Quotes from Tony Benn

Democracy is not just voting every 5 years and watching 'Big Brother' in between and wondering why nothing happens. Democracy is what we do and say where we live and work

My filing system is messy but orderly.

People would do well to ask themselves how many of their ambitions and aspirations derive from the type of economic system they inhabit and the insecurity and exhaustion it creates, and question the sense and purpose of a society where control of a large portion of life is abdicated under contract in the labour market, and where immense creativity and potential is stifled by the need to do difficult and repetitive tasks in order to earn a wage.

I was radicalised by office and I quickly realised that just getting rid of one government and replacing it with another one in which I had office did not necessarily change anything. A most vivid example was when marchers shouted, 'Thatcher! Thatcher! Out, Out, Out!' only to discover that they had elected Blair! Blair! and little had changed.

Perhaps I could put this to you too: that it is not only the decision that matters, I mean democracy is about how you do things, not just what the outcome is.

In a world where authoritarianism of the left or right is a very real possibility, the question of whether ordinary people can govern themselves by consent is still on trial--as it always has been, and always will be. Beyond parliamentary democracy as we know it, we shall have to find a new popular democracy to replace it.

The British House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians.

If I had rescued a child from drowning, the national press would no doubt have headlined the story "Benn grabs child."

I have five questions that I ask people who have power, and I recommend them to the House. If I see someone who is powerful, be it a traffic warden, Rupert Murdoch, the head of a trade union or a Member of Parliament, I ask myself these five questions: "What power have you got? Where did you get it? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? How can we get rid of you?" That last question is crucial.

Britain today is suffering from galloping obsolescence.

It is wholly wrong to blame Marx for what was done in his name, as it is to blame Jesus for what was done in his.

In our democracy no man should tell another man to break the law, nor should any man break the law to by-pass Parliament. But a person who is punished for breaking an unjust law may if he is sincere and his cause wins public sympathy, create a public demand to have that unjust law changed through Parliament. This is the first and most fundamental principle of British democracy. It has a deep moral significance. Our religious and political liberties rest upon it.

It is we, on this side, who object to dreams of empire, because we think in terms of free association and we believe that the empire that was built up was based on force and domination by this country.

It's the same each time with progress. First they ignore you, then they say you're mad, then dangerous, then there's a pause and then you can't find anyone who disagrees with you.

A faith is something you die for, a doctrine is something you kill for. There is all the difference in the world.

We are not just here to manage capitalism but to change society and to define its finer values.