George Osborne Quotations

If someone believes that living on benefits is a lifestyle choice, then we need to make them think again.

The British people think that if someone is disabled, then they should get all the care and support that we can offer.

I didn't come from a traditional Tory background; it was urban and metropolitan.

Well British pension funds have not been investing the savings of British people in British infrastructure.

I would say I have taken substantive action to make things easier for people.

Just as we should never balance the budget on the backs of the poor, so it is an economic delusion to think you can balance it only on the wallets of the rich.

The Conservative party, the modern Conservative party, is on the side of people who want to work hard and get on.

If we don't get a grip on government spending, there will be no growth.

Well can I just say unlike my predecessors, Conservative and Labour, I have set up an independent body that studies whether what I'm saying is true, whether I've met the targets that I set out.

I'm a Conservative who believes in lower taxes. They lead to a more enterprising economy. But I'm not somebody who believes you can fund lower taxes by borrowing more money.

A generous basic state pension is the least a civilized society should offer those who have worked hard and saved through their whole lives.

The rise in world oil prices has been larger than anyone forecast.

I think you can look at the British economy with confidence.

You really have to try hard to create space and, at least for a time, stop the political world from rushing in. The important thing is to remain sane.

Cutting budget deficits can never be just an exercise in economics.

The positive news is that the British economy is continuing to grow and is creating jobs. And it is positive news too that at a time of real international instability we are a safe haven in the storm.

I will listen to any argument put to me.

Of all the public services, education is the one I'm most interested in. You get a more dynamic economy, you deal with most social problems, and it's morally right.

Believe me, I understand that most higher rate taxpayers are not the super-rich.

Britain has no divine right to be one of the richest countries in the world.

The Conservative Party mustn't sound like the old man on the park bench who says things were better in 1985, or 1955, or 1855.

I had the closest thing I have ever had to an out-of-body experience lying in bed one morning. I turned on the 'Today' programme and item four on the news was: 'The shadow chancellor has ruled himself out of the leadership.' I lay there thinking that's interesting, then I realised it was me.

If you want to change the way your banking system is regulated, if you want to learn the mistakes of what's gone wrong, then you have to change your government.

Tax cuts should be for life, not just for Christmas.

What this country needs is a Chancellor with his mind on the job not on inheriting the Prime Minister's crown.

Working in the Major government, we all saw, pretty close at hand - perhaps closer than a junior minister - the problems that the party was facing, ... Those who learned the lessons, and those who didn't. I did. I still for the life of me can't work out why Blair and Brown didn't. The euro would be like an ERM that we couldn't even leave.

Most successful politicians don't let the job swamp their lives.

Unless they have disabilities to cope with, no family should get more from living on benefits than the average family gets from going out to work. No more open-ended chequebook.

I think the British people are very, very attached to the idea that the health service is free at the point of use. But there is no reason why every doctor, nurse and teacher in this country has to be employed by the state.

The allegations are completely untrue, and dredging up a photo from when I was 22 years old is pretty desperate stuff. This is merely part of an absurd smear campaign to divert attention from the issues that matter in this leadership contest.

Falling investment and poor productivity threaten Britain's long-term economic growth and competitiveness in the new global economy.

Brown is an old-fashioned tax-and-spend chancellor who cannot give the leadership we need to face the challenges of the new global economy.

They all said I was a very young guy. Well there is nothing I can do about that but with each day that passes the problem solves itself.

The taxpayer is footing the bill for his failure to reform the public services, and Gordon Brown's lack of fiscal responsibility will damage our ability to compete in the new global economy.

I've learned to be true to yourself, stick to the big arguments, don't get distracted by the everyday kerfuffle that is in the nature of any democratic system.

A friend had an airplane. I went for a ride and it turned into a passion, ... My family has flown and camped everywhere from the Florida Keys to 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Some things never change, suck up to the government and you get an honour.

It's normally the kiss of death to be identified as a rising star, or someone to watch.

It's not easy cutting welfare bills. It's not easy cutting the deficit.

It's perfectly reasonable in a coalition between two political parties that you get supporters of those parties you know stressing the things they want to stress.

Taxes have gone up, spending has gone up, waste of government money has vastly increased, and I think people will say he frittered away a very strong economic inheritance.

There was a real fear that a euro-zone bank might fail, that we'd have a sovereign debt problem in one of the larger European economies. That's dissipated, thanks largely to the action of the European Central Bank.

I'm not going out to parties every night.

In opposition, you move to the centre. In government, you move the centre.

Well you know I've attracted a lot of criticism by, for example, suggesting that child benefit should be taken away from higher rate taxpaying families.

The foundations of a strong economy don't rest alone on the decisions of Chancellors or the spending programmes of government.

I understand the damage the expenses crisis has done to Parliament, and the paramount importance of restoring trust in our politics.

I support gay marriage. I support gay marriage because I believe Conservatives support the institutions of commitment.

I reject absolutely the idea that people should know their place, and know their class.

I have done everything I can to move Britain out of the financial danger zone.

I get a lot of letters from people.

I believe in public services.

You know the illusion of the cheap money is over and now Britain has to go out there and graft and earn its way and create wealth and prosperity in a very competitive world.

Our first benchmark is to cut the deficit more quickly to safeguard Britain’s credit rating. I know that we are taking a political gamble to set this up as a measure of success. Protecting the credit rating will not be easy The pace of fiscal consolidation will be co-ordinated with monetary policy. And we will protect Britain's credit rating and international reputation.

There are those who are trying to create an anti-business culture in Britain - and we have to stop them. At stake are not pay packages for a few but jobs and prosperity for the many. Everything in politics encourages more red tape - everyone insists government must step in - 'something must be done' is always the cry. We have to resist these pressures.

It is not fair that people who are born in the UK to parents who are domiciled here, can later in life claim to be non-doms and live here, it is not fair that non-doms with residential property here in the UK can put it in an offshore company and avoid inheritance tax.

We need to think deeply about whether we can sustain banks that are not only too big to fail, but potentially too big to bail.

No other chancellor in the long history of the office has felt the need to pass a law in order to convince people he has the political will to implement his own Budget.

I did meet Mickey Mouse in California, and he seems to be writing the Labour party's economic policy at the moment.

If you're looking for ways to cut waste in government, you can start with John Prescott.

When you look at the things people are really fed up with, like the collapse of the pension system, like the failure to get money to the frontline of the health service, Gordon Brown is more responsible for that than any other politician including Tony Blair

I want Britain to be the home of successful competitive and stable financial services.

I want Britain to be a global financial centre but I want it to be properly regulated.

Every day as Chancellor I see alerts telling me of risks around the world.

I believe that I'm entitled to regard my pre-political life as off-limits in terms of what can be looked at and judged.

Autism is a very serious condition.

You cannot tackle Britain's debts without tackling the unreformed welfare system.

I want to see genuine talent rewarded.

Britain needs a simpler tax system which is simple to understand, where there are no loop-holes, where the very rich do not avoid tax by employing expensive accountants

Everyone in our society has had to make a contribution towards dealing with the debts.

I was shocked to see that some of the very wealthiest people in the country have organised their tax affairs, and to be fair it's within the tax laws, so that they were regularly paying virtually no income tax. And I don't think that's right.

We will also target tax evasion and off-shore tax havens... Everyone must pay their share.

I think the British people have a strong sense of what is fair.

Well look, no one takes pleasure from people making money out of the misery of others, but that is a function of capitalist markets.

Printing money is the last resort of desperate governments when all other policies have failed.

Gordon Brown's lack of fiscal responsibility will damage our ability to compete, and mean further tax rises for hard working families.

The loon is the oldest bird and is the fastest-flying amphibian. And they have a call as unique as this airplane,