If We Can Find The Money To

I Think There Are Two Ways In Which People Are Controlled - First Of All Frighten People And Secondly Demoralize Them.

Experience Is The Only Real Teacher And If You Keep A Diary You Get Three Bites At Educating Yourself - When It Happens, When You Write It Down, And When You Reread It And Realise You Were Wrong. Making Mistakes Is Part Of Life. The Only Things I Would Feel Ashamed Of Would Be If I Had Said Things I Hadn't Believed In Order To Get On. Some Politicians Do Do That.

After The War People Said, 'if You Can Plan For War, Why Can't You Plan For Peace?' When I Was 17, I Had A Letter From The Government Saying, 'dear Mr. Benn, Will You Turn Up When You're 17 1/2? We'll Give You Free Food, Free Clothes, Free Training, Free Accommodation, And Two Shillings, Ten Pence A Day To Just Kill Germans.' People Said, Well, If You Can Have Full Employment To Kill People, Why In God's Name Couldn't You Have Full Employment And Good Schools, Good Hospitals, Good Houses?

Hope Is The Fuel Of Progress And Fear Is The Prison In Which You Put Yourself.

It Is Obvious I Shall Have To Abandon My Hopes Of Getting The Queen's Head Off The Stamps.