110+ Pierre Trudeau Quotes On Canada, Visionary And Charismatic

Pierre Trudeau was a Canadian statesman who served as the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and again from 1980 to 1984. He was known for his charismatic personality and liberal policies, including the implementation of the Official Languages Act, the War Measures Act, and the patriation of the Canadian Constitution. He was a major force in Canadian politics for almost two decades and is considered one of the most influential Canadian Prime Ministers of all time. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Pierre Trudeau on canada, visionary, charismatic.

Top 10 Pierre Trudeau Quotes

1. If Canada is to survive, it can only survive in mutual respect and in love for one another.
2. Our hopes are high. Our faith in the people is great. Our courage is strong. And our dreams for this beautiful country will never die.
3. The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation.
4. Let us overthrow the totems, break the taboos. Or better, let us consider them cancelled. Coldly, let us be intelligent.
5. I will use all my strength to bring about a just society to a nation living in a tough world.
6. Canada is a country whose main exports are hockey players and cold fronts. Our main imports are baseball players and acid rain.
7. Well, I am trying to put Quebec in its place - and the place of Quebec is in Canada, nowhere else.
8. I remember thinking that walking on the beach as a free man is pretty desirable.
9. Luck, that's when preparation and opportunity meet.
10. The new frontier lies not beyond the planets but within each one of us.

Pierre Trudeau Short Quotes

• My life is one long curve, full of turning points.
• Paddling a canoe is a source of enrichment and inner renewal.
• I don't see any easy way of disqualifying people on the basis that they decide not to work.
• We don't think every man should be free to pass on everything to his descendants.
• The attainment of a just society is the cherished hope of civilized men.
• Harvard was an extraordinary window on the world.
• I believe in God, and I'm a Christian.
• In my political philosophy I think that there sometimes is room for violence.
• I am peaceful but I am not a pacifist in the philosophical sense.
• The essential ingredient of politics is timing.

Pierre Trudeau Quotes About Canada

Canada will be a strong country when Canadians of all provinces feel at home in all parts of the country, and when they feel that all Canada belongs to them. — Pierre Trudeau

I just think you Westerners should take over this country if you are so smart. — Pierre Trudeau

We wish nothing more, but we will accept nothing less. Masters in our own house we must be, but our house is the whole of Canada. — Pierre Trudeau

We peer so suspiciously at each other that we cannot see that we Canadians are standing on the mountaintop of human wealth, freedom and privilege. — Pierre Trudeau

I believe that Canada cannot, indeed, that Canada must not survive by force. The country will only remain united - it should only remain united - if its citizens want to live together in one civil society. — Pierre Trudeau

I feel very deeply for Canada, and l believe most Canadians do. — Pierre Trudeau

Canada is seen to some as a confederation of shopping centres. — Pierre Trudeau

Canada is not a country for the cold of heart or the cold of feet. — Pierre Trudeau

I think we have to realize that Canada is not immortal; but, if it is going to go, let it go with a bang rather than a whimper. — Pierre Trudeau

Pierre Trudeau Famous Quotes And Sayings

There is no such thing as a model or ideal Canadian. What could be more absurd than the concept of an "all Canadian" boy or girl? A society which emphasizes uniformity is one which creates intolerance and hate. — Pierre Trudeau

A country, after all, is not something you build as the pharaohs built the pyramids, and then leave standing there to defy eternity. A country is something that is built every day out of certain basic shared values. — Pierre Trudeau

We must now establish the basic principles, the basic values and beliefs which hold us together as Canadians so that beyond our regional loyalties there is a way of life and a system of values which make us proud of the country that has given us such freedom and such immeasurable joy. — Pierre Trudeau

Bilingualism is not an imposition on the citizens. The citizens can go on speaking one language or six languages, or no languages if they so choose. Bilingualism is an imposition on the state and not the citizens. — Pierre Trudeau

What sets a canoeing expedition apart is that it purifies you more rapidly and inescapably than any other. Travel a thousand miles by train and you are a brute; pedal five hundred on a bicycle and you remain basically a bourgeois; paddle a hundred in a canoe and you are already a child of nature. — Pierre Trudeau

I bear solemn witness to the fact that NATO heads of state and of government meet only to go through the tedious motions of reading speeches, drafted by others, with the principal objective of not rocking the boat. — Pierre Trudeau

I was inclined to judge the validity of a man's faith more by the depth of his roots in reality and brotherhood and love. So I felt more at home, shall we say with some Zoroastrians in the Far East, than I did with some Catholic missionaries. — Pierre Trudeau

I walked until midnight in the storm, then I went home and took a sauna for an hour and a half. It was all clear. I listened to my heart and saw if there were any signs of my destiny in the sky, and there were none - there were just snowflakes. — Pierre Trudeau

I believe a constitution can permit the co-existence of several cultures and ethnic groups with a single state. — Pierre Trudeau

What is wonderful about a university like LSE is that you not only receive teaching of very high quality, you also learn where to find the knowledge you are seeking. And you make unexpected discoveries; it was a Marxist professor who introduced me to the work of Cardinal Newman, a great master of English prose as well as theology. — Pierre Trudeau

I want to separate sin from crime. You may have to ask forgiveness for your sins from God, but not from the Minister of Justice. There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation. — Pierre Trudeau

Canadians should realise when they are well off under the Monarchy. For the vast majority of Canadians, being a Monarchy is probably the only form of government acceptable to them. I have always been for parliamentary democracy and I think the institution of Monarchy with the Queen heading it all has served Canada well. — Pierre Trudeau

Society is responsible for its social organization, and if it can't provide the wherewithal for men to be gainfully employed then it should pay the penalty and give them welfare. — Pierre Trudeau

I would have to point out in the strongest terms the autocracy of the Liberal structure and the cowardice of its members. I have never seen in all my examination of politics so degrading a spectacle as that of all these Liberals turning their coats in unison with their Chief, when they saw the chance to take power. — Pierre Trudeau

It seems to me it would be pretty awful if Canadians came to choose political leaders not for their political ideas and actions, but because of their adherence or their devotedness to one faith or another. — Pierre Trudeau

In academic life you seek to state absolute truths; in politics you seek to accommodate truth to the facts around you. — Pierre Trudeau

I think it's good that you test the reality that surrounds you in your neighbourhood with the reality as it is in other parts of the world; you come up with a better judgment. I'm not meaning that literally you can only do that and not go to school at all but in terms of enrichment of a personality I think it's a fabulous thing. — Pierre Trudeau

Society must take every means at its disposal to defend itself against the emergence of a parallel power which defies the elected power. — Pierre Trudeau

Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt. — Pierre Trudeau

I think that as the guardian of justice elected by the people it's our duty to use whatever forms of force, police, army, to make sure that at least the freedom of choice is preserved. — Pierre Trudeau

The Canadian community must invest, for the defence and better appreciation of the French language, as much time, energy, and money as are required to prevent the country from breaking up — Pierre Trudeau

The Jesuits were good educators, exceptional teachers. In an era and in a society where freedom of speech was not held in high regard, of course, that the discourse be focused on what they were teaching, but we were able to go beyond this framework without incurring too great a risk. — Pierre Trudeau

The next time you see Jesus Christ, ask Him what happened to the just society He promised 2,000 years ago. — Pierre Trudeau

As does every young man studying philosophy, I naturally asked myself questions about the truth of all this, and about the meaning of freedom, predestination, and liberty of choice and so on. But to have asked questions of yourself about it, I think is not too important. Let's say - I remain - I remained a believer. — Pierre Trudeau

You know you have a lot of impatience with reality as you see it when you're a young man and full of dynamism and strength and ideals and so on. — Pierre Trudeau

I think that more and more young people are discovering that gainful employment isn't the only thing in life. That they can perhaps be just as useful to society and themselves by travelling across the land or around the world, learning more about humanity and going through the various experiences which will make their adulthood more productive. — Pierre Trudeau

This is the beauty of the democratic process: it permits that subjective view of justice - which everyone holds - permits that subjective way to express itself peacefully through discussion, through reason and through the voting process. — Pierre Trudeau

As against the "invisible hand" of Adam Smith, there has to be a visible hand of politicians whose objective is to have the kind of society that is caring and humane. — Pierre Trudeau

I think the sense of exclusivity that tended to be associated with religions in past times has now disappeared. At least it has disappeared in its political and social manifestations as far as I can see. — Pierre Trudeau

I was too busy doing my job and living my life to spend time keeping notes for some future volume of memoirs. — Pierre Trudeau

I, for one, will be convinced that the Canada we know and love will be gone forever. But, then, Thucydides wrote that Themistocles' greatness lay in the fact that he realized Athens was not immortal. I think we have to realize that Canada is not immortal; but, if it is going to go, let it go with a bang rather than a whimper. — Pierre Trudeau

Because I am a deep believer in the civil society, I think we should be prepared to pay the consequences of breaking the law and that is either paying the penalty for it, or leaving the country. — Pierre Trudeau

I'm sometimes impatient with young people who demonstrate at my meetings and who don't want an argument, but who just want to go on television as having been there and made a fuss. This doesn't mean I don't believe in participatory democracy. — Pierre Trudeau

I do object to the sensationalism or even the voyeurism of doing things in church or out of church. — Pierre Trudeau

What is considered sinful in one of the great religions to which citizens belong isn't necessarily sinful in the others. Criminal law therefore cannot be based on the notion of sin; it is crimes that it must define. — Pierre Trudeau

Every time I have a political rally I meet some people who say, "I need a job." — Pierre Trudeau

The community of man should be treated in the same way you would treat your community of brothers or fellow citizens. — Pierre Trudeau

I feel perhaps I didn't deal with the question of violence in depth. — Pierre Trudeau

Canada regards herself as responsible to all mankind for the peculiar ecological balance that now exists so precariously in the water, ice and land areas of the Arctic archipelago. We do not doubt for a moment that the rest of the world would find us at fault, and hold us liable, should we fail to ensure adequate protection of that environment from pollution or artificial deterioration. — Pierre Trudeau

Long live free France. — Pierre Trudeau

The federal government is the balance wheel of the federal system, and the federal system means using counterweights. — Pierre Trudeau

The state has no place in the nation's bedrooms. — Pierre Trudeau

I feel religion is basically and essentially a communication between a man and his God and I think it is the most personal thing of all and I don't think it concerns too many people. — Pierre Trudeau

There are a lot of bleeding hearts around who just dont like to see people with helmets and guns. All I can say is go and bleed It is more important to keep law and order in society than to be worried about weak-kneed people Society must take every means at its disposal to defend itself against the emergence of a parallel power which defies the elected power. — Pierre Trudeau

In specific terms I don't think I could make any suggestions, but in general terms I believe that it is because Canadians have been under the good influences of their churches that they are a tolerant people, an understanding and patient people, so that there has been little backlash against the excesses which have happened over the decades in French and in English Canada which might turn either group off. — Pierre Trudeau

There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation. What's done in private between adults doesn't concern the Criminal Code. — Pierre Trudeau

In my religion I really cannot think of cases where violence is justified. — Pierre Trudeau

Democracy demands that elected members be able to realize fully the role for which they have been chosen. — Pierre Trudeau

Liberalism is the philosophy for our time, because it does not try to conserve every tradition of the past, because it does not apply to new problems the old doctrinaire solutions, because it is prepared to experiment and innovate and because it knows that the past is less important than the future. — Pierre Trudeau

If I found in my own ranks that a certain number of guys wanted to cut my throat, I'd make sure that I cut their throats first. — Pierre Trudeau

Freedom can flow from order. That is not to say that freedom always flows from order because you can have a totalitarian order and you can have an undemocratic order from which freedom will not flow, but that surest way to destroy freedom is to have chaos. — Pierre Trudeau

Power only tires those who don't exercise it. — Pierre Trudeau

I believe in life after death. — Pierre Trudeau

It is wonderful to be despised, if, deep down, we know we are right. — Pierre Trudeau

We are in the extreme centre, the radical middle. That is our position. — Pierre Trudeau

I believe military force can be used to redress or change the balance of power in the world, but I think that that's always a losing operation if you're not trying to do it in a way which corresponds to the basic desires of the people on whom you are acting. — Pierre Trudeau

When they are 50 yards from Parliament Hill, they are no longer honourable members, they are just nobodies. — Pierre Trudeau

People are more interested in ideas than dress. — Pierre Trudeau

The state has an active role to play in ensuring that there is equilibrium between the constituent parts of the economy, the consumers and the producers. — Pierre Trudeau

I can see that in certain political situations you have to use force to overthrow police states. — Pierre Trudeau

I honestly don't know what they mean by a devout Catholic. — Pierre Trudeau

I'm far from believing that we've solved the problem of violence in the 20th century and that's why I'm not discouraged that we still have the Biafras and the Northern Irelands and the East Pakistans and, for that matter, violence in American or Canadian cities. — Pierre Trudeau

I recognize that in some cases it's more important to have freedom and justice than to have peace. — Pierre Trudeau

For my part...I am a realist but, somehow, optimism always keeps breaking out. — Pierre Trudeau

Sometimes you must live in a violent world in order to get greater justice. — Pierre Trudeau

When the religious principles, like the philosophical, are translated into reality, sometimes the reality forces violence on you, and there is no escape from it, and then I don't think it's something you should try to hide your face from. — Pierre Trudeau

I think that the history of the past hundred years has shown us that, by and large, the one linguistic group to whom separatism is being preached is not moved by the arguments which are used. — Pierre Trudeau

What shall we do about the Abortion Bill?" A: "Pay it! — Pierre Trudeau

I think violence is counter-productive and it is bad in democratic societies. — Pierre Trudeau

Le raison avant la passion - Reason over passion. — Pierre Trudeau

I think that religions must seek peace and love and therefore be pacifist. — Pierre Trudeau

In reality, though, the first thing to ask of history is that it should point out to us the paths of liberty. The great lesson to draw from revolutions is not that they devour humanity but rather that tyranny never fails to generate them. — Pierre Trudeau

I'm sure in a few years it will be unthinkable to say there were 20 years when we didn't recognize the People's Republic of China. And then we'll have to explain what the political constraints were and why it didn't happen earlier. — Pierre Trudeau

I saw the charter as an expression of my long-held view that the subject of law must be the individual human being; the law must permit the individual to fulfil himself or herself to the utmost. — Pierre Trudeau

I never actually got around to taping conversations with my guests, but there are a lot of things you can learn from a man like Nixon. — Pierre Trudeau

I must say that "Give Peace a Chance" has always seemed to me to be sensible advice. — Pierre Trudeau

You just cannot cut a country in two any more than you can cut a human being in two. If you do, you do not have two human beings; you have a corpse. — Pierre Trudeau

I think that the only ultimate guide we have is our conscience, and if the law of the land goes against our conscience I think we should disobey the law. — Pierre Trudeau

The past is to be respected and acknowledged, but not to be worshipped. It is our future in which we will find our greatness. — Pierre Trudeau

I know the usual answer of Christ using violence to get the sellers out of the temple, but to me this was impatience rather than violence. — Pierre Trudeau

Perhaps the rediscovery of our humanity, and the potential of the human spirit which we have read about in legends of older civilizations, or in accounts of solitary mystics, or in tales of science fiction writers - perhaps this will constitute the true revolution of the future. The new frontier lies not beyond the planets but within each one of us. — Pierre Trudeau

Some things I never learned to like. I didn't like to kiss babies, though I didn't mind kissing their mothers. — Pierre Trudeau

Life Lessons by Pierre Trudeau

1. Pierre Trudeau showed that it is possible to lead with conviction and courage, even in the face of opposition and adversity.
2. He was a leader who championed civil rights, multiculturalism, and the rights of Indigenous peoples.
3. He believed in the importance of compromise and collaboration to create a more equitable and just society.