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Why should I question the monkey when I can question the organ grinder.

Aneurin Bevan

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Aneurin Bevan
Age: 62 †
Born: 1897
Born: November 15
Died: 1960
Died: July 6
Politician
Secretary Of State For Health
Trade Unionist
Nye Bevan
Grinder
Monkey
Organ
Monkeys
Organs
Question

More quotes by Aneurin Bevan

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No society can legitimately call itself civilized if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.
Aneurin Bevan
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The Prime Minister has an absolute genius for putting flamboyant labels on empty luggage.
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Virtue is its own punishment.
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He has the lucidity which is the by-product of a fundamentally sterile mind. He does not have to struggle... with the crowded pulsations of a fecund imagination. On the contrary he is almost devoid of imagination.
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Discontent arises from a knowledge of the possible, as contrasted with the actual.
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Trade unions are islands of anarchy in a sea of chaos.
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Not even the apparently enlightened principle of the 'greatest good for the greatest number' can excuse indifference to individual suffering. There is no test for progress other than its impact on the individual.
Aneurin Bevan
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He brings to the fierce struggle of politics the tepid enthusiasm of a lazy summer afternoon at a cricket match.
Aneurin Bevan
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Listening to a speech by [Neville] Chamberlain is like paying a visit to Woolworth's, everything in its place and nothing above sixpence.
Aneurin Bevan
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I read the newspapers avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction.
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Stand not too near the rich man lest he destroy thee - and not too far away lest he forget thee.
Aneurin Bevan
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I welcome this opportunity of pricking the bloated bladder of lies with the poniard of truth
Aneurin Bevan
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You don't have to gaze into a crystal ball when you can read an open book.
Aneurin Bevan
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The hero's need of the people outlasts their need of him.
Aneurin Bevan
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Damn it all you can't have the crown of thorns and the thirty pieces of silver.
Aneurin Bevan
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I am not going to spend any time whatsoever in attacking the Foreign Secretary. If we complain about the tune, there is no reason to attack the monkey when the organ grinder is present.
Aneurin Bevan
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The Prime Minister wins debate after debate and loses battle after battle. The country is beginning to say that he fights debates like a war and the war like a debate.
Aneurin Bevan
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Soon, if we are not prudent, millions of people will be watching each other starve to death through expensive television sets
Aneurin Bevan
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If freedom is to be saved and enlarged, poverty must be ended. There is no other solution.
Aneurin Bevan
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No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
Aneurin Bevan