John Major Quotes

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

John Major

• Mother
• Father

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

Society needs to condemn a little more and understand a little less.

John Major

• Society

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

In the next ten years we will have to continue to make changes which will make the whole of this country a genuinely classless society.

John Major

• Country
• Society

Well what would happen is that if Greece defaulted and couldn't pay its debts, all the Greek bonds that are held in other banking systems across Western Europe would suddenly have no value. You could as a knock-on effect create a banking crisis in Western Europe.

John Major

• Value
• Greek

I have been reading the press more regularly than others over 50 years and it seems to me that there are things that have changed in the press that have changed its character.

John Major

• Character
• Reading

The right hon. and learned Member is the man who likes to say yes in Europe — Monsieur Oui, the poodle of Brussels.

John Major

I inherited a sick economy and passed on a sound one. But one abiding regret for me is that, in between, I did not have the resources to put in place the educational and social changes about which I cared to much; I made only a beginning, and it was not enough.

John Major

• Beginning
• Sick
• Regret

A consensus politician is someone who does something that he doesn't believe is right because it keeps people quiet when he does it.

John Major

• People
• Believe

I am walking over hot coals suspended over a deep pit at the bottom of which are a large number of vipers baring their fangs.

John Major

• Deep
• Walking

Too many people looked to me in the eye and did not tell me the truth.

John Major

• People
• Truth

I want Britain to punch its weight in the European Community.

John Major

• Community

I don't think nations can stand aside for ethnic cleansing and genocide.

John Major

The politician who never made a mistake never made a decision.

John Major

• Decision
• Mistake

I like the best of the British press. The best of the British press is very good.

John Major

• Good

You've had an extremely weak euro on the foreign exchange markets, you've had a very dubious policy being followed.

John Major

I think the majority of the British people are still sanguine about the need for war.

John Major

• People
• War

Well, I have concerns about the effectiveness of Europe to compete.

John Major