The public think the politicians don't know or care about their lives; and the politicians feel misunderstood.
At the heart of my politics has always been the value of community, the belief that we are not merely individuals struggling in isolation from each other, but members of a community who depend on each other, who benefit from each other's help, who owe obligations to each other. From that everything stems: solidarity, social justice, equality, freedom.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of community and our interconnectedness, suggesting that our individual actions and well-being are tied to those of others.
Tony Blair’s quote highlights the foundational role of community in politics and society. He argues that people are not isolated individuals but rather interconnected members of a larger society. The recognition of our obligations to one another fosters solidarity, social justice, equality, and freedom, creating a fabric of support and mutual benefit that is essential for a healthy and thriving community. This perspective encourages individuals to engage with each other, acknowledging that our collective strength lies in our interdependence.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can inspire community initiatives focused on social justice.
More from Tony Blair
All quotes →There is no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: Defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it we must.
Ask me my three main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education and education.
However much I dislike the idea of abortion, you should not criminalize a woman who, in very difficult circumstances, makes that choice.
I want my son to grow up in a place where the people are more powerful than the government and not the other way around.
The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge.
Similar quotes
There is not a thing as the wrong place, or the wrong time. We are where we are at the only time we have. Perhaps it's where we're meant to be.
White people’s number one freedom, in the United States of America, is the freedom to be totally ignorant of those who are other than white. We don’t have to learn about those who are other than white. And our number two freedom is the freedom to deny that we’re ignorant.
Truth is the highest thing that man may keep.
Do not keep company with a fool for as we can see he is a two-legged beast. Like an unseen thorn he pierces the heart with his sharp words.
The opinion of the world does not affect me. I have placed as the real values in my life what follows when I am dead.
Beware of the man who does not return your blow: he neither forgives you nor allows you to forgive yourself.