Tony Blair Quotations

Human progress has never been shaped by commentators, complainers or cynics.

My view is that you still, in order to win from the Labour perspective, have to have a strong alliance with business as well as the unions. You have got to be very much in the centre ground on things like public sector reform.

You only require two things in life: your sanity and your wife.

It is not an arrogant government that chooses priorities, it's an irresponsible government that fails to choose.

Genetic modification has many different areas, for example in medicine, and Britain is at the leading edge of this new technology. I don't know, but people tell me, it could indeed by the leading science of the 21st century. All I say to people is: 'Just keep an open mind and let us proceed according to genuine scientific evidence.'

I can only go one way. I've not got a reverse gear.

I didn't come into politics to change the Labour Party. I came into politics to change the country.

The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.

Sometimes it is better to lose and do the right thing than to win and do the wrong thing.

Anywhere, anytime ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.

The purpose of terrorism lies not just in the violent act itself. It is in producing terror. It sets out to inflame, to divide, to produce consequences which they then use to justify further terror.

I feel like everyone else in this country today. I am utterly devastated.

There is no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: Defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it we must.

My faith foundation works to bring about a greater respect and understanding between different faiths. We basically work with six popular religions in the world which are the three Abrahamic religions, Hinduism and Buddhism and Sikhism.

Leaders lead but in the end it's the people who deliver.

Whatever the dangers of the action we take, the dangers of inaction are far, far greater.

Every so often, I feel I should graduate to classical music, properly. But the truth is, I'm more likely to listen to rock music.

My dad was a militant atheist, or is a militant atheist. My mum was sort of bought up in a religious family because she was a Protestant from Ireland but wasn't especially religious.

But as I always say to people I'm essentially a public service person.

In April 1991, after the Gulf war, Iraq was given 15 days to provide a full and final declaration of all its WMD.

I say to the Taliban: surrender the terrorists; or surrender power. It's your choice.

However much I dislike the idea of abortion, you should not criminalize a woman who, in very difficult circumstances, makes that choice.

Power without principle is barren, but principle without power is futile. This is a party of government, and I will lead it as a party of government.

Education is the best economic policy there is.

Values unrelated to modern reality are not just electorally hopeless, the values themselves become devalued. They have no purchase on the real world.

I have long believed this interdependence defines the new world we live in.

Our new world rests on order. The danger is disorder. And in today's world, it can now spread like contagion.

What people should understand is that I adore the Labour party.

But in terms of how people live together, how we minimize the prospects of conflict and maximize the prospects of peace, the place of religion in our society today is essential.

I would've loved to have been in a band, but sadly I just wasn't good enough.

I may find Saddam Hussein's regime abhorrent - any normal person would - but the survival of it is in his hands.

The spread of freedom is the best security for the free.

We, therefore, here in Britain stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends in this hour of tragedy, and we, like them, will not rest until this evil is driven from our world.

And just as the terrorist seeks to divide humanity in hate, so we have to unify it around an idea. And that idea is liberty.

I think the journey for a politician goes from wanting to please all the people all the time, to a political leader that realises in the end his responsibility is to decide. And when he decides, he divides.

You know, one of the things I've learnt since coming out of office is how much easier it is to give the advice than take the decision. I mean, you know, it's tough.

The great advantage of the Lib Dems is precisely that no-one knows what they stand for

But the world is ever more interdependent. Stock markets and economies rise and fall together. Confidence is the key to prosperity. Insecurity spreads like contagion. So people crave stability and order.

You know, the media and politicians are always gonna be in a bit of tension with one another and probably most of the time that's healthy and indeed even creative. But it's where - it's really when news organisations are used as kind of instruments of politics that it gets tricky.

If you are trying to take a difficult decision and you're weighing up the pros and cons, you have frank conversations. Everybody knows this in their walk of life.

Those who wish to cause religious conflict are small in number but often manage to dominate the headline.

My office is on Twitter. I don't tweet myself - at least, not intentionally, but I probably should do.

Mine is the first generation able to contemplate the possibility that we may live our entire lives without going to war or sending our children to war.

People know where I stand in the Labour party and what I believe in.

But I am an optimist about Britain; and the difference between an optimist and a pessimist is not that the optimist believes the world is wonderful and the pessimist believes it's beset by challenges; the difference is the pessimist believes we will be defeated by them; the optimist thinks the challenges can be overcome.

In retrospect, the Millennium marked only a moment in time. It was the events of September 11 that marked a turning point in history, where we confront the dangers of the future and assess the choices facing humankind.

I mean, I went to a church school when I was younger and imbibed a certain amount of religion then but it was really in university that I got interested in religion and politics at the same time. I don't think as if it were one moment of conversion but my spiritual journey really began then.

Conflict is not inevitable, but disarmament is... everyone now accepts that if there is a default by Saddam the international community must act to enforce its will.

I learnt a lot in government, and I've learnt a lot since leaving government. The kind of journey of being in government is that you start at your most popular and least capable, and you end at your most capable and least popular.

I cannot think of any circumstances in which a government can go to war without the support of parliament.

In Downing Street they called me 'Boss'. Civil servants would always call me 'Prime Minister'.

The threat from Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological, potentially nuclear weapons capability - that threat is real.

This is not a battle between the United States of America and terrorism, but between the free and democratic world and terrorism.

In government you carry each hope; each disillusion. And in politics it's always about the next challenge.

Choice dependent on wealth; those are the Tory words.

I believe Mrs. Thatcher's emphasis on enterprise was right.

Once his wife goes to sleep it takes a minor nuclear explosion to wake her.

So actually I only got a mobile phone the day after I left being Prime Minister.

The public think the politicians don't know or care about their lives; and the politicians feel misunderstood.

When Europe and America stand together the world is a better and more prosperous place.

Yes, I feel I've got something to say. If people want to listen, that's great, and if they don't, that's their choice.

The threat today is not that of the 1930s. It's not big powers going to war with each other. The ravages which fundamentalist political ideology inflicted on the 20th century are memories. The Cold war is over. Europe is at peace, if not always diplomatically.

I happen to think it's the politics that makes you electable, but the reason for that is politicians sometimes talk about electability as if it's just a matter of conning the public. Actually, it's a matter of persuading the public, and in my experience, usually, the public gets it right.

In no relationship at the top of any walk of life is it always easy, least of all in politics which matters so much and which is conducted in such a piercing spotlight.

Labour is the party of law and order in Britain today. Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.

There are bound to be disagreements over trade, partly because of the very strength of China's economic performance.

We're not going to negotiate some new treaty on climate change ... What this is about is seeing whether it will be possible in the future to bring people back into consensus together. Can we do that? I don't know, but it's important that we at least begin a process of dialogue that allows us to make progress on this.

There is no question here of a deal or trade-off. We are working very hard with the Romanian government to stop illegal immigration and to get to a point where visas are no longer necessary,

There is no point in speculating what happens down the line if you reach an impasse. But there is a lot of processes that have to be gone through before you are at that point, not least the Security Council.

Whether they were hidden or removed or destroyed even, the plain fact is that he was in breach of United Nations resolutions,

We believe you can achieve much more through persuasion and by encouraging China to open up to the outside world than by turning your back on China,

Unless there is a recommendation that comes forward from our military commanders that they require more troops, we don't provide them,

We've got a strong personal relationship that is most helpful to making sure our countries continue the tie that binds.

We want to resolve the issue of North Korea and its nuclear weapons program and the export of nuclear technology by peaceful and constructive dialogue,

We have never come this far before. We've never been this close to a lasting settlement in Northern Ireland,

What we're about here is trying to make sure that public opinion everywhere is satisfied entirely as to the quality and safety of British beef,

what we hold dear in this country and in other civilized nations throughout the world.

We hope we can get the rest of the transport system back up and running again as soon as possible.

We hold absolutely to the 30th of June timetable,

The fact is we have an Iraqi government, supported by the United Nations, trying desperately to bring stability and hope and democracy to Iraq, ... Our job has got to be helping them.

What we can do is try and devise the right architecture for the financial systems of the world which leads to greater stability, more openness and more transparency,

Let no one be in doubt that the rules of the game are changing, ... If you come to our country from abroad, don't meddle in extremism.

Let's just apologize and move on -- that's the sensible thing,

Libya has stated that weapons of mass destruction are not the answer for Libya's defense, ... Libya's actions entitle it to rejoin the international community.

Libya has declared its intention to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction and to limit the range of Libyan missiles to no greater than 300 kilometers, ... that this process will be transparent and verifiable.

So for those who sometimes say that the process in the Middle East is hopeless we say we can look at Northern Ireland and take some hope from that.

She had a tremendous ability, as we saw over the land mines issue. to enter into an area that could have been one of controversy and suddenly just clarify for people what was clearly the right thing to do,

Milosevic is responsible for the welfare of those people, ... When we go into Kosovo finally, he will be held responsible for what we find.

no doubt whatever that the evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction will be there. Absolutely.

On the question of Iraq, I think the differences at the time of the conflict were well known,

One of the most respected people of our times. Sense of duty and service ... extraordinary grace and dedication ... Long may she reign over us!

If they pull out it would be catastrophic for the people of Iraq and the cause of democracy and it would be a win for terrorists,

I am in no doubt that the threat is serious and current, that (Saddam) has made progress on weapons of mass destruction and that he has to be stopped.

I believe that this meeting, its ambiance, its friendship, its sense of partnership has created those right conditions for that partnership for the 21st century,

I ... appeal to you and all your colleagues to do everything possible to avoid tension and violence.

cement the new modern relationship between Britain and India.

China is a major priority for Britain. We've got to engage with China on a broad agenda -- because China's impact on our interests is large and growing.

I have listened and I have learned, ... And I think I have a very clear idea of what the British people now expect from this government for a third term.

I can't exactly foresee the circumstances in which, you know, the American president can come in and be of help, ... But I was very grateful for the offer of that. And I think people in Northern Ireland will be as well.

I don't think we should have some arbitrary timetable ... You give it as long as it takes to come to a conclusive and final judgment they're not cooperating. And at the present they're not.