Paul Keating Quotes

But if republicans are to prevail, if the peace process is to be successfully concluded and Irish sovereignty and re-unification secured, then we have to set the agenda - no-one else is going to do that.

What we did say is that it is up to the Syrians themselves to decide how to run the country, how to introduce the reforms, what kind reforms, without any outside interference.

As you know, the Australian Labour Party is committed to turning the country into a republic. We've not stipulated a timeline for doing that. We are sensitive to the other priorities we've got as a nation and in the world, but in time the country will head in that direction.

And we are grateful to the American young men and women who are risking their lives to give the Iraqi people this chance, this dream of democracy in Iraq now.

We turn now to plotting our own destinies, setting our own agendas. We are determined. We know what we want. Nation to nation—a bilateral process with the Canadian government.

People don't want to go back to the days, pre-referendum, when the Westminster establishment sidelined and ignored Scotland. They want Scotland's voice to be heard.

I totally believe in opportunities. I don't believe in accidents. I just don't.

The commander of the forces of a large State may be carried off, but the will of even a common man cannot be taken from him.

You make your Own luck.

The freedom of America is the freedom to live your own life and take your own chances.

In Burma, our main goal in amending the constitution is not to phase out the military from politics. Our main point is to put the constitution in line with international standards and norms.

The good news is that the president gets another chance. The bad news is that he'll be two weeks older.

One of the beautiful and terrible things about America is you can go there and still be whatever you want, if you bust your ass and you have some luck.

When you have a chance to take the ball for the world champs, you take the ball.

I went back into politics only when it was clear that things weren't going as they should have in my party. I was always arguing, I argued with everyone - with my father, with the leaders I had known since I was a child...and one day, it was in 1955, one of them exclaimed, 'You do nothing but criticize! If you think you can correct things, correct them. Go ahead, why don't you try?' Well, I could never resist a challenge, so I tried.

There's no point in getting into politics at all unless you plan to lash things around.

You can't spend your whole life criticizing something and then, when you have the chance to do it better, refuse to go near it.

I had some good opportunities. I was lucky to have had the chance to do things differently. Architecture is about surprise.

There are tribes, I should say nations, which prior to the AIM movement had only ten or fifteen employees, and now have upwards of 2000. There are educational programs that didn't exist before, there are housing programs, health programs, senior citizen programs, cultural programs and the list goes on. It's all because some people stood up and said sovereignty is our right by treaty and the constitution says treaty law is the supreme law of the land.

Everybody wants power and control in their life.

The messages on our banners in 1979 - freedom, opportunity, family, enterprise, ownership - are now inscribed on the banners in Leipzig, Warsaw, Budapest and even Moscow.

The Seventeenth Amendment serves not the public's interest but the interests of the governing masterminds and their disciples. Its early proponents advanced it not because they championed 'democracy' or the individual, but because they knew it would be one of several important mechanisms for empowering the federal government and unraveling constitutional republicanism.

Be willing to work for nothing in things you think are stupid. Make work for yourself. Make your own luck. Don't complain. Hopefully, the work will find you if you are ready.

It is the population which decides when it's time for a leader to leave, not foreign powers.

Freedom is not a gift received from the State or leader, but a possession to be won every day by the effort of each and the union of all.