Mart Laar quotes

“My name is Mart Laar. I have been twice Prime Minister of Estonia, and I'm not an economist.”
-- Mart Laar

Source : "What Would the World Look Like if Economists Were in Charge?". Interview with Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics Radio, March 24, 2010.

#Names Quotes #Estonia Quotes #Prime Quotes

“When you grow up in the Soviet society under the communists you heard about the one man who is especially dangerous, especially crazy, and absolutely mad, and which would destroy all the human beings and the economies and so on, and this man was called Milton Friedman.”
-- Mart Laar

Source : Interview with Stephen J. Dubner, 'Freakonomics Radio' podcast, March 24, 2010.

#Growing Up Quotes #Crazy Quotes #Men Quotes

“The flat tax I got on my first meeting with Margaret Thatcher, who I admired very much and who was a great admirer of Milton Friedman. I met her first when I had been prime minister I think for some months and so on, and when I told her what I am planning to do, she looked at me with these big eyes and said "you are one brave young man." And then a little bit introduced me on the realities of the Western world on which I was not very well informed. But I didn't stop.”
-- Mart Laar

Source : Interview with Stephen J. Dubner at "'Freakonomics Radio" podcast, March 24, 2010.

#Eye Quotes #Reality Quotes #Men Quotes

“The effort of building an ideal society always leads to violence, often to very extensive violence. Because, whether we like it or not, it is not possible to create an ideal society with imperfect people. And this, unfortunately, we are. So the main purpose for Nazism as well as for Communism was to create a 'new person'. In order to make room for it, the world needed to be rid of its non-perfect models.”
-- Mart Laar

#Order Quotes #People Quotes #Perfect Quotes

“Who has not seen that feeling born of flame Crimson the cheek at mention of a name? The rapturous touch of some divine surpriseFlash deep suffusion of celestial dyes: When hands clasped hands, and lips to lips were pressed, And the heart's secret was at once confessed?”

“We all name ourselves. We call ourselves artists. Nobody asks us. Nobody says you are or you aren't.”

“We feel free. We're independent. People can be openly proud of being Estonian. I have a lot of belief in Estonia.”

“You know what I always dreamed of? That with the greenhouse effect, one day Estonia can be what L.A. is right now. I always thought when the end of the world comes, I want to be in Estonia. I think then I'd survive.”

“You could go to Estonia and there's probably an episode of 'Seinfeld' playing there. Television is a very powerful thing.”

“One of my contemporaries, a colorless chap who worked much harder at his law studies, is now Prime Minister.”

“Every cabinet minister gets a mission statement from the Prime Minister.”

“I grew up thinking that if I wanted to go be prime minister, I could.”

“Energy is the prime mover of all we see and know. You change the energy and your body has to respond.”

“It is now in Gordon Brown's - and the Labour party's - best interests for those seeking the prime minister's immediate departure to back off”

Source : "Blair faces crisis over resignations" by Matthew Tempest, www.theguardian.com. September 6, 2006.