"The lessons of this crisis have made it clear to us that in the interests of world peace it is essential that our defensive services should be stronger than they are to-day. When I say that I am not thinking of any kind of unilateral rearmament directed either in reality or in imagination against any particular country, as might have been said to be the case before the War. It is a strengthening of our defensive services within the framework of the League, for the sake of international peace, not for selfish ends...I will not be responsible for the conduct of any Government in this country at this present time, if I am not given power to remedy the deficiencies which have accrued in our defensive services since the War.... One of the weaknesses of a democracy, a system of which I am trying to make the best, is that until it is right up against it it will never face the truth."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Prime Ministers of the United KingdomPoliticians from EnglandAcademics from EnglandAnglicans from the United KingdomConservative Party (UK) politicians
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Speech in the House of Commons (23 October 1935).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stanley_Baldwin
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley KG PC (3 August 1867 – 14 December 1947) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on three separate occasions (1923–24, 1924–29 and 1935–37).
307 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Stanley Baldwin →
Related Quotes
"I claim that, unlike the totalitarian States, we have managed to secure both progress and orderly development in indu…"
"The Conservatives can't talk of class war: they started it."
"...ideas may be very dangerous things. There is no country in Europe that has a constitution comparable to ours. I do…"
"The time was, when I was a boy, when people hardly dreamed that the day would come when there would be large numbers …"
"Improvements in housing—in which the Government has played a large part—is another direction in which sta…"
"My tongue, not my pen, is my instrument."
"I went out into Downing Street a happy man. Of course it was partly because an old buffer like me enjoys feeling that…"
"In the remote parts of that countryside where I was born and where old English phrases linger, though they may now be…"
"I do not think there is any single thing more important for our people, and for those who form public opinion, than t…"
"I come back to speed, and I want my last words to be on speed. I see a danger ahead that our people may become mechan…"