Quotes by Gerry Adams

The days of humiliation, of second-class citizens and of inequality are over and gone forever.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

One man's transparency is another's humiliation.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

We have to make sure the Good Friday Agreement works.

— Gerry Adams

Success

It will always be a battle a day between those who want maximum change and those who want to maintain the status quo.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

Making peace, I have found, is much harder than making war.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

If you militarise a situation, you beg for an armed response.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

In the past I have defended the right of the IRA to engage in armed struggle. I did so because there was no alternative for those who would not bend the knee, or turn a blind eye to oppression, or for those who wanted a national republic.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

For over 30 years, the IRA showed that the British government could not rule Ireland on its own terms.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

Your determination, selflessness and courage have brought the freedom struggle towards its fulfilment.

— Gerry Adams

Courage

Sinn Fein has the potential and capacity to become the vehicle for the attainment of republican objectives.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

The Good Friday Agreement and the basic rights and entitlements of citizens that are enshrined within it must be defended and actively promoted by London and Dublin.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

Sinn Fein has demonstrated the ability to play a leadership role as part of a popular movement towards peace, equality and justice.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

If I didn't forgive the people who took me into the barracks and beat me unconscious over a period of days during the period when the British state was indicted for inhuman and degrading treatment in 1971-72, or even the guys who shot me, if you don't forgive them, you end up with unnecessary baggage.

— Gerry Adams

Life

But I also hold the very strong view that republicans need to lead by example.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

At that time, the army leadership said the implementation of this agreement would allow everyone, including the IRA, to take its political objectives forward by peaceful and democratic means.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

Republican patience with how unionism deals with the political institutions, and with key issues like equality and human rights, will be tested because, obviously, there will be a battle a day on these matters. So lets face up to all of this with our eyes wide open.

— Gerry Adams

Life

The last months, weeks and days have seen accelerating discussions, involving the DUP for the first time, about a comprehensive agreement which would see all outstanding matters dealt with and the Good Friday Agreement implemented in full.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

We can be revisionist, and that's a good thing to be at times, but we shouldn't airbrush our history, so we can only make judgments in the objective conditions of that time.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

Such decisions will be far reaching and difficult. But you never lacked courage in the past. Your courage is now needed for the future.

— Gerry Adams

Courage

The Irish Republican Army has kept every commitment made by its leadership.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

Sinn Fein has productively taken the example of South Africa and, as we develop the peace process, we continue to use examples from South Africa.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

In this context the British and Irish governments will have to promote a new, imaginative and dynamic alternative in which both governments will share power in the north.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

War... some people glamorise war and glorify war. It's not nice, from whatever point of view you come from.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom

For good or ill, I'm a person of leadership. I do my best. I don't dodge responsibility.

— Gerry Adams

Wisdom