Angela Rayner Quotes

Mitt Romney subscribes to the cynical logic that says the American dream belongs to some of us but not all of us.

I am not posh. I went to a comprehensive school.

A meritocracy increases inequality --- by its very nature, it has to.

We once had a society stratified by bloodlines, in which the Protestant Establishment was in one class, immigrants were in another and African-Americans were in another. Now we live in a society stratified by education. In many ways this system is more fair, but as the information economy matures, we are learning it comes with its own brutal barriers to opportunity and ascent.

I think the debate around nepotism is futile because I am an outsider and I know that there is no compensation of talent.

But the truth is the meritocracy is a lie. Those born into wealth and privilege will always be able to game the system for their own benefit and their children's own benefit.

All countries have poor people. Yet it's a very rare country which understands the indignities of poverty, while education systems maintain the status quo. The children of the elite go to the best schools and get the best jobs, not because they are the best. We're not taking advantage of the intellectual power on this planet.

People bring it up to me: 'Well, you're only in your spot because you can talk well.' Okay, first off, you could be right. But second, what - am I supposed to apologize for this? No.

I hate the fact that public schools like the one I went to have fantastic sports facilities, and state schools don't. That's not fair. That's outrageous.

I believe that Britain is becoming more class-conscious, and I quake at the very idea of Old Etonians ruling the world again.

May not the complaint, that common people are above their station, often take its rise in the fact of uncommon people being below theirs?

For better or worse, the people who become leaders and decision makers in politics, law and business are going to come from schools like Princeton.

And if we don't have a test, what we may end up doing is going back to what this country has done before. We could use social class and we still do, but in the 50s, it was, do you have the right last name and are your parents in privileged positions?

What I have a problem with is money and name at the expense of talent and culture.

I think the Republicans are subverted by the fact that so many of their leaders send their kids to private schools, they don't really have the stomach for the fight.

America thinks of itself as a meritocracy, so people have more respect for success and more contempt for failure.

The anti-elitist values in America, I think, are very destructive to education.

It's one of my biggest internal struggles - the whole schooling system in London and the fact that my kids are going to a posh school. It freaks me out.

I never came into life with any favours or privileges.

Those who are able to climb up the ladder will find ways to pull it up after them, or selectively lower it down to allow their friends, allies, and kin to scramble up. In other words: 'Who says meritocracy says oligarchy.'

There is something inherent in our democracy that tends to want to level. America is a little uncomfortable in the presence of someone who is distinctly superior in whatever way.

I want nothing to do with privilege.

All that is base in the masses is temporary, no doubt serving only to prevent evolution (that of the elite, as well) from proceeding too quickly and thus not becoming 'reality.'

Early admission programs tend to advantage the advantaged.

The Tea Party people say they're angry about socialism, but maybe they're really angry about capitalism. If there's a sense of being looked down upon, it's that sense of failure that's built into a system that assures everyone they can make it to the top, but then reserves the top for only a tiny fraction of the strivers.