Mohamed ElBaradei

Well, I think we still have to verify whatever declaration we will get and make sure that it is comprehensive and accurate. So, that would take care of the past activities.

Young Egyptians, gazing through the windows of the Internet, have gained a keener sense than many of their elders of the freedoms and opportunities they lack. They have found in social media a way to interact and share ideas, bypassing, in virtual space, the restrictions placed on physical freedom of assembly.

How can you run for president if you don't know the job description?

It's up to any government to decide how to react to the denial of basic human rights anywhere in the world, including Egypt.

You either have a civil society or you don't.

The Egyptians have grown in confidence, they've tasted freedom, and there's no way back.

I hope everybody will go back to the negotiating table. I've always said this is the only way forward.

As much as we Egyptians treasure our military, acting alone it cannot provide the legitimacy to lay the foundations for democracy.

You don't get the fox to be in charge of the chicken coop. You don't give the outgoing regime - which has been practicing dictatorship, is an authoritarian system, it's a bunch of military people - the task of changing Egypt into a second republic, a new Egypt with democracy, freedom, rights, etc.

I think the Egyptian people need to restore confidence that Americans, the U.S., means what they say when they talk about democracy, rule of law.

It is going to take a long time to switch Egypt into a democracy.

Democracy is not an instant coffee.