Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina
Ken Loach
24 quotes
“Kes is really about the colossal wastages of kids, whose lives and abilities are written off before they're even in their teens. We chose to make it in Barnsley, we chose a Secondary modern school on a new estate that's becoming shabby. But it could have been one of hundreds of schools or estates. We didn't happen to unearth one child star, there were several kids in that one school who could have done the main part, [Billy Casper].”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From an interview, as cited in "Content with content", The Guardian (30 June 1969), p. 6
“I don't think people exist outside of their social situation. You can't abstract people from their environment. It always baffles me when people ask why I don't direct a comedy or a thriller. I think they would be much more artificial fields in which to work. The great expanse of people is really rather interesting.”
“You can't treat mental health on an assembly line, which is the way it is now organised.”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From an interview, as cited in "Garnett and Loach on the NHS", Evening Standard (27 November 1971), p. 13
“[Screenings of Loach's work suffered during this period] You are only part of a process of communication with a lot of people who have no chance to be heard at all. [...] The suppression of that is much more important than the problems of individual filmmakers.”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From an interview, as cited in "Shoulder to Shoulder", The Observer (22 March 1987), p. 23
“Perdition was stopped because it criticised Zionist leaders in Budapest for co-operating with the Nazis in sending half a million Jews to the camps. Today, we are wary of criticising Israel, because of our feelings of horror and guilt at the atrocities committed against the Jews. If the Hungarian incident is examined, that inhibition may be lessened. With a few honourable exceptions, the establishment liberals, who rightly support Salman Rushdie, ignored the political censorship on their own doorstep. Ken Loach. London”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letters, The Guardian (8 March 1989), p. 22
“[On politics in the 1960s] There was a feeling that there was a great possibility of political change. Obviously, no one knew in what form it would come, but there was a sense that the working class was getting politically conscious, particularly those involved in occupations and industrial disputes. The quality of political discussion was higher. People understood die analysis even if they disagreed with it.”
“[On where he fits on the left] I would have thought if you want to align yourself to any left current, the one to follow would be the one that fought Stalinism at the outset, and that was the left opposition and [[Leon Trotsky|[Leon] Trotsky]]. So I think that socialist current is the one I care to be identified with.”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Simon Hattenstone (First extract) and (Second extract) from "Kitchen sink drama", The Guardian: Weekend (31 October 1998), p. 36-40, 39-40
“I turned down the OBE because it's not a club you want to join when you look at the villains who've got it.”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From an interview in the Radio Times as cited in "Director Loach slams TV news" BBC News (13 March 2001)
“[N]othing has been a greater instigator of antisemitism than the self-proclaimed Jewish state itself... Until we deal with that, until that is acknowledged, then racism, I'm afraid, will be with us.”
“If there has been a rise [in antisemitism in Europe] I am not surprised. In fact, it is perfectly understandable because Israel feeds feelings of antisemitism.”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comments in Brussels at the establishment of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (March 2009), as cited in "A film director's tunnel vision", The Jewish Chronicle (26 March 2009)
“We had won the war together [...] Together we could win the peace. If we could collectively plan to wage military campaigns, could we not plan to build houses, create a health service and make goods needed for reconstruction? The spirit of the age was to be our brother's and our sister's keeper.”
“People talk about Thatcherism all the time [...] I felt it was important to record the memories of those almost written out of history who upheld the spirit of '45. Today, the market penetrates everywhere. It's time to put back on the agenda the importance of public ownership and public good, the value of working together collaboratively, not in competition.”
“If you have a society where a large section believe they are not part of the political discourse, that is a situation for trouble. The Labour election of 1945 was a tremendous victory for democratic ownership of the economy. We need to remember and learn from the lessons.”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in an article by Yvonne Roberts "The Spirit of '45: where did it go?" The Observer (27 March 2013)
“Labour's rhetoric may be softer than the Tories', but its fundamental stance is limited by the same imperative: profit comes before all else. Can the Labour party be reclaimed? Or, rather, made anew into one that will represent the interests of the people? History suggests it cannot. The high-water mark of 1945 is long gone. The many great achievements of that government have largely been dismantled, either with the collusion of Labour or directly by the party when it has been in power.”
“The Labour party is part of the problem, not the solution. The Greens have many admirable policies, but we look in vain for a thoroughgoing analysis for fundamental change. We need a new voice, a new movement – a new party.”
“Left Unity was formed a few months ago to work towards such co-operation. The task is considerable. We are used to working and campaigning within our own small organisations. The proliferation of radical newspapers is witness to that. But the need is urgent. If we don't act together, the poverty, exploitation and alienation will get worse.”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Labour is part of the problem, not the solution" The Guardian (27 March 2014)
“[On antisemitism in the Labour Party] It's funny these stories suddenly appeared when Jeremy Corbyn became leader, isn't it?”
“Unless we get Labour MPs who believe in that manifesto last year we won't get in power. If they've been going to the demonstration against him outside Westminster... those are the ones we need to kick out.”
“You cannot work with people who have come to undermine the biggest challenge we've had - we've never had a leader like Corbyn before in the whole history of the Labour Party ... and that's why the dirty tricks are going to come out.”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At a speech delivered at a Labour Party meeting in Bristol cited in "Loach: Labour MPs who protested against antisemitism should be 'kicked out'" The Jewish Chronicle (11 April 2018)
“Labour HQ finally decided I'm not fit to be a member of their party, as I will not disown those already expelled. Well, I am proud to stand with the good friends and comrades victimised by the purge. There is indeed a witch-hunt. Starmer and his clique will never lead a party of the people. We are many, they are few. Solidarity.”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Twitter statement over multiple tweets announcing his expulsion from the Labour Party, as cited in "Ken Loach: Filmmaker kicked out of Labour Party 'for supporting expelled members'", Sky News (14 August 2023)
“The whole antisemitism issue has been substantially revealed as a campaign that is not based on fact. It's based on political determination to do a number of things, to remove people from the left, to protect the state of Israel, which many people, many Jewish people in the Labour Party, oppose, oppose this campaign.”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ken Loach claims antisemitism is being used to oust Labour left politicians" PA News Agency as reproduced by Yahoo! News (3 June 2023).
“[On film executive Nat Cohen, then responsible (according to his rivals) for about 50% of film production in the UK] I found Nat very kind and helpful. [...] [A] lot of things went wrong in those films and I realise it now. I saw this but he didn't say a word and allowed me to finish. That's on a personal level. On a different level I find Nat's position in the film industry very disturbing. He has too much control over it. Do you know how he works? Every morning he studies the box office receipts and sees which films are making money and concentrates on those. So, slowly, the spectrum is becoming narrower and narrower.”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From an interview as cited in "Nat King Cohen", The Guardian (17 November 1973), p. 7
“MAX STAFFORD-CLARK claims that the decision to ban Perdition from the Royal Court was his alone (Letters, March 3). Nonsense. It was clearly a response to the massive campaign mounted by Zionist groups in the weeks before the production. The unprincipled, mendacious and consciously distorting articles, the meetings between Zionist campaigners and members of the Royal Court board, the threats about the future of the Court this was the pressure that caused Stafford-Clark to cave in. Or is he now saying that [the] orchestrated furore was just a coincidence? Remember, his objection was not to the acting or direction, but to the text.”
“Jo Coburn: There was a fringe meeting yesterday that we talked about at the beginning of the show where there was a discussion about the Holocaust, did it happen or didn't it ... would you say that was unacceptable? Loach: I think history is for us all to discuss, wouldn't you? Coburn: Say that again, sorry, I missed that. Loach: History is for all of us to discuss. All history is our common heritage to discuss and analyze. The founding of the state of Israel, for example, based on ethnic cleansing is there for us all to discuss. The role of Israel now is there for us to discuss. So don't try to subvert that by false stories of anti-Semitism.”
Ken Loach (born 1936) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Passages from a Daily Politics (BBC) interview during the 2017 Labour Party conference as cited in "This BBC Interview Perfectly Illustrates Britain's Left-Wing Anti-Semitism Problem" Tablet (27 September 2017)