Aneurin Bevan Quotes

A collection of quotes by Aneurin Bevan.

Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960) was a British politician and one of the key figures in the establishment of the National Health Service (NHS). He was a member of the British Labour Party and served as Minister of Health from 1945 to 1951. Born into a working-class family, Bevan had first-hand experience of the struggles faced by the poor and became a passionate advocate for social justice. He is remembered as a champion of universal healthcare and his belief in the welfare state. Bevan's lasting legacy is the creation of the NHS, which revolutionized healthcare in the United Kingdom.

Now, the vicissitudes that afflict the individual have their

Now, the vicissitudes that afflict the individual have their source in society. It is this situation that has given currency to the phrase social forces. Personal relations have given way to impersonal ones. The Great Society has arrived and the task of our generation is to bring it under control. The study of how it is to be done is the function of politics.

Politics is a blood sport.

Politics is a blood sport.

Politics

Poor fellow, he suffers from files.

Poor fellow, he suffers from files.

Bureaucracy

I read the newspaper avidly. It is my one form of continuous

I read the newspaper avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction.

Reading

This is my truth, tell me yours.

This is my truth, tell me yours.

Truth

Don't worry about the war. It's all over but the shooting.

Don't worry about the war. It's all over but the shooting.

Attitude

I have never regarded politics as the arena of morals. It is

I have never regarded politics as the arena of morals. It is the arena of interest.

Morals

The purpose of getting power is to be able to give it away.

The purpose of getting power is to be able to give it away.

Power

You're not an M.P., you're a gastronomic pimp.

You're not an M.P., you're a gastronomic pimp.

Public

Reactionary: A man walking backwards with his face to the fu

Reactionary: A man walking backwards with his face to the future.

Fanaticism

The Prime Minister has an absolute genius for putting flambo

The Prime Minister has an absolute genius for putting flamboyant labels on empty luggage.

Politics

He has the lucidity which is the by-product of a fundamental

He has the lucidity which is the by-product of a fundamentally sterile mind. He does not have to struggle... with the crowded pulsations of a fecund imagination. On the contrary he is almost devoid of imagination.

Mind

We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the

We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over.

Decisions

I would rather be kept alive in the efficient if cold altrui

I would rather be kept alive in the efficient if cold altruism of a large hospital than expire in a gush of warm sympathy in a small one.

Hospitals

I am not going to spend any time whatsoever in attacking the

I am not going to spend any time whatsoever in attacking the Foreign Secretary. If we complain about the tune, there is no reason to attack the monkey when the organ grinder is present.

Insults

He seems determined to make a trumpet sound like a tin whist

He seems determined to make a trumpet sound like a tin whistle.

Humility

It is an axiom, enforced by all the experience of the ages,

It is an axiom, enforced by all the experience of the ages, that they who rule industrially will rule politically.

Industry

The worst thing I can say about democracy is that it has tol

The worst thing I can say about democracy is that it has tolerated the Right Honorable Gentleman for four and a half years.

Democracy

Freedom is the by-product of economic surplus.

Freedom is the by-product of economic surplus.

Freedom

Fascism is not in itself a new order of society. It is the f

Fascism is not in itself a new order of society. It is the future refusing to be born.

Fascism