Michael Gove's Quotes & Sayings

The economic basis on which Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish nationalists made the case for separation was based on an oil price much higher than it is at the moment, so there will be no case for it. — Michael Gove

As long as there are people in education making excuses for failure, cursing future generations with a culture of low expectations, denying children access to the best that has been thought and written, because Nemo and the Mister Men are more relevant, the battle needs to be joined. — Michael Gove

I think it's time that we said to people who are incapable of acknowledging that they've ever got anything wrong: 'I'm sorry, you've had your day.' Unelected, unaccountable elites, I'm afraid it's time to say, 'You're fired. We are going to take back control.' — Michael Gove

In particular, I wanted to help build a team behind Boris Johnson so that a politician who argued for leaving the European Union could lead us to a better future. — Michael Gove

I believe that there are better opportunities to keep people safe if we are outside the European Union. — Michael Gove

I think it's appropriate that we simplify, clarify and strengthen, so instead of this nebulousness, we have clarity and authority invested in teachers once more. — Michael Gove

Let's be honest, the fact that Michael [Gove] announced very late in the process this morning that he was going to put his name forward, showed how much he had wrestled with this. — Nicky Morgan

I put my country and my principles first. — Michael Gove

I remember my mum explaining to me what adoption meant when I was still at primary school. 'Son,' she said to me, 'you didn't grow under my heart, you grew in it'. — Michael Gove

I will ensure we honour the instructions the British people have given us. I argued for specific changes in the referendum campaign, I believe in them, I will deliver them. — Michael Gove

My sister and I know our lives could have been different - radically, unthinkably, irretrievably different - if we had not been adopted. We might have found ourselves in homes without love, stability or kindness. We might have found ourselves in care for much longer, without the secure attachment that being cradled in a mother's arms brings. — Michael Gove

I believed we needed someone who would be able to build a team, lead and unite. I hoped that person would be Boris Johnson. — Michael Gove

Making promises and then saddling yourself with a political system and a political union that means that you cannot deliver those promises, I fear, doesn't contribute to an atmosphere of trust and confidence in politics. — Michael Gove

If I'm the British prime minister I won't be dictated to on the timetable or the manner of the negotiations. — Michael Gove

In England, more than in any comparable country, those who are born poor are more likely to stay poor, and those who inherit privilege are more likely to pass on privilege. For those of us who believe in social justice, this stratification and segregation are morally indefensible. — Michael Gove

The British people rejected politics as usual and government as usual. They want and need a new approach to running this country. — Michael Gove

There is a slam-dunk case for extending foreign language teaching to children aged five. Just as some people have taken a perverse pride in not understanding mathematics, so we have taken a perverse pride in the fact that we do not speak foreign languages, and we just need to speak louder in English. — Michael Gove

I have specifically argued that we need to change our relationship with the European Union by fundamentally reforming not just our relationship but the European Union itself. — Michael Gove

I think the depressing litany of projections about World War Three and global Brexit recession we hear from the Remain side is not the sort of approach we should take into the future. — Michael Gove

I was a union member in my youth as well and I went on strike, and I don't think it solved anything. It only made the situation worse for everyone involved. — Michael Gove

I can't foretell the future, but I don't believe that the act of leaving the European Union would make our economic position worse; I think it would make it better. — Michael Gove

People should vote for democracy, and Britain should vote for hope. — Michael Gove

I want people to concentrate not on my job but on their jobs. — Michael Gove

If you vote to leave the E.U ... we will have additional flexibility to help industries who really need it. — Michael Gove

I notice that the number of cosmetic-surgery operations has risen by 34 per cent in the past year. Once we subtract Jordan, Jodie Marsh and Michael Jackson from those figures, we can see that demand overall may have stabilised. — Michael Gove

I will put my heart and soul into making sure that the care your son or daughter or mum or dad receives is the same I would want for my own family. — Michael Gove

The people who are backing the Remain campaign are people who have done very well, thank you, out of the European Union. — Michael Gove

I will do everything that is required in order to bring immigration down to a level that is manageable, that the public believe is right. — Michael Gove

There aren't many contemporary Christian leaders who are both energetic in their condemnation of the crimes of communism and robust in their analysis of the evil of Islamism, but Justin Welby stands out. — Michael Gove

I will take all the steps necessary to give the NHS at least another £100million per week by 2020. — Michael Gove

In order to be able to reduce migration we need to be outside the European Union. — Michael Gove

We have the opportunity not just to choose our job or profession, but also to choose the sort of life we want to live and the imprint we will leave on others. — Michael Gove

One of reasons I was able to go to university was because of the sacrifices my family made. — Michael Gove

One of the reasons why Australia and Canada have support for migration is because they control the numbers. — Michael Gove

We have, in the E.U., a market rigged in favour of the rich and stacked against the poor, and I think that's wrong. — Michael Gove

Proper history teaching is being crushed under the weight of play-based pedagogy which infantilises children, teachers and our culture. — Michael Gove

There wasn't a Scottish nationalist MP elected at any general election when we were outside the E.U. — Michael Gove

Life would have been easier for me if I had taken the path of least resistance. — Michael Gove

Our most important public service will always be the NHS. And I want to say something clear and unambiguous about the future of the health service. — Michael Gove

The First World War may have been a uniquely horrific war, but it was also plainly a just war. — Michael Gove

I want people to be the authors of their own life story. — Michael Gove

I'll negotiate with toughness, and with great attention to detail to get the best possible deal for Britain. It's only when we are outside the European Union that we can at last bring those numbers [of migrants] under control in the way that the public want. — Michael Gove

With the single exception of Park Lane, every north-south route in London slows traffic to the pace of a wounded gnat with pleurisy struggling with a squaddie's backpack. — Michael Gove

Our security and sovereignty stand together. — Michael Gove

Whether Theresa May had stabbed has stabbed the former Mayor of London in the back and Michael Gove had stabbed him in the front. That's about it. It makes House of Cards look like Teletubbies. — Nigel Evans

For a few spotty years, I was that tragic geek — Michael Gove

I won't criticise anyone else's statements, and the public will make up their own minds. And if the public think that any side or any individual has strayed too far away from what's expected of public representatives, then they'll make that judgement. — Michael Gove

The people I admire most are those doing outstanding things for the poorest children, such as Michael Wilshaw at Mossbourne academy, Dan Moynihan and all those at the Harris academies, and those at chains such as Ark and the Haberdashers, who are driving up standards in the poorest areas. — Michael Gove

What's a fact is that we give more than £350 million to the European Union and hand over control of that money to the European Union every week. — Michael Gove

If we leave the European Union, yes there will be bumps in the road, inevitably, but we will be in a better position to deal with them. — Michael Gove

What I think is wrong is spending £9m of taxpayers' money on one particular piece of one-sided propaganda. — Michael Gove

We need a national ambition to build hundreds of thousands of new homes a year, both private and socially-rented - led by someone who will not take no for an answer and who will push for diggers in the ground and homes for all come what may. — Michael Gove

Michael Gove is the right leader for the country. — Dominic Raab

Michael Gove is an incredibly talent guy and a Brexiteer. But he has been telling all of us for the last five years that he doesn't want to [be the Prime Minister] and he doesn't think he's got it in him to do it so his conversion on the road to Damascus has come pretty late. — Andrew Mitchell

I'm clear that we do need to improve what's happening in our schools. — Michael Gove

I recognise that fishing is perhaps not the most high-employment industry in this country, but it's a symbol of what we lost when we entered the E.U.: control over national resources that, if we retained them, we could have husbanded in our interest and, indeed, in the interest of others. — Michael Gove

I know what it's like to see someone lose their job as a result of the European Union. I saw my father lose his job, I saw his business go to the wall, I saw 24 people who he employed also lose their jobs. — Michael Gove

Teachers themselves know if there's a colleague who can't keep control or keep the interest of their class, it affects the whole school. — Michael Gove

Anyone who's working in manufacturing here should know they will have increased opportunities if we leave the European Union. — Michael Gove

Turkey will "inevitably" join the EU in our lifetime unless we vote to leave. — Michael Gove

I think that the message I have of optimism and hope about Britain's bright future outside the European Union is shared by many Conservative members and voters - indeed by a majority of the country. — Michael Gove

We need to face the fact that we need more money in order to deliver Jeremy Hunt's absolutely correct drive to guarantee even better standards of care. — Michael Gove

There are all sorts of people who will say disobliging things about me. I don't mind that. I would rather people said, 'This is a man that sticks to his principles, not a man who's worried about popularity.' — Michael Gove

I will do exactly as the Prime Minister asks me. — Michael Gove

The single most important thing in a child's performance is the quality of the teacher. Making sure a child spends the maximum amount of time with inspirational teachers is the most important thing. — Michael Gove

It's often the case that successful people invite criticism. — Michael Gove

One thing is undeniable. If we are going to continue to have support for migration, we need to be able to control the numbers. — Michael Gove

I want there to be an open and positive debate about the path the country will now take. Whatever the verdict of that debate I will respect it. — Michael Gove

It's the invincible arrogance of Europe's elites that gets me. These are people who have seen the euro collapse. These are people who are presiding over a migration crisis on their borders, and yet do they ever acknowledge that they need to change? No. They say they need more integration, more of our money, more control over this country. — Michael Gove

I am on the side of the people. — Michael Gove

It is vital that teachers can be paid more without having to leave the classroom. This will be particularly important to schools in the most disadvantaged areas as it will empower them to attract and recruit the best teachers. — Michael Gove

Why ... do the myths of America the Hateful take such powerful hold? Because anti-Americanism provides a useful emotional function which goes beyond logic and reaches deep into the darker recesses of the European soul. In centuries past those on the Left who wished to personalise their hatred of capitalism, who sought to make it emotionally resonant by fastening an envious political passion on to a blameless scapegoat people, embraced anti-Semitism. It was the socialism of fools. Which is what anti-Americanism is now. — Michael Gove

I didn't think I was the right person to do that job but I do think Michael Gove is and that's why I'm backing him. — Nicky Morgan

The ability to choose who governs us, and the freedom to change laws we do not like, were secured for us in the past by radicals and liberals who took power from unaccountable elites and placed it in the hands of the people. — Michael Gove

Adopting means opening your home, and heart, to a life you've never known. But there is nothing as richly rewarding as being an adoptive parent. — Michael Gove

You come home to find your 17-year-old daughter engrossed in a book. Which would delight you more - if it were 'Twilight' or 'Middlemarch?' — Michael Gove

I'm not interested in defending the position of those who already have money, power and privilege. — Michael Gove

I think the people of this country have had enough of experts with organisations from acronyms saying that they know what is best and getting it consistently wrong. — Michael Gove

I absolutely haven't set out to burnish a reputation as a macho figure by picking fights. — Michael Gove

Learning a foreign language, and the culture that goes with it, is one of the most useful things we can do to broaden the empathy and imaginative sympathy and cultural outlook of children. — Michael Gove

I absolutely think that David Cameron should stay, whatever the result of the referendum, and I hope that he will stay for the full second term which he was elected to serve. — Michael Gove

Too many people go to university. — Michael Gove

Ever since going up to university, I have accumulated new debt, and new means of becoming indebted. — Michael Gove

The decision to trigger Article 50 is in the hands of the next prime minister. If that is me, I will make a judgement as to when is right for Britain, and I won't be hurried or hassled by anyone into pressing that button or triggering that article until I believe it is right for this country. — Michael Gove

There are huge challenges ahead for this country but also huge opportunities. We can make this country stronger and fairer. — Michael Gove

You know you don't see hospital consultants going on strike, and I don't believe that teachers and head teachers should. It's within their rights, it's a civil right, but I think it is wrong in terms of the reputation of the profession. — Michael Gove

When we vote to leave, I think a majority of people in Scotland will also vote to leave as well. — Michael Gove

My parents adopted me, and then, by the age of four or five, I was asking all sorts of questions, and they found themselves with a son who was interested in the sorts of things that they valued but weren't natural to them. — Michael Gove

The majority people in this country are suffering because of our membership of the E.U. — Michael Gove

I was very lucky in that I had a couple of teachers who were particularly supportive. — Michael Gove

They [British people] told us to restore democratic control of immigration policy and to spend their money on national priorities such as health, education and science instead of giving it to Brussels. — Michael Gove

Hanging may seem barbarous, but the greater barbarity lies in the slow abandonment of our common law traditions. — Michael Gove

I don't think there will be a recession as a result of a vote to leave. — Michael Gove

You wouldn't tolerate an underperforming surgeon in an operating theatre, or a underperforming midwife at your child's birth. Why is it that we tolerate underperforming teachers in the classroom? — Michael Gove

I sometimes think that the In campaign appears to be operating to a script written by George R.R. Martin and Stephen King - Brexit would mean a combination of 'A Feast for Crows' and 'Misery.' — Michael Gove

It's critical that children spend time before they arrive in school in a warm, attractive and inclusive environment, where they can learn through play, master social skills and prepare for formal schooling. — Michael Gove

When I talk to teachers they tell me the things they'd most like from any government are a reduction in bureaucracy, support to help ensure good discipline and a reformed Ofsted. — Michael Gove

Whatever else I know, I know that if you invest love and care in any individual you can help them to make a difference, to write their own life story. — Michael Gove

Boris Johnson is a man of great attributes and great qualities. — Michael Gove

I don't want to have anyone else as Prime Minister other than David Cameron, and if people spend their time thinking about some of this stuff, then they are getting in the way of two things: one, a fair, open, fact-based referendum debate; and two, the Conservative government continuing afterwards in a stable and secure fashion. — Michael Gove