Gerry Adams Quotes

One man's transparency is another's humiliation.

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

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

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

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

It might or might not be right to kill, but sometimes it is necessary.

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

When others stood idly by, you and your families gave your all, in defence of a risen people and in pursuit of Irish freedom and unity.

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

Once water charges are in place they will only go up. This has been the history of all these charges

A real possibility now exists for a Government that is not led by either Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil

Hugging trees has a calming effect on me. I'm talking about enormous trees that will be there when we are all dead and gone. I've hugged trees in every part of this little island.

I think the worst kind of grief is unacknowledged grief.

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

The way forward is by building political support for republican and democratic objectives across Ireland and by winning support for these goals internationally.

I nominate the Reverend Ian Paisley for the position of First Minister of northern Ireland

When I wrote 'Before The Dawn,' I made it quite clear that there are lots of people involved in my life who I can't talk about simply because I'd put them at risk.

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

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

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.

We have to make sure the Good Friday Agreement works.

The unionists also for their part, want to minimise the potential for change, not only on the equality agenda but on the issues of sovereignty and ending the union.

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

Peace cannot be built on exclusion. That has been the price of the past 30 years.

I think there is a huge responsibility upon governments to understand the consequence of their decisions.

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.

You can only judge anything that happened in the times, in the times that that happened.

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.

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

It's hard to think of a 16-month child being anything other than a delight to be around.

It's been a long time coming but the reality is that this process is at a crossroads.

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

There needs to be nationalist and republican confidence in unionism.

I like to think I'm very grounded. I'm very grounded in my family. I'm very grounded in my community.

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

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

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.

We are totally committed to ending partition and to creating the conditions for unity and independence.