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I have written about Chile extensively, and therefore I have read many books on the subject, mostly for research.

Chile isn't the biggest, richest or most powerful country in the world, but we should dedicate ourselves to transforming it into the best country in the world. We don't have a single minute to lose.

I'm living in California but I have a place that is mine in Chile and I belong there. I am no longer an exile.

Having experienced personally and through my family the tragedy of Chile is something always present in my memory. I do not want events of that nature ever to happen again, and I have dedicated an important part of my life to ensuring that and to the reunion of all Chileans.

My son lives in Nicaragua. My daughters live in the United States.

Chile is not a rich country in terms of gas, or oil or coal, but we are extremely rich in terms of the energies of the future.

We Chileans have to be able to understand that in a democracy institutions must function freely and with sovereignty.

I don't think I would be a writer if I had stayed in Chile. I would be trapped in the chores, in the family, in the person that people expected me to be.

There has been a cultural shift. It is difficult to measure all that right now, but Chilean women have seen my presidency as a source of pride. Women are performing in jobs in Chile now that 20 or 30 years ago nobody would have dared to imagine.

If a country like Chile can fix its social security system, there is no reason a country as great as the United States... can't fix our Social Security system.