Ingrid Betancourt Quotes

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Ingrid Betancourt

Profession : Politician

Birth : December 25, 1961

After six years without seeing one, I love just seeing a smile - every smile I see gives me hope.

Ingrid Betancourt

The relationship with time changes when you're captive.

Ingrid Betancourt

Reconciliation is a decision that you take in your heart.

Ingrid Betancourt

I studied political science at the Ecole de Sciences Politiques in Paris.

Ingrid Betancourt

In Colombia, women are a huge factor for reconciliation. I have seen many strong women advocating for negotiations. I remember when the paramilitary were active, there were women close to the paramilitary asking for negotiations.

Ingrid Betancourt

More than a victim, I am a survivor of a dehumanization process.

Ingrid Betancourt

The only thing I've settled in my mind is that I want to forgive, and forgiveness comes with forgetting.

Ingrid Betancourt

Forgiveness is a very personal and intimate thing. Forgiveness is not something that you can speak for others because it includes not only your desire and will, your reflection and intellect, but also your emotions.

Ingrid Betancourt

In the free world, your days pass very quickly because you have so many things to do, and you're in control of your life.

Ingrid Betancourt

In captivity, one loses every way of acting over little details which satisfy the essentials of life. Everything has to be asked for: permission to go to the toilet, permission to ask a guard something, permission to talk to another hostage - to brush your teeth, use toilet paper, everything is a negotiation.

Ingrid Betancourt

I continue to aspire to serve Colombia as president.

Ingrid Betancourt

I didn't want to be a number. I didn't want to be an object.

Ingrid Betancourt

I don't want to be submerged by depression.

Ingrid Betancourt

It's not easy to talk about things that are still hurting.

Ingrid Betancourt

I have to forget in order to find peace in my soul and be able to forgive.

Ingrid Betancourt

I love Colombia's military. I love my country.

Ingrid Betancourt

I continue with the illusion of serving Colombia. Only God knows if it were to be from the presidency.

Ingrid Betancourt

When you have a chain around your neck, you have to keep your head down and try to accept your fate without succumbing entirely to humiliation, without forgetting who you are.

Ingrid Betancourt

During my captivity, I felt abandoned by everyone apart from my family and supporters, because there was no part of the political spectrum that would want me released.

Ingrid Betancourt

I carry the voices of all my family within me, and they were with me there in the jungle.

Ingrid Betancourt