therefore they should come to the table and reach an agreement that would protect their identity."
"Difference is of the essence of humanity."
"The basis of peace and stability, in any society, has to be the fullest respect for the human rights of all its people."
"We're much closer together in the world today than we ever were in the past. Given that it is a much smaller world, we are in a stronger position to shape that world. As we enter the new century, and anew millennium, let us create a world in which there is no longer any war or any conflict."
"In my opinion, what changed the situation eventually - and, of course, it took a lot of time to change it, things like that don’t change in a week or a fortnight - was the new educational system."
"All conflict is about difference; whether the difference is race religion, or nationality"
"In recent years I have had serious health problems, and it is now necessary for me to cut down on my workload."
