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Jean Chrétien
36 quotes
“A man can't ask for much more than the chance to make a difference in his chosen field of work. Politics is my vocation. I'm forever grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this great country of ours. I know I am a better person for it.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Politics is a game of friends.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Most Canadians don't understand the House of Commons. They turn on their televisions, see us yelling at one another, and dismiss us as a bunch of fools.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A successful politician must not only be able to read the mood of the public, he must have the skill to get the public on his side. The public is moved by mood more than logic, by instinct more than reason, and that is something that every politician must make use of or guard against”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A leader has to know how the system functions - not just the system of government but the whole social and economic system, including business, the unions, and the universities.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At one point Trudeau mentioned to me that the National Gallery wanted to buy a masterpiece by the great Italian painter Lotto, and it needed a million dollars from the Treasury Board. "Is that Lotto-Quebec or Lotto-Canada?" I joked, but I got the message, and the National Gallery got the painting.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I learned early that business is business and politics is politics. The proof is how few important businessmen have made good politicians. They may think that they are very smart about everything because they made millions of dollars by digging a hole in the ground and finding oil, but the talent and luck needed to become rich are not the same talent and luck needed to succeed on Parliament Hill.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's one thing for a courier service transport letters and documents from one city to another at a cost that only big business can afford; but it's another thing to take a letter from an Indian boy studying at the University of Ottawa to his mother in Old Crow.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Economics has been called the dismal science. Once you get to understand it, you may not find it so dismal, but you don't find it much of a science either.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not the government's purpose to make a profit the way a company does, because a company doesn't have to give a damn about the unemployed poor or provide services that are non-commercial by definition.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The art of politics is learning to walk with your back to the wall, your elbows high, and a smile on your face. It's a survival game played under the glare of lights.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've never believed in seeking perfection at the risk of losing everything.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To my mind losing is always better than never trying, because you can never tell what may happen.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was proud to have been the anti-establishment candidate after more than twenty years in politics, a small town guy fighting for the ordinary Canadian.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To be frank, politics is about wanting power, getting it, exercising it, and keeping it.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Trudeau valued performance above image. He Knew he could give me a shovel if there was a mess to clean up, and he kept moving me from one mess to another.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The two of us had come a long way together from our humble beginnings and the basement apartment that had been our first home as newlyweds in 1957, when I was still a law student at Laval University in Quebec City.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For all its prestige, its fabulous views, its indoor pool, and its lovely garden, 24 Sussex is more like an old hotel than a modern home.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I didn't feel the need to have a lot of yes-men standing around me. As Mitchell Sharp once put it, the bigger the staff, the smaller the minister.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The problem was, I enjoyed Question Period too much and loved the challenge it provided. Far from being a dreaded burden, it had become an exciting part of my life; opposition members attacked me, I fought back, I won or lost or held them to draw, and the next day we did it all over again.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Canadian federalism is more than a form of government. It's also a system of values that allows different people in diverse communities to live and work together in harmony for the good of all.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Over the years, I have seen too many politicians ruin their careers because they could not accept defeat graciously.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everybody has the right to speak up in a democracy. We would be in trouble as a society if there wasn't a constant pressure to make reforms and to be just. Sometimes as prime minister, when I was caught up in a really loud demonstration, I used to say to myself that I deserved it because of all the demonstrations I myself had organized as a student against Duplessis.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Three months later, on September 5, 2001, at a pro-am event preceding the Canadian Open at the Royal Montreal Golf Club, I was invited to play a round with Tiger Woods. Nothing in the game of politics had ever been as nerve-racking as that game of golf.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There's no such thing as a genius in politics, or at least I have never met one. There are only human beings, some better than others, who rise or fall on the challenges they meet.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Politicians of all stripes are always in danger at looking at every problem from an abstract point of view or being briefed by officials, academics, or economists who know every science but the science of human nature.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Vision is not political rhetoric.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our old-fashioned system is better than any new-fangled voting machine. Not only is it guaranteed to work, but there is something I find appealing in putting a mark on a piece of paper for the candidate of your choice, as opposed to pulling a lever as if you were gambling on a slot machine in Las Vegas.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is nothing more nervous than a million dollars - it moves very fast, and it doesn't speak any language.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Aline and I have travelled a very long, very hard road together, from our working class homes in rural Quebec to the palaces of London, Paris, Moscow, and Beijing. Politics was the route, public service the reward.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Once when I was Prime Minister, I came back from an international conference, and I set foot in Canada... To me, there, I said: Chrétien, you've got the easiest job of all these guys there, from all round the globe. Original: Quand j'étais premier ministre, pis je revenais d'une conférence internationale, pis je mettais le pied au Canada ... À moi, là, je dis : Chrétien, tu as la job la plus facile de tous ces gars-là alentour du globe.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Les défis qui attendent le Canada, selon Jean Chrétien, Radio-Canada Info (14 January 2025)
“During the U.S. trade war against Canada:”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) first seen 2026 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Never mistake our generosity for weakness,' Chrétien says at 9/11 memorial" CBC (September 11, 2026)
“But last night, the Conservative Party reached a new low; they tried to make fun of the way I look. God gave me a physical defect, and I've accepted that since I'm a kid. It's true, that I speak on one side of my mouth. I'm not a Tory, I don't speak on both sides of my mouth.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1993, at a campaign stop, in response to the infamous attack ad that appeared to mock him and suggest he was unfit for the job of Prime Minister due to his Bell's Palsy condition. Source video on YouTube
“For me, pepper, I put it on my plate.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: November 25, 1997, at a press conference, in response to a question from Nardwuar the Human Serviette about whether Chrétien supported police use of pepper spray on protestors. Video on YouTube
“I never bought into the Laffer curve, a theory, named after an American supply-side economist who had been an adviser to the Reagan administration, that essentially argues that a government will increase its revenue by reducing its taxes. If it were that easy, everybody would do it. What politician doesn't want to reduce taxes in order to win votes? Taken to its logical extreme, the Laffer curve makes no sense because, if you lower your taxes to zero, how are you going to get higher revenues? In practice, every government that toyed with this theory ended up with larger deficits, higher interest rates and greater social inequality.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mr President," I said, " I have to tell you something. I don't want to get too close to you." He looked startled. I imagine it was a rare thing for a U.S. Commander-in-chief to hear. "Canada is your best friend, largest trading partner, and closest ally, but we are also an independent country. Keeping some distance will be good for both of us. If we look as though we're the fifty-first state of the United States, there is nothing we can do for you internationally, just as the governor of a state can't do anything for you internationally. But if we look independent enough, we can do things for you that even the CIA cannot do.”
Jean Chrétien (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source