Pierre Trudeau Quotes - Page 2

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.

I bear solemn witness to the fact that NATO heads of state and of government meet only to go through the tedious motions of reading speeches, drafted by others, with the principal objective of not rocking the boat.

Canada is not a country for the cold of heart or the cold of feet.

When they are 50 yards from Parliament Hill, they are no longer honourable members, they are just nobodies.

I just think you Westerners should take over this country if you are so smart.

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.

The new frontier lies not beyond the planets but within each one of us.

I don't believe you can contain ideas by military force.

We don't think every man should be free to pass on everything to his descendants.

I walked until midnight in the storm, then I went home and took a sauna for an hour and a half. It was all clear. I listened to my heart and saw if there were any signs of my destiny in the sky, and there were none - there were just snowflakes.

Obviously I prefer freedom, but I know, and I think all history has told us, that freedom cannot flow from anarchy and disorder.

I recognize that in some cases it's more important to have freedom and justice than to have peace.

If I found in my own ranks that a certain number of guys wanted to cut my throat, I'd make sure that I cut their throats first.

In my political philosophy I think that there sometimes is room for violence.

Canada is a country whose main exports are hockey players and cold fronts. Our main imports are baseball players and acid rain.

I think we have to realize that Canada is not immortal; but, if it is going to go, let it go with a bang rather than a whimper.

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 think that as the guardian of justice elected by the people it's our duty to use whatever forms of force, police, army, to make sure that at least the freedom of choice is preserved.

It seems to me it would be pretty awful if Canadians came to choose political leaders not for their political ideas and actions, but because of their adherence or their devotedness to one faith or another.

I saw the charter as an expression of my long-held view that the subject of law must be the individual human being; the law must permit the individual to fulfil himself or herself to the utmost.

We peer so suspiciously at each other that we cannot see that we Canadians are standing on the mountaintop of human wealth, freedom and privilege.

Sometimes you must live in a violent world in order to get greater justice.

lf there is anything that puzzles me in this game lt is that the longer that you are in the job of Prime Minister, the harder you have to work to do your job. With anything else, such as stenography, administering a store, or whatever done it for nine or ten years you get to know the ropes pretty well and it becomes easy and you can spend a lot of time playing golf or something. l feel that the more you know, the more you have to know and the more problems come.

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

The best thing you can possibly do for a friend is to be his friend.