Toure Quotes

#1. Iniesta - he is the Zinedine Zidane of the team, because he can do whatever you want him to with the ball.

Yaya Toure

#2. My father thought that if I was to go into the army, at the least I would have a reliable paycheck at the end of each month with which to feed my family. Music is less assured. One could say more dangerous!

Vieux Farka Toure

#3. The right to communicate is a basic human right, and I believe that putting that on every national agenda is very important.

Hamadoun Toure

#4. Saving the world happens one person at a time. Be at the front of the queue.

Yaya Toure

#5. I am a midfielder who is mainly involved in the defensive phases, even if I also like to help build moves - I would say that my foremost quality is my generosity.

Yaya Toure

#6. I knew there was a minefield ahead of me and no way to avoid the bombs, and even if you didn't actually step on the bombs, you were already transformed by constantly looking out for them.

Toure

#7. Sometimes people fail to see that individual decisions have universal consequences.

Yaya Toure

#8. Currently poaching threatens the very existence of the African Elephant, and my worry is that if we do not act NOW, we could be looking at a future in which this iconic species is wiped out.

Yaya Toure

#9. Many people love my music. Many do not understand it. In general my music is more easily understood by younger people in Mali, and by people outside Africa.

Vieux Farka Toure

#10. When you get the respect of the fans, it's very hard not to be happy.

Yaya Toure

#11. To be honest, proper recognition has only come from the fans. I don't want to be hard, and I don't want to be negative, but I want to be honest.

Yaya Toure

#12. English football is so physical and fast that when you see a space, you have to go into it with all your speed.

Yaya Toure

#13. My family were very poor. I am one of nine siblings: two girls and seven boys. Only my brother and I play in Europe, and then three more work in Europe, and another plays in Tunisia. This family is a footballing family, but our lives have not always been good.

Yaya Toure

#14. There's more to blackness than bludgeoning people with memories of past atrocities and injustices or the discussion of how difficult it is to be black and deal with whites.

Toure

#15. Cristiano Ronaldo has done massive things in both the Premier League and in the Champions League, but Messi is the best though and I am convinced that next year he will win the Ballon d'Or.

Yaya Toure

#16. When we play at the World Cup, any African will back any African team. Because we want to hear the different approach to African football. We want to hear that Africans can do well, and Africans do well.

Yaya Toure

#17. People need to make a stand and be clear that trading in ivory is immoral and unacceptable.

Yaya Toure

#18. Protecting the environment is really important to everyone's welfare - that of our children, as well as that of the future generations.

Yaya Toure

#19. We can all be weak, but we all have to make a conscious decision to be strong.

Yaya Toure

#20. But ability yields to deliberate, organized practice. The brain is the most expansive organ we have; it really does change. You learn something and your brain changes.

Toure

#21. We have oral traditions in Mali, and songs are passed down and around this way. I think in the US you can play all the time in your own room and never see another musician your whole life. We can't understand that in Mali.

Vieux Farka Toure

#22. Sometimes in life the accuser can have you so convinced that you are inadequate that he doesn't even have to say it anymore - you start saying it yourself. With your own words you can destroy your own destiny.

Toure Roberts

#23. Each one of us has to work hard to achieve our collective dream for a healthier planet.

Yaya Toure

#24. I wonder if we're truly subverting anything, or if we're just playing with a loaded gun.

Toure

#25. I just had a normal African childhood; we played football a lot, but it was always in the street and always without shoes. Boots were very expensive, and when there are seven in your family, and you say you want to buy a pair, your father wants to kill you.

Yaya Toure

#26. I have committed to contribute in raising general public awareness, as well as inspiring broad, positive, committed action against illegal trade. It is an on-going and tough fight, but I believe that if we all join our hands, we can conquer!

Yaya Toure

#27. My biggest concern and main engagement with UNEP is focused on endangered species and illegal wildlife trade - mostly elephants, rhinos, etc.

Yaya Toure

#28. The illegal wildlife trade threatens not only the survival of entire species, such as elephants and rhinos, but also the livelihoods and, often, the very lives of millions of people across Africa who depend on tourism for a living.

Yaya Toure

#29. You will not be able to meet the Millennium Development goals in health without e-health, in education without e-education, and government services will not be able to be provided without e-government services.

Hamadoun Toure

#30. I will never forget how I have been treated here by the fans, the club and the owners, and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to finish my career as a Manchester City player.

Yaya Toure

#31. Broadband gives small businesses the opportunity to broaden their customer base and reduce their overheads through e-commerce platforms.

Hamadoun Toure

#32. Mali is a very social society. We share everything. I think sharing our resources in music forces us to collaborate more, play with other people more, share ideas more.

Vieux Farka Toure

#33. I am very proud to be African. I want to defend African people, and I want to show to the world that African players can be as good as the Europeans and South Americans.

Yaya Toure

#34. To take part in the African revolution, it is not enough to write a revolutionary song. You must fashion the revolution with the people. And if you fashion it with the people, the songs will come by themselves.

Ahmed Sekou Toure

#35. On the pitch and for life generally, I keep my center by remembering that I am part of a team and if I don't do my part, I let down not just my team but everyone who follows it.

Yaya Toure

#36. Professional success has not cured Prince's interpersonal problems, it's just given him the space to not have to say sorry.

Toure

#37. The fans sing my name around the world. When I meet fans, they ask, 'How are you? All good with your family?'

Yaya Toure

#38. I represent my country, but I also represent the continent of Africa when I play in Europe. That's why it's important to try to achieve something big.

Yaya Toure

#39. Football brings you lots of lovely things, but then you have to realise that it's actually a job.

Yaya Toure

#40. We prefer poverty in liberty than riches in slavery.

Ahmed Sekou Toure

#41. Stars entertain us. Icons do something much more. They embody us. They tell us something about who we are and who we want to be. They are both a mirror and a shaping force.

Toure

#42. You must respect people, and you must respect money. My father said to me: 'When you respect money, money will respect you.'

Yaya Toure

#43. When you spend a lot of money on one player, you want him to prove himself, but the way football works, one day you can be good, the next you can be bad, and the next after that, you can be very bad. I have come to Manchester City to work very hard and to help my friends make Manchester City great.

Yaya Toure