Turnbull Quotes & Sayings

Beautiful light is born of a contrast to darkness ... — Ross Turnbull

Elise thinks of Denise's laugh cracking like thunder over the Turnbull houses, the paprika in her chili, the way her bra cuts into her back, the powdery heat of her body when they'd lie on the bed in the summertime, the afternoon too hot for anything but gossip and game shows. Her mother played with Elise's hair like it was her own, absentmindedly twirling it as they smoked. — Jardine Libaire

I felt so insufferably alone. I remembered Miss Myra Turnbull telling us once that this desperate need we have to belong to someone goes back to our earliest forebears, the lowest form of animal life, the amoeba, each individual particle of which has to be joined to other particles to make a whole. Then — Madeleine L'Engle

Government will not nominate the former Labor prime minister [Kevin Rudd] to be the UN's next secretary-general. — Malcolm Turnbull

I believe politicians should aim to be accurate and truthful in what they say at all times. You can be truthful and inaccurate but what you shouldn't be doing at any time is saying things that are untrue or making commitments that you have no intention of honouring. — Malcolm Turnbull

I try to talk about policy issues intelligently, I try very hard to avoid thought bubbles. I make sure my speeches are well researched and footnoted. I make sure I am not talking through my hat. — Malcolm Turnbull

We need to recognise that the whole edifice of our fifth estate, of our journalism, has been built on a foundation of newspaper journalism and that that foundation is crumbling. The management of the media companies will deny that the end is nigh. I hope they are right. — Malcolm Turnbull

Nobody looks at opinion polls with more attention than politicians, but of course you've got to remember that a single poll is a snapshot in time. — Malcolm Turnbull

Defeat in itself was part and parcel of the great gambling game of politics. A man who could not accept it and try again was not of the stuff of which leaders are made. — Agnes Sligh Turnbull

Governments enjoying surpluses have a very strong temptation to splash money around, and while tax cuts are always appealing, cutting taxes at the top of a boom runs the real risk of creating a structural deficit when the boom subsides. — Malcolm Turnbull

Wicca offered real, not pretended, means for the individual to express the art, beauty, and reality of ritual, including magic, in the here and now.
Paul Turnbull — Arin Murphy-Hiscock

We are already experiencing the symptoms of climate change, especially with a hotter and drier climate in southern Australia - the rush to construct desalination plants is an expensive testament to that. — Malcolm Turnbull

A union mount is a mount that allows several filesystems to be mounted at one time but appear to be one filesystem. The union mount overlays the filesystems on top of one another so that the resulting filesystem may contain files and subdirectories from any or all of the underlying filesystems. — James Turnbull

[On religion:] Wasn't it invented by man for a kind of solace? It's as though he had said, 'I'll make me a nice comfortable garment to shut out the heat and the cold,' and then it ends by becoming a strait-jacket. — Agnes Sligh Turnbull

What every prime minister struggles with and every leader struggles with is how to balance the two objectives; firstly that of ensuring that all asylum seekers are treated generously and humanely in accordance with the convention and secondly doing everything you can to eliminate or at least discourage people smuggling. And it's a very, very difficult balance. — Malcolm Turnbull

I believe that politicians should speak the truth all the time. Invariably there will be occasions when you make statements that are factually incorrect due to an error. — Malcolm Turnbull

The idea of perfection always gives one a chance to talk without knowing facts. — Agnes Sligh Turnbull

It is our job, as members of parliament, to legislate with an eye to the long term future, to look over the horizon beyond the next election and ensure that as far as we can what we do today will make Australia a better place, a safer place, for future generations to live in. — Malcolm Turnbull

I would say to the people of Queensland, and to all listeners around the country, is that if you want stable government in the next term of parliament, it's not just enough to reelect the [Malcolm] Turnbull government. It's also important to elect a senate which will be able to deal with the important reforms, with the important legislation, in a way in which the senate in the last parliament was unable to deal with. — George Brandis

China and India will take the global leadership on climate change: they are suffering for it. — Malcolm Turnbull

The only reason to be in politics is public service. There's no other reason. Frankly, if that's the best job you can get in terms of money, that's too bad, you know. Because frankly, it's not well paid, everyone knows that. So for most people it's a big sacrifice. — Malcolm Turnbull

The issue isn't gun control but state control
obtuse and arbitrary state control, state control run amok ... Forget guns. If Dr. Hudson, Mr. Turnbull, Dr. Gingrich and others end up in jail it won't be for their guns but our liberties. — George Jonas

It's really corny to say, but if you are happily married and have good kids, that is about 98 per cent of what you should be seeking to achieve. — Malcolm Turnbull

I am an ambitious person, but I am not ambitious in the sense that I want jobs only for the sake of them ... I am here to do things I think are worthwhile. I am always careful that the political positions I take are consistent with good policy. I would not want to be prime minister of Australia at any price. — Malcolm Turnbull

Are not the gays who seek the right to marry, to formalise their commitment to each other, holding up a mirror to heterosexuals who are marrying less frequently and divorcing more often? — Malcolm Turnbull

People invest in companies in order to get a share of the profit that company will make. If the Government increases its share of the profits, potential profits, at the expense of the owners of the company, the shareholders, then that makes investment in that company less attractive. — Malcolm Turnbull

A garden path,' write the landscape architects Charles W. Moore, William J. Mitchell, and William Turnbull, 'can become the thread of a plot, connecting moments and incidents into a narrative. The narrative structure might be a simple chain of events with a beginning, middle, and end. It might be embellished with diversions, digressions, and picaresque twists, be accompanied by parallel ways (subplots), or deceptively fork into blind alleys like the althernative scenerios explored in a detective novel. — Rebecca Solnit

In your telephone call, you [Malcolm Turnbull]said that neither you nor the Cabinet would be supporting my nomination. When I asked the reasons for this, you said that neither you nor the Cabinet has the view that I had the qualifications for the position [of UN's secretary-general]. — Kevin Rudd

Gone are the days when your indiscretions at university were recorded in a roneoed college newsletter of which there is only one copy left tucked in a filing cabinet at the back of a library. Today that same college newsletter is online, accessible by the whole world now and forever. — Malcolm Turnbull

When politicians offer you something for nothing, or something that sounds too good to be true, it's always worth taking a careful second look. — Malcolm Turnbull

Broadcasters or politicians or writers who think that they are respecting Struggle Street, the battlers, by dumbing things down into one-line sound bites are not respecting them, they are treating them with contempt. It's our job above all in politics to tackle the big issues and to explain them. — Malcolm Turnbull

May your colonies be healthy and plentiful May your supers be overflowing And may your swarms always be someone else's bees! — Bill Turnbull

It is a bitter-sweet thing, knowing two cultures. Once you leave your birthplace nothing is ever the same. — Sarah Turnbull

The most effective check and balance on government has been an independent press which maintains its credibility by ensuring that its criticism is balanced and based on fact - based indeed on solid journalistic work. — Malcolm Turnbull

I want to be taken to a madhouse," said Turnbull distinctly, giving the direction with a sort of precision. "I want to go back to exactly the same lunatic asylum from which I came." "Why?" asked the unknown. "Because I want a little sane and wholesome society," answered Turnbull. — G.K. Chesterton

Honest people, knowledgeable people, really well-informed people can have very different views about what the right measures are on national security. — Malcolm Turnbull

It is our job above all in politics to tackle the big issues and to explain them, and have the honesty to say to people, 'There are no easy solutions here.' — Malcolm Turnbull

Forbes cost of living extremely well index (CLEWI) An amazing thing I came across while researching the question of just what it is that very very rich people do with their money. As Forbes says, the CLEWI is to the very rich what the CPI is to "ordinary people." There are forty items on it, and they are hilarious, though perhaps you shouldn't show them to your left-wing aunt if she's suffering from high blood pressure: Russian sable fur coats from Bloomingdale's, shirts from Turnbull and Asser, Gucci loafers, handmade John Lobb shoes, a year at Groton boarding school, a yacht, a horse, a pool, a Learjet, a Roller, a case of Dom Perignon, forty-five minutes at a psychiatrist's on the Upper East Side (!), an hour's estate planning with a lawyer, and, amusingly/annoyingly, a year at Harvard.36 In 2012, the CLEWI went up 2.6 percent but the CPI went up only 1.4 percent. — John Lanchester

The human soul, by once suffering as much as it is capable of, purchases a strange and terrible immunity to all the rest of life's sorrows. — Agnes Sligh Turnbull

French elegance lies in the balance of romance and restraint. — Sarah Turnbull

If Margaret Thatcher took climate change seriously and believed that we should take action to reduce global greenhouse emissions, then taking action and supporting and accepting the science can hardly be the mark of incipient Bolshevism. — Malcolm Turnbull

Such is the nature of an expatriate life. Stripped of romance, perhaps that's what being an expat is all about: a sense of not wholly belonging. [ ... ] The insider-outsider dichotomy gives life a degree of tension. Not of a needling, negative variety but rather a keep-on-your-toes sort of tension that can plunge or peak with sudden rushes of love or anger. Learning to recognise and interpret cultural behaviour is a vital step forward for expats anywhere, but it doesn't mean that you grow to appreciate all the differences. — Sarah Turnbull

Would I be right in thinking you've been attacked by a Zeppelin crewed by German airmen?" The entire group looked astonished. "How did you know?" said the mayor. "We've been on their tail for a while." Khuwelsa put her hand over her face to hide her smile at Harry's exaggerated account of the situation. The mayor looked at Harry, then Khuwelsa, then the Pegasus. "You're chasing them? — Steve Turnbull

While our energy efficiency is improving, there is a very high correlation, almost near perfect correlation, between GDP growth, and energy usage. — Malcolm Turnbull

Everyone's got different views. I think you're better off staying within the party and prosecuting those views than stepping out of it. — Malcolm Turnbull

The proliferation of outlets that digital technology has enabled has itself contributed to the changing nature of what we regard as 'news' and the way in which many citizens perceive politics. — Malcolm Turnbull

There is a tendency to try to dumb everything down and turn everything into a one-paragraph press release or even less, just a slogan. — Malcolm Turnbull

You must learn to drink the cup of life as it comes ... without stirring it up from the bottom. That's where the bitter dregs are! — Agnes Sligh Turnbull

In economics, one of the most important concepts is 'opportunity cost' - the idea that once you spend your money on something, you can't spend it again on something else. — Malcolm Turnbull

It's not a 24-hour news cycle, it's a 60-second news cycle now, it's instantaneous. It has never been easier to get away with telling lies. It has never been easier to get away with the glib one liner. — Malcolm Turnbull

Learn to drink the cup of life as it comes. — Agnes Sligh Turnbull

Greece is an extreme case: a country where both the level of spending and the level of taxation were unsustainable! — Malcolm Turnbull

I think we foreshorten our own viewpoint if we consider any state of mind, or society, or government as final. Growth and change! We can't get away from them. — Agnes Sligh Turnbull

Mathematics transfigures the fortuitous concourse of atoms into the tracery of the finger of God. — Herbert Turnbull

I do not believe we can effectively move Australia to a lower emission economy, which is what we need to do if we're going to make a contribution to a global reduction in greenhouse gases, without putting a price on carbon. — Malcolm Turnbull

The question of whether or to what extent human activities are causing global warming is not a matter of ideology, let alone of belief. The issue is simply one of risk management. — Malcolm Turnbull

If consulted by friends about marital dramas, I always encourage the singles to marry, the married to stick together, the neglectful and wayward to renew their loving commitment and the wronged to forgive. — Malcolm Turnbull

Study after study has demonstrated that people are better off financially, healthier, happier if they are married, and indeed, I repeat, if they are formally married as opposed to simply living together. — Malcolm Turnbull

No man is responsible for his father. That was entirely his mother's affair. — Margaret Turnbull

Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really. — Agnes Sligh Turnbull

In terms of our region, what we need to ensure is that the rise of China [is] conducted in a manner that does not disturb the security and the relative harmony of the region upon which China's prosperity depends. Now - now, that requires careful diplomacy, it requires balancing. — Malcolm Turnbull

When Sir Winton Turnbull [who represented a large rural seat] was raving and ranting on the adjournment and shouted: "I am a Country member". I interjected "I remember". He could not understand why, for the first time in all the years he had been speaking in the House, there was instant and loud applause from both sides. — Gough Whitlam

If a diplomat says yes, he means perhaps. If he says perhaps he means no. And if he says no, he's the hell of a diplomat. — Agnes Sligh Turnbull

Let us be honest with each other. The threat to marriage is not the gays. It is a lack of loving commitment - whether it is found in the form of neglect, indifference, cruelty or adultery, to name just a few manifestations of the loveless desert in which too many marriages come to grief. — Malcolm Turnbull

When the desire ain't on me I don't need help. When it is on me I don't want any. See? Like the old fellah that never mended his roof. Said on a wet day he couldn't do it and on a dry day it was as good as anybody's. — Agnes Sligh Turnbull

Sure, Malcolm Turnbull is less anti-science and anti-culture than [Tony] Abbott, but low bar, and there's not a lot to show for it beyond rhetoric. — Justine Larbalestier

Anyone who thinks it's smart to cut immigration is sentencing Australia to poverty. — Malcolm Turnbull

What you've got to do is recognize that you don't control everything for a start, you've got to play the cards you're dealt, the hand of cards you're dealt, as best you can, and that's what I always seek to do. — Malcolm Turnbull

We have a strong and credible broadband policy because the man who has devised it, the man who will implement it virtually invented the Internet in this country. Thank you so much, Malcolm Turnbull. — Tony Abbott

I've been around in public life for a long time. I think people know what I stand for. They know that I have strong convictions, committed principles and I'm prepared to stand up for them. — Malcolm Turnbull

The greatest mathematics has the simplicity and inevitableness of supreme poetry and music, standing on the borderland of all that is wonderful in Science, and all that is beautiful in Art. — Robert Turnbull

You cannot keep on saying oh, you know, talking about disrespecting women as just being politically correct or it's not a big deal or brushing things off. You've got to be aware of it. — Malcolm Turnbull

This all comes down to what we know about life on Earth. — Margaret Turnbull

The new prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, while a vast improvement on his predecessor is not doing much, if anything, to slow that process done. — Justine Larbalestier

So the proposition that the ideal parents for any child are its biological parents is a statement with which we can all agree in the generality, but which does not apply, for one reason or another, in many particular circumstances. — Malcolm Turnbull

Burning logs can carry on quite a conversation! ... Have you ever heard apple wood talking? It's the most loquacious of all. You really can't get a word in edgeways. — Agnes Sligh Turnbull

There's the occasion when politicians will say things that are simply not true or that they make commitments that they have no intention of fulfilling. That is something that I think should not happen. That's a no-no. That's a third rail that you shouldn't touch. — Malcolm Turnbull

But who knows, some years from now if there's a global emissions trading scheme agreement, as many have hoped for, then I'm sure Australia would be part of it. — Malcolm Turnbull

Design acknowledges change. Its meaning encompasses change in our times. To design is to 'create order and to function according to a plan.' The notion of change and design move along the same path. — Sara Little Turnbull

Those who condemn gay marriage, yet are silent or indifferent to the breakdown of marriage and divorce, are, in my view, missing the real issue. — Malcolm Turnbull

The usefulness of mathematics in furthering the sciences is commonly acknowledged: but outside the ranks of the experts there is little inquiry into its nature and purpose as a deliberate human activity. Doubtless this is due to the inevitable drawback that mathematical study is saturated with technicalities from beginning to end. — Herbert Turnbull

When a man meets catastrophe on the road, he looks in his purse, but a woman looks in her mirror. — Margaret Turnbull

Doubt is the disease of this inquisitive, restless age. It is the price we pay for our advanced intelligence and civilization-the him night of our resplendent day. But as the most beautiful light is born of darkness, so the faith that springs from conflict is often the strongest and best. — Ross Turnbull

To the former child migrants, who came to Australia from a home far away, led to believe this land would be a new beginning, when only to find it was not a beginning, but an end, an end of innocence - we apologise and we are sorry. To the mothers who lost the maternal right to love and care for their child - we apologise, and we are sorry. — Malcolm Turnbull

The trail of lime trees outside our building is still a public loo. ... where else are they supposed to go to the toilet in a city where public toilets are about as common as UFO sightings? (pp.281-82) — Sarah Turnbull

The way to lose weight is to eat less, so I ate a lot less for a month and lost a lot of weight pretty quickly. — Malcolm Turnbull

All Australians understand that high-quality, reliable and affordable broadband is a critical part of the infrastructure our nation needs to prosper in coming years. — Malcolm Turnbull

Many Liberals are rightly dismayed that on this vital issue of climate change we are not simply without a policy, without any prospect of having a credible policy but we are now without integrity. We have given our opponents the irrefutable, undeniable evidence that we cannot be trusted. — Malcolm Turnbull

The biggest review of taxation ever undertaken in this country, is now dead in the water. — Malcolm Turnbull

I will go to the next election saying to Australians, vote for me, vote for the Liberal Party, and I will become your PM. So I'm offering myself as the alternative PM - that's one way people describe the Leader of the Opposition - but I'm not in politics for myself to realize a personal ambition. — Malcolm Turnbull

Mitt Romney speaking to a $50,000-a-plate Republican fundraiser says he doesn't have to worry about the 47 per cent of Americans who don't pay tax. He was not counting on the smart phone recording his speech and then posting it on YouTube. — Malcolm Turnbull

My commitment to the Republican movement was pure and simply patriotism, a love of Australia ... a desire or passion that all of our national symbols should be unequivocally and unambiguously Australian. — Malcolm Turnbull

You've got to remember that it's a two horse race. So when the Government is doing badly the Opposition is doing better and vice versa. — Malcolm Turnbull

Do you know that the tendrils of graft and corruption have become mighty interlacing roots so that even men who would like to be honest are tripped and trapped by them? — Agnes Sligh Turnbull

The Liberal Party is and always has been an amalgam between the conservative and the liberal with a small L traditions. And so from time to time people will see it emphasising one more than the other. I think it is genuinely an amalgam between the two. — Malcolm Turnbull

There is only one thing about which I shall have no regrets when my life ends. I have savored to the full all the small, daily joys. The bright sunshine on the breakfast table; the smell of the air at dusk; the sound of the clock ticking; the light rains that start gently after midnight; the hour when the family come home; Sunday-evening tea before the fire! I have never missed one moment of beauty, not even taken it for granted. Spring, summer, autumn, or winter. I wish I had failed as little in other ways. — Agnes Sligh Turnbull

If I could say something about Capricornia, and it came out in your previous report, there is no doubt that the end of the mining boom has led to an economic downturn in central Queensland, and that is why people in Capricornia, and elsewhere in central Queensland too, are so desperate for a government that will protect their jobs and create new opportunities for jobs in the future. And that is why [Malcolm] Turnbull government's message of jobs and growth and its six point economic plan is so important to them. — George Brandis

Beautiful light is born of darkness, so the faith that springs from conflict is often the strongest and the best. — Ross Turnbull

On balance, after weighing the arguments, I believe that the time has come for Australia to create a new sovereign wealth fund. — Malcolm Turnbull

Do the bishops seriously imagine that legalising gay marriage will result in thousands of parties to heterosexual marriages suddenly deciding to get divorced so they can marry a person of the same sex? — Malcolm Turnbull