David Cameron Quotes & Sayings

In the past we used to think of poverty in absolute terms - meaning straightforward material deprivation ... We need to think of poverty in relative terms - the fact that some people lack those things which others in society take for granted. — David Cameron

We have put our country on solid ground, but let me tell you: The next five years are much, much more important. The next five years are about turning the good news in our economy into a good life for you and your family. — David Cameron

It's time we admitted that there's more to life than money, and it's time we focused not just on GDP, but on GWB - general well-being — David Cameron

Just as I believe that Britain should want to remain in the EU so the EU should want us to stay. — David Cameron

Every time I visit Iraq or Afghanistan I am blown away. — David Cameron

On the one hand we have got to ask, are there some areas of universal benefits that are no longer affordable? But on the other hand let us look at the issue of dependency where we have trapped people in poverty through the extent of welfare that they have. — David Cameron

We must consider teaching the Egyptian revolution in schools. — David Cameron

Terms are like shredded wheat - two are wonderful, but three might just be too many. — David Cameron

The well of public opinion has been well and truly poisoned by the Iraq episode. — David Cameron

Too many people are stuck on sickness benefits because of issues that could be addressed but instead are not, some have drug or alcohol problems, but refuse treatment. In other cases, people have problems with their weight that could be addressed, but instead a life on benefits rather than work becomes the choice. — David Cameron

I would be heartbroken if I ever thought that people in the Jewish community thought that Britain was no longer a safe place for them. — David Cameron

I think us leaving would have an enormous and bad effect on the rest of the EU. The EU would respond by deepening integration and becoming more of a 'political project'. It would not only be damaging ourselves but also the kind of Europe we want. — David Cameron

The economies in Europe that will prosper, are those that are the greenest and the most energy efficient — David Cameron

From Caesar's legions to the Napoleonic wars. From the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the industrial revolution to the defeat of nazism. We have helped to write European history, and Europe has helped write ours. — David Cameron

I'm a simple small 'c' conservative who believes in public service, serving others, and doing a good job for my country. — David Cameron

People are crying out for a Conservative Party that is decent, reasonable, common sense and in it for the long term of this country. — David Cameron

Whatever new arrangements are enacted for the Eurozone, they must work fairly for those inside it and out. — David Cameron

Conservatives believe in the ties that bind us. Society is stronger when we make vows to each other and we support each other. I don't support gay marriage in spite of being a conservative. I support gay marriage because I am a conservative. — David Cameron

Strong views exist on both sides but I believe MPs voting for gay people being able to marry too, is a step forward for our country. — David Cameron

I think it true that, you know, sometimes things start to change even before a government changes and, actually, I think you can begin to see even the Labour machine beginning to understand that it has become over-reliant on targets and processes, that local governments have been over-bossed and bullied. — David Cameron

For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone. — David Cameron

You can be walking down the street for a chat, but until you've got the selfie out of the way, people aren't ready to talk. — David Cameron

Lots of people call me Dave, my mum calls me David, my wife calls me Dave, I don't really notice what people call me. — David Cameron

If we are going to try to get across to the poorest people in the world that we care about their plight and we want them to join one world with the rest of us, we have got to make promises and keep promises. — David Cameron

I am very proud to have kept my commitment to introduce the married couples' tax allowance. I think it will prove very popular. I think it's absolutely right that we recognise marriage in the tax system properly, and I would like to see that expanded. — David Cameron

I want completing the single market to be our driving mission. I want us to be at the forefront of transformative trade deals with the US, Japan and India as part of the drive towards global free trade. And I want us to be pushing to exempt Europe's smallest entrepreneurial companies from more EU directives. — David Cameron

Corruption is one of the greatest enemies of progress in our time. It is the cancer at the heart of so many of the world's problems. — David Cameron

If we all turned down the thermostat in our house by just one degree, we would save over £650 million worth of energy and nearly nine million tonnes of carbon emissions every year. That would be the equivalent of taking three million cars off our roads ... we can bring about a Green Consumer Revolution in this country to improve our lives, enrich our economy and protect our environment. — David Cameron

Far from being a drag on growth, making our energy sources more sustainable, our energy consumption more efficient, and our economy more resilient to energy price shocks - those things are a vital part of the growth and wealth that we need — David Cameron

I mean UKIP, I mean it's just a sort of, you know, bunch of fruitcakes and loonies and closet racists, basically. — David Cameron

I've always said, not giving too much away, I'm a believer in having all your stars on the pitch ... — David Cameron

The next Prime Minister walking through that door will be me or (Labour Party leader) Ed Miliband, you can choose an economy that grows, that creates jobs, that generates the money to ensure a properly funded and improving NHS (National Health Service) ... and a government that will cut taxes for 30 million hard-working people ... or you can choose the economic chaos of Ed Miliband's Britain. — David Cameron

More of the same will just produce more of the same: less competitiveness, less growth, fewer jobs. — David Cameron

I believe that in life, you have to give things your best shot, do your best. You have to focus on what needs to be done, do the right thing, not the popular thing. — David Cameron

We spend billions of pounds on welfare, yet millions are trapped on welfare. It's not worth their while going into work. — David Cameron

I think we need to just be very clear about what we're trying to do in Afghanistan. Frankly, we're not trying to create the perfect democracy. We're never going to create some ideal society. We are simply there for our own national security. — David Cameron

The European Union that emerges from the Eurozone crisis is going to be a very different body. It will be transformed perhaps beyond recognition by the measures needed to save the Eurozone. — David Cameron

It does not seem to me that the steps which would be needed to make Britain - and others - more comfortable in their relationship in the European Union are inherently so outlandish or unreasonable. — David Cameron

We are the reformers. Reform ends if we leave, not just for us but also our friends in Europe who want our voice heard in Europe. — David Cameron

Normally when people say they haven't decided, they're being polite but they're definitely not voting for you. I think it's different this time. People are thinking hard about the issues. — David Cameron

We can't afford to waste time going slow on changing our party so now is not the time to put our foot on the brake. Now is the time to press on the accelerator. — David Cameron

At a time when we're having to take such difficult decisions about how to cut back without damaging the things that matter the most, we should strain every sinew to cut error, waste and fraud. — David Cameron

The best route out of poverty, to avoid food bank usage, is to make sure more people get a job. — David Cameron

I do think 'Gogglebox' is extraordinarily insightful, and I think if politicians want to understand how we are viewed at home, it's quite recommended viewing. — David Cameron

Today the main, over-riding purpose of the European Union is different: not to win peace, but to secure prosperity. — David Cameron

The benefits cap is right in principle because people don't pay their taxes so that families who could work don't work. People pay their taxes so we support people who really need to be supported. — David Cameron

I'll be explaining that Britain will be leaving the European Union, but I want that process to be as constructive as possible. And I hope the outcome can be as constructive as possible because of course while we're leaving the European Union, we mustn't be turning our backs on Europe. — David Cameron

I want the European Union to be a success. And I want a relationship between Britain and the EU that keeps us in it. — David Cameron

It is so important for European countries, post-Second World War, to prove that they can be successful multiethnic and multiracial democracies. I think we in Britain have had great success in avoiding the hatreds and prejudices of the past. — David Cameron

Edward Heath and Richard Nixon took personal awkwardness with each other to new and excruciating levels. — David Cameron

I'm not really interested in clothes. Mainly, I like wearing clothes that don't make me stand out - I tend to go for Marks & Spencer and Gap - and I do get put in the changing room at Gap, and clothes are passed to me under the changing room door. — David Cameron

It [European Union] has kept the peace in Europe. Countries used to fight and now they talk. We should be attached to that. — David Cameron

Our participation in the single market, and our ability to help set its rules is the principal reason for our membership of the EU. So it is a vital interest for us to protect the integrity and fairness of the single market for all its members. — David Cameron

There is such a thing as society. It's just not the same thing as the state. — David Cameron

When people's love is divided by law, it is the law that needs to change. — David Cameron

One of the pleas you get when you're talking to the tourist industry or the energy industry or the whoever is, 'Please, can we just have the same minister for longer than five minutes?' — David Cameron

The prime minister says he has a vision for change, well put that to the people of the country. — David Cameron

Nelson Mandela was a towering figure in our time; a legend in life and now in death - a true global hero — David Cameron

I'm a classic Church of England member, but part of its strength is the fact that it doesn't ask us to sign up to too much of a canon ... but I've always found the teachings of Jesus and the Bible quite useful as a sort of handy guide. — David Cameron

I watched, for the 17th and hopefully the last time, The 'Guns of Navarone' on New Year's Eve. I always watch just in case the explosives don't go off in the end. You have to watch the end, just to make sure it's OK. — David Cameron

If we left the European Union, it would be a one-way ticket, not a return. So we will have time for a proper, reasoned debate. At the end of that debate you, the British people, will decide. — David Cameron

One of the things I most admire about America is they have created a genuine melting pot society, a country of opportunity; you can be of any religion, colour, ethnicity, persuasion and make it to the top of your chosen field. And that's something I admire about America and hope they continue with. — David Cameron

We are a great country, and whatever choice we make we will still be great. But I believe the choice is between being an even greater Britain inside a reformed EU or a great leap into the unknown. — David Cameron

Christmas gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us - a time when we can look back on the year that has passed and prepare for the year ahead. — David Cameron

An EU without Britain, without 1 of Europe's strongest powers, a country which in many ways invented the single market, and which brings real heft to Europe's influence on the world stage which plays by the rules and which is a force for liberal economic reform would be a very different kind of European Union. — David Cameron

Today, hundreds of millions dwell in freedom, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, from the Western Approaches to the Aegean. And while we must never take this for granted, the first purpose of the European Union - to secure peace - has been achieved and we should pay tribute to all those in the EU, alongside Nato, who made that happen. — David Cameron

Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp. — David Cameron

There is not, in my view, a single European demos. — David Cameron

I am a country boy at heart. — David Cameron

Complex rules restricting our labour markets are not some naturally occurring phenomenon. Just as excessive regulation is not some external plague that's been visited on our businesses. — David Cameron

NCS - National Citizen Service is a fantastic programme. I want it to be available for every young person in the country. — David Cameron

The political system is broken, the economy is broken and so is society. That is why people are so depressed about the state of our country. — David Cameron

Britain is not in the single currency, and we're not going to be. But we all need the eurozone to have the right governance and structures to secure a successful currency for the long term. — David Cameron

The saddest moment as Prime Minister is writing letters to families who have lost loved ones in Afghanistan or those who we have tried to help in hostage situations but it hasn't worked out. — David Cameron

You will feel the full force of the law and if you are old enough to commit these crimes you are old enough to face the punishments. And to these people I would say this: you are not only wrecking the lives of others, you are potentially wrecking your own life too. — David Cameron

Fundamental questions are being asked about the future of the Eurozone and therefore the shape of the EU itself. Opportunities to advance our national interest are clearly becoming apparent. We should focus on how to make the most of this, not pursue a parliamentary process for a multiple choice referendum. — David Cameron

The biggest danger to the European Union comes not from those who advocate change, but from those who denounce new thinking as heresy. In its long history Europe has experience of heretics who turned out to have a point. — David Cameron

I have no time for those who say there is no way Scotland could go it alone. I know first-hand the contribution Scotland and Scots make to Britain's success - so for me there's no question about whether Scotland could be an independent nation. — David Cameron

After the Berlin Wall came down I visited that city and I will never forget it. The abandoned checkpoints. The sense of excitement about the future. The knowledge that a great continent was coming together. Healing those wounds of our history is the central story of the European Union. — David Cameron

Press freedom does not mean that the press should be above the law. While it's vital that a free press can tell truth to power, it is equally important that those in power can tell truth to the press. — David Cameron

Over the years, Britain has made her own, unique contribution to Europe. We have provided a haven to those fleeing tyranny and persecution. And in Europe's darkest hour, we helped keep the flame of liberty alight. Across the continent, in silent cemeteries, lie the hundreds of thousands of British servicemen who gave their lives for Europe's freedom. — David Cameron

People feel that the EU is heading in a direction that they never signed up to. They resent the interference in our national life by what they see as unnecessary rules and regulation. And they wonder what the point of it all is. Put simply, many ask 'why can't we just have what we voted to join - a common market?' — David Cameron

I went to a very posh school, I had a very privileged upbringing with parents who were incredibly loving and brilliant. I've never tried to hide that; I'm not going to change my accent or talk in a different way. — David Cameron

Look at me and think of Schwarzenegger. — David Cameron

All those countries who keep their aid promises should be proud of what they've done — David Cameron

For me, there is no greater sunshine in politics or in life than to have a job, security for your family, a good school place where you know your child is going, and the sense that if I put in, there will be a decent, secure retirement at the end of it all. — David Cameron

We will say to people that if you can work, and if you want to work, we will do everything we can to help you. We will give you the training, we will give you the support, we will give you the advice to get you going and get you back at work. — David Cameron

No treaty should be ratified without consulting the British people in a referendum — David Cameron

I like democracy. I like to be able to throw out my political leaders when they get things wrong, and we don't get to do that with Brussels. — David Cameron

2012 has been an extraordinary year for our country. We cheered our Queen to the rafters with the Jubilee, showed the world what we're made of by staging the most spectacular Olympic and Paralympic Games ever and - let's not forget - punched way above our weight in the medals table. — David Cameron

I love cooking; it's a very good way to get your mind off things. — David Cameron

There's another way we are getting behind business - by sorting out the banks. Taxpayers bailed you out. Now it's time for you to repay the favour and start lending to Britain's small businesses. — David Cameron

Now I know which came first - the chicken not the egg. — David Cameron

As PM, you have got to do everything from chairing the Cabinet to ceremonial things. You have also got to do the nitty gritty. I do get stuck into the detail. — David Cameron

I think the country requires fresh leadership. I do not think I can be the captain to take the country to its next destination. — David Cameron

There are some people who seem to think that the way you reduce the cost of living in this country is for the state to spend more and more taxpayers' money. It is as if somehow you measure the compassion of the government by the amount of other people's money it can spend. — David Cameron

At the core of the European Union must be, as it is now, the single market. Britain is at the heart of that Single Market, and must remain so. — David Cameron

My view is, the most important thing as prime minister is trying to make the right judgments. In order to make good judgments, you need good advice; you need good principles, and you need a clear head, and you need to have a sense of equilibrium. — David Cameron

Cap the well, yes. Clear up the mess, yes. Make compensation - yes, absolutely. But would it be right to have legislation that independently targets BP rather than other companies? I don't think that - would be right. — David Cameron

In a global race, can we really justify the huge number of expensive peripheral European institutions? Can we justify a commission that gets ever larger? Can we carry on with an organisation that has a multibillion pound budget but not enough focus on controlling spending and shutting down programmes that haven't worked? — David Cameron