John Howard Quotes

A conservative is someone who does not think he is morally superior to his grandfather.

The goal of Australian foreign policy should be to promote the maximum harmony between the U.S. and China.

It's too much to expect in an academic setting that we should all agree, but it is not too much to expect discipline and unvarying civility.

I don't think it is wrong, racist, immoral or anything, for a country to say 'we will decide what the cultural identity and the cultural destiny of this country will be and nobody else'.

Terrorists oppose nations such as the United States and Australia not because of what we have done but because of who we are and because of the values that we hold in common.

You can't fatten the pig on market day.

If I were running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory not only for [Barack] Obama but also for the Democrats.

I'm direct, I'm unpretentious and I'm pretty dogged, and I hope I've got a capacity to laugh at myself and not take myself too seriously.

Australia will always be closer to the U.S. than she is to China because our values and political traditions are much closer.

I accept that climate change is a challenge, I accept the broad theory about global warming. I am sceptical about a lot of the more gloomy predictions.

I thank all of those who weren't born in this country for coming here and making a contribution to Australia. We are the least discriminatory country in the world, in my view.

I have absolutely no difficulty myself with the playing of God Save the Queen in the presence of Her Majesty.

Of all the important relationships that Australia has with other countries, none has been more greatly transformed over the last 10 years than our relationship with China.

We will decide who comes to our country.

I'm fairly conservative on social issues, but not extremely conservative and not reactionary.

There will, in my view, come a time when there has to be some kind of political denouement inside China, because the newly enriched generation might put up with being told what to do by their rulers - but their children, who will take prosperity for granted, will not.

I don't share the view that China and the U.S. need to reach some kind of strategic accommodation to carve up the Asia-Pacific region - that is an arrogant proposition and deeply insulting to other countries in the region, including Japan and potentially also India and Indonesia.

They might be a good friend, but they are also a bitter commercial rival. Let's not kid ourselves.. The American wheat industry has done everything it possibly can to criticize the Australian wheat industry in order to take the Iraqi wheat market from us.

In my estimation, there should always be a mixture of economic liberalism - which means small government, a great emphasis on markets - but also a certain degree of social conservatism, not to favor change unless that change is beneficial. So I describe myself as an economic liberal and a social conservative.

If I am wrong and you are right then the democratic process of the Australian community will vindicate you and condemn me.

He who cannot remember the past is doomed. DOOMED!

I have had the view that cutting wages is not the path to prosperity, and one of the great myths propagated about my attitude to industrial relations is that I believe in lower wages. I've never believed in lower wages. Never. Never believed in lower wages, I've never believed in lower wages as an economic instrument.

Sport is an important part of the Australian psyche. Anybody who thinks that sport is not part of the fabric of Australian life misunderstands this country quite dramatically.

People who say they're too busy to have lunch have a false impression of their own importance.

She was my accountant, so I just believed her.

You are not prime minister of Australia because of some kind of process of divine selection. You are prime minister of Australia through the gift of the Australian people.

I'd like to be seen as an average Australian bloke. I can't think of ... I can't think of a nobler description of anybody than to be called an average Australian bloke.

This is appalling. The idea that a person could be punished because of their religious belief and the idea they might be executed is just beyond belief.

Nobody should claim that the war [in Iraq] is over. But certainly it can be said that the regime is finished.

Young people are at risk of being disinherited from their community if that community lacks the courage and confidence to teach its history.

I'm all for it. In these days, regional marketing is the only way to survive.