Monday, 16 June 2014

16th June: Enoch Powell's birthday

On this date in 1912  the politician Enoch Powell was born. I realise he may not be the most popular choice of subject matter because he's most famous for being a racist; but I had in my collection a couple of quotes by him which are not about race and which actually made sense. So I wondered if I could find enough such snippets to make it up to 10.  So here are 10 Enoch Powell quotes which may just surprise you.

  1. A politician complaining about the media is like a fisherman complaining about the sea.
  2. If I cannot understand my friend's silence, I will never get to understand his words.
  3. When I repress my emotion my stomach keeps score.
  4. If my ship sails from sight, it doesn't mean my journey ends, it simply means the river bends.
  5. History is littered with wars which everybody knew would never happen.
  6. No battle is worth fighting except the last one.
  7. All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs.
  8. I will not surrender responsibility for my life and my actions.
  9. The life of nations no less than that of men is lived largely in the imagination.
  10. If in the words which the Secretary of State has just used, the use of a nuclear weapon is to be avoided 'at all costs'. what is the point of having one?

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