A leader has to 'appear' consistent. That doesn't mean he has to be consistent.
James Callaghan

A leader must have the courage to act against an expert's advice.
James Callaghan

A lie can be halfway round the world before the truth has got its boots on.
James Callaghan

I am not proposing to seek your votes because there is a blue sky ahead today.
James Callaghan

I am rather in favour of dealing with teenage hooliganism.
James Callaghan

I sum up the prospects for 1967 in three short sentences. We are back on course. The ship is picking up speed. The economy is moving. Every seaman knows the command at such a moment: 'steady as she goes'.
James Callaghan

I've never been one to say that Britain was joining a happy band of brothers.
James Callaghan

If the law is a bad law, there is always the contingent right to take action that you would not otherwise take.
James Callaghan

Some people, however long their experience or strong their intellect, are temperamentally incapable of reaching firm decisions.
James Callaghan

The rule of law should be upheld by all political parties. They should neither advise others to break the law, nor encourage others to do so even when they strongly disagree with the legislation put forward by the government of the day.
James Callaghan


There are no instant solutions.
James Callaghan

There is not a single injustice in Northern Ireland that is worth the loss of a single British soldier or a single Irish citizen either.
James Callaghan

You can never reach the promised land. You can march towards it.
James Callaghan

Your strike will not win. You cannot be allowed to succeed.
James Callaghan