Top 144 Quotes & Sayings by Charles Kennedy
Explore popular quotes and sayings by a British politician Charles Kennedy.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
We should have high expectations of our children, but politicians should not tell teachers how to meet them.
My health is good and it's up to me to keep it that way.
I find no contradiction between being a Highlander, a Scot, a citizen of the U.K. and a citizen of the European Union at one and the same time.
There stands no contradiction between giving voice to legitimate anxiety and at the same time, as and when exchange of fire commences, looking to the rest of the country, as well as all of us in the House, to give full moral support to our forces.
Actually, I think it's quite sensible not to take yourself too seriously.
Music and politics are in essence about communication. Without over-stretching the analogy I do feel a sense of rhythm is important in getting your message across.
I don't want a headline saying 'Kennedy suggests this or implies that.'
I'm a lifelong believer in trade unionism.
I do think there is a great deal of caricature around the House of Commons. It is just that kind of place.
I can hardly think of an occasion when I've got into a stand-up fight with any political opponent. I've got my views, people know what they are, they can agree or they can choose to disagree. I'm not going to waste time just rubbishing everybody else.
Politicians are good at saying how Government must do more, but we must also think carefully about where Government should do less.
We believe that government in Britain is there to protect people from terrorism and from the worst criminality, but never at the expense of our civil liberties and the basic tenets of our legal system.
I am genuinely not an over-the-top kind of person about politics or anything else.
I couldn't imagine a day without music. It relaxes and stimulates me in equal measure and I hate the sound of silence - the concept, I mean, not the track by Simon and Garfunkel.
People are not stupid.
Further Education should be about the ability to learn, not the ability to pay - everyone who is able should have the opportunity, regardless of their family background. I don't want to see students struggling with huge debts or frightened off even going to university in the first place.
To run an effective political party you need a degree of tribalism, it's the glue that holds everyone together.
Yes, you need substance in politics - but I think your style also says something about how you arrive at some of your conclusions.
It has been the greatest privilege of my adult and public life to have served, for 32 years, as the Member of Parliament for our local Highlands and Islands communities.
I don't actually subscribe to the view that all power corrupts. But absolute power - when secured on the back of massive parliamentary majorities, which don't reflect the balance of political opinion in the country - can corrupt absolutely.
For any new leader of any party at any given time it takes time if you are not in government to establish yourself.
During my campaign, people of my age and younger said consistently that they would not vote because their votes simply no longer matter and because no government or member of Parliament cared a whit about their problems and their striving for employment.
Taking a principled and consistent stance over Iraq has attracted much criticism from our detractors and opponents.
The one thing we can all be sure about in politics is you are as well to expect the unexpected.
I have always considered myself of the reforming centre-left.
Courage is a peculiar kind of fear.
With 24-hour news... the story moves on with the media.
I will go out of this world feet first with my Lib Dem membership card in my pocket.
Three simple words - freedom, justice and honesty. These sum up what the Liberal Democrats stand for.
A perennial problem that has faced the Scottish Highlands is that, time and again, too many of the more talented young people have had to move elsewhere - even abroad - through a lack of opportunities that should have been available.
As Liberal Democrats and proponents of federalism, we must put our heads above the parapet and recapture and disseminate the true meaning of federalism. We have to win the vocabulary before we succeed in the vision.
To be seen to be human, provided you're doing your job at the same time, is definitely not a negative, not at all.
I should do something about the cigarettes; I quite accept that it's bad for your health, but you know a moderate tipple is positively beneficial and, at certain times, absolutely essential.
Of all the principles which constitute Liberal Democracy, internationalism is the clearest, the most distinctive, and the one with the longest history.
I'm a fully paid-up member of the human race.
I think you've got to like people. There are MPs who are either painfully shy or who don't like public speaking or don't socialise very well, and you just think this must be the worst job in the world for them.
I believe that access to a university education should be based on the ability to learn, not what people can afford. I think there is no more nauseating a sight than politicians pulling up the ladder of opportunity behind them.
We Liberal Democrats believe in dialogue. We believe in cooperation with both sides of industry and between both sides of industry. And we believe in the language of cooperation. We reject the language of confrontation.
It is true that I entered parliament at the age of 23, and have now been representing the people of my constituency for over twenty years.
You won't catch Liberal Democrats describing trade unionists as wreckers.
There is no satisfaction to be derived from having had many of our arguments borne out by events.
Some ministers are fond of talking about a return to Victorian values. We must realise that those Victorian values are being expressed by some of the younger people in this society in shameful and disturbing disregard for other members of their generation who are not as fortunate as they are in having a job.
We would all rather see Iraq resolved successfully.
Immigrants provide skills that we simply cannot afford to do without. They have contributed hugely to Britain's success.
Gratification and happiness are becoming important measures of our quality of life.
The most special relationships, in my experience, are based on a combination of trust and mutual respect.
The quicker we get rid of the lobby system the better for all of us. I don't think in this day and age it is tenable to have these nods and winks, and on-the-record and off-the-record briefings.
If you were to describe me as teetotal, on behalf of my constituency I'd have to sue; that would lose me every vote in the Highlands.
Politics is much too serious to be taken too seriously; equally, there are many aspects of it so laughable as to be lamentable.
The terrorist seeks to smash the most fundamental liberty of all: the right to lead our everyday lives on the basic assumption of safety.
I'm not someone who dwells upon past events, taking the view that life is too short.
I want to see far more decisions taken far closer to the patients, the passengers and the pupils. Far more power for locally and regionally elected politicians who understand best the needs of their areas. And far more say too for the dedicated staff at all levels in health and education.
There are hard choices to be made in balancing the country's security and an individual's liberties. But it is a choice that has to be faced.
Like John Major in her wake, Thatcher was convinced that she understood the Scots - yet couldn't understand why we remained so stubbornly resistant towards the notion of understanding her.
I think that former leaders are best seen occasionally and not too often heard - particularly on the subject of their successors!
Quality of life actually begins at home - it's in your street, around your community.
The growing influence of focus groups means we are all in danger of being excessively cowed by their feedback.
The point never to lose sight of is to be guided by the correct thing, as you see it. It's the only way to approach such profound matters and retain your integrity.
Just as we Liberal Democrats opposed the flawed logic of that war in Iraq - we will oppose the flawed government claim that we have to surrender our fundamental rights in order to improve our security.
My approach is always to try to be straight with people, especially about what my party can achieve.
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