Aneurin Bevan Best Quotes & Sayings

The Prime Minister wins debate after debate and loses battle after battle. The country is beginning to say that he fights debates like a war and the war like a debate. — Aneurin Bevan

He seems determined to make a trumpet sound like a tin whistle. — Aneurin Bevan

I know that the right kind of political leader for the Labour Party is a desiccated calculating machine. — Aneurin Bevan

Stand not too near the rich man lest he destroy thee - and not too far away lest he forget thee. — Aneurin Bevan

It is an axiom, enforced by all the experience of the ages, that they who rule industrially will rule politically. — Aneurin Bevan

Reactionary: a man walking backwards with his face to the future. — Aneurin Bevan

No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. — Aneurin Bevan

We should not be pushing out figured when the facts are in the opposite direction. — Aneurin Bevan

This island is made mainly of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organizing genius could produce a shortage of coal and fish at the same time. — Aneurin Bevan

He (Aneurin Bevan) enjoys prophesying the imminent fall of the capitalist system, and is prepared to play a part, any part, in its burial, except that of mute. — Harold Macmillan

I have never regarded politics as the arena of morals. It is the arena of interest. — Aneurin Bevan

The purpose of getting power is to be able to give it away. — Aneurin Bevan

Poor fellow, he suffers from files. — Aneurin Bevan

Trade unions are islands of anarchy in a sea of chaos. — Aneurin Bevan

The hero's need of the people outlasts their need of him. — Aneurin Bevan

He brings to the fierce struggle of politics the tepid enthusiasm of a lazy summer afternoon at a cricket match. — Aneurin Bevan

The language of priorities is the religion of socialism. — Aneurin Bevan

He [Winston Churchill] is a man suffering from petrified adolescence. — Aneurin Bevan

There are two ways of getting into the Cabinet - you can crawl in or kick your way in. — Aneurin Bevan

He has the lucidity which is the by-product of a fundamentally sterile mind. — Aneurin Bevan

That is why no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party that inflicted those bitter experiences on me. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. They condemned millions of first-class people to semi-starvation. Now the Tories are pouring out money in propaganda of all sorts and are hoping by this organised sustained mass suggestion to eradicate from our minds all memory of what we went through. But, I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying now. Do not listen to the seductions of Lord Woolton. He is a very good salesman. If you are selling shoddy stuff you have to be a good salesman. But I warn you they have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse than they were. — Aneurin Bevan

No society can legitimately call itself civilized if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means. — Aneurin Bevan

You don't have to gaze into a crystal ball when you can read an open book. — Aneurin Bevan

There can be no immaculate conception of socialism. — Aneurin Bevan

There is only one hope for mankind - and that is democratic socialism. There is only one party in Great Britain which can do it - and that is the Labour Party. — Aneurin Bevan

He referred to Aneurin Bevan as 'Urinal' Bevan. As for the working classes, they couldn't write their own names in shit on a lavatory wall. I said I thought they could. — Tony Benn

The NHS will last as long as there are folk left with faith to fight for it — Aneurin Bevan

Listening to a speech by [Neville] Chamberlain is like paying a visit to Woolworth's, everything in its place and nothing above sixpence. — Aneurin Bevan

We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over! — Aneurin Bevan

We could manage to survive without money changers and stockbrokers. We should find it harder to do without miners, steel workers and those who cultivate the land — Aneurin Bevan