183 Quotes by Tony Benn

It is tempting to deny, but if you deny you confirm what you won’t deny.

The Labour party has never been a socialist party, although there have always been socialists in it – a bit like Christians in the Church of England.

The exhaustion of old age is something people who are younger don’t fully appreciate.

I’ve made every mistake – but mistakes are how you learn.

Although socialism is widely held by the establishment to be outdated, the things that are most popular in British society today are little pockets of socialism, where areas of life have been excluded from the crude operation of market forces and are protected for the benefit of the community.

We are paying a heavy political price for 20 years in which, as a party, we have played down our criticism of capitalism and soft-peddled our advocacy of socialism.

Someone comes every morning at nine o’clock to see if I am still alive. I do get lonely, yes, but I have the children who come and see me. I see all my children every week, and there are the grandchildren, too.

Through talk, we tamed kings, restrained tyrants, averted revolution.

I am not a reluctant peer but a persistent commoner.