Samaras Quotes & Sayings

Samaras is making the crudest of anti-immigrant pitches, and we didn't have to wait to see the consequence. On Friday - almost wholly ignored in the wake of the grim news from Paris - a gunman entered a hostel housing primarily migrant workers in Salonika, brandished a pistol and threatened to open fire because he "was sick of paying taxes for you people." A social outcast, perhaps? A thug belonging associated with the fascists of Golden Dawn? No. Stelios Ioannides is a local functionary of Samaras's New Democracy. — Anonymous

There are certainly delays in this year's agreed program, and we must quickly catch up. Let's not kid ourselves, there is still big waste in the public sector, and it must stop. — Antonis Samaras

I am my own investigation territory. — Lucas Samaras

The Greek people today voted for Greece to remain on its European path and in the eurozone. — Antonis Samaras

I cannot allow a third party to decide on my country's future. — Antonis Samaras

Other countries have access to the markets, whereas Greece does not. Therefore, we have to get liquidity through the ECB. — Antonis Samaras

We have decreased the salaries of everybody who partakes in politics, from the president to the prime minister to the MPs [members of Parliament]. We have cut expenditures that have to do with parliament. Everybody knows we are serious. — Antonis Samaras

I started photographing myself, and found that I could see portions of myself that I had never seen before. Since I face just my face in the mirror, I know pretty much what it's like. When I see a side-view I'm not used to it, and find it peculiar ... So, photographing myself and discovering unknown territories of my surface self causes an interesting psychological confrontation. — Lucas Samaras

I am fully aware of the critical moments we face as a country. — Antonis Samaras

Keep your focus on your passion in life and the things you enjoy doing. Youll get there. Trust me. I'm doing it. — Tim Samaras

If an artist does not have an erotic involvement with everything that he sees, he may as well give up. To be a human being may a very messy thing, but to be an artist is something else entirely, because art is religion, art is sex, art is society. Art is everything. — Lucas Samaras

My passion for storm chasing has always been driven by the beautiful and powerful storms displayed in the heartland each spring. — Tim Samaras

I was my own Peeping Tom. Because of the absence of people I could do anything, and if it wasn't good I could destroy it without damaging myself in the presence of others. In that sense I was my own clay. I formulated myself, I mated with myself, and I gave birth to myself. And my real self was the product - the polaroids. — Lucas Samaras

At any rate, when I began photographing myself, I could place myself in poses that had not been investigated by other artists. It was an area other artists hadn't touched. Then, I went on from there. I manipulated my image - distorting it, brutalizing it. People thought I was mad, but I felt I had to tell these things. It gave me a kind of excitement. — Lucas Samaras

If the program goes off track again due to recession, this should not become a pretext for the imposition of more austerity measures. — Antonis Samaras

You don't have to say that nature is aware of your existence, that God knows you are here and you are suffering or having joy. The camera gives you proof that you have lived at least once. — Lucas Samaras

We believe that what they call "Grexit" [a Greek exit from the eurozone] is not an option for us. — Antonis Samaras

The selfie era offers a big opening: everybody can do it; nowadays even five-year-olds know how to take a nude self-portrait. — Lucas Samaras

We are a pivotal part of the European Union. Any destabilization of Greece would totally rock the boat. — Antonis Samaras

Today is a new day for the land. — Antonis Samaras

Tomorrow a new era starts for Greece. — Antonis Samaras

By the time I'm old and retired I'm hoping to contribute enough that people can take this piece and run with it then others, such as the college students that are participating on this can take off and finish out the mission when I'm long gone — Tim Samaras

I have always believed that this idea of having a nation go through this very painful five or six years of continuous recession with high unemployment would be detrimental for the economy and the society. — Antonis Samaras

It was a culture that business is something bad - it was a leftist-oriented psychology. We have to break this. We are pro-business. — Antonis Samaras

The Greek word for box is kouti which also means stupid. — Lucas Samaras

Greece's position in Europe will not be put in doubt. — Antonis Samaras

There is a mass of immigrants, a million of them without work. We will stop this invasion. — Antonis Samaras

I'm not sure exactly why I chase storms. Perhaps it's to witness the incredible beauty of what Mother Nature can create. — Tim Samaras

Our first goal is to stop the recession and start with recovery. — Antonis Samaras

Making art is dealing with people on your own terms. The ideal way of using people is using them like clay, but that being out of the question, except for lunatics and leaders, art is a good alternative. — Lucas Samaras

Illegal immigrants are already a very big problem for us. We are already taking big steps to disallow illegal immigrants from coming in. — Antonis Samaras

The best way for someone to govern is to set an example. — Antonis Samaras

There are many people abroad who want to help, who want to invest. We will give them the red-carpet treatment. We want them to realize that this is a land of opportunity. It always has been so, but we never allowed foreign investment to come into this country. — Antonis Samaras

During the socialist period, the government became too big. That created a crowding-out effect in the private economy, and it gave everybody the need to pay more taxes in order to finance this big government. We are against big government. We want a smaller and more efficient government. — Antonis Samaras

I do not want Greece to become the negative paradigm for the others - i.e., "make sure you follow exactly what we tell you, otherwise you will be like Greece." — Antonis Samaras

Very serious mistakes were made by previous governments, and Greece was ready to be abandoned by its partners and to leave the eurozone, which would have created total catastrophe. — Antonis Samaras