Top 129 Quotes & Sayings by Pierre Trudeau - Page 2

Perhaps the rediscovery of our humanity, and the potential of the human spirit which we have read about in legends of older civilizations, or in accounts of solitary mystics, or in tales of science fiction writers - perhaps this will constitute the true revolution of the future. The new frontier lies not beyond the planets but within each one of us.

I must say that "Give Peace a Chance" has always seemed to me to be sensible advice.

This is the beauty of the democratic process: it permits that subjective view of justice - which everyone holds - permits that subjective way to express itself peacefully through discussion, through reason and through the voting process.

What shall we do about the Abortion Bill?" A: "Pay it!

I don't see any easy way of disqualifying people on the basis that they decide not to work.

As against the "invisible hand" of Adam Smith, there has to be a visible hand of politicians whose objective is to have the kind of society that is caring and humane.

Some things I never learned to like. I didn't like to kiss babies, though I didn't mind kissing their mothers.

I want to separate sin from crime. You may have to ask forgiveness for your sins from God, but not from the Minister of Justice. There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.

Canada is seen to some as a confederation of shopping centres.

The Jesuits were good educators, exceptional teachers. In an era and in a society where freedom of speech was not held in high regard, of course, that the discourse be focused on what they were teaching, but we were able to go beyond this framework without incurring too great a risk.

Well, I am trying to put Quebec in its place - and the place of Quebec is in Canada, nowhere else.

I was shaken to the extent that people who criticized me used to say that I was Protestant more than a Catholic because I like to impose constraints on myself, but I don't like them to be imposed from the outside.

I believe in God, and I'm a Christian.

Society is responsible for its social organization, and if it can't provide the wherewithal for men to be gainfully employed then it should pay the penalty and give them welfare.

I know the usual answer of Christ using violence to get the sellers out of the temple, but to me this was impatience rather than violence.

I think theoretically if a man is young and healthy society should not give him a basic income. He should not be given dole. He should not be eligible for welfare. If he can work and if there is work available, he should take his choice. If he wants to be a hermit or beggar, that's fine. If he wants to move with the sun and live off the land, that's fine. If he is in a society which has work for him I don't think he should theoretically be eligible for welfare.

The federal government is the balance wheel of the federal system, and the federal system means using counterweights.

There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation. What's done in private between adults doesn't concern the Criminal Code.

The politicians, who once stated that war was too complex to be left to the generals, now act as though peace were too complex to be left to themselves.

I am peaceful but I am not a pacifist in the philosophical sense.

I was too busy doing my job and living my life to spend time keeping notes for some future volume of memoirs.

You know you have a lot of impatience with reality as you see it when you're a young man and full of dynamism and strength and ideals and so on.

Society must take every means at its disposal to defend itself against the emergence of a parallel power which defies the elected power.

I'm far from believing that we've solved the problem of violence in the 20th century and that's why I'm not discouraged that we still have the Biafras and the Northern Irelands and the East Pakistans and, for that matter, violence in American or Canadian cities.

In my religion I really cannot think of cases where violence is justified.

I think that more and more young people are discovering that gainful employment isn't the only thing in life. That they can perhaps be just as useful to society and themselves by travelling across the land or around the world, learning more about humanity and going through the various experiences which will make their adulthood more productive.

The churches must realize that when they take a position on a political event that they must accept the rules of the game.

The attainment of a just society is the cherished hope of civilized men.

For my part...I am a realist but, somehow, optimism always keeps breaking out.

The die is cast in Canada: there are two ethnic and linguistic groups; each is too strong and too deeply rooted in the past, too firmly bound to a mother culture, to be able to swamp the other. But if the two will collaborate inside of a truly pluralist state, Canada could become a privileged place where the federalist form of government, which is the government of tomorrow's world, will be perfected.

I can see that in certain political situations you have to use force to overthrow police states.

I think the sense of exclusivity that tended to be associated with religions in past times has now disappeared. At least it has disappeared in its political and social manifestations as far as I can see.

Because I am a deep believer in the civil society, I think we should be prepared to pay the consequences of breaking the law and that is either paying the penalty for it, or leaving the country.

In academic life you seek to state absolute truths; in politics you seek to accommodate truth to the facts around you.

What is wonderful about a university like LSE is that you not only receive teaching of very high quality, you also learn where to find the knowledge you are seeking. And you make unexpected discoveries; it was a Marxist professor who introduced me to the work of Cardinal Newman, a great master of English prose as well as theology.

People are more interested in ideas than dress.

I feel perhaps I didn't deal with the question of violence in depth.

Paddling a canoe is a source of enrichment and inner renewal.

The most beautiful missionaries I saw were those who talked less about religion but who were very generous in their approach.

In specific terms I don't think I could make any suggestions, but in general terms I believe that it is because Canadians have been under the good influences of their churches that they are a tolerant people, an understanding and patient people, so that there has been little backlash against the excesses which have happened over the decades in French and in English Canada which might turn either group off.

The Canadian community must invest, for the defence and better appreciation of the French language, as much time, energy, and money as are required to prevent the country from breaking up

I do object to the sensationalism or even the voyeurism of doing things in church or out of church.

Power only tires those who don't exercise it.

Who is it that said that 'you have not converted a man because you have silenced him?' This is true of the use of the military on people.

I think it's good that you test the reality that surrounds you in your neighbourhood with the reality as it is in other parts of the world; you come up with a better judgment. I'm not meaning that literally you can only do that and not go to school at all but in terms of enrichment of a personality I think it's a fabulous thing.

I would have to point out in the strongest terms the autocracy of the Liberal structure and the cowardice of its members. I have never seen in all my examination of politics so degrading a spectacle as that of all these Liberals turning their coats in unison with their Chief, when they saw the chance to take power.

I think all of us, politicians and churchmen, should do our utmost to change the society so that there would be no need for violence.

I feel very deeply for Canada, and l believe most Canadians do.

I honestly don't know what they mean by a devout Catholic.

Canadians should realise when they are well off under the Monarchy. For the vast majority of Canadians, being a Monarchy is probably the only form of government acceptable to them. I have always been for parliamentary democracy and I think the institution of Monarchy with the Queen heading it all has served Canada well.

I think violence is counter-productive and it is bad in democratic societies.

The state has an active role to play in ensuring that there is equilibrium between the constituent parts of the economy, the consumers and the producers.

As does every young man studying philosophy, I naturally asked myself questions about the truth of all this, and about the meaning of freedom, predestination, and liberty of choice and so on. But to have asked questions of yourself about it, I think is not too important. Let's say - I remain - I remained a believer.

What is considered sinful in one of the great religions to which citizens belong isn't necessarily sinful in the others. Criminal law therefore cannot be based on the notion of sin; it is crimes that it must define.

I'm impatient not with the House of Commons as an institution, but with the way in which it is operated. This doesn't prove I don't believe in participatory democracy.

I never actually got around to taping conversations with my guests, but there are a lot of things you can learn from a man like Nixon.

The community of man should be treated in the same way you would treat your community of brothers or fellow citizens.

Every time I have a political rally I meet some people who say, "I need a job."

I'm sometimes impatient with young people who demonstrate at my meetings and who don't want an argument, but who just want to go on television as having been there and made a fuss. This doesn't mean I don't believe in participatory democracy.

I remember thinking that walking on the beach as a free man is pretty desirable.