Countries that perceive themselves to be vulnerable can be expected to try to redress that vulnerability - and in some cases, they will pursue clandestine weapons programs.

The global community has become irreversibly interdependent, with the constant movement of people, ideas, goods and resources.

The international community must do a better job of controlling the risks of nuclear proliferation. Sensitive parts of the nuclear fuel cycle - the production of new fuel, the processing of weapon-usable material, the disposal of spent fuel and radioactive waste - would be less vulnerable to proliferation if brought under multinational control.

Nuclear proliferation is on the rise. Equipment, material and training were once largely inaccessible. Today, however, there is a sophisticated worldwide network that can deliver systems for producing material usable in weapons.

The dream of democracy has long been enshrined in the hearts of the Egyptian people. It only needed awakening.

As much as we Egyptians treasure our military, acting alone it cannot provide the legitimacy to lay the foundations for democracy.

Democracy is more than a ballot box.

Egypt under Hosni Mubarak had deteriorated to the status of a failed state. We must wipe the slate clean and start again.

The Israelis should understand that it is in their long-term interest to have a democratic Egypt as a neighbor, and that it is prudent to acknowledge the legitimate interests of the Palestinians and to grant them their own state.

If a huge number of people call for change, the government will have to react. If you want to avoid uprisings, or demonstrations, you need to respond to the people's desperate need for change.

Iran's goal is not to become another North Korea - a nuclear weapons possessor but a pariah in the international community - but rather Brazil or Japan, a technological powerhouse with the capacity to develop nuclear weapons if the political winds were to shift, while remaining a nonnuclear weapons state.

The sooner we put Egypt on the right track, the sooner we would be able to have an Egypt that is modern, that is moderate, and that is acting as a beacon for freedom and liberty across the Arab world.

In my view, stability only comes with a government that is elected by the people and works for the people.

I couldn't have imagined that I would live long enough to see Egypt emancipated from decades of repression.

I cannot bear the responsibility for one drop of blood.

It is going to take a long time to switch Egypt into a democracy.

We still live in a world where if you have nuclear weapons, you are buying power; you are buying insurance against attack.

I hear that from so many different governments, people coming to me and saying, 'You should be careful'. But I don't want to go around with bodyguards.

If you bet on individuals instead of the people, you are going to fail.

People feel repressed by their own governments; they feel unfairly treated by the outside world; they wake up in the morning, and who do they see - they see people being shot and killed: all Muslims from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Darfur.

You either have a civil society or you don't.

We must abandon the unworkable notion that it is morally reprehensible for some countries to pursue weapons of mass destruction, yet morally acceptable for others to rely on them for security - and indeed to continue to refine their capacities and postulate plans for their use.

My conscience does not permit me to run for the presidency or any other official position unless it is within a democratic framework.

The Egyptians have grown in confidence, they've tasted freedom, and there's no way back.