- Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers. – Mignon McLaughlin, author.
- When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves. – Confucius (551-479 BC).
- At the end of a long and probably very boring meal (at a formal dinner), (British Prime Minister) Macmillan turned to Madame de Gaulle and asked politely what she was looking forward to in her retirement. Quick as a flash the elderly lady replied: “A penis.” Macmillan had been trained all his life never to appear shocked, but even he was a bit taken aback. After drawling out a series of polite platitudes, – “Well, I can see your point of view, don’t have much time for that sort of thing nowadays” – it gradually dawned on him to his intense relief that what the old girl had actually said was “happiness.” – Paul Foot, in the essay A New Definition: The Quality of Life, British Medical Journal, VOLUME 321, DECEMBER 2000.
- The moral test of a government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life — the children; the twilight of life — the elderly; and the shadows of life — the sick, the needy and the handicapped. – Hubert Humphrey, Vice-President of the United States 1965-69.
- When I joined the Labor Party, it contained the cream of the working class. But as I look about me now, all I see are the dregs of the middle class. When will you middle class perverts stop using the Labor Party as a cultural spittoon? – Kim Beazley Snr to an ALP State Conference, circa 1970.
Political Quotations – Set 2
Oct 11, 2008
Political Quotations – Set 1
Oct 10, 2008
- Intellect alone is a dry and rattling thing. – Ilka Chase, American author, actress, humorist (1905-1978)
- During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. – George Orwell, writer (1903-1950)
- Whenever ‘A’ attempts by law to impose his moral standards upon ‘B’, ‘A’ is most likely a scoundrel. – H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956)
- History is the record of an encounter between character and circumstances. – Donald Creighton, Canadian historian (1902-1979)
- We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – The Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776
Kill All The Journalists First!
Oct 07, 2008
The quotations from the old site will all be migrated across over the next couple of days but it seemed appropriate to start slagging off journalists first!
- Journalists do not believe the lies of politicians, but they do repeat them — which is even worse! – Michel Colucci, comedian and actor (1944-1986)
Quotes From The 2001 Federal Election
Nov 13, 2001
This page provides a collection of extended quotations gathered during the 2001 Federal Election campaign.
The quotes cover the campaign period and the election’s aftermath.
How A Single-Issue Party Held Onto Power
We shall never know for certain that the Tampa would have been, by itself, sufficient to ensure the Howard Government a third term or whether it was the combination of the Tampa “crisis” and September 11 that the Howard Government required. What we do know, however, is that when the now retired Defence Minister, Peter Reith, suggested that al-Qaeda terrorists might be found among the Afghan and Iraqi asylum seekers on the leaky vessels travelling to Australia, a politically decisive connection between border control and the terrorist threat to Australia was conjured in the public’s mind. [Read more…]
The Forgotten People: Robert Menzies
May 22, 1942
This is the text The Forgotten People, by Robert Menzies.
The headings in this speech did not form part of the original text.
Text of The Forgotten People, by Robert Menzies.
Quite recently, a bishop wrote a letter to a great daily newspaper. His theme was the importance of doing justice to the workers. His belief, apparently, was that the workers are those who work with their hands. He sought to divide the people of Australia into classes. He was obviously suffering from what has for years seemed to me to be our greatest political disease – the disease of thinking that the community is divided into the relatively rich and the relatively idle, and the laborious poor, and that every social and political controversy can be resolved into the question: What side are you on? [Read more…]