34+ Paddy Ashdown Quotes On Diplomatic, Determined And Visionary

Paddy Ashdown was a British politician and diplomat. He was leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999 and served as the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2002 to 2006. He was also a Member of Parliament for Yeovil from 1983 to 2001. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Paddy Ashdown on life, love, leadership.

Top 10 Paddy Ashdown Quotes

1. In the modern age where everything is connected to everything, the most important thing about what you can do is what you can do with others.
2. The generous way of putting it is that we were not ready for this. The less generous way is to say: How was it possible to return to the politics of appeasement of the 1930s?
3. The advent of interconnectedness and of weapons of mass destruction means that, increasingly, I share a destiny with my enemy.
4. There can be no place in a 21st-century parliament for people with 15th-century titles upholding 19th-century prejudices.
5. I've had much nastier things said about me in the British press than in the Bosnian press.
6. Politics is compromise.
7. I am formally accountable to the steering board of the PIC, and I meet with nine ambassadors from the PIC every week. I have to have the capitals' broad agreement with what I do.
8. I can create institutions, but I can't rewrite the chips in people's heads.
9. It would be a foolish high representative who worked that way.
10. What my future will not be is active politics in the Liberal Democrat party.

Paddy Ashdown Short Quotes

• I can establish the expectation of retributive justice. Have we done that? No.
• It's not my job to be popular. I'm goal-driven; my job is to get results.
• I was told there would be riots in the streets, but there were no riots.
• Coalition will come sooner or later, I'm certain of that.
• Politics is about putting yourself in a state of grace.
• I am here because I think it was a terrible sin of the west to allow those years of war.
• We have invented a new human right here - the right to return home after a war.
• I don't think Bosnia is ready for reconciliation, but I do think it is ready for truth.

Paddy Ashdown Quotes About People

Maybe it's legitimate criticism, though it can be hurtful. Maybe I haven't paid sufficient attention to the people with whom I would have a natural affinity as a liberal, and they feel let down by that. — Paddy Ashdown

Blair is regarded by most people in Britain as a smarmy git. — Paddy Ashdown

People say to me, 'The Chinese, of course, they'll never get themselves involved in multilateral peace-making around the world.' Oh yes? Why not? How many Chinese troops are ... serving under the U.N. command in the world today? 3,700. How many Americans? 11. — Paddy Ashdown

The multinational corporations now developing budgets often bigger than medium-sized countries - these live in a global space which is largely unregulated, not subject to the rule of law, and in which people may act free of constraint. — Paddy Ashdown

People do not want politicians they know to be corrupt. — Paddy Ashdown

Paddy Ashdown Famous Quotes And Sayings

My second job has been to try to use my power to create institutions of a modern state that could enter the European Union, and there was very little time. The door was closing, and I wanted to get Bosnia through before it shut. — Paddy Ashdown

History teaches us these lessons for the interveners: leave your prejudices at home, keep your ambitions low, have enough resources to do the job, do not lose the golden hour, make security your first priority, involve the neighbours. — Paddy Ashdown

At the next election he'll offer the British public an alternative that provides weight and substance and seriousness in a political debate that is, frankly, increasingly obsessed with modishness and flim-flam. — Paddy Ashdown

The United States will remain the most powerful nation on Earth for the next 10, 15 years, but the context in which she holds her power has now radically altered. — Paddy Ashdown

One of the great barriers to peace in the Middle East is that both sides, both Israel and the Palestinians, do not understand that they share a collective destiny. — Paddy Ashdown

Bosnia is under my skin. It's the place you cannot leave behind. I was obsessed by the nightmare of it all; there was this sense of guilt, and an anger that has become something much deeper over these last years. — Paddy Ashdown

The greatest failure is that although we have created institutions, we have not created a civil society. — Paddy Ashdown

Now we are intimately locked together. You get swine flu in Mexico; it's a problem for Charles de Gaulle Airport 24 hours later. Lehman Brothers goes down; the whole lot collapses. There are fires in the steppes of Russia; food riots in Africa. — Paddy Ashdown

Up until now, if the West got its act together, it could propose and dispose in every corner of the world. But that's no longer true. — Paddy Ashdown

Truth and reconciliation' are always combined, but I would split them: I don't think Bosnia is ready for reconciliation, but I do think it is ready for truth. — Paddy Ashdown

We have to make their livelihoods viable, get them the proper prices for their produce, try and make them stay rather than sell their property and leave again. — Paddy Ashdown

Life Lessons by Paddy Ashdown

1. Paddy Ashdown was a British politician who demonstrated the importance of resilience and determination in the face of adversity. He was an advocate for social justice and human rights, and showed that it is possible to make a difference by taking a stand and speaking out.
2. He was also a firm believer in the power of collaboration and compromise, teaching us that it is possible to work together to achieve common goals and that compromise can be a powerful tool for progress.
3. Finally, he showed us that it is possible to remain optimistic in the face of difficulty and that by working hard and believing in yourself, it is possible to make a positive difference in the world.