Mustafa Kemal Atatürk quotes

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a Turkish statesman, revolutionary, and the founding father of the Republic of Turkey. His reforms modernized the country and separated religion from government, shaping Turkish society for generations. He is regarded as a national hero and a symbol of progress and secularism. Here are 55 of his quotes:

My people are going to learn the principles of democracy, the dictates of truth and the teachings of science. (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk)
Peace at, Peace in the World. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Everything we see in the world is the creative work of women. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Unless a nation's life faces peril, war is murder. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Science is the most real guide for civilisation, for life, for success in the world. To search for a guide other than science is absurdity, ignorance and heresy. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
A nation which makes the final sacrifice for life and freedom does not get beaten. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
In human life, you will find players of religion until the knowledge and proficiency in religion will be cleansed from all superstitions, and will be purified and perfected by the enlightenment of real science. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
The nation has placed its faith in the precept that all laws should be inspired by actual needs here on earth as a basic fact of national life. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
[Turkish women] had lived free of the veil for 5,000 years, and had been covered only in the last 600 years. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Men, I am not ordering you to attack. I am ordering you to die. In the time that it takes us to die, other forces and commanders can come and take our place. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
The future is in the skies. (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk)
We do not consider our principles as dogmas contained in books that are said to come from heaven. We derive our inspiration, not from heaven, or from an unseen world, but directly from life. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
To write history is as important as to make history. If the writer does not remain true to the maker, then the unchanging truth takes on a quality that will confuse the humanity. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
The heroes who shed their blood and lost their lives on this country's soil! You are in the soil of a friendly country now. Therefore rest in peace. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Even before accepting the religion of the Arabs, the Turks were a great nation. After accepting the religion of the Arabs, this religion, didn't effect to combine the Arabs, the Persians and Egyptians with the Turks to constitute a nation. (This religion) rather, loosened the national nexus of Turkish nation, got national excitement numb. This was very natural. Because the purpose of the religion founded by Muhammad, over all nations, was to drag to an including Arab national politics. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
I will lead my people by the hand along the road until their feet are sure and they know the way. Then they may choose for themselves and rule themselves. Then my work will be done. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
No country is free unless it is democratic. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Science is the only true guide in life. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Our object now is to strengthen the ties that bind us to other nations. There may be a great many countries in the world, but there is only one civilization, and if a nation is to achieve progress, she must be a part of this civilization. The Ottoman Empire began to decline the day when, proud of her success against the West, she cut the ties that bound her to the European nations. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
The foundation of our religion is very strong. The material is strong as well, but the building itself was neglected for hundreds of years. As the plaster dropped down, none thought to replace it and none felt the need to reinforce the building. Quite the contrary: many foreign elements and interpretations, as well as empty beliefs, came along and damaged it still more. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
We did not win the war with prayers, but with the blood of our soldiers. (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk)
The Republic of Turkey cannot be a country of sheikhs, dervishes, and disciples. The truest, most real order is the order of civilisation. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Sovereignty and kingship are never decided by academic debate. They are seized by force. The Ottoman dynasty appropriated by force the government of the Turks, and reigned over them for six centuries. Now the Turkish nation has effectively gained possession of its sovereignty... This is an accomplished fact... If those assembled here ... see the matter in its natural light, we shall all agree. Otherwise, facts will still prevail, but some heads may roll. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
The torch that the Turkish nation holds in her hand and in her mind, while marching on the road of progress and civilisation, is positive sciences. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
I do not leave any verses, dogmas, nor any moulded standard principles as moral heritage. My moral heritage is science and reason. What I have done and intended to do for the Turkish nation lies in that. Anyone willing to appropriate my ideas for themselves after me will be my moral inheritors provided they would approve the guidance of science and reason on this axis. View quote
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk