Politics Quotes by Tony Benn

51 Politics quotes by Tony Benn

Benn says real change starts when ordinary people voice their demands and act directly. He warns that fear and demoralization are tools used to keep people under control. He also believes hope pushes progress forward while fear locks us in place.

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I am a public library

Tony Benn

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Making mistakes is how you learn.

Tony Benn

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“An educated, healthy & confident nation is harder to govern”

Tony Benn

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If we can find the money to kill people, we can find the money to help people.

Tony Benn

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The House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians.

Tony Benn

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I now want more time to devote to politics and more freedom to do so.

Tony Benn

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Through talk, we tamed kings, restrained tyrants, averted revolution

Tony Benn

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The way a government treats refugees is very instructive.

Tony Benn

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Some of the jam we thought was for tomorrow, we've already eaten

Tony Benn

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She believes in something. It is an old-fashioned idea

Tony Benn

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In developing our industrial strategy for the period ahead, we have the benefit of much experience. Almost everything has been tried at…

Tony Benn

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It is wholly wrong to blame Marx for what was done in his name, as it is to blame Jesus for what…

Tony Benn

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Marxism is now a world faith and must be allowed to enter into a continuous dialogue with other world faiths, including religious…

Tony Benn

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I did not enter the Labour Party 47 years ago to have our manifesto written by Dr Mori, Dr Gallup and Mr Harris

Tony Benn

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If I rescued a child from drowning, the press would no doubt headline the story: 'Benn grabs child

Tony Benn

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When you get to No 10, you've climbed there on a little ladder called 'the status quo'. And when you are there,…

Tony Benn

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The flag of radicalism which has been hoisted in Wolverhampton is beginning to look like the one that fluttered 25 years ago…

Tony Benn

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I think there are two ways in which people are controlled. First of all frighten people and secondly, demoralise them.

Tony Benn

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If the Queen can reject the advice of a minister on a little thing like a postage stamp, what would happen if…

Tony Benn

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No medieval monarch in the whole of British history ever had such power as every modern British Prime Minister has in his…

Tony Benn

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The Establishment decided Thatcher's ideas were safer with a strong Blair government than with a weak Major government. We are given all…

Tony Benn

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I don't believe in the hereditary principle in the House of Lords. Imagine going to the dentist, sitting in the chair and…

Tony Benn

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It would be as unthinkable to try to construct the Labour Party without Marx as it would to be to establish university…

Tony Benn

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I do not share the general view that market forces are the basis for political liberty. Every time I see a homeless…

Tony Benn

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I think the truth is that the Labour Party isn't believed any more because people suspect it will say anything to get…

Tony Benn

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It is government policy to phase out subsidies to nationalised industries. In line with this, the government hopes that the coal industry…

Tony Benn

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Parliamentary democracy is, in truth, little more than a means of securing a periodical change in the management team, which is then…

Tony Benn

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Change from below, the formulation of demands from the populace to end unacceptable injustice, supported by direct action, has played a far…

Tony Benn

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I try not to make political arguments personal. It doesn't help and it switches a lot of people off. The real questions:…

Tony Benn

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I think Mrs Thatcher did more damage to democracy, equality, internationalism, civil liberties, freedom in this country than any other Prime Minister…

Tony Benn

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I opposed the Suez war, I opposed the Falklands war. I opposed the Libyan bombing and I opposed the Gulf war and…

Tony Benn

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I am not a reluctant peer but a persistent commoner

Tony Benn

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An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern.

Tony Benn

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I have had the advantage of a radical Christian upbringing

Tony Benn

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Hope is the fuel of progress and fear is the prison in which you put yourself.

Tony Benn

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If you're going to make sense of politics you have to have a historical perspective and also recognise that you have to…

Tony Benn

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If ever I left the House of Commons it would be because I wanted to spend more time on politics.

Tony Benn

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I see myself as an old man and an unqualified teacher to the nation. I think being a teacher is probably the…

Tony Benn

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The crisis that we inherit when we come to power will be the occasion for fundamental change and not the excuse for…

Tony Benn

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The Civil Service is a bit like a rusty weathercock. It moves with opinion then it stays where it is until another…

Tony Benn

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More by Tony Benn

Experience is the only real teacher and if you keep a diary you get three bites at educating yourself - when it happens, when…

Tony Benn

Someone comes every morning at nine o'clock to see if I am still alive. I do get lonely, yes, but I have the children…

Tony Benn

Middle class Labour leaders are recaptured by the establishment when they die.

Tony Benn

Change from below, the formulation of demands from the populace to end unacceptable injustice, supported by direct action, has played a far larger part…

Tony Benn

People would do well to ask themselves how many of their ambitions and aspirations derive from the type of economic system they inhabit and…

Tony Benn

Most things in life are moments of pleasure and a lifetime of embarrassment; photography is a moment of embarrassment and a lifetime of pleasure.

Tony Benn

You have to try to build support around causes. It is uniting to campaign on a single issue, and it is never just a…

Tony Benn

Normally, people give up parliament because they want to do more business or spend more time with family. My wife said 'why don't you…

Tony Benn

Food movement organic food stores supplies health food products and facilitate with instrumental support in organic agriculture.

Tony Benn

We are not just here to manage capitalism but to change society and to define its finer values.

Tony Benn

I think there are two ways in which people are controlled - first of all frighten people and secondly demoralize them.

Tony Benn

People in debt become hopeless and hopeless people don’t vote. They always say that that everyone should vote but I think that if the…

Tony Benn

Workers are not going to be fobbed off with a few shares...or by a carbon copy of the German system of co-determination.

Tony Benn

No medieval monarch in the whole of British history ever had such power as every modern British Prime Minister has in his or her…

Tony Benn

Having served in eleven Parliaments, it would be difficult to describe this as a maiden speech. It would be like Elizabeth Taylor appearing at…

Tony Benn