Paul Keating Quotes

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Paul Keating

Profession : Politician

Birth : January 18, 1944

Well, I think that - I think leadership's always been about two main things: imagination and courage.

Paul Keating

What the Anzac legend did do, by the bravery and sacrifice of our troops, was reinforce our own cultural notions of independence, mateship, and ingenuity. Of resilience and courage in adversity.

Paul Keating

The great changes in civilisation and society have been wrought by deeply held beliefs and passion rather than by a process of rational deduction.

Paul Keating

At its best, Aboriginal art has been effective in translating an entire culture and the understanding of an entire continent. Indeed, the more we interpret Australia through Aboriginal eyes, through the experience of their long and epic story, the more we allow ourselves to understand the land we share.

Paul Keating

I think the rise of China is one of the great events of all economic and human history, and I think this will be overwhelmingly a positive thing for the region and the world.

Paul Keating

Politicians come in three varieties: straight men, fixers, and maddies.

Paul Keating

If you can't imagine it, you sure as hell are never going to see it.

Paul Keating

One tires of combat, although I can still throw a punch, you know.

Paul Keating

The only reward in a public life is public progress. You stand back and say, 'What did I get out of it?' You look around, and the place is better, and that's it.

Paul Keating

One of the inevitable aspects of debates about euthanasia is the reluctance on the part of advocates to confront the essence of what they propose.

Paul Keating

I have said before, you don't expect conservative parties to believe in much, but you do expect them to believe in thrift.

Paul Keating

A more worldly and competent foreign and defence policy is by far the preferred first line of defence - rather than the default position of relying on expensive but problematic hardware.

Paul Keating

The First World War not only destroyed European civilisation and the empires at its heart; its aftermath led to a second conflagration, the Second World War, which divided the continent until the end of the century.

Paul Keating

I used to say in the cabinet room, 'confidence is not like a can of Popeye spinach - you can't take the top off and swallow it down.' You know, confidence has to be earned.

Paul Keating

I think the Australian people are very conscientious. During the 1980s and 1990s we proved they will respond conscientiously to necessary reforms. They mightn't like them but they'll accept them. But reforms have to be presented in a digestible format.

Paul Keating

You see, psychologically, Australia must understand it has to live in the region around it. Australia must find its security in Asia; it cannot find its security from Asia.

Paul Keating

I have long believed, especially after the unprovoked Western attack on Iraq and the ransacking of the Gaddafi regime in Libya, that North Korea would not desist from the full development of its nuclear weapons program, despite threats and sanctions from the West and even from China.

Paul Keating

The more we view the country through the prism of Aboriginality, the more likely we are to get the angle right.

Paul Keating

Countries get one chance in history of putting into place a savings retirement scheme on the scale of the Australian superannuation system.

Paul Keating

Geoffrey Tozer's death is a national tragedy. For the Australian arts and Australian music, losing Tozer is like Canada having lost Glenn Gould, or France, Ginette Neveu. It is a massive cultural loss. The kind of loss people felt when Germany lost Dresden.

Paul Keating