Barbara Amiel Quotes

Powerful Barbara Amiel for Daily Growth

About Barbara Amiel

Barbara Amiel, born on August 19, 1940, in Montreal, Canada, was a renowned journalist, columnist, and author known for her provocative style and fearless opinions. Throughout her illustrious career spanning over four decades, she left an indelible mark on journalism and literature with her insightful commentaries on politics, social issues, and celebrity culture. Amiel attended McGill University in Montreal, where she earned a degree in English Literature. Her early years were spent working for the Montreal Gazette before moving to London to join The Daily Telegraph as a reporter in 1967. In 1978, she became the first female columnist for The Times of London. Throughout her journalistic journey, Amiel's works were characterized by their wit, candor, and unapologetic approach to controversial topics. Her columns often stirred controversy and garnered both praise and criticism, reflecting her distinctive voice and style. In addition to her journalism career, Amiel authored several books, including "In the Eye of the Storm: A Survivor's Memoir," which chronicled her experience as a British hostage during the Iranian Embassy siege in 1980. Another notable work was "The New Canaan and Other Bananas: The Curious Casebook of Barbara Amiel," a collection of her columns and articles spanning various topics. Amiel's personal life, particularly her marriage to Conrad Black, the media tycoon, added another layer of intrigue to her public persona. Despite the challenges and controversies that accompanied her career, Barbara Amiel remained a compelling figure in the world of journalism and literature, leaving behind a legacy as a trailblazer for female journalists. She passed away on September 28, 2017, in Toronto, Canada, at the age of 77.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The more power a woman has, the less she needs to be liked."

This quote suggests that as a woman gains more power or influence, her need for validation through popularity or likability decreases. Instead, her focus shifts towards achieving her goals and exercising her authority effectively. It implies a growing self-assurance, independence, and prioritization of personal and professional achievements over social approval. This is an empowering statement that emphasizes the importance of women asserting their power and standing firmly in their positions without compromising their integrity or ambition for social acceptance.


"Wealth is not about having a lot of money; it's about having the right amount."

The quote suggests that wealth isn't solely defined by the amount of money one possesses, but rather by the balance between financial resources and personal needs or values. In other words, being wealthy is not just about accumulating vast amounts of money, but about having enough to meet one's essential needs, enjoy a comfortable lifestyle, and possibly contribute to charitable causes or pursuits. Achieving this 'right amount' of wealth implies that one has financial stability, freedom, and the opportunity to live life on their own terms.


"It is better to have class and be rich than to have no class and be poor."

This quote emphasizes the value society often places on social grace, elegance, and refinement (class) alongside wealth. The implication is that while it's more advantageous to possess both class and wealth, it is considered less desirable to lack class even if one is poor. The statement can be seen as a commentary on societal attitudes towards wealth and social status.


"Everyone has a price, some people just haven't been offered enough."

This quote implies that everyone has a level of self-interest or desire that can be met with the right incentive or payment, often referred to as one's "price." In other words, it suggests that there is no person who is entirely altruistic or acts purely for the greater good without expecting something in return. The phrase "some people just haven't been offered enough" means that if someone has not yet acted in their self-interest because they have not been presented with a sufficient reward or opportunity, it is because they haven't been offered enough to entice them to do so.


"There is no such thing as a free lunch, not even for journalists."

This quote by Barbara Amiel emphasizes that nothing in life comes without some form of cost or consequence. In journalism, it suggests that information, stories, or insights are rarely obtained effortlessly; they often require hard work, resources, connections, or compromise. The phrase "not even for journalists" underscores the idea that no profession is exempt from having to pay for what they receive or access. It's a reminder that the pursuit of knowledge and truth requires diligence, persistence, and sometimes financial or personal sacrifice.


Since Europe is dependent on imports of energy and most of its raw materials, it can be subdued, if not quite conquered, without all those nuclear weapons the Soviets have aimed at it simply through the shipping routes and raw materials they control.

- Barbara Amiel

Through, Raw Materials, Materials

When faced with the inevitable fatigue that comes with the recycling of speeches and the recycling of thoughts in a rather small stream of vortex, I am urged to not be ashamed of recycling.

- Barbara Amiel

Small, Ashamed, Inevitable, Urged

Here in Canada, in the Western world, we are inside the walls. Outside the walls are the barbarians.

- Barbara Amiel

World, Walls, Here, Western World

Dictatorships do cut down on rape, and pillage, not to mention sexual harassment, by the simple expedient of sending people to labour camps for life or cutting off their hands without a trial.

- Barbara Amiel

Simple, Hands, Cut, Expedient

Only a free West can help the prisoners of today's left- and right-wing dictatorships.

- Barbara Amiel

Today, Help, Left, Dictatorships

There is sometimes a peculiar confusion in the West that equates progress to whatever is recent or whatever is new, and it is time we understood that progress has nothing to do with the chronology of an idea.

- Barbara Amiel

New, Sometimes, Idea, Confusion

I have got up at truly deplorable hours in the morning to confront Vancouver's Jack Webster on television because I have been told that is the place to get exposure for ideas.

- Barbara Amiel

Television, Hours, Been, Jack

There are, of course, all sorts of other unpleasant regimes outside the walls as well - the military dictators of Latin America and the apartheid regime of South Africa.

- Barbara Amiel

Other, Africa, South Africa, Regimes

Outside the walls, among others, is the Soviet Empire. It is malevolent, destructive and expanding. It has swallowed up over half a dozen countries since World War II.

- Barbara Amiel

Over, Expanding, Half, Malevolent

All share complicity in the destruction of that much under-rated phenomenon called liberty.

- Barbara Amiel

Liberty, Share, Phenomenon, Complicity

The interests of the Soviet Union are in controlling highly developed countries and having the benefit of their economies so that they can run their own inefficient empire.

- Barbara Amiel

Own, Developed Countries, Highly

Totalitarianism is feudalism in the twelfth century sense of the word.

- Barbara Amiel

Sense, Century, Feudalism, Twelfth

Of course the barbarians' aim of world domination has not escaped the attention of the Europeans, perhaps because unlike us they are closer to the walls.

- Barbara Amiel

Aim, Closer, Domination, Barbarians

The world today is divided into the free and the enslaved.

- Barbara Amiel

Today, World, Divided, Enslaved

By now it is evident that the Soviet Union must gain control of Europe to maintain its empire.

- Barbara Amiel

Now, Soviet Union, Maintain, Evident

The People's Republic of China has not yet reached the military might of the Soviet Empire. It requires a little more time and a little more infusion of Western aid, loans, technology and the hard currency of our tourists.

- Barbara Amiel

More, Might, Republic, Empire

It did not occur to us that the Marxists' solution was fraudulent or that their vision was distorted, that whatever the wrongs in our society it was not the ideology of theirs that will cure them.

- Barbara Amiel

Will, Ideology, Occur, Distorted

It is not empty rhetoric to talk of the Free World.

- Barbara Amiel

World, Talk, Free World, Rhetoric

In a free world there is, alas, more common crime than in a dictatorial system.

- Barbara Amiel

World, System, Alas, Free World

The same liberty that protects me also protects members of the Mafia.

- Barbara Amiel

Liberty, Same, Protects, Members

I have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity of travelling across this country and enduring all the classic situations that go with talking to people.

- Barbara Amiel

Lucky, Country, Travelling, Situations

Among those people lucky enough, if you will, to have actually been brought to trial as a political prisoner, several historians have said there has not been one acquittal since the Bolshevik Revolution.

- Barbara Amiel

Lucky, Historians, Been, Trial

They are feeding the world that will devour them and their children.

- Barbara Amiel

Children, World, Will, Devour

When virtue is at liberty, so to some extent is vice.

- Barbara Amiel

Some, Vice, Extent, Virtue

Our society is not perfect and this will come as no surprise to many of you.

- Barbara Amiel

Surprise, Society, Perfect, Not Perfect

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