Brian Urquhart Quotes

United Kingdom, Author
February 28, 1919

Sir Brian Edward Urquhart is a British World War II veteran, author and a former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. He turned 100 in February 2019.

It is hardly a process at all. It is more like a lottery. It has become a rather squalid competition with no set procedure, shrouded in Big Power secrecy. They don't even interview the candidates.

Brian Urquhart
No one on the Congo side had been given any experience whatsoever in how to run a country, ... There were only 17 people with university degrees in the whole Congo in those days.

Brian Urquhart
- Country
- Experience
- Congo

It was predictable he would not turn out terribly well as the head of a very very large and complicated and rich country...

Brian Urquhart
- Country
- Head
The mythology about the UN is absolutely breathtaking. People believe it costs a great deal of money to the United States. Completely untrue: it doesn't. The United States makes a net gain. People believe it's a world government, although the UN is a pathetically weak organization which improvises in emergencies to try to prevent the worst from happening.

Brian Urquhart
The U.N. actually took a lot of trouble to protect him...

Brian Urquhart
- Trouble
- U.N.