Polly Toynbee Quotes

• One in six people suffer depression or a chronic anxiety disorder. These are not the worried well but those in severe mental pain with conditions crippling enough to prevent them living normal lives.

  Polly Toynbee

  Pain, Anxiety Disorder, People

  "It is not fanciful to make the pursuit of happiness a political imperative" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. June 15, 2006.

  47 Copy quote

• Could a government dare to set out with happiness as its goal? Now that there are accepted scientific proofs, it would be easy to audit the progress of national happiness annually, just as we monitor money and GDP.

  Polly Toynbee

  Happiness, Government, Gdp

  "It is not fanciful to make the pursuit of happiness a political imperative" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. June 15, 2006.

  14 Copy quote

• Islam, Christianity and Judaism all define themselves through disgust of women's bodies.

  Polly Toynbee

  Islam, Body, Christianity

  15 Copy quote

• There is all the difference in the world between teaching children about religion and handing them over to be taught by the religious.

  Polly Toynbee

  Religious, Children, Teaching

  "This is a clash of civilisations - between reason and superstition" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. April 14, 2006.

  10 Copy quote

• In the polls, over 80% support the right to die and have done for the last 25 years. Even 80% of practising Catholics and Protestants support it, plus 76% of Church Times readers.

  Polly Toynbee

  Years, Support, Catholic

  7 Copy quote

• This is indeed a clash of civilisations, not between Islam and Christendom but between reason and superstition.

  Polly Toynbee

  Islam, Superstitions, Reason

  "It is not fanciful to make the pursuit of happiness a political imperative" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. June 15, 2006.

  8 Copy quote

• Most people come to fear not death itself, but the many terrible ways of dying.

  Polly Toynbee

  People, Dying, Way

  "Cardinals, bishops and doctors must not deny us our last rights" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. May 11, 2006.

  9 Copy quote

• Feminism is the most revolutionary idea there has ever been. Equality for women demands a change in the human psyche, more profound than anything Marx dreamed of. It means valuing parenthood as much as we value banking.

  Polly Toynbee

  Women, Mean, Ideas

  10 Copy quote

• The pens sharpen – Islamophobia! No such thing. Primitive Middle Eastern religions, and most others, are much the same – Islam, Christianity and Judaism all define themselves through disgust for women's bodies.

  Polly Toynbee

  Islam, Body, Christianity

  "Behind the burka" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. September 28, 2001.

  10 Copy quote

• Nothing keeps people together like the exalted conviction that they alone are to be spared that eternal anguish of hell fire to which everyone else will be condemned.

  Polly Toynbee

  Fire, People, Together

  5 Copy quote

• The strongest predictor of unhappiness is anyone who has had a mental illness in the last 10 years. It is an even stronger predictor of unhappiness than poverty - which also ranks highly.

  Polly Toynbee

  Years, Stronger, Lasts

  "It is not fanciful to make the pursuit of happiness a political imperative" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. June 15, 2006.

  10 Copy quote

• People want the right to die at a time of their own choosing. Too many families have watched helplessly as a relative dies slowly, longing for death.

  Polly Toynbee

  People, Want, Longing

  "Cardinals, bishops and doctors must not deny us our last rights" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. May 11, 2006.

  6 Copy quote

• The best care on earth cannot prevent us all dying in the end.

  Polly Toynbee

  Dying, Earth, Care

  "Cardinals, bishops and doctors must not deny us our last rights" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. May 11, 2006.

  7 Copy quote

• My mother begged doctors to end her life. She was beyond the physical ability to swallow enough of the weak morphine pills she had around her. When she knew she was dying I promised to make sure she could go at a time of her choosing, but it was impossible. I couldn't help.

  Polly Toynbee

  Mother, Doctors, Dying

  "Cardinals, bishops and doctors must not deny us our last rights" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. May 11, 2006.

  8 Copy quote

• Crime is only the worst example, but it is a paradigm for other Labour policy disasters. No one tells the voters that crime is falling: let them stay scared senseless.

  Polly Toynbee

  Fall, Example, Voters

  "Britain is smiling, but it looks daggers at Labour" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. June 19, 2006.

  8 Copy quote

• But instead of standing up for reason, our government is handing education over to the world of faith.

  Polly Toynbee

  Education, Government, World

  "This is a clash of civilisations - between reason and superstition" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. April 13, 2006.

  5 Copy quote

• So what really works? Treatments in jail do some good, but it's mostly too late: finding a family and a job or just growing older make most prisoners eventually give up crime.

  Polly Toynbee

  Jobs, Giving Up, Jail

  "It is not fanciful to make the pursuit of happiness a political imperative" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. June 15, 2006.

  22 Copy quote

• Working lives are for the state to influence. Unemployment makes people unhappy. So does instability.

  Polly Toynbee

  People, Unhappy, Doe

  "It is not fanciful to make the pursuit of happiness a political imperative" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. June 15, 2006.

  7 Copy quote

• Happiness is a real, objective phenomenon, scientifically verifiable. That means people and whole societies can now be measured over time and compared accurately with one another. Causes and cures for unhappiness can be quantified.

  Polly Toynbee

  Happiness, Real, Mean

  "It is not fanciful to make the pursuit of happiness a political imperative" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. June 15, 2006.

  7 Copy quote

• Inequality makes everyone unhappy, the poor most of all, and that is well within the remit of the state. More money gives less extra happiness the richer we get, yet we are addicted to earning and spending more every year.

  Polly Toynbee

  Happiness, Years, Giving

  "It is not fanciful to make the pursuit of happiness a political imperative" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. June 15, 2006.

  11 Copy quote

• How do you make any sense of history, art or literature without knowing the stories and iconography of your own culture and all the world's main religions?

  Polly Toynbee

  Art, Knowing, Iconography

  "This is a clash of civilisations - between reason and superstition" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. April 13, 2006.

  86 Copy quote

• It is now possible to quantify people's levels of happiness pretty accurately by asking them, by observation, and by measuring electrical activity in the brain, in degrees from terrible pain to sublime joy.

  Polly Toynbee

  Happiness, Pain, People

  "It is not fanciful to make the pursuit of happiness a political imperative" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. June 15, 2006.

  8 Copy quote

• But the single overwhelming reason why jails are bursting is longer sentences given for more crimes.

  Polly Toynbee

  Jail, Reason Why, Crime

  "Amid this panic over stabbings, we are ignoring what really cuts crime" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. June 09, 2006.

  8 Copy quote

• Is anyone serious about the politics of happiness? David Cameron dipped a toe in the water, using the word lightly, but denying the hard policies it implies. Labour shies away from it, but should take up the challenge.

  Polly Toynbee

  Happiness, Water, Challenges

  "It is not fanciful to make the pursuit of happiness a political imperative" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. June 15, 2006.

  6 Copy quote

• Openness about death has led to greater care about all aspects of dying.

  Polly Toynbee

  Dying, Care, Aspect

  "Cardinals, bishops and doctors must not deny us our last rights" by Polly Toynbee, www.theguardian.com. May 11, 2006.

  7 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Philip Toynbee

Arnold J. Toynbee

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Owen Jones

Peter Hitchens

Shirley Williams

Andrew Marr

Jonathan Freedland