Boris Johnson: Trending quotes (page 4)

“I do not for one minute believe that this election shows that London has been transformed overnight into a Conservative city but I do hope it does show that the Conservatives have changed into a party that can again be trusted after 30 years with the greatest, most cosmopolitan, multi-racial generous hearted city on earth in which there are huge and growing divisions between rich and poor.”

Boris Johnson

2000s, 2008, First Speech As London Mayor (May 3, 2008)

Hope , Change , Heart

“With friends like these, who needs Yemenis?”

Boris Johnson

At a summit about the civil war in Yemen, Financial Times, 19 September 2017 https://www.ft.com/content/4060a7e0-9972-11e7-a652-cde3f882dd7b
Attributed

“And I can tell you that your courage and the sheer exuberant nerve with which you stuck it to your enemies, especially in New Labour, you have thereby earned the thanks and admiration of millions of Londoners, even if you think that they have a funny way of showing it today.”

Boris Johnson

2000s, 2008, First Speech As London Mayor (May 3, 2008)

Way , Courage , Thinking

“And that brings me to my final thank you which is of course to the people of London.”

Boris Johnson

2000s, 2008, First Speech As London Mayor (May 3, 2008)

People

“Ok, I said to myself as I sighted the bird down the end of the gun. This time, my fine feathered friend, there is no escape.”

Boris Johnson

Friends, Voters, Countrymen p59
2000s, 2001

Bird , Time

“Who, according to JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter novels, was Harry Potter's first girlfriend? Who is the first person he kisses? That's right, Cho Chang, who is a Chinese overseas student at Hogwarts school," he said, to laughs and scattered applause. "Ladies and gents I rest my case."”

Boris Johnson

2010s, 2013

School , Kiss , Change , Personality

“I advise you all very strongly - go for a run, get some exercise, and have a beautiful day.”

Boris Johnson

Valentine Low, "Shiver me timbers Boris", Evening Standard, 15 November 2004, p. 3.
Cornered by reporters asking about his affair after a morning run.
2000s, 2004

Beauty , Exercises

“In 1904, 20 per cent of journeys were made by bicycle in London. I want to see a figure like that again. If you can't turn the clock back to 1904, what's the point of being a Conservative?”

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson on South Bank for Barclays Cycle Hire launch http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/4722, London SE1, 30 July 2010
Said during the official launch of the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme.
2010s, 2010

“The excitement is growing so much I think the Geiger counter of Olympo-mania is going to go zoink off the scale.”

Boris Johnson

2010s, 2012
Source: On the forthcoming London Olympic Games. Daily Telegraph, 27 July 2012.

Thinking

“Take back control of huge sums of money, 350 million pounds a week, and spend it on our priorities such as the NHS.”

Boris Johnson

Speaking during the ITV Referendum Debate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMjvG0-dI44 (9 June 2016)
2010s, 2016

Money

“The problem is not that we were once in charge, but that we are not in charge any more… Consider Uganda, pearl of Africa, as an example of the British record. … the British planted coffee and cotton and tobacco, and they were broadly right… If left to their own devices, the natives would rely on nothing but the instant carbohydrate gratification of the plantain. You never saw a place so abounding in bananas: great green barrel-sized bunches, off to be turned into matooke. Though this dish (basically fried banana) was greatly relished by Idi Amin, the colonists correctly saw that the export market was limited… The best fate for Africa would be if the old colonial powers, or their citizens, scrambled once again in her direction; on the understanding that this time they will not be asked to feel guilty.”

Boris Johnson

Discussing his views on Africans and "Instant Carbohydrate Gratification" The Spectator 2 February 2002
2000s, 2002

Fate , Feeling , Coffee , Understanding

“Thank you very much Mr Meyer, Anthony Meyer that is. I want to thank you, I want to thank the police of course, and my wife Marina and my family, and my utterly brilliant campaign team, the Conservative GLA candidates — some of whom were extremely unlucky tonight — and of course the thousands of Conservative activists, the ward captains and knocker-uppers who did such an amazing job today, and indeed yesterday, rather.”

Boris Johnson

2000s, 2008, First Speech As London Mayor (May 3, 2008)

Family

“I have as much chance of becoming Prime Minister as of being decapitated by a frisbee or of finding Elvis.”

Boris Johnson

Ephraim Hardcastle, Daily Mail, 22 July 2003, p. 13.
Asked by pupils of Gillott's School in his constituency whether he would like the job of Prime Minister.
2000s, 2003

Chance

“It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving picaninnies; and one can imagine that Blair, twice victor abroad but enmired at home, is similarly seduced by foreign politeness. They say he is shortly off to the Congo. No doubt the AK47s will fall silent, and the pangas will stop their hacking of human flesh, and the tribal warriors will all break out in Watermelon smiles to see the big white chief touch down in his big white British taxpayer-funded bird.”

Boris Johnson

Daily Telegraph 10 January 2002
2000s, 2002

Love , Smile , Home , Imagination

“Life isn’t like coursework, baby. It’s one damn essay crisis after another.”

Boris Johnson

"Exams work because they're scary", Daily Telegraph, 12 May 2005, p. 22.
2000s, 2005

Life , Baby

“Had it been us staging the Games, I don't think we would necessarily have done the switcheroo with the girl with the braces”

Boris Johnson

" Boris Johnson In Beijing http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2008/aug/21/boris.politicsandsport?gusrc=rss&feed=politics", The Guardian, 21 August 2008

When asked whether he had any criticisms of the Beijing Olympic Games.
2000s, 2008

Girl , Game , Thinking

“I'm a rugby player, really, and I knew I was going to get to him, and when he was about two yards away I just put my head down. There was no malice. I was going for the ball with my head, which I understand is a legitimate move in soccer.”

Boris Johnson

Ed Harris, "Boris bites Herr legs...: The MP for Henley does his bit for Anglo-German diplomacy", Evening Standard, 4 May 2006, p. 9.
On his tackle on German midfielder Maurizio Gaudino in a charity football match.
2000s, 2006

Understanding

“I'm having Sunday lunch with my family. I'm vigorously campaigning, inculcating my children in the benefits of a Tory government.”

Boris Johnson

"2-minute interview: Boris Johnson", The Guardian, 11 April 2005, p. 7.
Asked whether he was canvassing at Sunday lunchtime.
2000s, 2005

Children , Family

“It is just flipping unbelievable. He is a mixture of Harry Houdini and a greased piglet. He is barely human in his elusiveness. Nailing Blair is like trying to pin jelly to a wall.”

Boris Johnson

"The BBC was doing its job - bring back Gilligan", Daily Telegraph, 29 January 2004, p. 21.
Reaction to the Hutton Report.
2000s, 2004