Activists From England

"I normally live in Los Angeles, if you can call it normal living."

"Well, I think when I was a child, more than anything else I wanted not to be ordinary. And I wanted to be considered to be a bit peculiar. When I was at school I wanted to be peculiar and I was delighted when I was at secondary school and I was actually thought to be peculiar (laughs). It was fantastically good for me because I looked around me and I thought, 'Well, however you are I don't want to be like you, so if you think I'm unbalanced then I'm delighted.' That really stayed with me."

"I don't perform. Seals perform."

"I think the main thing is that I very rarely recognise the actual interview in print. To me, it's like being painted by an artist. And then you see the picture, and they've painted someone else."

"It's so easy to laugh, it's so easy to hate, it takes strength to be gentle and kind."

"I say a lot of things I don’t mean."

"I shake like a ship in a storm. It is a fact that even warming moments overwhelm me with despair, and this is why I am I."

"Nobody can possibly be so hungry that they need to take a life in order to feel satisfied – they don't after all, take a human life, so why take the life of an animal? Both are conscious beings with the same determination to survive. It is habit, and laziness and nothing else."

"The brain speculates but the heart knows."

"The British judiciary continues to label animal protectionists as 'extremists', whilst being unable to consider the Holocaust carnage inside every abattoir to be extreme."

"You either approve of violence or you don't, and nothing on earth is more violent or extreme than the meat industry."

"It was probably nothing, but it felt like the world."

"Last night I dreamt That somebody loved me No hope, no harm Just another false alarm Last night I felt Real arms around me No hope, no harm Just another false alarm So, tell me how long Before the last one? And tell me how long Before the right one? The story is old - I know But it goes on The story is old - I know But it goes on Oh, goes on And on Oh, goes on And on"

"And you even spoke to me, and said : "If you're so funny Then why are you on your own tonight ? And if you're so clever Then why are you on your own tonight ? If you're so very entertaining Then why are you on your own tonight ? If you're so very good-looking Why do you sleep alone tonight ? I know... 'Cause tonight is just like any other night That's why you're on your own tonight With your triumphs and your charms While they're in each other's arms...""

"And you're standing on our streets where Hector was the first of the gang with a gun in his hand and the first to do time The first of the gang to die / oh my"

"So I broke into the palace, with a sponge and a rusty spanner She said "eh, I know you and you cannot sing" I said "that's nothing you should hear me play piano""

"There is no such thing in life as normal"

"As Anthony said to Cleopatra as he opened a crate of ale: "Oh, I say, some girls are bigger than others, Some girls' mothers are bigger than other girls' mothers."

"And now I know how Joan of Arc felt Now I know how Joan of Arc felt As the flames rose to her And her started to melt"

"Does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body? I dunno..."

"And when I'm lying in my bed, I think about life and I think about death. And neither one particularly appeals to me."

"But sometimes I'd feel more fulfilled making Christmas cards with the mentally ill. I want to live and I want to love. I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of."

"Most people keep their brains between their legs"

"I'm here with the cause, I'm holding the torch In the corner of your room- can you hear me? And when you're dancing and laughing, and finally living, Hear my voice in your head and think of me kindly."

"Oh, the alcoholic afternoons when we sat in your room they meant more to me than any, than any living thing on earth"

"There's more to life than books you know, but not much more"

"Hand in glove, the good people laugh, yes we may be hidden by rags, But we've something they'll never have"

"There's a club if you'd like to go, you could meet somebody who really loves you, so you go and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home and you cry and you want to die"

"You shut your mouth, How can you say I go about things the wrong way? I am human and I need to be loved Just like everybody else does"

"I decree today that life is simply taking and not giving, England is mine and it owes me a living"

"In my life Why do I smile At people who I'd much rather kick in the eye ?"

"Why pamper life's complexity when the leather runs smooth on the passenger's seat?"

"I've been dreaming of a time when The English are sick to death of Labour and Tories And spit upon the name Oliver Cromwell and denounce this royal line that still salutes him And will salute him forever."

"So when you say it's gonna happen now. Well when exactly do you mean? See I've already waited too long. And all my hope is gone!"

"And if a double-decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die. And if a ten ton truck kills the both of us, to die by your side, the pleasure, the privilege is mine."

"I don't think people realise how the establishment became established. They simply stole land and property from the poor, surrounded themselves with weak minded sycophants for protection, gave themselves titles and have been wielding power ever since."

"I wasn't a huge fan of Tony Benn, I think he was a fraud in many ways."

"[Benn was an] iconic figure of our age. He will be remembered as a champion of the powerless, a great parliamentarian and a conviction politician. Tony Benn spoke his mind and spoke up for his values. Whether you agreed with him or disagreed with him, everyone knew where he stood and what he stood for. ... He believed in movements and mobilised people behind him for the causes he cared about, often unfashionable ones. In a world of politics that is often too small, he thought big about our country and our world."

"He did one great thing in his life: he changed the constitution of the House of Lords. Apart from that he symbolised the sort of left-wing nuttiness that nearly destroyed the Labour party in the late 1970s and early 1980s."

"Tony Benn was a giant of socialism who encouraged me to join Labour in 1977: wonderful inspirational speaker and person: will be deeply missed."

"In the evening of his life, Benn became the most successful political prophet in British history, attracting huge audiences up and down the country."

"In the final decade of an extraordinary political life, Tony Benn was a great friend of Liberty and human rights. He spoke to packed audiences up and down the country against internment and identity cards and for values of internationalism and humanity. And he often shared the stage with speakers of different political stripes with considerable generosity. I shall never forget his many kindnesses to me, including when he ripped up a prepared speech he was about to deliver, in order to make my own nervous and novice remarks sound slightly less unplanned. In an age of spin, he was solid, a signpost and not a weathervane."

"[Benn was a] powerful, fearless, relentless advocate for social justice and people's rights."

"Tony Benn was one of those rare things: a genuine radical for all his life. He was a fearless campaigner and a legendary figure for the Labour movement. Even when I disagreed with him, I always had enormous respect for his brilliance, his passion and his commitment to the people of Britain and of the world."

"He was an absolutely brilliant speaker ... he had such clarity of expression. [He was] a charming, nice man. He made enemies and kept enemies but on the whole most people regarded him with a good degree of affection long before it came to the stage when it was thought he could cause no harm. He was out of step for many years with whoever was in the charge of the leadership. He wanted to make people think and that was an admirable thing."

"Tony was a true friend of the Irish people. A principled politician and activist, he spoke up passionately for the idea of a united Ireland. He remained an avid supporter of Irish freedom throughout his life."

"Admired so many things about Benn. Unwavering principles; always open to new ideas; stellar political speaker but unfailingly courteous."

"Tony Benn was at his apogee [in 1980], the hero of the left with an appeal that went far beyond their relatively small numbers. He was to me an enigma. Personally he was the sweetest of men, concerned about his friends and colleagues, ready to help, funny and self-effacing. His socialist values ran deep, owing more to the Levellers of the English Civil War than to Marx or Trotsky. The iconic leader for him was Colonel Rainborough of Cromwell's New Model Army, the man who declared during the famous Putney Debates: "The poorest he that is in England hath a life to live as the greatest he." Benn's charisma overwhelmed his reason, and his eloquence washed away his logic when he was responding to an adoring audience. One of my journalist friends observed that, during his speech to the conference, Tony held forth through the applause, not pausing for it to die down. He seemed to be in a self-induced trance. Indeed, some of his own supporters began to get worried. Comments were made on his staring eyes, even his sanity."

"One of the twentieth century's most committed parliamentarians."

"Tony Benn is described as a politician by those who have never met him."