Dalai Lama Quotes

I have been a lifelong community activist and frankly did not dream of being in public office.

Going into politics is something people have asked me about forever.

…this duty lies in your path and that you ought to undertake it. If defeated, so much the better for you personally; if victorious, the greatest opportunity in the American struggle for self-government except that afforded by the Presidency will lie at your hands.

I do not feel that I have any duty to seek a political nomination, in spite of the fact that many have urged to the contrary. Because of this belief I shall not do so.

I've always done party building and party fundraising.

She had heard someone say something about an Independent Labour Party, and was furious that she had not been asked.

The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case.

Here, the certain temple rule, this seems to me to have a certain responsibility to look after the well-being of society and look after Buddhism and culture. I consider these part of the practice of spirituality. There is no competition between spiritual practice and party politics. That is outdated. We already, since 2001, have elected political position. My position is semi-retired. I am looking forward to complete retirement.

Nobody wants me as a Cabinet Minister and they are perfectly right. I am an agitator, not an administrator.

I have never had a governmental position, and I will never accept such a position.

I am always on duty, even when I am at party events or on vacation. I don't complain about it, on the contrary. Time management for candidates without government functions is different than it is for me. No matter where I am, I always have to have my duties as chancellor in mind.

I want to be Prime Minister, but I will stand for Mayor of London first.

I can't keep my head above water one minute to the next: it's not just the parties and the goo-gooing with what's-her-name, I've got the decide how long the Five Hundredth Anniversary Parade is going to be and where does it start and when does it start and which nobleman gets to march in front of which other nobleman so that everyone's still speaking to me at the end of it, plus I've got a wife to murder and a country to frame for it, plus I've got to get the war going once that's all happened, and all this is stuff I've got to do myself. Here's what it all comes down to: I'm just swamped, Ty.

My father always would say, "My daughter will go into politics? My daughter will become prime minister", but it's not what I wanted to do. I would say, "No, Papa, I will never go into politics." As I've said before, this is not the life I chose; it chose me ... But I accepted the responsibility and I've never wavered in my commitment.

I have always been involved in issue-based politics, not party politics - I was never really originally drawn to party politics.

I'm forever a former president and I understand that, but at this point in my post-presidency, I don't want to be involved with politics.

The Republican Party clearly is not interested in winning. And if you want to be even more specific than that, it is paramountly obvious that they're not even interested in defeating the Democrats.

A lot of people have been asking whether I would ever go into politics. I'm not sure I would.

We have two political parties in this country, the Stupid Party and the Evil Party. I belong to the Stupid Party.

I'm not ruling. I never ruled. I have one vote and I'm the leader of the party. I've always had a vote on the central committee. I always had more influence than that one vote. I'll admit that.

I did not enter the Labour Party 47 years ago to have our manifesto written by Dr Mori, Dr Gallup and Mr Harris

Barack Obama wants to be the power figure, he wants to be the face of the Democrat Party going forward.

I can categorically say I will not be putting my hat in the ring. It's not something I have ever coveted and it's not a position I am interested in taking up at this point in time. I am loyal to Newcastle and they have been fabulous to me. I feel that is where my responsibility lies.

When you're the person who's kind of in charge of everything a lot of the time, it's sometimes nice to get bossed around. It's sometimes nice to have somebody say, "This is what I want you to do" and to stretch your abilities.

I've always wanted to serve my country in some capacity. But many years ago, my father said he wanted me to run the brewery and he'd do politics.