“The best leaders are the ones who show their true colors not during the banner years but during times of struggle.”

“A leader is always first in line during times of criticism and last in line during times of recognition.”

“And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.”

“Laos is saddled with the distinction of one superlative: it is the most heavily bombed country on earth. During the nine-year secret war against the Communists, during the Vietnam War, the U. S. dropped 6,300,000 tons of bombs on Indochina, about 1/3 of which fell on Laos. It was the heaviest aerial bombardment in the history of warfare. During the 1960s and 1970s, the U.S. rained more bombs on Laos than were dropped on Nazi Germany during World War II -- three times the tonnage dropped during the Korean War -- the equivalent of a plane load of bombs every 8 minutes around the clock for 9 years.”

“There is a place in the heart that will never be filled; a space. And even during the best moments, and the greatest times, we will know it.”

“Show us your true colors, who you used to be.”