“The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.”
Tony Blair (1953) former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Mail on Sunday, 2 October 1994.
1990s
“We had not the armour, the strength, the quickness in manoeuvre, yes, the leadership”
explaining Labour's 1983 election defeat when he was leader in his book Another Heart And Other Pulses, 1984.
1980s
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Michael Foot54
British politician 1913–2010Related quotes
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)
Address at Norwich University http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/education/bsa/citizenship_merit_badge/eisenhower_citizenship_quotations.pdf, Northfield, Vermont (9 June 1946) <br class="br">1940s
“Applause we crave, from scorn we take defence
But have no armour 'gainst indifference.”
Robertson Davies (1913–1995) Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and novelist
A Prologue (1939) to Oliver Goldsmith's The Good Natur'd Man (1768).
Context: Our fate lies in your hands, to you we pray
For an indulgent hearing of our play;
Laugh if you can, or failing that, give vent
In hissing fury to your discontent;
Applause we crave, from scorn we take defence
But have no armour 'gainst indifference.
“Respectability was not an ideal, it was an armour.”
C. L. R. James book Beyond a Boundary
Source: Beyond a Boundary (1963), p. 8
James Franklin Jeffrey (1946) American diplomat
Source: 12 November 2020 interview with Defense One https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2020/11/outgoing-syria-envoy-admits-hiding-us-troop-numbers-praises-trumps-mideast-record/170012/ affirmed 13 November 2020 by Washington Examiner https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/pentagon-shake-up-to-help-cement-trumps-legacy-bringing-troops-home-and-taking-out-enemies-white-house-source-says
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)
1960s, Farewell address (1961)
Context: We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts, America is today the strongest, the most influential, and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.
“Ye always carry your women wi ye into battle, Ian Og. They're the root of your strength, man.”
Diana Gabaldon book Written in My Own Heart's Blood
Source: Written in My Own Heart's Blood
Stephen Colbert (1964) American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor
Knox College commencement address http://www.knox.edu/colbert.xml (3 June 2006) <br class="br">Context: Don’t be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge. "Yes" is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes.
Anastacia (1968) American singer-songwriter
Anastacia: I'm as fragile and as broken as anyone else http://metro.co.uk/2014/05/01/anastacia-im-as-fragile-and-as-broken-as-anyone-else-4714481/, Metro.co.uk, May 1, 2014. <br class="br">General Quotes
Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician
Article for the News of the World (29 April 1979) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104052 <br class="br">Leader of the Opposition