Top 100 Charles Kennedy Quotes
#1. There is no satisfaction to be derived from having had many of our arguments borne out by events.
Charles Kennedy
#2. We should have high expectations of our children, but politicians should not tell teachers how to meet them.
Charles Kennedy
#3. You mustn't confuse the need for effective chairmanship, which is part of the job of the boss, along with the ability to take tough decisions and to lead people.
Charles Kennedy
#4. We must restore faith in politics. Reform of the House of Lords is only one part of the answer, but it is a vital one.
Charles Kennedy
#5. New Labour needs to realise that family life and the way we raise our children are private matters.
Charles Kennedy
#7. Three simple words - freedom, justice and honesty. These sum up what the Liberal Democrats stand for.
Charles Kennedy
#8. I will go out of this world feet first with my Lib Dem membership card in my pocket.
Charles Kennedy
#9. Good political leadership for me involves getting the big decisions right - however difficult, however controversial, however potentially divisive - and then being able to take people with you.
Charles Kennedy
#10. We'll need to revise the tired assumption that people automatically become more conservative as they grow older.
Charles Kennedy
#11. It would be a tragedy if the remarkable international coalition against terrorism, successfully marshalled in the aftermath of 11 September, were to fragment over a unilateral U.S. strike against Baghdad.
Charles Kennedy
#12. We have a Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales, both elected by fairer votes - involving proportional representation.
Charles Kennedy
#13. The events of the Holocaust viewed through the eyes of Anne Frank are a unique and damming testament to the dreadful atrocities of that period of our history
Charles Kennedy
#14. With every day that passes, David Blunkett becomes more insensitive in his language and more intemperate in his actions.
Charles Kennedy
#15. The quicker we get rid of the lobby system the better for all of us. I don't think in this day and age it is tenable to have these nods and winks, and on-the-record and off-the-record briefings.
Charles Kennedy
#16. I can hardly think of an occasion when I've got into a stand-up fight with any political opponent. I've got my views, people know what they are, they can agree or they can choose to disagree. I'm not going to waste time just rubbishing everybody else.
Charles Kennedy
#17. I think that former leaders are best seen occasionally and not too often heard - particularly on the subject of their successors!
Charles Kennedy
#19. Paddy Ashdown is the only party leader who's a trained killer. Although, to be fair, Mrs Thatcher was self taught.
Charles Kennedy
#20. For any new leader of any party at any given time it takes time if you are not in government to establish yourself.
Charles Kennedy
#21. When power is exercised exclusively at the centre, the result is rigidity of rules and alienation of the people subject to those rules.
Charles Kennedy
#22. It has been the greatest privilege of my adult and public life to have served, for 32 years, as the Member of Parliament for our local Highlands and Islands communities.
Charles Kennedy
#23. My favourite novel is Frederick Forsythe's Day Of The Jackal, the story about the unproven case of this apparent Englishman who was hired to assassinate De Gaulle....
Charles Kennedy
#24. Britain is a European power. We cannot change our geography. Our involvement in the politics of European cooperation is one of necessity. Our wealth and our security depend upon it.
Charles Kennedy
#25. A perennial problem that has faced the Scottish Highlands is that, time and again, too many of the more talented young people have had to move elsewhere - even abroad - through a lack of opportunities that should have been available.
Charles Kennedy
#26. The terrorist seeks to smash the most fundamental liberty of all: the right to lead our everyday lives on the basic assumption of safety.
Charles Kennedy
#27. It is my determination that we, as a party, continue to make that fundamental restatement of liberal values in the politics of our country.
Charles Kennedy
#28. Useful lessons can be learned from our more successful local authorities - as you move into government, it is even more imperative to communicate speedily and persuasively with your members and your voters.
Charles Kennedy
#29. We believe that government in Britain is there to protect people from terrorism and from the worst criminality, but never at the expense of our civil liberties and the basic tenets of our legal system.
Charles Kennedy
#30. We all accept the world would be safer without Saddam's baleful dictatorship.
Charles Kennedy
#31. Actually, I think it's quite sensible not to take yourself too seriously.
Charles Kennedy
#32. There stands no contradiction between giving voice to legitimate anxiety and at the same time, as and when exchange of fire commences, looking to the rest of the country, as well as all of us in the House, to give full moral support to our forces.
Charles Kennedy
#33. In my view, nations together are stronger than when they are isolated. And because they are stronger, their people are more free, not less.
Charles Kennedy
#34. We need a liberal agenda in which government resists the temptation to interfere in the lives of individuals but is equally determined to play an active role where creative action can advance the liberties of all.
Charles Kennedy
#35. I did not dwell on the issue of Europe during either the 2001 or the 2005 campaigns - despite it being a pivotal personal concern and despite seeing it as something of a litmus test for liberal democracy.
Charles Kennedy
#36. I believe that our country is a richer, more vibrant society precisely because it is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic society.
Charles Kennedy
#37. The government's instinct is to shroud itself in secrecy - to act like the office of a president instead of as a collective cabinet government held to account by the elected House of Commons.
Charles Kennedy
#38. With 24-hour news ... the story moves on with the media.
Charles Kennedy
#39. Westminster is a jungle - and the hunter can always smell fear on its prey.
Charles Kennedy
#40. We are no longer a nation of one church; we are a nation of many churches.
Charles Kennedy
#42. I happen to consider myself a Highlander even before a Scot; I am proud to be British yet feel comfortable as a European citizen.
Charles Kennedy
#43. Tony Blair took us to war in Iraq on the basis of the supposed threat of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.
Charles Kennedy
#44. Ours is a stable country. Ours is a sensible country. And ours is a fundamentally decent country.
Charles Kennedy
#45. I want to see far more decisions taken far closer to the patients, the passengers and the pupils. Far more power for locally and regionally elected politicians who understand best the needs of their areas. And far more say too for the dedicated staff at all levels in health and education.
Charles Kennedy
#46. I don't actually subscribe to the view that all power corrupts. But absolute power - when secured on the back of massive parliamentary majorities, which don't reflect the balance of political opinion in the country - can corrupt absolutely.
Charles Kennedy
#47. We want a strong, vibrant economy for Britain so that we can set out a clear and affordable alternative programme for government.
Charles Kennedy
#48. The House of Lords has many fine aspects, but at its heart, it is a betrayal of the core democratic principle that those in the enlightened world hold so dear - that those who make the laws of the land should be elected by those who must obey those laws.
Charles Kennedy
#49. Soon after the 1997 election, I argued that there was no inverse law of political gravity which said that everything which went down had to come back up.
Charles Kennedy
#50. When it comes to our public services, decentralisation means giving power back to those on the front line - our doctors, nurses, teachers and physiotherapists, and our locally elected officials.
Charles Kennedy
#51. The one thing we can all be sure about in politics is you are as well to expect the unexpected.
Charles Kennedy
#52. I listened to the students on campus in Plymouth, worried about their steadily deepening debts and how on earth they would ever escape them.
Charles Kennedy
#53. My idealism has not abated, but I have witnessed it withering away nationwide, to the point where at least among the young, to have ideals is akin to being blinkered and oldfashioned.
Charles Kennedy
#54. Of all the principles which constitute Liberal Democracy, internationalism is the clearest, the most distinctive, and the one with the longest history.
Charles Kennedy
#55. This country has a proud history of opening its doors to generations of people fleeing personal persecution, civil unrest and war.
Charles Kennedy
#56. Like John Major in her wake, Thatcher was convinced that she understood the Scots - yet couldn't understand why we remained so stubbornly resistant towards the notion of understanding her.
Charles Kennedy
#57. Those who use our public services should be able to deal directly with those who manage and deliver them.
Charles Kennedy
#58. Only the Liberal Democrats have probed the government's failings consistently, thoroughly and effectively.
Charles Kennedy
#59. Gratification and happiness are becoming important measures of our quality of life.
Charles Kennedy
#60. Terrorism gravely threatens international peace and security, and as a solution, the power and apparent finality of force are seductive.
Charles Kennedy
#61. My approach is always to try to be straight with people, especially about what my party can achieve.
Charles Kennedy
#62. The most special relationships, in my experience, are based on a combination of trust and mutual respect.
Charles Kennedy
#63. Liberals have been committed to the principles of human rights, international stability, and international justice. They have also sought international solutions to those problems which have demanded collective attention.
Charles Kennedy
#64. Politics means facing up to hard choices and facing down prejudice, short-termism, the easy, tempting court of knee-jerk public reaction.
Charles Kennedy
#65. I believe when the country feels threatened it is important that we are seen to be working together to find an appropriate structure for dealing with terrorists in our midst.
Charles Kennedy
#67. I couldn't imagine a day without music. It relaxes and stimulates me in equal measure and I hate the sound of silence - the concept, I mean, not the track by Simon and Garfunkel.
Charles Kennedy
#68. To be seen to be human, provided you're doing your job at the same time, is definitely not a negative, not at all.
Charles Kennedy
#69. Fair votes - fundamentally - are about the rights and the interests of the people.
Charles Kennedy
#70. Taking a principled and consistent stance over Iraq has attracted much criticism from our detractors and opponents.
Charles Kennedy
#71. The point never to lose sight of is to be guided by the correct thing, as you see it. It's the only way to approach such profound matters and retain your integrity.
Charles Kennedy
#72. The late Roy Jenkins was both a mentor and a personal friend. He was a man of both phenomenal intellect and political achievement in equal measure.
Charles Kennedy
#73. I'm not someone who dwells upon past events, taking the view that life is too short.
Charles Kennedy
#74. Political parties need to look at the different kinds of support that people may need, suited to their way of life, and provide cost-effective solutions.
Charles Kennedy
#75. Immigrants provide skills that we simply cannot afford to do without. They have contributed hugely to Britain's success.
Charles Kennedy
#76. That 1983 general election contained the telltale seeds of eventual Scottish Tory self-destruction.
Charles Kennedy
#77. Many people want to scale back their working hours as they near the end of their careers, but not necessarily to give up work altogether.
Charles Kennedy
#78. We need less theoretical debate and more practical application and acknowledgment of what Europe can and does do so that it is brought home to people in a relevant way.
Charles Kennedy
#79. Just as we Liberal Democrats opposed the flawed logic of that war in Iraq - we will oppose the flawed government claim that we have to surrender our fundamental rights in order to improve our security.
Charles Kennedy
#80. We Liberal Democrats believe in dialogue. We believe in cooperation with both sides of industry and between both sides of industry. And we believe in the language of cooperation. We reject the language of confrontation.
Charles Kennedy
#81. Democracy demands trust. It demands that sense of mutual understanding. And - it's a two way street. You've got to give - as much as you take.
Charles Kennedy
#82. There is always a temptation for governments: see a problem and announce a quick fix.
Charles Kennedy
#83. 'Federalism', in the context of political and media usage in Britain, has come to mean the creation and imposition of a European superstate, one centralised in Brussels.
Charles Kennedy
#84. Politicians are good at saying how Government must do more, but we must also think carefully about where Government should do less.
Charles Kennedy
#85. People have a huge desire to be listened to, for politicians to take the time to understand their problems.
Charles Kennedy
#86. Professionally I would say taking up my constituents' problems is something I continue to enjoy after 22 years as an MP.
Charles Kennedy
#87. To involve young people and make sure that the system is more relevant to them in Scotland, we have a clear obligation to implement a policy of home rule.
Charles Kennedy
#88. We Liberal Democrats don't believe we should use the tax structure to champion just one type of family.
Charles Kennedy
#89. I have always considered myself of the reforming centre-left.
Charles Kennedy
#90. A society which is liberal democratic cannot have public policy determined upon the basis of who has got the loudest voice - or who can brings things to a halt.
Charles Kennedy
#91. Speaking to numerous teachers and nurses, I am consistently struck by the sense of mission they have about their work.
Charles Kennedy
#92. Whatever the eventual judgment, the political implications of Hutton are already clear. A devastating indictment of Labour in power - and of our political system itself.
Charles Kennedy
#93. As Liberal Democrats and proponents of federalism, we must put our heads above the parapet and recapture and disseminate the true meaning of federalism. We have to win the vocabulary before we succeed in the vision.
Charles Kennedy
#94. Labour politicians for generations have fought to bring democracy to the House of Lords.
Charles Kennedy
#95. I want our party to step up its efforts to reflect and champion the concerns of everybody who has reached the second half of their lives.
Charles Kennedy
#96. I know from my own parents how important active older people are to a local community.
Charles Kennedy
#97. To run an effective political party you need a degree of tribalism, it's the glue that holds everyone together.
Charles Kennedy
#98. Yes, you need substance in politics - but I think your style also says something about how you arrive at some of your conclusions.
Charles Kennedy
#99. If you were to describe me as teetotal, on behalf of my constituency I'd have to sue; that would lose me every vote in the Highlands.
Charles Kennedy
#100. By common consent, most European countries support the maintenance of robust welfare states and are comfortable with taxation systems that support them.
Charles Kennedy
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