“You are a citizen, and citizenship carries responsibilities.”

“Politicians would only move beyond gestures once there was a critical mass of informed citizens.”

“Without an informed electorate, politicians will continue to use the bottom billion merely for photo opportunities, rather than promoting real transformation.”

“Change in the societies at the very bottom must come predominantly from within; we cannot impose it on them.”

“Poverty is not intrinsically a trap, otherwise we would all still be poor.”

“Not all developing countries are the same.”

“Suppose a country starts its independence with the three economic characteristics that globally make a country prone to civil war: low income, slow growth, and dependence upon primary commodity exports. It is playing Russian roulette. That is not just an idle metaphor: the risk that a country in the bottom billion falls into civil war in any five-year period is nearly one in six, the same risk facing a player of Russian roulette.”