"When I came to England in the late 60s, Sergeant Pepper was ruling the land, de Gaulle was the Great Satan and it was only months before Enoch Powell made his classical allusion to the Tiber. It is right that his speech that night has become a myth of a dark moment in contemporary British culture. His mean and ugly prophecies of bloodshed - rivers frothing with blood, no less - was not simply a mad outburst. It did not come from nowhere...It was no surprise, in the end, that Powell should pluck that evil image from his knowledge of the ancient Mediterranean world to portray the panic that had gripped the country. He was not speaking for himself alone, but he spoke too strongly, abandoning post-imperial euphemisms about non-European foreigners. His eyes flashed with prophetic conviction and suddenly, so it seemed to Ted Heath, the lunacy had gone too far. He sacked him from the shadow cabinet"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Members of the Parliament of the United KingdomPolitical leadersPoets from EnglandPeople from BirminghamAnglicans from the United Kingdom
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Abdulrazak Gurnah "Fear and loathing" (2001)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Enoch_Powell
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Enoch Powell
politician, linguist, poet
1912 – 1998 · United Kingdom
John Enoch Powell (16 June 1912 – 8 February 1998) was a British politician, classical scholar, author, linguist, soldier, philologist, and poet. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (1950–1974), then Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MP (1974–1987), and was Minister of Health (1960–1963).
352 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Enoch Powell →
Related Quotes
"Some problems are unavoidable. Some evils can be coped with to a certain extent, but not prevented. But that a nation…"
"Once you go nuclear at all, you go nuclear for good; and you know it. Here is the parting of the ways, for from this …"
"I find in my constituency in the last few weeks an ominous deterioration, which is taking the form not of discriminat…"
"Often when I am kneeling down in church, I think to myself how much we should thank God, the Holy Ghost for the gift …"
"He talks so fascinatingly on history, architecture and many subjects that politics seldom came up, but I should be di…"
"There is a sense of hopelessness and helplessness which comes over persons who are trapped or imprisoned, when all th…"
"She is becoming afraid to go out. Windows are broken. She finds excreta pushed through her letterbox. When she goes t…"
"As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood.""
"Integration of races of totally disparate origins and culture is one of the great myths of our time. It has never wor…"
"It is advertising that enthrones the customer as king. This infuriates the socialist...[it is] the crossing of the bo…"