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You call that statesmanship. I call it an emotional spasm.
Aneurin Bevan
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The speaker criticizes a political action by labeling it as impulsive rather than wise governance.

In this quote, Aneurin Bevan is expressing his disdain for what he perceives as a lack of genuine leadership or sound political judgment. He implies that the actions of those in power are driven by fleeting emotions rather than the considered, rational decision-making that true statesmanship requires. This highlights the tension between emotional responses and the need for thoughtful governance in political discourse.

Themes

StatesmanshipEmotionPoliticsLeadershipDecision-Making

In practice

Example use cases

During a political debate, one might say this quote to criticize a rival's hasty decisions.

More from Aneurin Bevan

I know that the right kind of leader for the Labour Party is a desiccated calculating machine who must not in any way permit himself to be swayed by indignation. If he sees suffering, privation or injustice he must not allow it to move him, for that would be evidence of the lack of proper education or of absence of self-control. He must speak in calm and objective accents and talk about a dying child in the same way as he would about the pieces inside an internal combustion engine.
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It is an axiom, enforced by all the experience of the ages, that they who rule industrially will rule politically.
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How can wealth persuade poverty to use its political freedom to keep wealth in power? Here lies the whole art of Conservative politics in the twentieth century.
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He brings to the fierce struggle of politics the tepid enthusiasm of a lazy summer afternoon at a cricket match.
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I have never regarded politics as the arena of morals. It is the arena of interest.
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Stand not too near the rich man lest he destroy thee - and not too far away lest he forget thee.
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