Parliament Quotes

• My function in life is not to be a politician in Parliament: it is to get something done.

  Bernadette Devlin

  Done, Life Is, Politician

  54 Copy quote

• A Parliament is nothing less than a big meeting of more or less idle people.

  Walter Bagehot

  People, Political, Politics

  Walter Bagehot (1930). “The English Constitution: And Other Political Essays”, p.121, Lulu.com

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• Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests; which interests each must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents and advocates; but parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole; where, not local purposes, not local prejudices ought to guide, but the general good, resulting from the general reason of the whole. You choose a member indeed; but when you have chosen him, he is not a member of Bristol, but he is a member of parliament.

  Edmund Burke

  Agents, Ambassadors, Politics

  Edmund Burke (1999). “The Portable Edmund Burke”, p.172, Penguin

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• Parliament is a deliberate assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole; where, not local purpose, not local prejudices ought to guide but the general good, resulting from the general reason of the whole.

  Edmund Burke

  Prejudice, Purpose, Reason

  Edmund Burke (1963). “Edmund Burke: Selected Writings and Speeches”, p.224, Transaction Publishers

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• The parliament is the supreme decision-making and legislative body in any democracy. It reflects the collective desires of the citizens and makes laws.

  Ziauddin Sardar

  Law, Decision, Democracy

  Source: secularpakistan.wordpress.com

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• Parliament will train you to talk; and above all things to hear, with patience, unlimited quantities of foolish talk.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Patience, Foolish, Unlimited

  Thomas Carlyle (2014). “The Selected Works of Thomas Carlyle”, p.619, Lulu.com

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• It is important that the decorum and dignity of the House is upheld at all times. The image of Parliament in the public mind should be one where proceedings, debates and discussions take place with a view to resolve issues through a constructive and co-operative approach.

  Pratibha Patil

  Views, Issues, House

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• We all know what Parliament is, and we are all ashamed of it.

  Robert Louis Stevenson

  Political, Politics, Ashamed

  Robert Louis Stevenson (1999). “The Lantern-Bearers and Other Essays”, p.204, Cooper Square Press

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• When I'm in office I always keep Members of Parliament talking. If they stopped they might start thinking.

  Winston Churchill

  Thinking, Talking, Office

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• A Parliament is that to the Commonwealth which the soul is to the body. It behoves us therefore to keep the facility of that soul from distemper.

  John Pym

  Soul, Body, Commonwealth

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• People in Parliament occupy themselves with private animosities and petty quarrels, and think little of the national interest. It is impossible to credit the serene indifference with which they consider events outside their own country.

  William III of England

  Country, Thinking, People

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• You see how this House of Commons has begun to verify all the ill prophecies that were made of it - low, vulgar, meddling with everything, assuming universal competency, and flattering every base passion - and sneering at everything noble refined and truly national. The direct tyranny will come on by and by, after it shall have gratified the multitude with the spoil and ruin of the old institutions of the land.

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge

  Passion, Land, House

  19 Copy quote

• England can never be ruined except by a Parliament.

  William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley

  Government, England, Ruined

  "Famous sayings and their authors". Book by Edward Latham, 1906.

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• That a Parliament, especially a Parliament with Newspaper Reporters firmly established in it, is an entity which by its very nature cannot do work, but can do talk only.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Nature, Entity, Newspapers

  Thomas Carlyle (2014). “The Selected Works of Thomas Carlyle”, p.637, Lulu.com

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• It wasn't long before people discovered the final horrors of letting an urchin into Parliament.

  Bernadette Devlin

  Letting Go, Long, People

  20 Copy quote

• Would it be possible to stand still on one spot more majestically -- while simulating a triumphant march forward -- than it is done by the two English Houses of Parliament?

  Alexander Herzen

  Two, House, Done

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• Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Democracies Have, Government, Democracy

  Parliament of Whores (1991)

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• An influential member of parliament has not only to pay much money to become such, and to give time and labour, he has also to sacrifice his mind too - at least all the characteristics part of it that which is original and most his own.

  Walter Bagehot

  Sacrifice, Giving, Political

  Walter Bagehot (1974). “The collected works of Walter Bagehot”

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• A man whose desire is to be something separate from himself, to be a member of Parliament, or a successful grocer, or a prominent solicitor, or a judge, or something equally tedious, invariably succeeds in being what he wants to be. That is his punishment. Those who want a mask have to wear it.

  Oscar Wilde

  Successful, Men, Judging

  Oscar Wilde, Russell Jackson, Ian Small (2000). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: De profundis, "Epistola : in carcere et vinculis"”, p.184, Oxford University Press on Demand

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• Alcohol is a very necessary article. It enables Parliament to do things at eleven at night that no sane person would do at eleven in the morning.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Morning, Drinking, Food

  Major Barbara (1907) act 2

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• Russian Parliament today is a bunch of puppets that just fall in with the instructions from Kremlin.

  Garry Kasparov

  Fall, Puppets, Today

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• One moment it's a cathedral, at another time there is no words to describe it when it ceases, for short periods of time, to have any regard for the proprieties that constitute not only Parliament, but its tradition. I've seen it in all its greatness. I have inwardly wept over it when it is degraded.

  John Diefenbaker

  Greatness, Tradition, Moments

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• Parliament must not be told a direct untruth, but its quite possible to allow them to mislead themselves.

  Norman Tebbit

  Direct, Untruth, Mislead

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• The first years in Parliament I did nothing - nothing to any purpose. My own distinction was my darling object.

  William Wilberforce

  Years, Purpose, Firsts

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• The House of Commons is called the Lower House, in twenty Acts of Parliament; but what are twenty Acts of Parliament amongst Friends?

  John Selden

  House, Twenties, House Of Commons

  John Selden (1716). “Table-talk: the discourses of J. Selden [ed. by R. Milward.].”, p.26

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