Top 100 David Cameron Quotes
#1. Terms are like shredded wheat - two are wonderful, but three might just be too many.
David Cameron
#2. It's not just other countries in Europe having a say over what we do. It's unelected bureaucrats in Brussels on sort of six-figure, huge salaries telling us how we run our country despite having never stood for an election themselves.
David Cameron
#3. I have a very clear view, which is that if you disagree with the policies of Israel, fine, say so, but that is never a reason to take that out on Jewish communities.
David Cameron
#4. Press freedom does not mean that the press should be above the law. While it's vital that a free press can tell truth to power, it is equally important that those in power can tell truth to the press.
David Cameron
#5. There is not, in my view, a single European demos.
David Cameron
#6. It's time we admitted that there's more to life than money, and it's time we focused not just on GDP, but on GWB - general well-being
David Cameron
#7. The murders in Paris are sickening, we stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press.
David Cameron
#8. All those countries who keep their aid promises should be proud of what they've done
David Cameron
#9. There is a growing frustration that the EU is seen as something that is done to people rather than acting on their behalf. And this is being intensified by the very solutions required to resolve the economic problems.
David Cameron
#10. From Caesar's legions to the Napoleonic wars. From the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the industrial revolution to the defeat of nazism. We have helped to write European history, and Europe has helped write ours.
David Cameron
#11. The best chapters in our economic history are those that embrace the many, not the few.
David Cameron
#12. The political system is broken, the economy is broken and so is society. That is why people are so depressed about the state of our country.
David Cameron
#13. We all say in our own lives that money isn't everything. Love matters, friendships matter. My relationship with my kids matters. It shouldn't be a giant leap to take that thought and introduce it into political dialogue
David Cameron
#14. People are crying out for a Conservative Party that is decent, reasonable, common sense and in it for the long term of this country.
David Cameron
#15. As PM, you have got to do everything from chairing the Cabinet to ceremonial things. You have also got to do the nitty gritty. I do get stuck into the detail.
David Cameron
#16. In a race for limited resources, it is the energy efficient that will win the race
David Cameron
#17. No treaty should be ratified without consulting the British people in a referendum
David Cameron
#18. I believe it is wrong to undermine public safety, and indeed public confidence in the concept of human rights, by allowing highly dangerous criminals and terrorists to trump the rights of the people of Britain to live in security and peace
David Cameron
#19. Lots of people call me Dave, my mum calls me David, my wife calls me Dave, I don't really notice what people call me.
David Cameron
#20. You've taxed too much, borrowed too much and are a roadblock to reform.
David Cameron
#21. But we will say something else. That for far too long in this country, people who can work, people who are able to work, and people who choose not to work: you cannot go on claiming welfare like you are now.
David Cameron
#22. My question right now would be to Colonel Gaddafi, which is: 'What on earth do you think you are doing? Stop it.'
David Cameron
#23. We will say to people that if you can work, and if you want to work, we will do everything we can to help you. We will give you the training, we will give you the support, we will give you the advice to get you going and get you back at work.
David Cameron
#24. The prime minister says he has a vision for change, well put that to the people of the country.
David Cameron
#25. There definitely comes a time where a fresh pair of eyes and fresh leadership would be good, and the Conservative Party has got some great people coming up - the Theresa Mays, and the George Osbornes, and the Boris Johnsons.
David Cameron
#26. Before people break the law, they need strong families - adult authority figures and the love of the family. When they step over the line, I'm a Tory. I believe in tough responses, in the law coming down on people like a ton of bricks.
David Cameron
#27. Britain is characterised not just by its independence but, above all, by its openness. We have always been a country that reaches out. That turns its face to the world ...
David Cameron
#28. Whatever new arrangements are enacted for the Eurozone, they must work fairly for those inside it and out.
David Cameron
#29. Any government I lead will continue with the equality of gay and lesbian people.
David Cameron
#30. Today the main, over-riding purpose of the European Union is different: not to win peace, but to secure prosperity.
David Cameron
#32. Normally when people say they haven't decided, they're being polite but they're definitely not voting for you. I think it's different this time. People are thinking hard about the issues.
David Cameron
#33. Far from being a drag on growth, making our energy sources more sustainable, our energy consumption more efficient, and our economy more resilient to energy price shocks - those things are a vital part of the growth and wealth that we need
David Cameron
#34. You don't have to be a brilliant historian to know that in Europe, messing with countries' borders, messing with their self-determination, their ability to choose their own futures, this is extremely dangerous, and that's why I think it is important to stand up to Putin.
David Cameron
#35. We need the Chinese to - you know, spend more, save less - consume more and not be so focused on exports. There are big changes we need in the world.
David Cameron
#36. It [European Union] has kept the peace in Europe. Countries used to fight and now they talk. We should be attached to that.
David Cameron
#37. Cap the well, yes. Clear up the mess, yes. Make compensation - yes, absolutely. But would it be right to have legislation that independently targets BP rather than other companies? I don't think that - would be right.
David Cameron
#38. I'll be explaining that Britain will be leaving the European Union, but I want that process to be as constructive as possible. And I hope the outcome can be as constructive as possible because of course while we're leaving the European Union, we mustn't be turning our backs on Europe.
David Cameron
#39. People are increasingly frustrated that decisions taken further and further away from them mean their living standards are slashed through enforced austerity or their taxes are used to bail out governments on the other side of the continent.
David Cameron
#40. For me, and I suspect for lots of other people too, bad things actually sometimes make you think more about faith and the fact that you're not facing these things on your own.
David Cameron
#41. There's another way we are getting behind business - by sorting out the banks. Taxpayers bailed you out. Now it's time for you to repay the favour and start lending to Britain's small businesses.
David Cameron
#42. Britain is not in the single currency, and we're not going to be. But we all need the eurozone to have the right governance and structures to secure a successful currency for the long term.
David Cameron
#43. It's probably the most unpopular policy I'm responsible for. I know it is very unpopular, culling badgers. But I believe it is the right thing to do. You have to make choices as a politician. Sometimes it means doing something you know people don't like.
David Cameron
#44. I want to talk about the internet, the impact it is having on the innocence of our children, how online pornography is corroding childhood and how, in the darkest corners of the internet, there are things going on that are a direct danger to our children, and that must be stamped out.
David Cameron
#45. Half a century ago, the amazing courage of Rosa Parks, the visionary leadership of Martin Luther King, and the inspirational actions of the civil rights movement led politicians to write equality into the law and make real the promise of America for all her citizens.
David Cameron
#46. I will do everything I can in future to help this great country succeed.
David Cameron
#47. I love cooking; it's a very good way to get your mind off things.
David Cameron
#48. For me, there is no greater sunshine in politics or in life than to have a job, security for your family, a good school place where you know your child is going, and the sense that if I put in, there will be a decent, secure retirement at the end of it all.
David Cameron
#49. You will feel the full force of the law and if you are old enough to commit these crimes you are old enough to face the punishments. And to these people I would say this: you are not only wrecking the lives of others, you are potentially wrecking your own life too.
David Cameron
#50. I want the European Union to be a success. And I want a relationship between Britain and the EU that keeps us in it.
David Cameron
#51. Our participation in the single market, and our ability to help set its rules is the principal reason for our membership of the EU. So it is a vital interest for us to protect the integrity and fairness of the single market for all its members.
David Cameron
#52. One of the things I most admire about America is they have created a genuine melting pot society, a country of opportunity; you can be of any religion, colour, ethnicity, persuasion and make it to the top of your chosen field. And that's something I admire about America and hope they continue with.
David Cameron
#53. The world economy is more stable than for a generation ... Our hugely sophisticated financial markets match funds with ideas better than ever before.
David Cameron
#54. Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.
David Cameron
#55. I mean UKIP, I mean it's just a sort of, you know, bunch of fruitcakes and loonies and closet racists, basically.
David Cameron
#56. Now I know which came first - the chicken not the egg.
David Cameron
#57. Whether you either passionately think we should stay in, or on balance think we should stay in, or on a balance of risks think we should stay in - for heaven's sake get out and vote in, because you might wake up and find out you're out.
David Cameron
#58. My fear is turnout. I think a lot of people might think: 'Well, in the end, it's the rational thing to stay, but I'll let other people make that choice for me.' Don't. This is very close, no doubt about it.
David Cameron
#59. The biggest danger to the European Union comes not from those who advocate change, but from those who denounce new thinking as heresy. In its long history Europe has experience of heretics who turned out to have a point.
David Cameron
#60. We are the reformers. Reform ends if we leave, not just for us but also our friends in Europe who want our voice heard in Europe.
David Cameron
#61. The benefits cap is right in principle because people don't pay their taxes so that families who could work don't work. People pay their taxes so we support people who really need to be supported.
David Cameron
#62. Taken as a whole, Europe's share of world output is projected to fall by almost a third in the next two decades. This is the competitiveness challenge - and much of our weakness in meeting it is self-inflicted. Complex rules restricting our labour markets are not some naturally occurring phenomenon.
David Cameron
#63. Government has the power to help improve well-being
David Cameron
#64. I'm all for apprenticeships, but this is no time for a novice.
David Cameron
#65. Nelson Mandela was a towering figure in our time; a legend in life and now in death - a true global hero
David Cameron
#66. I like democracy. I like to be able to throw out my political leaders when they get things wrong, and we don't get to do that with Brussels.
David Cameron
#67. I want to be the voice of change and hope. I want to confront the big challenges this country faces.
David Cameron
#68. Competitiveness demands flexibility, choice and openness - or Europe will fetch up in a no-man's land between the rising economies of Asia and market-driven North America.
David Cameron
#69. I don't want to be Prime Minister of England, I want to be Prime Minister of the whole of the United Kingdom.
David Cameron
#70. If we are going to try to get across to the poorest people in the world that we care about their plight and we want them to join one world with the rest of us, we have got to make promises and keep promises.
David Cameron
#71. My view is, the most important thing as prime minister is trying to make the right judgments. In order to make good judgments, you need good advice; you need good principles, and you need a clear head, and you need to have a sense of equilibrium.
David Cameron
#72. It does not seem to me that the steps which would be needed to make Britain - and others - more comfortable in their relationship in the European Union are inherently so outlandish or unreasonable.
David Cameron
#73. I would be heartbroken if I ever thought that people in the Jewish community thought that Britain was no longer a safe place for them.
David Cameron
#74. We spend billions of pounds on welfare, yet millions are trapped on welfare. It's not worth their while going into work.
David Cameron
#75. I think it will help people have a better work-life balance, that's really important - that's the centre ground for me, it's the issues people care about in their lives.
David Cameron
#76. As far as I am concerned this referendum should settle the matter. I believe it will one way or another be decisive. Britain will not want to go through this again. On the other hand if we vote to leave, this really is irreversible.
David Cameron
#77. Elections aren't about records, they're about plans and choices.
David Cameron
#78. It's time to place the market within a moral framework - even if that means standing up to companies who make life harder for parents and families.
David Cameron
#79. I've always said, not giving too much away, I'm a believer in having all your stars on the pitch ...
David Cameron
#80. Countries are different. They make different choices. We cannot harmonise everything.
David Cameron
#81. For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.
David Cameron
#82. It is so important for European countries, post-Second World War, to prove that they can be successful multiethnic and multiracial democracies. I think we in Britain have had great success in avoiding the hatreds and prejudices of the past.
David Cameron
#83. At a time when we're having to take such difficult decisions about how to cut back without damaging the things that matter the most, we should strain every sinew to cut error, waste and fraud.
David Cameron
#84. In the past we used to think of poverty in absolute terms - meaning straightforward material deprivation ... We need to think of poverty in relative terms - the fact that some people lack those things which others in society take for granted.
David Cameron
#85. Edward Heath and Richard Nixon took personal awkwardness with each other to new and excruciating levels.
David Cameron
#86. Christmas gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us - a time when we can look back on the year that has passed and prepare for the year ahead.
David Cameron
#87. I think in any organisation it's right to set out what you stand for, what you're fighting for and bring that together in one document so that people can see that the modern compassionate Conservative Party is in it for everybody - not just the rich
David Cameron
#88. Billions raised, billions spent. No idea where the money has gone. With a record like that the chancellor should be running for treasurer of the Labour Party.
David Cameron
#89. If you lose control of your debt and deficit, you get massive cuts in things such as health and education. You get appalling insecurity, jobs lost, firms going overseas.
David Cameron
#90. Because with courage and conviction I believe we can deliver a more flexible, adaptable and open European Union in which the interests and ambitions of all its members can be met.
David Cameron
#91. There are some people who seem to think that the way you reduce the cost of living in this country is for the state to spend more and more taxpayers' money. It is as if somehow you measure the compassion of the government by the amount of other people's money it can spend.
David Cameron
#92. There should be no means of communication which we cannot read.
David Cameron
#93. There is such a thing as society. It's just not the same thing as the state.
David Cameron
#94. We have put our country on solid ground, but let me tell you: The next five years are much, much more important. The next five years are about turning the good news in our economy into a good life for you and your family.
David Cameron
#95. At the core of the European Union must be, as it is now, the single market. Britain is at the heart of that Single Market, and must remain so.
David Cameron
#96. Yes, America must do the right thing, but to provide moral leadership, America must do it in the right way, too.
David Cameron
#98. Strong views exist on both sides but I believe MPs voting for gay people being able to marry too, is a step forward for our country.
David Cameron
#99. 2012 has been an extraordinary year for our country. We cheered our Queen to the rafters with the Jubilee, showed the world what we're made of by staging the most spectacular Olympic and Paralympic Games ever and - let's not forget - punched way above our weight in the medals table.
David Cameron
#100. We will reflect the country we aspire to govern, and the sound of modern Britain is a complex harmony, not a male voice choir.
David Cameron
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