Skip to content

Bilingualism is not an imposition on the citizens. The citizens can go on speaking one language or six languages, or no languages if they so choose. Bilingualism is an imposition on the state and not the citizens.

— Pierre Trudeau

Another quote →

Notes from Wikiquote

Unsourced variant : "Bilingualism is not an imposition on the citizens — it is an imposition on the state."

Topics

Communication

More quotes by Pierre Trudeau

Of course a bilingual state is more expensive than a unilingual one — but it is a richer state.

If Canada is to survive, it can only survive in mutual respect and in love for one another.

I believe a constitution can permit the co-existence of several cultures and ethnic groups with a single state.

Prime Ministers (2000)

I must say that "Give Peace a Chance" has always seemed to me to be sensible advice.

Memoirs (1993)

We peer so suspiciously at each other that we cannot see that we Canadians are standing on the mountaintop of human wealth, freedom and privilege.

All Pierre Trudeau quotes →

You may also like

Strength of creative writing lies in the skill of handling words and articulating artistic expression of feelings.”

Suman Pokhrel

An entire mythology is stored within our language.

Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophical Occasions 1912-1951 (1993)

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.

George Eliot

Just at the age 'twixt boy and youth,
When thought is speech, and speech is truth.

Walter Scott Marmion (1808)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Pierre Trudeau (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.