Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Welcome to the Hall of Presidents.
All we are is dust in the wind, dude.
I retired when I was 30 and I was bored shitless.
Be excellent to each other and... Party on, dudes!
I love pensioners. My closest relations are pensioners.
I realised that in a lot of failures, there is a lot of opportunities.
If there's anything I can do, it's to present an alternative vision for the country.
I never think about my best interests. I think about what's the right thing to do in a situation.
I'll always put policy ahead of politics and I think people expect that. They're sick of the politics getting in the way of decent outcomes for people.
We must start understanding other cultures, such as the Aboriginal culture. They have a harmony with the Earth and from that harmony has grown a certain spirituality.
Don't get seduced by the next shiny thing, because you'll get caught up chasing shiny things and that will keep you from addressing what you really need to accomplish.
I think the money that I've got is a consequence of the activities I've been doing and the interests that I've had in my life. I've never set out to make a lot of money.
I am thoroughly satisfied that smoking is detrimental to the intelligence of Australians who I notice now are beginning to look sickly, pale and intellectually destitute.
My goal is to get on the national team. People joke that we'll be able to go to Beijing in 2008, but it's just jokes right now. Hopefully I'll be able to make it a reality.
We have environmental laws for a reason: to protect endangered biodiversity. And as a country that has one of the highest loss of species anywhere in the world, they're important.
I know too much from personal observation from how the poor and working classes live to be satisfied with a system which makes their lives one unceasing round of toil, deprivation and anxiety.
Do you really believe that in the late 1800s Paddy Hannan would have walked 600 miles in the hot sun from Perth to Kalgoorlie to discover gold if he had to pay the Wayne Swan resource super tax?
We must continue working for a better world. I want my grandchildren to live in a society with a spirit of independence, a society that puts people before profits and looks after the environment.
Every morning when I wake up I think about you. Before going to bed you still linger on my mind. If there was any better way of letting you know exactly how I feel, you would know that I'm so in love with you.
People tell us the countries that we'll have the most difficulty with are France and Japan. They say, 'Nothing you do in the rest of the world will work for us.' But that's changing. The differences are narrowing.
Frank Lowy is an institution in Australian sport but judging by this decision he might be visiting a different kind of institution. He has brought the game into disrepute. The sport should not be run by dictators like him.
Beware of people preaching simple solutions to complex problems. If the answer was easy someone more intelligent would have thought of it a long time ago - complex problems invariably require complex and difficult solutions.
I think we are part of the earth. The concept of the rainforest being the womb of life is something I believe in...the value system must get back to the environment as it was originally, the magnificence from where we emerged.
Tony Abbott might think coal's good for humanity, of course it was an important driver in the story of the Australian nation. But when we're talking about the 21st Century and those industries that are gonna take us forward, it won't be coal.
We must do what we can to reduce, not increase, tensions. We must do what we can to present only the facts as we know them, not as we imagine them to be. We must learn to live with crisis in an age which calls for cool heads and accurate appraisals.
Protest to be effective, must be followed by resolute action and at this crisis in world history when materialistic energy aims at overthrowing spiritual energy and moral values, action needs to develop into a world crusade for the Spiritual Humanity.
I've got enough money in my life to retire now and do nothing. But I've got a duty and obligation to see if we can create more jobs in this state, and the government's got an obligation to approve projects and to assess them for the benefit of the people of Queensland.
If you believe women are constituted differently to men then remove taxation from them. But if you're a democrat and you believe in government of the people by the people and for the people, then you believe in fair play. So when you tax women, give them the vote as well.
Nothing-was more degrading than for a woman to have to marry for a home. Love should be the sole reason. Surely those with a brain-to think, eyes to see and a mind-to reason must realise that the capitalist system must cease and a co-operative system prevail in its place.
The whole environment out there is a living, breathing almost conscious being that is saying something to us human beings. The forests can't act but they can inspire us and they inspire people like myself and money others in the conservation movement to act on their behalf.
People, regardless of political views, matter in this state and in this country and in this world. And, you know, when people attack people's basic rights and livelihoods, I'm concerned about it. And as a citizen of Queensland and nothing else, I've got the right to express my view.
I’d rather be a straight ‘self-proclaimed homosexual’ than a racist, ignorant, hate-filled bigot in Rise Up Australia any day. This party wants to end multiculturalism and discriminate against anyone different. What this mob intends as a grievous insult, I take as a compliment. Long live equal rights.
The Greens have not been providing you with the full information about where their money comes from or what it's about. I think the Greens in this upcoming state election should resign if they're being funded by an offshore political power. It's tantamount to treason and something needs to be done about it.
As they were leading me up, I looked up and around the galleries and I could feel the whole Aboriginal race, of those who had gone before, were all up there, and I could visualise, I could hear voices and amongst those voices was the voice of my grandfather saying, 'It's alright now boy, you are finally in the council with the Australian Elders. Everything is now going to be alright.'
As a physician, we are taught that learning and education never stop - they are lifelong. I think education comes in various forms: formal, informal, and most importantly, experiential. All of this defines who we are and gives us if you will our abilities to function as leaders. I believe all of those pieces constitute formal education - it is invaluable to who we are and how well we perform.
We as Aboriginal people still have to fight to prove that we are straight out plain human beings, the same as everyone else. You know, I grew up, born on a government blanket under a palm tree. I lived under lantana bushes, I've seen more dinner times than I've seen dinners, I've known discrimination, I've known prejudice, I've known all of those things... but some of that is still with us... and it's got to be changed.
We need to review the process for the election of Speaker. We've got to reform Question Time, which is really a waste of time. There are so many things that we need to do to reform our Parliament and I think it's bigger than that. It's all about the sort of leadership that people are getting at the moment. They're fed up with this sorta day-to-day bickering, not putting the national interest ahead of these narrow partisan interests.
You frequently hear the phrase "culture eats strategy for lunch!" This is something that they don't teach you in school and few leaders appreciate. Cultural influences come at you from two different directions. There is the organizational culture that you must understand if you are to impact significant strategic initiatives. If the "people" are on board, you can achieve anything. Vice versa if they are not - you will not achieve anything.
I've obviously come from a health background. I was a doctor before I became a pollie and one of the things I'd like to do is to really build on the world-class health system we've got. I'm passionate about climate change because it's also a health issue. Things like extreme weather impact on people's health, the ability of our hospitals to cope, the impact on mental health, on farmers in regional areas - they're all serious health concerns.
I've never needed a lobbyist personally to put my case. I'd rather put my case myself. But I don't understand how other people look at things. A lot of people in business haven't been involved in politics. They are frightened of ministers and the whole procedure. It's not something to be frightened of. It's something to go in and realise that people who go into politics, regardless of being Labor, Liberal or Nationals, primarily go in to serve the community.
Things that people thought not possible when they were proposed and blown off become enormously successful. There are a lot of ideas that never succeed - but we all know the crazy ideas that did - who would have thought 30 years ago that people would pay $4 for a cup of coffee - but today, we have 20,000 Starbucks stores around the world. A group of prospective investors once remarked that "Google" was the "balloon company." The point is, don't rush to pooh-pooh something you don't understand or aren't willing to try - it could be something that changes the world.
Talking about improving the culture, I prefer to say "develop" or "evolve" rather than "change". If I walk into a room and say: "we are here to change the organization," it sends shock waves through the group. If I say: "your success to date has come from who you are, to be successful in the future, we need to get to X, let's talk about how we evolve the organization to that point," that is a very different statement. Successful organizational "change" must come from the people. So, recruit them with common purpose, recognize that it will take time, and plow forward.
I have participated as a leader in many organizations where the leadership culture was just mean - ugly, where competitiveness, and destructive relationships stymied progress. There should be healthy tension and candid debate, but leadership teams need to practice communication, relationship building, emotional intelligence, and be aligned around common purpose to achieve organizational success. Senior leaders, chief executive officers, others need to ensure they are fostering the right environment for leadership otherwise all of that ugliness will trickle through the organization.
Good C-suite executives rise to the top because they can execute. Good execution at the operational level requires us to have a solid handle on details - that doesn't mean operators don't delegate, it just means that they have a strong line of site to the front lines because they know that is where operational success is driven. As people move into the c-suite, they hold on to their operational persona and likely feel the need to do more. But success in the c-suite comes from our ability to be more strategic and trust that we have selected highly qualified people to take our places.