Chris Patten Quotes

• In a democracy everybody has a right to be represented, including the jerks.

  Chris Patten

  Freedom, Democracy, Jerk

  48 Copy quote

• Hong Kong's people will get what they want, despite China's objections. Freedom invariably wins in the end.

  Chris Patten

  Winning, People, Want

  "Hong Kong’s Democratic Aspirations Not a Threat to China" by Lord Patten, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 14, 2014.

  13 Copy quote

• Hong Kong represents the kind of Asia with which both West and East are comfortable... It offers, in that sense, a vision for the future of Asia.

  Chris Patten

  Vision, East, Asia

  "Governor defends Hong Kong democracy in final speech" by Mike Chinoy, www.cnn.com. October 2, 1996.

  12 Copy quote

• We have our own system, ... and journalists in our system are not put in prison for embarrassing the government by revealing things the government might not wish to have revealed. The important thing is that our system, under which journalists can write without fear or favor, should continue.

  Chris Patten

  Writing, Government, Wish

  10 Copy quote

• So, what I say to people is that politics has got to be about principle and values above all. Of course, there are times when you have to make accommodations.

  Chris Patten

  People, Principles, Accommodations

  9 Copy quote

• Anyone who supposed that when Margaret Thatcher left Number Ten she was going to take a Trappist vow did not know that formidable politician.

  Chris Patten

  Numbers, Politician, Vow

  8 Copy quote

• It behaves more like a tribe than a democratic institution...responding to custom rather than reason and using its own liturgy and language for the conduct of its domestic affairs.

  Chris Patten

  Tribes, Language, Affair

  4 Copy quote

• Those of us who had a perfectly happy childhood should be able to sue for deprivation of literary royalties.

  Chris Patten

  Childhood, Able, Royalty

  6 Copy quote

• Multilateralism is not an easy option. We're going to find that the world is very difficult. And relationships between America and the rest of the world are very difficult.

  Chris Patten

  America, World, Easy

  "Interviews with Michael Bloomberg and Madeleine Albright". "GPS" with Fareed Zakaria, globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com. November 2, 2008.

  7 Copy quote

• Undoubtedly, at the moment, the major cause of CO2 emission is what happens in developed countries.

  Chris Patten

  Country, Causes, Moments

  4 Copy quote

• Green politics at its worst amounts to a sort of Zen fascism; less extreme, it denounces growth and seeks to stop the world so that we can all get off.

  Chris Patten

  Growth, World, Green

  8 Copy quote

• I suppose I've always carried what is regarded as a bit of unnecessary baggage in Britain. I've always carried the charge that I am an intellectual in politics.

  Chris Patten

  Intellectual, Baggage, Unnecessary

  8 Copy quote

• I don't think that capitalism should be unbridled, if by "unbridled" you mean unregulated.

  Chris Patten

  Mean, Thinking, Should

  10 Copy quote

• All parts of the society need to feel that the police service is their police service, and that does not happen unless all parts of society are represented in the police

  Chris Patten

  Police, Doe, Needs

  4 Copy quote

• You don't have to wait until people say they accept everything you say until you are actually prepared to sit down and discuss matters with them.

  Chris Patten

  People, Waiting, Down And

  "Interviews with Michael Bloomberg and Madeleine Albright". "GPS" with Fareed Zakaria, globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com. November 2, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

• I think that what most surprises anybody who goes into politics from even a modestly cerebral background is the vulgarity of much of the cut and thrust of politics.

  Chris Patten

  Cutting, Thinking, Vulgarity Is

  7 Copy quote

• We're not trying to recreate Yugoslavia

  Chris Patten

  Yugoslavia, Trying, Recreation

  7 Copy quote

• But the ability to articulate what you are doing, to be clear about it, and to stick to it is, I think, the essence of political leadership.

  Chris Patten

  Inspiring, Leadership, Thinking

  8 Copy quote

• It is almost always wrong that the time isn't ripe to decide something. That is always said of difficult problems.

  Chris Patten

  Problem, Said, Difficult

  7 Copy quote

• It'd make a wonderful change to have the leader of a pluralist democracy who acted on that, who told people just how tough things are going to be, just what's going to have to be done - and, maybe, ran all the risks on the side of honesty, rather than spinning stories and trying to win the headlines every day.

  Chris Patten

  Honesty, Winning, People

  "Interviews With Michael Bloomberg, Madeleine Albright". "GPS" with Fareed Zakaria, transcripts.cnn.com. November 2, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

• It is curious that atheists have proved to be so intolerant of those who have a faith.

  Chris Patten

  Atheist, Curious

  4 Copy quote

• I think that if politics is just about getting your backside on important seats, then it's a pretty worthless endeavor.

  Chris Patten

  Thinking, Important, Endeavor

  8 Copy quote

• Throwing young men out of work, throwing people into poverty and ending business life don't promote stability in the Palestinian territories,.

  Chris Patten

  Men, People, Territory

  4 Copy quote

• There is a sort of exotic preposterousness about a lot of elections, the way arguments are made even cruder.

  Chris Patten

  Voting, Exotic, Way

  7 Copy quote

• Of course, there were huge disagreements in the arguments of military intervention, .. There is no point at the moment on focusing on those disagreements.

  Chris Patten

  Military, Argument, Moments

  5 Copy quote

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