David Lange quotes - page 2

David Lange was a New Zealand politician who served as Prime Minister from 1984 to 1989. His leadership is remembered for progressive reforms and a strong stance against nuclear weapons. He is credited with transforming New Zealand’s domestic policy and enhancing its international reputation. Here are 38 of his quotes:

I went in a round of the Domain on Saturday morning in a rally car. At the start of it, I was asked if I felt scared. I said, 'certainly not, I have been working with Roger for years'. (David Lange)
...it all happened so quickly you got a lot of bewilderment; you get a lot of people who are basically meat-and-three-veg quarter-acre New Zealanders who find themselves eating dim sims with chopsticks and they can't cope. View quote
David Lange
He had more on his mind than his mind could hold. View quote
David Lange
Once while waiting at Auckland airport, Lange insisted on buying himself a newspaper and joined a queue at a newsstand. The woman in front of him turned around and said, "Good God!" Lange replied affably, "No madam, you are mistaken. I have never made that claim." View quote
David Lange
On seeing a machine labelled "media steriliser", Lange quipped: "Have that sent to my office immediately." View quote
David Lange
And I'm going to give it to you if you hold your breath just for a moment ... I can smell the uranium on it as you lean towards me. View quote
David Lange
I agreed with the prevailing opinion in the Labour Party about nuclear weapons; I went on ban-the-bomb marches in the 1960s and I have not changed my mind about nuclear deterrence since. But I found it hard to accept the Labour Party's policy that required the exclusion of nuclear-powered ships. Given that nuclear energy exists it is the intention behind its use that matters. The weapons are made to destroy and we have to learn to live without them. The rest may be useful if properly managed. The management is an environmental issue and the inevitable exclusion of nuclear-powered vessels was not an appropriate basis for our foreign policy. View quote
David Lange
a man whose life is so boring that if it flashed past he wouldn't be in it. View quote
David Lange
This is the difficulty about talking about it without sounding big-headed, but you cannot speak of New Zealand now without my involvement in what it has become. View quote
David Lange
It's a funny thing when you think you're dead. You're not terrified of it anymore. There's a sort of a epiphany to religious thing; it's not sort of church-based, but you end up with a serenity which you didn't have before, and I just simply enjoy it. It really does sound stupid, but I've got to tell you it's made my life. View quote
David Lange
We do not wish to have nuclear weapons on New Zealand soil or in our harbors. We do not ask, we do not expect, the United States to come to New Zealand's assistance with nuclear weapons or to present American nuclear capability as a deterrent to an attacker. (David Lange)
George W. Bush: a person who is the ultimate outcome of the American condition. Someone promoted above ability because of circumstance and organisation and empathy. You don't have to be intelligent. A moron in a hurry could know that you don't prevent war by having a war. View quote
David Lange
I, as prime minister, never went to Washington. Certainly never went to a presidential ranch. I hate to say this, but I wasn't going to be the pilot fish to the shark, whereas Australia quite happily bobbed along like a happy little pilot fish with a shark who was a messy eater, and I just couldn't feel like that. View quote
David Lange

David Lange

David Lange - Image
Photo: Courtesy of Horowhenua Historical Society inc, Levin, New Zealand, CC BY-SA 3.0
Occupation: New Zealander Minister
Born: August 4, 1942
Died: August 13, 2005
Quotes count: 38
Wikipedia: David Lange

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