Pierre Trudeau Quotes

The attainment of a just society is the cherished hope of civilized men.

As against the "invisible hand" of Adam Smith, there has to be a visible hand of politicians whose objective is to have the kind of society that is caring and humane.

I must say that "Give Peace a Chance" has always seemed to me to be sensible advice.

I am peaceful but I am not a pacifist in the philosophical sense.

I was too busy doing my job and living my life to spend time keeping notes for some future volume of memoirs.

In my political philosophy I think that there sometimes is room for violence.

Because I am a deep believer in the civil society, I think we should be prepared to pay the consequences of breaking the law and that is either paying the penalty for it, or leaving the country.

What shall we do about the Abortion Bill?" A: "Pay it!

The most beautiful missionaries I saw were those who talked less about religion but who were very generous in their approach.

For my part...I am a realist but, somehow, optimism always keeps breaking out.

I think all of us, politicians and churchmen, should do our utmost to change the society so that there would be no need for violence.

Long live free France.

Obviously, the state's responsibility should be to legislate rules for a well-ordered society. It has no right or duty to creep into the bedrooms of the nation.

The state has no place in the nation's bedrooms.

I feel religion is basically and essentially a communication between a man and his God and I think it is the most personal thing of all and I don't think it concerns too many people.

I've always lived in a democratic society.

I think that the history of the past hundred years has shown us that, by and large, the one linguistic group to whom separatism is being preached is not moved by the arguments which are used.

I think that religions must seek peace and love and therefore be pacifist.

Every time I have a political rally I meet some people who say, "I need a job."

I'm impatient not with the House of Commons as an institution, but with the way in which it is operated. This doesn't prove I don't believe in participatory democracy.

I think violence is counter-productive and it is bad in democratic societies.

I saw the charter as an expression of my long-held view that the subject of law must be the individual human being; the law must permit the individual to fulfil himself or herself to the utmost.

Who is it that said that 'you have not converted a man because you have silenced him?' This is true of the use of the military on people.

Sometimes you must live in a violent world in order to get greater justice.

I don't believe you can contain ideas by military force.

The federal government is the balance wheel of the federal system, and the federal system means using counterweights.

I believe in life after death.

In my religion I really cannot think of cases where violence is justified.

I feel very deeply for Canada, and l believe most Canadians do.

I feel perhaps I didn't deal with the question of violence in depth.

The state has an active role to play in ensuring that there is equilibrium between the constituent parts of the economy, the consumers and the producers.

I can see that in certain political situations you have to use force to overthrow police states.

The politicians, who once stated that war was too complex to be left to the generals, now act as though peace were too complex to be left to themselves.

Canada is seen to some as a confederation of shopping centres.

The churches must realize that when they take a position on a political event that they must accept the rules of the game.