Kamisese Mara

“The family teaches us about the importance of knowledge, education, hard work and effort. It teaches us about enjoying ourselves, having fun, keeping fit and healthy.”

“The family teaches us about the importance of knowledge, education, hard work and effort. It teaches us about enjoying ourselves, having fun, keeping fit and healthy.”

“The family teaches us about the importance of knowledge, education, hard work and effort. It teaches us about enjoying ourselves, having fun, keeping fit and healthy.”

“"Above all there is our fixed joint determination to build a strong and united Fiji, rich in diversity and pampered with tolerance, goodwill and understanding." (Attributed to Mara by his successor as President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, 10 October 2005).”

“How could I stand by and watch my house on fire? (This quote, and the one following, were part of his defence for joining Sitiveni Rabuka's military government in 1987).”

“At that stage my heart ruled my head".”

“It is with obedience to your call that I take up the burden of government leadership for the final time.”

“Here was an action that touched on raw and sensitive nerves in a community that had already undergone the trauma of two military takeovers. There was an undoubted threat to public order, welfare and freedom. I suspect the psychological pressure associated with that crisis caused the first mental blackout I had ever suffered. It contributed to a deterioration in my health that later required the insertion of a heart pacemaker.”

“(On his Catholic faith): "Certainly it has been the rock on which I have always been able to rely in good times and in bad, and it is the lodestone of my life."”

“(On his proposal to overcome the ethnically polarized election results with a National Unity government in 1982, which the Opposition declined): "Fiji was too small to squander its limited pool of talent. Worse still, this division created an atmosphere of frustration that could fester and poison relations."”

“But my friends, my brothers and sisters of the Pacific, we know who we are. We carry in our hearts the knowledge that we are the bearers of a proud legacy that surely marks us as people of strength, and courage and will. We have survived in our aquatic continent through many centuries.”

“(Recollection of what he was thinking to himself when confronted by the military): "They want me out, they want me to abrogate the constitution and this is exactly what Speight wants and if they belong to Speight, I don’t belong to them."”

“If the constitution goes, I go.”

“I said, yes, if you think I will avoid bloodshed by standing aside I will stand aside … but I will never ever again come back.”

“It was the work of opportunists, crooks, thugs for their own self-gain and interest.”

“I had been in touch with a lot of people I thought would stand by me in the front row of the scrum, (I) didn't know it was going to collapse.”