110+ Tony Benn Quotes On War, Monarchy And Democracy

Tony Benn was an English politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 47 years between 1950 and 2001. He was a prominent left-wing figure and a long-time campaigner for socialist causes. He was a vocal advocate for the UK's withdrawal from the European Union and for nuclear disarmament. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Tony Benn on war, monarchy, democracy.

Top 10 Tony Benn Quotes

1. The way a government treats refugees is very instructive.
2. If we can find the money to kill people, we can find the money to help people.
3. The Labour party has never been a socialist party, although there have always been socialists in it - a bit like Christians in the Church of England.
4. We are paying a heavy political price for 20 years in which, as a party, we have played down our criticism of capitalism and soft-peddled our advocacy of socialism
5. The people who have sacrificed their view in order to get to the top have very often left no footprints in the sands of time.
6. Most things in life are moments of pleasure and a lifetime of embarrassment; photography is a moment of embarrassment and a lifetime of pleasure.
7. No medieval monarch in the whole of British history ever had such power as every modern British Prime Minister has in his or her hands. Nor does any American President have power approaching this
8. The Marxist analysis has got nothing to do with what happened in Stalin's Russia: it's like blaming Jesus Christ for the Inquisition in Spain.
9. All war represents a failure of diplomacy.
10. Through talk, we tamed kings, restrained tyrants, averted revolution

Tony Benn Short Quotes

• When I think of Cool Britannia I think of old people dying of hypothermia.
• Middle class Labour leaders are recaptured by the establishment when they die.
• The Internet is only the street corner meeting on a big scale
• Britain is the only colony in the British Empire and it is up to us now to liberate ourselves.
• In the end, the tragedy of Harold Wilson was that you couldn't believe a word he said
• I'm a democrat - I don't support Bush, I don't support Blair, I don't support Bin Laden.
• An MP is the only job where you have 70,000 employers, and only one employee.
• I do not share the general view that market forces are the basis of personal liberty.
• The exhaustion of old age is something people who are younger don't fully appreciate.
• It is tempting to deny, but if you deny you confirm what you won't deny.

Tony Benn Quotes About War

The First World War created the Second World War because that was a war between three grandsons of Queen Victoria: The King of England, the Kaiser and the Tsar married Queen Victoria's granddaughter. And that triggered Communism in Russia and Fascism in Germany and led to the Second World War. — Tony Benn

There is no moral difference between a stealth bomber and a suicide bomber. Both kill innocent people for political reasons. — Tony Benn

I'm interested in language. We used to call it the War Office. Then it became the Ministry of Defence. We used to talk about the hydrogen bomb, now we talk about a deterrent. And the language is very cleverly constructed to give the impression that it's not what it is. — Tony Benn

I think if journalists were responsible for international policy we'd have a nuclear war every week. — Tony Benn

The peace movement didn't stop the Iraq but I think that Blair would not be able to go along and support an Iranian war. — Tony Benn

Undoubtedly the war with Iraq was a tragedy. I think it was also a crime. — Tony Benn

Tony Benn Quotes About Democracy

If one meets a powerful person--Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates--ask them five questions: "What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you? — Tony Benn

When I saw how the European Union was developing, it was very obvious what they had in mind was not democratic. In Britain, you vote for a government so the government has to listen to you, and if you don't like it you can change it. — Tony Benn

It is not surprising that more and more people are coming to the conclusion that the ballot box is no longer an instrument that will secure political solutions... They can see that the parliamentary democracy we boast of is becoming a sham. — Tony Benn

If you read Mein Kampf, Hitler's book, which I have outside, I bought it when I was eleven, Hitler said, "democracy inevitably leads to Marxism" - now you work that one out. It's so interesting that when the poor have the vote they will use it to remove the privileges of the rich. — Tony Benn

I think democracy is the most revolutionary thing in the world, because if you have power you use it to meet the needs of you and your community. — Tony Benn

The Tory party is the enemy of democracy. — Tony Benn

Democracy is not just voting every 5 years and watching 'Big Brother' in between and wondering why nothing happens. Democracy is what we do and say where we live and work — Tony Benn

America is now the dominant force and the only countervailing force is Europe. — Tony Benn

The one thing that unites Sunni, Shiites and Kurds is they want the Americans out. — Tony Benn

The peace movement here is the biggest thing in human history. — Tony Benn

Tony Benn Quotes About Power

The crisis that we inherit when we come to power will be the occasion for fundamental change and not the excuse for postponing it — Tony Benn

The present combination of corporate or commercial control theoretically answerable to politically appointed Boards of Governors is not in any sense a democratic enough procedure to control the power the broadcasters have. — Tony Benn

If I were the American President I would rather be popular than have the power the destroy the world because however many puppets they have all over the Middle East - Saudi Arabia, Egypt and so on - they haven't got support from the people. — Tony Benn

Tony Benn Quotes About Politics

I do not share the general view that market forces are the basis for political liberty. Every time I see a homeless person living in a cardboard box in London, I see that person as a victim of market forces. Everytime I see a pensioner who cannot manage, I know that he is a victim of market forces — Tony Benn

I think the truth is that the Labour Party isn't believed any more because people suspect it will say anything to get votes. The rebuilding of some radical alternatives to Thatcherism - and by that I mean all-party Thatcherism - will require us to do some very difficult things — Tony Benn

I don't believe in the hereditary principle in the House of Lords. Imagine going to the dentist, sitting in the chair and he says, 'I'm not a dentist myself, but my father was a dentist and his father before him. Now, open wide! — Tony Benn

The House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians. — Tony Benn

We are not just here to manage capitalism but to change society and to define its finer values. — Tony Benn

Some of the jam we thought was for tomorrow, we've already eaten — Tony Benn

I am not a reluctant peer but a persistent commoner — Tony Benn

I see myself as an old man and an unqualified teacher to the nation. I think being a teacher is probably the most important thing you can be in politics. — Tony Benn

I have had the advantage of a radical Christian upbringing — Tony Benn

If ever I left the House of Commons it would be because I wanted to spend more time on politics. — Tony Benn

Tony Benn Quotes About Years

If you file your waste-paper basket for fifty years, you have a public library. — Tony Benn

I've been a member of the Labour Party sixty five years, and I remain in it, but I think it's all about campaigning for justice and peace, and if you do that, you get a lot of support. — Tony Benn

I did not enter the labor Party forty-seven years ago to have our manifesto written by Dr. Mori, Dr. Gallup and Mr. Harris. — Tony Benn

The flag of racialism which has been hoisted in Wolverhampton is beginning to look like the one that fluttered 25 years ago over Dachau and Belsen. — Tony Benn

Tony Benn Famous Quotes And Sayings

If democracy is ever to be threatened, it will not be by revolutionary groups burning government offices and occupying the broadcasting and newspaper offices of the world. It will come from disenchantment, cynicism and despair caused by the realisation that the New World Order means we are all to be managed and not represented. — Tony Benn

There may be a legal obligation to obey, but there will be no moral obligation to obey. When it comes to history, it will be the people who broke the law for freedom who will be remembered and honoured. — Tony Benn

The Establishment decided Thatcher's ideas were safer with a strong Blair government than with a weak Major government. We are given all these personalities to choose between to disguise the fact that the policies are the same. — Tony Benn

Well, it all began with Democracy. Before we had the vote all the power was in the hands of rich people. If you had money you could get health care, education, look after yourself when you were old, and what democracy did was to give the poor the vote and it moved power from the marketplace to the polling station, from the wallet...to the ballot. — Tony Benn

We have been in recess since July, and during that time there has been a fuel crisis, a Danish no vote, the collapse of the euro and a war in the middle east, but what is our business tomorrow? The Insolvency Bill [Lords]. It ought to be called the Bankruptcy Bill [Commons], because we play no role. — Tony Benn

It's the same each time with progress. First they ignore you, then they say you're mad, then dangerous, then there's a pause and then you can't find anyone who disagrees with you. — Tony Benn

I'd rather die on my feet making a speech than die of Alzheimer's - and that's what I'm planning to do. — Tony Benn

I opposed the Suez war, I opposed the Falklands war. I opposed the Libyan bombing and I opposed the Gulf war and I never believed that any of those principled arguments lost a single vote - indeed, I think they gained support though that was not why you did it. What has been lacking in Labour politics over a long period is a principled stand — Tony Benn

The New York Times said, "There are two superpowers in the world: the United States and the world peace movement." — Tony Benn

Choice depends on the freedom to choose and if you are shackled with debt you don't have the freedom to choose. — Tony Benn

A faith is something you die for, a doctrine is something you kill for. There is all the difference in the world. — Tony Benn

Nelson Mandela was a terrorist. And then he wins the world peace prize and becomes president of South Africa. That's how change happens. It's very important not to differentiate protest from the democratic process. — Tony Benn

My alternative to American superpower is the UN and I might add when China becomes the worlds greatest superpower you will need it too. — Tony Benn

I really think in the Commonwealth of Europe you should have Russia. I listed a hundred countries that would be in it and it would then be a really European United Nations. — Tony Benn

Through me the energy policy of the whole Common Market is being held up. Without opening old wounds, it pleases me no end. — Tony Benn

Although socialism is widely held by the establishment to be outdated, the things that are most popular in British society today are little pockets of socialism, where areas of life have been excluded from the crude operation of market forces and are protected for the benefit of the community — Tony Benn

Anyone from abroad will tell you that it is the class system that really lies at the root of our problems, economic and industrial. The House of Lords symbolises that. — Tony Benn

Cabinet members are soon overwhelmed by the insistent demands of running their departments. On the whole, a period in high office consumers intellectual capital; it does not create it....The less ministers know at the outset, the more dependent they are on the only sources of available knowledge; the permanent officials. — Tony Benn

It would be as unthinkable to try to construct the Labour Party without Marx as it would to be to establish university faculties of astronomy,anthropology or psychology without permitting the study of Copernicus, Darwin or Freud, and still expect such faculties to be taken seriously — Tony Benn

Having served in eleven Parliaments, it would be difficult to describe this as a maiden speech. It would be like Elizabeth Taylor appearing at her next wedding in a white gown. — Tony Benn

If the Queen can reject the advice of a minister on a little thing like a postage stamp, what would happen if she rejected the advice of the Prime Minister on a major matter? If the Crown personally can reject advice, then, of course, the whole democratic facade turns out to be false — Tony Benn

I've got four lovely children, ten lovely grandchildren, and I left parliament to devote more time to politics, and I think that what is really going on in Britain is a growing sense of alienation. People don't feel anyone listens to them. — Tony Benn

I was radicalised by being a minister. That's when I saw how the system really worked. And that is not a very usual process, but it certainly happened to me: it gave me a lot more experience, it helped me to understand where power really lay, develop strategies for undermining or changing it, and so on. But that isn't the norm. Mr Gladstone moved to the left as he got older, and one or two other people have, but normally you swing the other way. — Tony Benn

Making mistakes is how you learn. — Tony Benn

The thought that my mother would suddenly be a foreigner would upset me very much. — Tony Benn

Experience is the only real teacher and if you keep a diary you get three bites at educating yourself - when it happens, when you write it down, and when you reread it and realise you were wrong. Making mistakes is part of life. The only things I would feel ashamed of would be if I had said things I hadn't believed in order to get on. Some politicians do do that. — Tony Benn

Marxism is now a world faith and must be allowed to enter into a continuous dialogue with other world faiths, including religious faiths — Tony Benn

Mandela didn't end Apartheid in South Africa, the poor guy was in jail for 27 years, it was the African people that ended it but he was a symbol of their struggle. Or Gandhi in India, Gandhi was a great believer in non-violence and he was in and out of jail, but India became free. I think it's better to look at what people can do collectively and that's why it's so important to encourage them. — Tony Benn

Parliamentary democracy is, in truth, little more than a means of securing a periodical change in the management team, which is then allowed to preside over a system that remains in essence intact. If the British people were ever to ask themselves what power they truly enjoyed under our political system they would be amazed to discover how little it is — Tony Benn

When Blair was elected leader of the Labour Party, he said, "New Labour is a new political party" - that was the phrase he used, and I'm so glad he said it because he set up his own party and I'm not a member of it. — Tony Benn

If you want your debt lifted you've got to sell your school and your hospitals. — Tony Benn

Food movement organic food stores supplies health food products and facilitate with instrumental support in organic agriculture. — Tony Benn

When you get to No 10, you've climbed there on a little ladder called 'the status quo'. And when you are there, the status quo looks very good — Tony Benn

It is government policy to phase out subsidies to nationalised industries. In line with this, the government hopes that the coal industry will be able to operate without the need for assistance apart from social grants. — Tony Benn

I think there are two ways in which people are controlled - first of all frighten people and secondly demoralize them. — Tony Benn

I am a public library — Tony Benn

When we have a majority we will do it. I think the days of the Lords are quite genuinely numbered. — Tony Benn

Thanks to the tabloid campaigns I have many death threats and I was very pleased to get another one the other day. — Tony Benn

I met somebody once who said, "I'm a lapsed-atheist" by what he meant was, "I don't believe in God but the older I get the more I realise there is a spirituality in everybody that has to be cherished and nourished." That made a lot of sense to me. — Tony Benn

I think Mrs Thatcher did more damage to democracy, equality, internationalism, civil liberties, freedom in this country than any other Prime Minister this century. When the euphoria surrounding her departure subsides you will find that in a year or two's time there will not be a Tory who admits ever supporting her. People in the street will say, thank God she's gone — Tony Benn

The Civil Service is a bit like a rusty weathercock. It moves with opinion then it stays where it is until another wind moves it in a different direction — Tony Benn

Encouragement is the most important thing in the world for young people, rather than league tables, which demoralise everyone. — Tony Benn

There is good and bad in all of us and the Church uses the idea of original sin to control us by saying that, if we do not obey the bishops, we will rot in Hell. — Tony Benn

The one thing that is absolutely essential is that there shouldn't be any governmental control [of the media] directly or indirectly. — Tony Benn

I've made every mistake - but mistakes are how you learn. — Tony Benn

The police are controlled by the whites, the media are controlled by the whites, the army's controlled by the whites, what hope is there for change? Administration changes from underneath. — Tony Benn

In developing our industrial strategy for the period ahead, we have the benefit of much experience. Almost everything has been tried at least once — Tony Benn

I think democracy is not a destination. I don't think socialism is a railway station and if we catch the right train with the right driver, we'll get there. I think it's a way of thinking about things and every generation has to do it again. — Tony Benn

It is obvious I shall have to abandon my hopes of getting the Queen's head off the stamps. — Tony Benn

People would do well to ask themselves how many of their ambitions and aspirations derive from the type of economic system they inhabit and the insecurity and exhaustion it creates, and question the sense and purpose of a society where control of a large portion of life is abdicated under contract in the labour market, and where immense creativity and potential is stifled by the need to do difficult and repetitive tasks in order to earn a wage. — Tony Benn

When you think of the number of men in the world who hate each other, why, when two men love each other, does the church split? — Tony Benn

The quickest way to get to the top in society probably is to be a Blair Babe now. And then all of a sudden you find you're invited to parties. I don't want to be cynical, because I'm not. But I've seen it happen to so many people who move from the left to the right so damn quickly. — Tony Benn

People say that if we work for the Single European Act, women will get their rights, the water will be purer, and training will be better. That is rubbish. It is part of the attempt to consolidate the EEC. — Tony Benn

There is no connection between imperialism and democracy. I mean when we ran an Empire which we did when I was born, there was no democracy anywhere. — Tony Benn

I think very often the boat-rockers turn out to be the people who are building the craft — Tony Benn

It is wholly wrong to blame Marx for what was done in his name, as it is to blame Jesus for what was done in his — Tony Benn

I think if you do have democracy it would transform the world because if the millions of people who die live on a dollar a day, had the vote, they would redistribute the wealth of the world, and the people at the top are not prepared to see that happen. — Tony Benn

Hope is the fuel of progress and fear is the prison in which you put yourself. — Tony Benn

If I rescued a child from drowning, the press would no doubt headline the story: 'Benn grabs child — Tony Benn

I now want more time to devote to politics and more freedom to do so. — Tony Benn

An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern. — Tony Benn

I don't want to commit myself in advocating a definite republican constitution which will get bogged down with the question of who would elect the President and when. — Tony Benn

Life Lessons by Tony Benn

1. Tony Benn taught us to never give up on our convictions and to always strive for social justice. He believed in the power of the people to make positive changes in society and to never accept the status quo.
2. He also taught us to be humble and to never forget our roots. He was a strong advocate for the working class and never forgot his humble beginnings.
3. Finally, Tony Benn taught us to always speak out against injustice and to never be afraid to stand up for what we believe in. He was a passionate and vocal advocate for social and political reform.