Chris Patten quotes

Chris Patten is a British politician, diplomat, and author, best known as the last Governor of Hong Kong. During his tenure, he oversaw the transition of Hong Kong from British to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. He has also served in various influential roles within the UK government and the European Union. Here are 20 of his quotes:

Nevertheless, it is true that on 1 July 1997 Hong Kong became the only example of decolonization deliberately accompanied by less democracy and a weaker protection of civil liberties. This was a cause for profound regret, especially for the departing colonial power. But it was China's doing and China's decision. I am pleased that Britain narrowly avoided complicity in the dishonourable act of denying the citizens of free Hong Kong what they had been promised in 1984.

Chris Patten

Asians [...] put more emphasis on order, stability, hierarchy, family and self-discipline than Westerners do.

Chris Patten

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

Chris Patten

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

Chris Patten

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

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

Chris Patten

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

Chris Patten

It is not unusual for electorates to want contradictory things, and politicians often make promises accordingly.

Chris Patten

As governor, I experienced the vitality of life in a booming and free Asian city, saw routinely the best and worst aspects of human nature, and was made to revisit some of the principles in which I have always believed but to which I had rarely given much thought previously. In the darker hours of occasionally fretful nights I found myself face to face with the moral dimensions of political action to a greater extent than ever before.

Chris Patten

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

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

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

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

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

Chris Patten

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

I don't think that capitalism should be unbridled, if by 'unbridled' you mean unregulated.

Chris Patten

You know perfectly well there have been attacks on the rule of law, on the independence of the judiciary; abductions around Hong Kong streets; suggestions that Hong Kong's autonomy needs to be curtailed in the future; suggestions that the autonomy of Hong Kong's tremendous universities is something that has to be looked at again; there is a sense that free speech is under threat.

Chris Patten

While we were allegedly taking part in a golden age of China, the head of the Chinese Communist Party was instructing party officials and government officials to engage in an intense struggle against all the things that we and other liberal democracies stand for: Rule of law, parliamentary democracy, universally valid human rights, historical inquiry, all those sorts of things.

Chris Patten