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Bilingualism is not an imposition on the citizens. The citizens can go on speaking one language or six languages, or no languages if they so choose. Bilingualism is an imposition on the state and not the citizens.

Pierre Trudeau

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Pierre Trudeau
Age: 80 †
Born: 1919
Born: October 18
Died: 2000
Died: September 28
Diarist
Former Prime Minister Of Canada
Journalist
Judge
Lawyer
Memoirist
Politician
Montreal
Quebec
Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau
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State
Language
Bilingualism
States
Imposition
Languages
Speaking
Six
Citizens

More quotes by Pierre Trudeau

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I believe military force can be used to redress or change the balance of power in the world, but I think that that's always a losing operation if you're not trying to do it in a way which corresponds to the basic desires of the people on whom you are acting.
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I do object to the sensationalism or even the voyeurism of doing things in church or out of church.
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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.
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If Canada is to survive, it can only survive in mutual respect and in love for one another.
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The past is to be respected and acknowledged, but not to be worshipped. It is our future in which we will find our greatness.
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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.
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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.
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What shall we do about the Abortion Bill? A: Pay it!
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I don't see any easy way of disqualifying people on the basis that they decide not to work.
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Harvard was an extraordinary window on the world.
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I believe in God, and I'm a Christian.
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Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.
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I, for one, will be convinced that the Canada we know and love will be gone forever. But, then, Thucydides wrote that Themistocles' greatness lay in the fact that he realized Athens was not immortal. 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.
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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.
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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.
Pierre Trudeau
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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.
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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.
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There is no such thing as a model or ideal Canadian. What could be more absurd than the concept of an all Canadian boy or girl? A society which emphasizes uniformity is one which creates intolerance and hate.
Pierre Trudeau
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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.
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The community of man should be treated in the same way you would treat your community of brothers or fellow citizens.
Pierre Trudeau