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Alec Douglas-Home

17 quotes

“We do not wish to keep out immigrants of good type from the 'old' Dominions.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cabinet document from 1955, quoted in The Times (3 January 1986), p. 3
“No, because I do my sums with matchsticks.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Explore Parliament website, accessed 6 September 2006
“I suppose, when you come to think of it, he is the fourteenth Mr Wilson.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Television interview with Kenneth Harris, 21 October 1963, responding to Wilson (see below).
“Why do we need wealth? Security and peace. This is our goal and we passionately seek it because it is the way of life which we are charged by our religion to practise.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Lord Mayor's Banquet at Guildhall (11 November 1963), quoted in The Times (12 November 1963), p. 12
“There is no alternative for Britain but to keep power on her side, which means the power of the United States. There is in my opinion no alternative for Britain other than to retain a nuclear capacity and arm under her ultimate control so that she can contribute to collective defence and claim an influence and authority wherever and whenever matters of nuclear peace or war are weighed in the scales.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Grantham (29 November 1963), quoted in The Times (30 November 1963), p. 8
“Now you can see me in the flesh, and I don't really look as I'm made to look on television.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: D.E. Butler and Anthony King, "The British General Election of 1964", p. 147.
“Our philosophy is to use what is good from the past to create a future which is better. But these pages are not an introduction to an easy, sheltered life. No country has an inherited right to wealth or influence. Prosperity has to be worked for. The future will be assured only if our people recognize the simple economic rules which must be kept by a country dependent on earning its living in a competitive world. This manifesto points the way.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Preface to the Conservative Party manifesto Prosperity with a Purpose (17 September 1964), quoted in The Times (18 September 1964), p. 16
“Throughout, you will find a constant theme. It is the creation of a social and economic climate in which men and women can develop their personalities and talents to their country's benefit as well as their own. Conservatives believe that a centralized system of direction cramps the style of the British people. Only by trusting the individual with freedom and responsibility shall we gain the vitality to keep our country great.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Preface to the Conservative Party manifesto Prosperity with a Purpose (17 September 1964), quoted in The Times (18 September 1964), p. 16
“What had been a trickle of immigrants from the Commonwealth was developing into a flood. We saw that if it was not brought under control it would create very serious social and economic problems—problems of employment, housing and education, for instance. So we brought in legislation. The socialists—aided by the Liberals—opposed it all along the line.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Bradford (6 October 1964), quoted in The Times (7 October 1964), p. 12
“There is the chance, too, if we have the imagination to see it, to resurrect the vitality of European civilisation and give to our new generation of Europeans the inspiration to set against the alien but undeniably dynamic, almost religious, creed of Communism. At this point in time when we are seeking reconciliation and yet are faced with increasing evidence of militancy everywhere, I look to an active European Community as a necessary complement to the NATO Alliance.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Lords (21 April 1975)
“Wealth has to be created before it can be shared.” Starting from there, the emphasis is placed firmly on creating the political and economic climate where the men with the ideas and the men with the capital are given a chance to do so. Circumstances may have made the ownership of some industries by the State inevitable, but the unanimous verdict is that bureaucracy cramps, cripples and confines. That is no good for Britain. One sentence is devastating. “Socialised industries tend to produce inferior products at high prices by dissatisfied workers.” That is too near the truth for our comfort.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Foreword' (June 1977), Patrick Hutber (ed.), What's Wrong with Britain? (Sphere, 1978), p. 8
“I think there is a strong reason for having PR as the method of election to the House of Lords because I do not think anyone would want to reproduce the House of Commons of the day in the second Chamber.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Press conference at Conservative Central Office (20 March 1978), quoted in The Times (21 March 1978), p. 2
“If I learnt anything as Foreign Secretary, it is that there is the most direct relationship between wealth and power and influence. But, before wealth is shared, it must be earned. Our aim, therefore, must be a steady expansion of the national wealth. The situation for Britain today is almost startlingly clear. It lies in what...is called automation, and what that really means is simply this: We must make the maximum use of the machine and have the maximum efficiency in the use of management and labour. ... Rising prices against the consumer are Britain's deadliest enemy. If we must have growth, we must have it against inflation.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Lord Mayor's Banquet at Guildhall (11 November 1963), quoted in The Times (12 November 1963), p. 12
“We also believe that we should have the power to assist voluntary repatriation, that the dependents must be counted against the limits on numbers, and that the total should be further reduced. ... Without the measures outlined, those of us who have studied this question at close quarters are increasingly fearful that an intractable racial problem will be introduced into Britain and may become endemic if we are not careful. This, in our view, must not be allowed. Therefore it is time to bring this problem into the open and not be afraid to talk about it. Those who speak about it in a responsible way should not be charged with racial prejudice.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Hampstead (3 February 1965), quoted in The Times (4 February 1965), p. 12
“Russia's intention has been to build up her military forces everywhere to a point where she puts the maximum economic strain on democracies, and through that economic strain she weakens the political will of the democracies to defend themselves. ... The lesson seems to me to be clear. NATO must be underpinned by the maximum financial subvention, and that is best raised by the countries who are partners in the Economic Community. And not only that; in Europe we must have the will to defend our own way of life which we have chosen for ourselves which is only born out of and nourished in political unity. Therefore, I myself look upon the political side of the European Community as perhaps the most important of all.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Lords (21 April 1975)
“Britain is not earning her living. We are not keeping pace with the economic performance of our European and North American neighbours, and we are certainly not achieving the potential that is in us. ... At the end of a war of prolonged sacrifice we were left with much obsolete industrial plant, and a short-fall in the capital necessary to scrap and renew it. For a century we had lived on cheap food and raw materials imported from overseas. They are not and will not in future be available to us. ... We cannot continue to live beyond our ability or our willingness to earn. That is the one basic fact with which Britain has yet to come to terms.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Foreword' (June 1977), Patrick Hutber (ed.), What's Wrong with Britain? (Sphere, 1978), p. 7
“There is one question, fundamental to everything, which has yet to be convincingly answered. “Will a democracy of one man-one vote faced with a choice always go for the softer of two options?” ... If the answer to the question...were to be ‘yes’ then Britain and the democracies of Europe and America would go under, and we should be supplanted by another political, military and economic philosophy. But there is evidence that the people of Britain are beginning to tumble to the fact that if they want to enjoy the fruits of life then rights must be balanced by duties and individual effort must be made.”
Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Foreword' (June 1977), Patrick Hutber (ed.), What's Wrong with Britain? (Sphere, 1978), p. 9