Robert Menzies Professions : Former Prime Minister of Australia Born : December 20, 1894 Died : May 15, 1978 Browse All Authors Top 26 quotes by Robert Menzies It is a simple but sometimes forgotten truth that the greatest enemy to present joy and high hopes is the cultivation of retrospective bitterness. Robert Menzies wisdom truth hope We took the name 'Liberal' because we were determined to be a progressive party, willing to make experiments, in no sense reactionary but believing in the individual, his rights, and his enterprise, and rejecting the socialist panacea. Robert Menzies party rights believe A man may be a tough, concentrated, successful money-maker and never contribute to his country anything more than a horrible example. Robert Menzies successful men country More good things in life are lost by indifference than ever were lost by active hostility. Robert Menzies indifference things-in-life good-things The great vice of democracy is that for a generation we have been busy getting ourselves on to the list of beneficiaries and removing ourselves from the list of contributors, as if somewhere there was somebody else's effort on which we could thrive. Robert Menzies effort democracy leadership The kind of people I myself represent in parliament; salary earners, shopkeepers, skilled artisans, professional men and women, farmers and so on, these are, in a political and economic sense, the middle class. They are for the most part unorganised and unselfconscious. Robert Menzies business class men A man may be a tough, concentrated, successful moneymaker and never contribute to his country anything more than a horrible example. A manager may be tough and practical, squeezing out, while the going is good, the last ounce of profit and dividend, and may leave behind him an exhausted industry and a legacy of industrial hatred. A tough manager may never look outside his own factory walls or be conscious of his partnership in a wider world. I often wonder what strange cud such men sit chewing when their working days are over, and the accumulating riches of the mind have eluded them. Robert Menzies wall business country I did but see her passing by and yet I love her till I die. Robert Menzies passing-by passings love When people meet my wife they think better of me. They say: "With a wife like that, he can't be as bad as we thought". Robert Menzies wife people thinking Modern history is, as you all know, full of examples of great movements that disappeared because they had ceased to have any genuine reason for existence. The important thing is to have a faith to live by, and that goes for us in this party. Robert Menzies party important example What Great Britain calls the Far East is to us the near north. Robert Menzies great-britain britain east Thinking ahead, what really happens to us will depend on how many people we have who are of the great and sober and dynamic middle-class - the strivers, the planners, the ambitious ones. Robert Menzies class people thinking Never forget posterity when devising a policy. Never think of posterity when making a speech. Robert Menzies never-forget speech thinking Men of genius are not to be analysed by commonplace rules. The rest of us who have been or are leaders, more commonplace in our quality, will do well to remember two things. One is never to forget posterity when devising a policy. The other is never to think of posterity when making a speech. Robert Menzies men two thinking One thing about bureaucrats is that they never swallow their young. Leave them alone and you'll find them increasing every year. Robert Menzies bureaucrats young years "I pay my taxes," says somebody, as if that were an act of virtue instead of one of compulsion. Robert Menzies taxes virtue pay My headmaster chastised me with a diabolical instrument a leather strap tacked to a piece of wood but he taught me with such villainous success that I am now Prime Minister. Robert Menzies learning leadership education One speaks with great respect of economists, if only because they represent such a variety of opinions. Robert Menzies economist opinion speak I am one of the few men honest enough to say they do not understand women. Robert Menzies women honest enough A manager may be tough and practical, squeezing out, while the going is good, the last ounce of profit and dividend . . . Robert Menzies tough lasts may Similar Authors Bob Hawke former-prime-minister-of-australia Ben Chifley former-prime-minister-of-australia Gough Whitlam former-prime-minister-of-australia Edmund Barton former-prime-minister-of-australia Malcolm Fraser former-prime-minister-of-australia Kevin Rudd former-prime-minister-of-australia All Authors
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