Chris Patten Quotes

• In a democracy everybody has a right to be represented, including the jerks.

  Chris Patten

  Topics in Democracy

  Tags in Everybody, Represented

• I think that if politics is just about getting your backside on important seats, then it’s a pretty worthless endeavor.

  Chris Patten

  Topics in Politics

  Tags in Important, Pretty

• Green politics at its worst amounts to a sort of Zen fascism; less extreme, it denounces growth and seeks to stop the world so that we can all get off.

  Chris Patten

  Topics in Politics

  Tags in Fascism, World

• But the ability to articulate what you are doing, to be clear about it, and to stick to it is, I think, the essence of political leadership.

  Chris Patten

  Topics in Leadership

  Tags in Political, Doing

• I suppose I’ve always carried what is regarded as a bit of unnecessary baggage in Britain. I’ve always carried the charge that I am an intellectual in politics.

  Chris Patten

  Topics in Politics

  Tags in Suppose, Intellectual

• I believe in trying to get a balance between individual freedom on the one hand and social responsibility on the other.

  Chris Patten

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Freedom, Believe, Trying

• I don’t think that capitalism should be unbridled, if by “unbridled” you mean unregulated.

  Chris Patten

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Mean, Capitalism

• It is a sort of great Victorian truth that actually, trying to do the right thing is pretty good for you and pretty good for business as well, by and large.

  Chris Patten

  Topics in Truth

  Tags in Trying, Pretty

• I think that what most surprises anybody who goes into politics from even a modestly cerebral background is the vulgarity of much of the cut and thrust of politics.

  Chris Patten

  Topics in Politics

  Tags in Surprises, Anybody

• It is almost always wrong that the time isn’t ripe to decide something. That is always said of difficult problems.

  Chris Patten

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Difficult, Wrong

• So, what I say to people is that politics has got to be about principle and values above all. Of course, there are times when you have to make accommodations.

  Chris Patten

  Topics in Politics

  Tags in People, Times

• Undoubtedly, at the moment, the major cause of CO2 emission is what happens in developed countries.

  Chris Patten

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Moment, Happens

Chris Patten (12)

Birth:	12th May, 1944
Nationality:	British
Profession:	Politician

About

Chris Patten was born in Cleveleys, United Kingdom. He is a British politician. He is a former chairman of the BBC Trust and serves as Chancellor of the University of Oxford. He began his career in the Conservative Party, serving as Member of Parliament for Bath and joining the cabinet. He accepted a posting as the last Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Hong Kong, and oversaw its handover to the People's Republic of China in July 1997. From 1999 to 2004 he served as one of the United Kingdom's two members of the European Commission.

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Deaths

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