Quotes by Tony Blair

“The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.”

“My view is that you still, in order to win from the Labour perspective, have to have a strong alliance with business as well as the unions. You have got to be very much in the centre ground on things like public sector reform.”

“I didn't come into politics to change the Labour Party. I came into politics to change the country.”

“My dad was a militant atheist, or is a militant atheist. My mum was sort of bought up in a religious family because she was a Protestant from Ireland but wasn't especially religious.”

“Education is the best economic policy there is.”

“My faith foundation works to bring about a greater respect and understanding between different faiths. We basically work with six popular religions in the world which are the three Abrahamic religions, Hinduism and Buddhism and Sikhism.”

“Anywhere, anytime ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny democracy, not dictatorship the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.”

“The spread of freedom is the best security for the free.”

“In retrospect, the Millennium marked only a moment in time. It was the events of September 11 that marked a turning point in history, where we confront the dangers of the future and assess the choices facing humankind.”

“It is not an arrogant government that chooses priorities, it's an irresponsible government that fails to choose.”

“I cannot think of any circumstances in which a government can go to war without the support of parliament.”

“In government you carry each hope each disillusion. And in politics it's always about the next challenge.”

“Power without principle is barren, but principle without power is futile. This is a party of government, and I will lead it as a party of government.”

“We, therefore, here in Britain stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends in this hour of tragedy, and we, like them, will not rest until this evil is driven from our world.”

“Every so often, I feel I should graduate to classical music, properly. But the truth is, I'm more likely to listen to rock music.”

“But in terms of how people live together, how we minimize the prospects of conflict and maximize the prospects of peace, the place of religion in our society today is essential.”

“The threat today is not that of the 1930s. It's not big powers going to war with each other. The ravages which fundamentalist political ideology inflicted on the 20th century are memories. The Cold war is over. Europe is at peace, if not always diplomatically.”

“You know, the media and politicians are always gonna be in a bit of tension with one another and probably most of the time that's healthy and indeed even creative. But it's where - it's really when news organisations are used as kind of instruments of politics that it gets tricky.”

“In no relationship at the top of any walk of life is it always easy, least of all in politics which matters so much and which is conducted in such a piercing spotlight.”

“I mean, I went to a church school when I was younger and imbibed a certain amount of religion then but it was really in university that I got interested in religion and politics at the same time. I don't think as if it were one moment of conversion but my spiritual journey really began then.”

“I say to the Taliban: surrender the terrorists or surrender power. It's your choice.”

“Mine is the first generation able to contemplate the possibility that we may live our entire lives without going to war or sending our children to war.”

“In April 1991, after the Gulf war, Iraq was given 15 days to provide a full and final declaration of all its WMD.”

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