John Major Quotes

Well, I think there's a distinction between sexing-up the intelligence and sexing-up the presentation of the intelligence.

John Major

• Up

Fifty years on from now, Britain will still be the country of long shadows on county grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers and pools fillers and, as George Orwell said, 'Old maids bicycling to holy communion through the morning mist' and, if we get our way, Shakespeare will still be read even in school.

John Major

• Long
• Country
• School

I think the biggest mistake I made was this wretched ability to see both sides of an argument.

John Major

• Mistake

Whether you agree with me or disagree with me; like me or loathe me, don't bind my hands when I am negotiating on behalf of the British nation.

John Major

Something I was not aware had happened suddenly turned out not to have happened.

John Major

I don't have a shred of regret about entering the exchange-rate mechanism.

John Major

• Regret

Only in Britain could it be thought a defect to be too clever by half. The probability is that too many people are too stupid by three-quarters.

John Major

• People
• Stupid
• Clever

When I was in office the fundraising was done by the party treasurers.

John Major

• Done
• Party

It is the one event in my life of which I am most ashamed and I have long feared would be made public.

John Major

• Life
• Long

When the euro was born, it was born in the wrong economic circumstances.

John Major

I have a huge admiration for the House of Lords, I have a huge admiration for the people who work in the House of Lords, they're great public servants and they do an absolutely tremendous job.

John Major

• People
• Work
• Great

Let's turn British inventions into British industries, British factories and British jobs. Let them make pounds for us, not dollars marks or yen for others.

John Major

There are more myths about Black Wednesday than the Greeks ever created.

John Major

• Black
• Wednesday

I'm not about to write my memoirs. Not for a long time.

John Major

• Time
• Long

I think it's extremely unlikely that the European Union will fracture with nations dropping off the edge.

John Major

If you look at things that really affect people's lives - sport, the arts, charities - they were always at the back of the queue for government money - health, social security, defence, pensions were all way ahead. And each of those areas - sports, the arts, the lottery - got relatively petty cash from the government.

John Major

• People
• Money
• Health

Certainly we've seen the enormous changes across the whole of the Middle East. The democratic genie is out of the bottle.

John Major

I think we can get respect for Parliament back providing governments and oppositions are frank.

John Major

• Respect

We will do precisely what the British nation has done all through its history when it had its back to the wall — turn round and fight for the things it believes in, and that is what I shall do.

John Major

• Done
• History
• Wall

If we want to deliver opportunity for all, we need an economy that delivers jobs for the future.

John Major

• Future
• Opportunity

I want to see us build a country that is at ease with itself, a country that is confident and a country that is able and willing to build a better quality of life for all its citizens.

John Major

• Life
• Country
• Quality

I'm very proud of what my parents achieved and what they stood for. They didn't have much, but in many ways they were richer than most.

John Major

• Parents
• Proud

Of course there are regrets. I shall regret always that I found my own authentic voice in politics. I was too conservative, too conventional. Too safe, too often. Too defensive. Too reactive. Later, too often on the back foot.

John Major

• Regret

My father was 64 when I was conceived, my mother 38, which was late for babies in the 1940s.

John Major

• Mother
• Father