John Major Quotes and Sayings - Page 2

“'Government gets things right' does not encourage sales. 'Government makes another blunder' does encourage sales, so there's a commercial imperative that pushes sensationalism.”
-- John Major

#Government #Doe #Blunders

“You've had an extremely weak euro on the foreign exchange markets, you've had a very dubious policy being followed.”
-- John Major

#Dubious #Weak #Foreign Exchange

“I think it's extremely unlikely that the European Union will fracture with nations dropping off the edge.”
-- John Major

#Thinking #Unions #Dropping

“I like the best of the British press. The best of the British press is very good.”
-- John Major

#British #Very Good

“I don't think it's the role of the prime minister to court the press.”
-- John Major

#Thinking #Roles #Prime

“I don't have a shred of regret about entering the exchange-rate mechanism.”
-- John Major

#Regret #Entering #Rate

“Certainly we've seen the enormous changes across the whole of the Middle East. The democratic genie is out of the bottle.”
-- John Major

#Middle East #Bottles #Enormous

“I have a huge admiration for the House of Lords, I have a huge admiration for the people who work in the House of Lords, they're great public servants and they do an absolutely tremendous job.”
-- John Major

#Jobs #People #House

“What happens when there is a conflict between the Scottish parliament, if it was established, and the Westminster parliament? Who is supreme?”
-- John Major

#Conflict #Scottish #Parliament

“There are more myths about Black Wednesday than the Greeks ever created.”
-- John Major

#Greek #Black #Myth

“It is time to return to core values, time to get back to basics , to self-discipline and respect for the law, to consideration for the others, to accepting responsibility for yourself and your family - and not shuffling it off on other people and the state.”
-- John Major

#Responsibility #Self #Law

“A consensus politician is someone who does something that he doesn't believe is right because it keeps people quiet when he does it.”
-- John Major

#Believe #People #Doe

“I inherited a sick economy and passed on a sound one. But one abiding regret for me is that, in between, I did not have the resources to put in place the educational and social changes about which I cared to much; I made only a beginning, and it was not enough.”
-- John Major

#Regret #Educational #Sick

“I don't think nations can stand aside for ethnic cleansing and genocide.”
-- John Major

#Thinking #Cleansing #Genocide

“The first requirement of politics is not intellect or stamina but patience. Politics is a very long run game and the tortoise will usually beat the hare.”
-- John Major

#Patience #Running #Games

“I think the biggest mistake I made was this wretched ability to see both sides of an argument.”
-- John Major

#Mistake #Thinking #Sides

“I think the majority of the British people are still sanguine about the need for war.”
-- John Major

#War #Thinking #People

“Life is full of surprises.”
-- John Major

#Life Is #Surprise #Life Is Full Of Surprises

“When the euro was born, it was born in the wrong economic circumstances.”
-- John Major

#Economic #Born #Circumstances

“Whatever efforts for peace President Gorbachev had in mind, they were pretty substantially undercut very swiftly by Saddam Hussein.”
-- John Major

#Effort #Mind #President

“Well British troops are superb in the field in terms of conflict.”
-- John Major

#Fields #Troops #Conflict

“Only in Britain could it be thought a defect to be too clever by half. The probability is that too many people are too stupid by three-quarters.”
-- John Major

#Clever #Stupid #Silly

“If we want to deliver opportunity for all, we need an economy that delivers jobs for the future.”
-- John Major

#Jobs #Opportunity #Needs

“I'm not about to write my memoirs. Not for a long time.”
-- John Major

#Writing #Long #Memoir

“I want Britain to punch its weight in the European Community.”
-- John Major

#Community #Weight #Want

“I thought I could do something different from any Conservative prime minister before me. But I couldn't.”
-- John Major

#Different #Conservative #Prime

“I think we can get respect for Parliament back providing governments and oppositions are frank.”
-- John Major

#Thinking #Government #Parliament

“I am walking over hot coals suspended over a deep pit at the bottom of which are a large number of vipers baring their fangs.”
-- John Major

#Numbers #Hot #Coal

“Of course there are regrets. I shall regret always that I found my own authentic voice in politics. I was too conservative, too conventional. Too safe, too often. Too defensive. Too reactive. Later, too often on the back foot.”
-- John Major

#Regret #Voice #Feet

“Liberty is equally desirable to the good and to the bad, to the brave and to the dastardly.”
-- John Major

#Brave #Liberty