William Shawcross Quotes

#1. Weapons of mass destruction are the greatest threat to life on earth. Biological weapons are often called the poor man's atomic bomb. Saddam Hussein is the ruler who has for decades been making the most determined and diabolical illegal effort to acquire them.

William Shawcross

#2. Writing or talking about famine and the world's response to it is not very easy.

William Shawcross

#3. All I can say is, 'Damn the exam!

William Shawcross

#4. Cambodia was not a mistake; it was a crime. The world is diminished by the experience.

William Shawcross

#5. If trustees feel it is in their charity's interest to pay high salaries to attract talented people, then they should have the courage of their conviction and explain their decisions publicly.

William Shawcross

#6. You cannot do justice to the dead. When we talk about doing justice to the dead we are talking about retribution for the harm done to them. But retribution and justice are two different things.

William Shawcross

#7. Charities should not become the junior partner in the welfare state; whether or not they provide services funded by Government or, indeed, receive grants from Government, they must remain independent and focused on their mission.

William Shawcross

#8. The important point was that whatever errors America had made [in Vietnam] "we are so powerful [according to Secretary Kissinger] that Hanoi is simply unable to defeat us militarily" and must therefore eventually be forced to compromise.

William Shawcross

#9. A few weeks before the jubilee began in 2002, Queen Elizabeth died, and the public outpouring of grief and affection, with hundreds of thousands of people queuing for hours to pass by her coffin, showed how widely and deeply loved she was.

William Shawcross

#10. Most Muslim charities are run by good people.

William Shawcross