42 quotes
In a democracy, all voters are equal but not all are responsible. Compulsory voting ignores that elemental truth.
Innovation is usually not a gigantic step but a series of small jumps involving various enterprising people whose names are soon forgotten.
The Story of Australia's People: The Rise and Rise of a New Australia (2016)
Whether we like the idea or not, war has again and again been seen as the great auditor, the special testing time, of a nation's strength and fibre.
In economics, as in politics, no national reservoir can stand the strain when everyone is turning on the taps and few are bothering to see that the catchments to the reservoir are working.
Eye on Australia: Speeches and Essays of Geoffrey Blainey (1991)
Democracy is a freak condition in the world's history: civil liberties are not common liberties even today, and most people in the world have never possessed them.
The Great Seesaw: A New View of the Western World, 1750-2000 (1988)
Christianity has both spurred and retarded the sciences and social sciences. Indeed, most of the modern debates of profound significance were originally dialogues with or within Christianity.
A Short History of Christianity (2011)
Australia is increasingly the story of a few large cities, but a thousand half-forgotten townships still view themselves as the emotional heart of the nation.
A Shorter History of Australia (1994)
No wars are unintended or 'accidental'. What is often unintended is the length and bloodiness of the war.
The Causes of War (1973)
War and peace are not separate compartments. Peace depends on threats and force; often peace is the crystallisation of past force.
The Causes of War (1973)
Nothing in the traditional life of Aborigines was more impressive than their practical knowledge. They were masters of their environment even though they could do little to change it.
The Story of Australia's People: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Australia (2015)
Christianity probably has been the most important institution in the world in the last 2000 years. It has achieved more for western civilisation than has any other factor; it has helped far more people than it has harmed.
A Short History of Christianity (2011)
The birth of the 20th century was like a flaming sunrise. More was expected of the century than any other. So much had been achieved in the previous one that it seemed sensible to expect that henceforth the world's triumphs would far outweigh the disasters.
The slow decline of Christianity prepared the way for new Utopias and doomsdays. Indeed some of the new views of the future contained many of the characteristics of a religion.
The Great Seesaw: A New View of the Western World, 1750-2000 (1988)
Since every nation tends to believe that each of its past wars was fought in self-defence, a drawn war is more likely to be remembered as a victory.
The Causes of War (1973)
The decline of the churches was a sweeping social revolution, because they had done more than any other institution, public or private, to civilise Australians.
A Shorter History of Australia (1994)
Every nation has the right to control its own immigration. To shape sensibly an immigration policy is to influence nearly every facet of life, now and for generations to come.
All for Australia (1984)
The birth of a nation called for many fathers, none of whom could be pre-eminent, and when Parkes died the federation was only a balloon floating beckoningly in the air.
The Story of Australia's People: The Rise and Rise of a New Australia (2016)
Immigration is everyone's business: it is one of the most important national issues. The idea that it is too dangerous to be debated is a mockery of democracy. It is too important not to debate.
All for Australia (1984)
Anyone who tries to range over the last 200 years of Australia's history, surveying the successes and failures, and trying to understand the obstacles that stood in the way, cannot easily accept the gloomier summaries of that history.
An immigration policy in any country is based more or less on discrimination. A minister of immigration is a minister of discrimination. If he isn't, he is not carrying out his responsibilities.
All for Australia (1984)