The public think the politicians don't know or care about their lives; and the politicians feel misunderstood.
Tony BlairRead
There is no way you're going to have an event like 9/11 and expect things to remain the same. They killed 3,000 people in New York on that day, and if they could have they would've killed 300,000.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that significant events will invariably alter the course of history and societal norms.
In this quote, Tony Blair reflects on the profound and transformative impact of the 9/11 attacks, stating that such a catastrophic event is bound to change the world. He highlights the scale of loss and the potential for even greater devastation, suggesting that in the wake of such tragedies, society must adapt to new realities and security concerns.
In practice
In a discussion on security policies post-9/11, this quote could highlight the necessity for change.
The public think the politicians don't know or care about their lives; and the politicians feel misunderstood.
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.
No one makes a revolution by himself; and there are some revolutions which humanity accomplishes without quite knowing how, because it is everybody who takes them in hand.
Reorganization to me is shuffling boxes, moving boxes around. Transformation means that you're really fundamentally changing the way the organization thinks, the way it responds, the way it leads. It's a lot more than just playing with boxes.
Do you know anyone who hasn't changed his mind? This door was a tree, then it will be firewood for someone, then it will return to air and earth. We're all like that, constantly changing. It's simply honest to report that you've changed your mind when you have. When you're afraid of what people will think if you speak honestly, that's where you become confused.
By healing the internal issues that we can heal as a people, our children don't have to suffer the same agony and pain that we put each other through.
We do as much harm holding onto programs and people past their natural life span as we do when we employ massive organizational air strikes. However, destroying comes at the end of life's cycle, not as a first response.
Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of struggles from below.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.