Bob Hawke Quotes

#1. We will not allow to become a political issue in this country the question of Asianisation.

Bob Hawke

#2. Unless and until something concrete is done about addressing the Israeli-Palestinian issue you won't get a real start on the war against terrorism.

Bob Hawke

#3. Peoples have come to experience that political structures and divisions of power are not immutable. Nor will they perceive the distribution of wealth and resources between nations to be unalterably ordained by heaven and incapable of drastic rearrangement by the less than gentle manipulation of man.

Bob Hawke

#4. Do you know why I have credibility? Because I don't exude morality.

Bob Hawke

#5. There is no doubt that this government and this country are benefiting from the reforms that we brought in the 1980s, and that couldn't have been done without the co-operation of the trade union movement.

Bob Hawke

#6. I find a fence a very uncomfortable place to squat my bottom.

Bob Hawke

#7. The things which are most important don't always scream the loudest.

Bob Hawke

#8. I think it is just stupid economics for a government to approach economic management from a strand of thinking regarding unions as enemies.

Bob Hawke

#9. The essence of power is the knowledge that what you do is going to have an effect not just an immediate but perhaps a lifelong effect on the happiness and wellbeing of millions of people and so I think the essence of power is to be conscious of what it can mean for others.

Bob Hawke

#10. The world will not wait for us.

Bob Hawke

#11. My point was that the war was intrinsically wrong, and as a result of our participation we haven't improved Australia's security but created a greater danger at home and abroad.

Bob Hawke

#12. By 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty.

Bob Hawke