Ministers Quotes - Page 25

• I would like to sound like James Mason. I reckon if I'd had a better voice I could have been prime minister. It is the most irritating voice in public life.

  Ken Livingstone

  Voice, Sound, Prime

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• It is undoubtedly the business of ministers very much to consult the inclinations of the people, but they ought to take great care that they do not receive that inclination from the few persons who may happen to approach them.

  Edmund Burke

  People, Care, May

  Edmund Burke (1834). “The Beauties of Burke, Consisting of Selections from His Works”, p.126

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• Well, Australians should speak for the national interests of Australia, and whatever role former Australian prime ministers may have, one of the things you do is speak frankly about the country as you see the country's best interests, you know?

  Paul Keating

  Country, Australia, May

  "Interview with former prime minister Paul Keating". "Lateline" with Tone Jones, www.abc.net.au. November 15, 2012.

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• You see, before I became prime minister, the Australian prime minister only attended ever two meetings in the world: the British Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the South Pacific Forum.

  Paul Keating

  Two, Australia Day, Government

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• If you asked me if I'd rather be Speaker or a very senior minister, I'd say Speaker.

  John Bercow

  Senior, Ifs, Speakers

  "The Saturday interview: John Bercow" by Stuart Jeffries, www.theguardian.com. July 22, 2011.

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• The prime minister's job is to captain his team, his party and his government.

  John Bercow

  Jobs, Team, Party

  "'Low-grade, sub-standard, downmarket drivel': House of Commons Speaker in angry rant at critics of him and his wife" by Tom McTague, www.mirror.co.uk. August 14, 2012.

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• As a doctor, when I was minister of health and would go somewhere, little girls would come up to me and say, 'I want to be like you one day, I want to be a doctor.' Now, they tell me, 'I want to be president just like you.' All of us can dream as big as we want.

  Michelle Bachelet

  Girl, Dream, Doctors

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• Going to a grammar school, you mixed with all sorts of different types and I used to listen to how they talked. When I did my imitations, I could sound like someone really rough, or I could sound like a cabinet minister.

  Steve Coogan

  School, Sound, Different

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• When Gordon Brown becomes prime minister, the balance sheet that reflects his economic stewardship could look very sickly indeed. He could become Labour's biggest liability, not its most marketable asset.

  Vince Cable

  Balance, Looks, Stewardship

  "Cable calls for cuts" by Matthew Tempest, www.theguardian.com. September 20, 2005.

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• I think prime ministers, I actually think Cabinet ministers should be subject to intense scrutiny, I think that's in the public interest, even if some of the allegations made aren't right and so on, and they have to correct the record, it doesn't matter.

  Alexander Downer

  Thinking, Records, Matter

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• Yeah, well I'm not aspiring to be the Prime Minister.

  Alexander Downer

  Prime, Yeah, Wells

  Interview with Tony Jones, www.abc.net.au. September 20, 2007.

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• Yes, I don't think I shall ever become Prime Minister. Hard as that is to swallow, I tell you one person who is very happy always to see me say that, and that's my wife.

  Alexander Downer

  Thinking, Wife, Prime

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• There is an honourable tradition in British public life that those charged with authority at the top of an organisation should accept responsibility for what happens in that organisation. I am therefore writing to the prime minister today to tender my resignation as chairman of the BBC.

  Gavyn Davies

  Writing, Responsibility, Today

  "Resignation statement by Gavyn Davies", www.theguardian.com. January 28, 2004.

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• Some are masters of illusions, some are ministers of trade, all under the same delusion, all their beds unmade.

  Bob Dylan

  Art, Media, Bed

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• Everybody's talking about ministers, sinisters, banisters, and canisters, bishops, fishops, rabbis, and popeyes, bye-bye, bye-byes.

  John Lennon

  Religious, Talking, Bye

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• But, as environment minister, I am very interested in a thriving German automobile industry, because I can only pay for the rising costs of environmental protection at home and abroad if there are people in Germany with jobs and who pay taxes.

  Sigmar Gabriel

  Jobs, Home, People

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• My grandfather was one of the most amazing Baptist ministers in history, he was unbelievable. He was one of the most amazing men - the most amazing man that I ever met... He lived an amazing life.

  Josh Henderson

  Men, Amazing Life, Grandfather

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• Two things are desired in order that intercourse may be had: First, that a minister or agent be allowed to reside at the capital. Second, that commerce between different countries be freely allowed.

  Townsend Harris

  Country, Order, Two

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• Every person who is offered a knighthood has the opportunity to say yes or no. You get a letter from the Prime Minister saying you've been recommended for a knighthood and there are two little boxes, one says yes, one says no.

  Derek Jacobi

  Opportunity, Two, Knighthood

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• I was pretty young when my father was prime minister, so it wasn't really a big part of my life. My folks were away a lot, meeting foreign dignitaries and that sort of thing, but it never struck me as odd. If anything it allowed me to get into all sorts of mischief.

  Julian McMahon

  Father, Odd, Prime

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• Those who minister to poverty and disease are accomplices in the two worst of all the crimes.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Two, Disease, Poverty

  George Bernard Shaw (2015). “George Bernard Shaw: Collected Articles, Lectures, Essays and Letters: Thoughts and Studies from the Renowned Dramaturge and Author of Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Pygmalion, Arms and The Man, Saint Joan, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion”, p.314, e-artnow

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• I was not born to be prime minister, and I'm not going to stay here until the end of my life. I'm too young for that.

  Ehud Olmert

  Prime, Ends, Born

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• Our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has given the Government's support to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. It is difficult to imagine a single piece of legislation which, more comprehensively, attacks the sanctity and dignity of human life than this particular Bill.

  Keith O'Brien

  Government, Support, Pieces

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• The full history of the interlocking participation of the Imperial German Government and international finance in the destruction of the Russian Empire is not yet written...It is not a mere coincidence that at the notorious meeting held at Stockholm in 1916, between the former Russian Minister of the Interior, Protopopoff, and the German Agents, the German Foreign Office was represented by Mr. Warburg, whose two brothers were members of the international banking firm, Kuhn, Loeb and Company, of which the late Mr. Jacob Schiff was a senior member.

  Boris Brasol

  Senior, Brother, Government

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• The Daily Telegraph reported on April 9, 1937: 'Since M. Litvinoff ousted Chicherin, no Russian has ever held a high post in the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs.' It seems that the Daily Telegraph was unaware that Chicherin's mother was a Jewess. The Russian Molotov, who became Foreign Minister later, has a Jewish wife, and one of his two assistants is the Jew, Lozovsky. It was the last-named who renewed the treaty with Japan in 1942, by which the Kamchatka fisheries provided the Japanese with an essential part of their food supplies.

  Arnold Leese

  Mother, Japan, Two

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