Tony Benn Quotes - Page 4

Quotes about:

• Britain is the only colony in the British Empire and it is up to us now to liberate ourselves.

  Tony Benn

  Empires, British, Britain

  Tony Benn's Speech to the Labour Party Conference in Blackpool, October 2, 1972.

  5 Copy quote

• The quickest way to get to the top in society probably is to be a Blair Babe now. And then all of a sudden you find you're invited to parties. I don't want to be cynical, because I'm not. But I've seen it happen to so many people who move from the left to the right so damn quickly.

  Tony Benn

  Party, Moving, People

  Source: think-left.org

  5 Copy quote

• I was radicalised by being a minister. That's when I saw how the system really worked. And that is not a very usual process, but it certainly happened to me: it gave me a lot more experience, it helped me to understand where power really lay, develop strategies for undermining or changing it, and so on. But that isn't the norm. Mr Gladstone moved to the left as he got older, and one or two other people have, but normally you swing the other way.

  Tony Benn

  People, Strategy, Norm

  Source: think-left.org

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• There is no connection between imperialism and democracy. I mean when we ran an Empire which we did when I was born, there was no democracy anywhere.

  Tony Benn

  Mean, Democracy, Imperialism

  Source: mattkennard.tumblr.com

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• The flag of racialism which has been hoisted in Wolverhampton is beginning to look like the one that fluttered 25 years ago over Dachau and Belsen.

  Tony Benn

  Years, Looks, Dachau

  "Onslaught on Powell by Wedgwood Benn". "The Times" Newspaper, June 4, 1970.

  24 Copy quote

• It's lovely to be old. I've got age, experience and zero personal ambition. No body could corrupt me by anything: possibly a job in the government, a peerage, a quango, I don't want any of it.

  Tony Benn

  Ambition, Lovely, Age

  Source: think-left.org

  6 Copy quote

• Some of the jam we thought was for tomorrow, we've already eaten

  Tony Benn

  Jam, Politics, Tomorrow

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• Most things in life are moments of pleasure and a lifetime of embarrassment; photography is a moment of embarrassment and a lifetime of pleasure.

  Tony Benn

  Inspirational, Photography, Things In Life

  "99 Things to Do between Here and Heaven" by Kathleen Long Bostrom, Peter Graystone, (p. 65), June 2, 2009.

  19 Copy quote

• The general election of 1983 has produced one important result that has passed virtually without comment in the media. It is that, for the first time since 1945, a political party with an openly socialist policy has received the support of over eight and a half million people. This is a remarkable development by any standards and it deserves some analysis ... the 1983 Labour manifesto commanded the loyalty of millions of voters and a democratic socialist bridge-head in public understanding and support can be made.

  Tony Benn

  Loyalty, Party, Eight

  "The Guardian" Newspaper, June 20, 1983.

  4 Copy quote

• My alternative to American superpower is the UN and I might add when China becomes the worlds greatest superpower you will need it too.

  Tony Benn

  World, Superpower

  Source: mattkennard.tumblr.com

  6 Copy quote

• America is now the dominant force and the only countervailing force is Europe.

  Tony Benn

  Source: mattkennard.tumblr.com

  5 Copy quote

• It is tempting to deny, but if you deny you confirm what you won't deny.

  Tony Benn

  Deny, Tempting, Ifs

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• I sometimes wish the trade unionists who work in the mass media, those who are writers and broadcasters and secretaries and printers and lift operators of Thomson House would remember that they too are members of our working class movement and have a responsibility to see that what is said about us is true.

  Tony Benn

  Responsibility, Media, Class

  Tony Benn's Closing address to the Labour Party Conference in Blackpool, October 6, 1972.

  4 Copy quote

• When somebody comes up with a progressive idea, to begin with, you're mad, bonkers. Then if you go on, you're dangerous. Then there's a pause. Then you can't find anyone who can say they thought of it in the first place. That's how progress is made. This is why I do believe in the vote. In the end, all these people who've been tempted to the right realise the warning lights in their constituency are brighter than the bright lights from No. 10 offering them things.

  Tony Benn

  Believe, People, Mad

  Source: think-left.org

  5 Copy quote

• I really think in the Commonwealth of Europe you should have Russia. I listed a hundred countries that would be in it and it would then be a really European United Nations.

  Tony Benn

  Country, Thinking, United Nations

  Source: mattkennard.tumblr.com

  6 Copy quote

• In the end, the tragedy of Harold Wilson was that you couldn't believe a word he said

  Tony Benn

  Believe, Tragedy, Politics

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• I now want more time to devote to politics and more freedom to do so.

  Tony Benn

  Politics, Want, More Time

  "Benn retires to spend more time with his politics". "The Independent" Newspaper, June 28, 1999.

  7 Copy quote

• Choice depends on the freedom to choose and if you are shackled with debt you don't have the freedom to choose.

  Tony Benn

  Choices, Debt, Freedom To Choose

  "Sicko". Documentary, Drama, 2007.

  9 Copy quote

• Cabinet members are soon overwhelmed by the insistent demands of running their departments. On the whole, a period in high office consumers intellectual capital; it does not create it....The less ministers know at the outset, the more dependent they are on the only sources of available knowledge; the permanent officials.

  Tony Benn

  Running, Office, Intellectual

  5 Copy quote

• The present combination of corporate or commercial control theoretically answerable to politically appointed Boards of Governors is not in any sense a democratic enough procedure to control the power the broadcasters have.

  Tony Benn

  Boards, Enough, Combination

  Tony Benn (2014). “The Best of Benn”, p.51, Random House

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• People say that if we work for the Single European Act, women will get their rights, the water will be purer, and training will be better. That is rubbish. It is part of the attempt to consolidate the EEC.

  Tony Benn

  Rights, People, Water

  Tony Benn's Speech in House of Commons, hansard.millbanksystems.com. February 23, 1989.

  5 Copy quote

• I did not enter the Labour Party 47 years ago to have our manifesto written by Dr Mori, Dr Gallup and Mr Harris

  Tony Benn

  Party, Years, Drs

  21 Copy quote

• I've been a member of the Labour Party sixty five years, and I remain in it, but I think it's all about campaigning for justice and peace, and if you do that, you get a lot of support.

  Tony Benn

  Party, Thinking, Years

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• It is obvious I shall have to abandon my hopes of getting the Queen's head off the stamps.

  Tony Benn

  Queens, Stamps, Obvious

  Tony Benn (1987). “Out of the Wilderness: Diaries, 1963-67”, Hutchinson Radius

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• It is government policy to phase out subsidies to nationalised industries. In line with this, the government hopes that the coal industry will be able to operate without the need for assistance apart from social grants.

  Tony Benn

  Government, Needs, Coal

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