Quote

It's lovely to be old. I've got age, experience and zero personal ambition. No body could corrupt me by anything: possibly a job in the government, a peerage, a quango, I don't want any of it.

Tony Benn

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Tony Benn
Age: 88 †
Born: 1925
Born: April 3
Died: 2014
Died: March 14
Autobiographer
Diarist
Former Member Of The European Parliament
Politician
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn
Ambition
Personal
Age
Experience
Peerage
Government
Corrupt
Anything
Zero
Body
Possibly
Lovely

More quotes by Tony Benn

Image
I'd rather die on my feet making a speech than die of Alzheimer's - and that's what I'm planning to do.
Tony Benn
Image
It's the same each time with progress. First they ignore you, then they say you're mad, then dangerous, then there's a pause and then you can't find anyone who disagrees with you.
Tony Benn
Image
I opposed the Suez war, I opposed the Falklands war. I opposed the Libyan bombing and I opposed the Gulf war and I never believed that any of those principled arguments lost a single vote - indeed, I think they gained support though that was not why you did it. What has been lacking in Labour politics over a long period is a principled stand
Tony Benn
Image
When I think of Cool Britannia I think of old people dying of hypothermia.
Tony Benn
Image
Marxism is now a world faith and must be allowed to enter into a continuous dialogue with other world faiths, including religious faiths
Tony Benn
Image
Choice depends on the freedom to choose and if you are shackled with debt you don't have the freedom to choose.
Tony Benn
Image
There is no connection between imperialism and democracy. I mean when we ran an Empire which we did when I was born, there was no democracy anywhere.
Tony Benn
Image
I am on the right wing of the middle of the road and with a strong radical bias.
Tony Benn
Image
Although socialism is widely held by the establishment to be outdated, the things that are most popular in British society today are little pockets of socialism, where areas of life have been excluded from the crude operation of market forces and are protected for the benefit of the community
Tony Benn
Image
I have had the advantage of a radical Christian upbringing
Tony Benn
Image
Democracy is not just voting every 5 years and watching 'Big Brother' in between and wondering why nothing happens. Democracy is what we do and say where we live and work
Tony Benn
Image
No medieval monarch in the whole of British history ever had such power as every modern British Prime Minister has in his or her hands. Nor does any American President have power approaching this
Tony Benn
Image
The police are controlled by the whites, the media are controlled by the whites, the army's controlled by the whites, what hope is there for change? Administration changes from underneath.
Tony Benn
Image
I do not share the general view that market forces are the basis for political liberty. Every time I see a homeless person living in a cardboard box in London, I see that person as a victim of market forces. Everytime I see a pensioner who cannot manage, I know that he is a victim of market forces
Tony Benn
Image
I believe the more difficult the circumstances, the more people will be inclined to trust those in charge at the moment.
Tony Benn
Image
If you want your debt lifted you've got to sell your school and your hospitals.
Tony Benn
Image
If I rescued a child from drowning, the press would no doubt headline the story: 'Benn grabs child
Tony Benn
Image
The House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians.
Tony Benn
Image
If you read Mein Kampf, Hitler's book, which I have outside, I bought it when I was eleven, Hitler said, democracy inevitably leads to Marxism - now you work that one out. It's so interesting that when the poor have the vote they will use it to remove the privileges of the rich.
Tony Benn
Image
Britain is the only colony in the British Empire and it is up to us now to liberate ourselves.
Tony Benn