Tony Blair Quotes

Any parent wants the best for their children. I am not going to make a choice for my child on the basis of what is the politically correct thing to do.

I shall not rest until, once again, the destinies of our people and our party are joined together again in victory at the next general election Labour in its rightful place in government again.

It is largely from family discipline that social discipline and a sense of responsibility is learnt. A modern notion of society – where rights and responsibilities go together – requires responsibility to be nurtured. Out of a family grows the sense of community. The family is the starting place... All other things being equal, it is easier to do the difficult job of bringing up a child where there are two parents living happily together... If the old left tended to ignore the importance of the family, the new right ignores the conditions in which family life can most easily prosper.

The importance of the notion of community is that it defines the relationship not only between us as individuals but between people and the society in which they live, one that is based on responsibilities as well as rights, on obligations as well as entitlements. Self-respect is in part derived from respect for others.

The news bulletins of the last week have been like hammer blows struck against the sleeping conscience of the country, urging us to wake up and look unflinchingly at what we see... A solution to this disintegration doesn't simply lie in legislation. It must come from the rediscovery of a sense of direction as a country and most of all from being unafraid to start talking once again about the values and principles we believe in and what they mean for us, not just as individuals but as a community. We cannot exist in a moral vacuum. If we do not learn and then teach the value of what is right and what is wrong, then the result is simply moral chaos which engulfs us all...

We should be tough on crime and tough on the underlying causes of crime.

I am a Socialist not through reading a textbook that has caught my intellectual fancy, nor through unthinking tradition, but because I believe that, at its best, Socialism corresponds most closely to an existence that is both rational and moral. It stands for co-operation, not confrontation; for fellowship, not fear. It stands for equality, not because it wants people to be the same but because only through equality in our economic circumstances can our individuality develop properly.

The priorities are the big things, and because they’re big, there can’t be fifteen of them. If you’re lucky you will make five. And the process of prioritisation must begin at the beginning of the government. Otherwise, effort is diffused, or events drive the agenda.

The concept of social care was unknown. During the course of the nineteenth century state provision developed, but even in 1900, government expenditure accounted for only about 12 per cent of GDP. Since then, as government has progressively taken on more and more duties and responsibilities, that figure has risen to over 40 per cent. Most modern developed nations have built their public realm in much the same way. And developing nations are following suit.

Then there is something that all too easily gets neglected: you also need time for yourself, for your family, for relaxing, for shedding the stress, if only for a moment.

But then, second, there are the changes of a systemic nature – reform of healthcare, welfare, privatisation of a major state utility, for example – and these changes involve painstaking analysis of the system, the precise changes you want to make and their relationship to the system as it currently operates; they involve managing a range of different interests, all of which will fight the change or find ways to diminish or neuter it.

Leaders have the courage not to go with the flow. They speak up when others stay silent. They act when others hesitate. They take the risk, not because they fail to identify it as risk but because they believe a higher purpose means the risk should be taken. They’re prepared to say what needs to be said, including to their own supporters.

Politics is part philosophy, part performance and part practicality. The last is more mundane but it is the one which finally makes the difference.

Really good people are hard to come by. In any walk of life exceptional talent is, well, exceptional. So, if you see someone with such talent, then go after them; if they’re as good as you think they are, you will never regret it.

The same rule applies to politicians. For government the equivalent reads: policy first, politics second. In other words, decide the right policy to solve the problem and then fashion the right politics around it; don’t decide the politics and then form a policy to suit.