Boris Johnson Quotes

Powerful Boris Johnson for Daily Growth

About Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson (Born Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson on June 19, 1964) is a prolific British politician, journalist, and author who has held several prominent positions in the United Kingdom's government. Known for his charismatic and controversial style, Johnson has left an indelible mark on British politics. Born in New York City to British parents, Johnson was raised primarily in England, attending the prestigious Eton College before studying at Oxford University where he read Classics. His early career was spent predominantly in journalism, working for The Times and The Daily Telegraph newspapers, and as a columnist for The Spectator magazine. In 1997, Johnson entered politics, serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 2001 to 2008. He then served as the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip until his resignation in 2018. His political career saw him hold various ministerial positions, including Minister of Arts, Culture, and Sport (1999-2004), Mayor of London (2008-2016), and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (2016-2018). Johnson's most notable works include "The Dream of Rome" (2006) and "This Orient Isle: An Elegy for an Archipelago" (2010), both historical studies. As a political figure, Johnson is perhaps best known for leading the successful Brexit campaign in the 2016 EU Referendum. His leadership of the Conservative Party from July 2019 to September 2022 and his subsequent tenure as Prime Minister from July 2019 to July 2022 have been highly influential, controversial, and newsworthy. Despite public scrutiny, Johnson remains a significant figure in British politics and journalism.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"We've had enough of experts."

This quote by Boris Johnson can be interpreted as a rejection of the traditional reliance on the advice and guidance of experts or established authority, in favor of an approach driven more by personal intuition or populist sentiment. It suggests a skepticism towards established knowledge, and a desire to take a different course than what might be considered conventional wisdom. This perspective, if taken too far, can potentially undermine evidence-based decision making and lead to uninformed policy-making.

"I have always taken the view that the British people can feel when they are being patronized."

This quote by Boris Johnson suggests that he believes the general public, in this case, the British people, possess an innate ability to sense when they are being treated with a condescending or dismissive attitude. It implies that people are perceptive enough to understand and reject attempts at patronizing them, as they value authenticity, respect, and equal treatment.

"Let me tell you this: any attempt to take a work of Shakespeare's and to update it is an act of unliterary vandalism."

Boris Johnson, in this quote, expresses a strong opinion against modernizing or updating works by Shakespeare, viewing such endeavors as "unliterary vandalism". In essence, he believes that these works are sacred, timeless masterpieces, and any attempt to change them could be seen as disrespectful or damaging to their original intent and artistic value.

"Fortune favors the brave, and I am very brave."

This quote suggests that Boris Johnson believes that those who are bold or courageous will be more likely to experience favorable outcomes, as fortune tends to side with the daring. It reflects his confidence in himself and his actions, implying a readiness to take risks and face challenges head-on. However, it's important to note that while boldness can lead to success, it should not be at the expense of good judgment or disregard for consequences.

"The truth is that if you lie down with pigs, you get up smelling like pigs."

This quote by Boris Johnson suggests that if one associates oneself with questionable or unscrupulous individuals (like pigs), their behavior or reputation will inevitably be influenced and tainted in a negative way. Essentially, it is a warning against compromising personal integrity for the sake of convenience or alliance.

I've got more in common with a three-toed sloth than I have with Winston Churchill. There is no easy comparison with any modern politician. The more you read about him, the more completely amazed you are about what he did - his energy, his literary fecundity, his ability to work - just unbelievable energy.

- Boris Johnson

Got, About, Literary, Unbelievable

I think people have a legitimate right to minimise their tax obligations if they can, but they should pay their fair whack. I do think it's important to be transparent.

- Boris Johnson

Think, I Think, Obligations, Whack

The beauty and riddle in studying the motives of any politician is in trying to decide what is idealism and what is self-interest, and often we are left to conclude that the answer is a mixture of the two.

- Boris Johnson

Beauty, Studying, Idealism, Mixture

My speaking style was criticised by no less an authority than Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was a low moment, my friends, to have my rhetorical skills denounced by a monosyllabic Austrian cyborg.

- Boris Johnson

Less, Rhetorical, Arnold

The Remain campaign... I've never seen a more miserable offering. All they are saying is stay in and we'll do our best to make sure that Britain's Parliamentary independence isn't eroded faster than we can possibly imagine.

- Boris Johnson

Best, Independence, Britain, Eroded

Most people would accept that people come to London from across the world, from all kinds of backgrounds, and are accepted here irrespective of their origins.

- Boris Johnson

London, Here, Accepted, Backgrounds

It is possible to have a pretty good life and career being a leech and a parasite in the media world, gadding about from TV studio to TV studio, writing inconsequential pieces and having a good time. But in the end you have a great sense of personal dissatisfaction.

- Boris Johnson

Career, Studio, Great Sense, Dissatisfaction

I used to get very, very frustrated by people being told what to do by nanny in Brussels. And I remember once I rang the official who was actually responsible for banning the prawn-cocktail-flavoured crisp, which I think contained a dye called Arithrazine or something like that.

- Boris Johnson

I Remember, I Think, Very, Banning

My point was very simple, and it was that it is absolutely absurd for the United States of America to continue to urge us further down the line towards a federal superstate when the U.S. has not even signed up to the U.N. Convention on Human Rights.

- Boris Johnson

Line, United, Very, Federal

I just find it absolutely bizarre that we are being lectured by the Americans about giving up our sovereignty and giving up control when the Americans won't even sign up to the international convention on the law of the seas, let alone the International Criminal Court.

- Boris Johnson

Giving Up, About, Bizarre, Sovereignty

If we get outside the EU, if we leave the EU system, we will be relieved of a huge amount of unnecessary regulation that is holding this country back. We will be able to set our own priorities, make our own laws and set our own tax policies to suit the needs of this country. We have a huge opportunity also to make people's votes count for more.

- Boris Johnson

Country, Own, Policies, EU

The idea that the EU is somehow the guarantor of peace on the continent - that is in itself rash, in my view, and risks undermining the vital role of Nato.

- Boris Johnson

Role, Continent, Undermining, EU

It is possible to have a pretty good life and career being a leech and a parasite in the media world, gadding about from TV studio to TV studio, writing inconsequential pieces and having a good time.

- Boris Johnson

Career, Pretty, Studio, Parasite

If we vote to Leave and take back control, all sorts of opportunities open up. Including doing new free trade deals around the world, restoring Britain's seat on all sorts of international bodies, restoring health to our democracy and belief to our democracy.

- Boris Johnson

Doing, Britain, Bodies, Free Trade

There is absolutely no one, apart from yourself, who can prevent you, in the middle of the night, from sneaking down to tidy up the edges of that hunk of cheese at the back of the fridge.

- Boris Johnson

Night, Middle, Fridge, Hunk

We are experiencing such large support for the Olympic relay that our advice is to stay in your neighbourhood, stay in your borough and wait for it to come near you.

- Boris Johnson

Wait, Olympic, Large, Neighbourhood

It would be a sad day if we British stopped being cynical, but you sometimes wonder whether we overdo it.

- Boris Johnson

Sometimes, British, Stopped, Overdo

I am supporting David Cameron purely out of cynical self-interest.

- Boris Johnson

I Am, Purely, David Cameron, Cynical

The truth is that the history of the last couple of thousand years has been broadly repeated attempts by various people or institutions - in a Freudian way - to rediscover the lost childhood of Europe, this golden age of peace and prosperity under the Romans, by trying to unify it.

- Boris Johnson

Been, Couple, Romans, Golden Age

I promised to run the most open and transparent administration in Britain. That is why, with this brutally honest and unprecedented progress report, I am determined to level with Londoners.

- Boris Johnson

Why, Level, Britain, Report

I have more in common with a three-toed sloth or a one-eyed pterodactyl or a Kalamata olive than I have with Winston Churchill.

- Boris Johnson

More, One-Eyed, Winston

Huge numbers of people in London depend on their cars. Fuel duty is becoming a big factor in people's cost of living. I believe in trying to ease these burdens.

- Boris Johnson

London, Big, Ease, Factor

The job of mayor of London is unbelievably taxing, particularly in the run-up to the Olympics.

- Boris Johnson

London, Mayor, Particularly, Taxing

I'm made up of immigrant stock. I went to a primary school in London. I grew up eating Spangles, why shouldn't I be as well placed to speak for Londoners as anyone else?

- Boris Johnson

London, Made, Placed, Primary

It is easy to make promises - it is hard work to keep them.

- Boris Johnson

Work, Hard Work, Keep, Promises

I have as much chance of becoming Prime Minister as of being decapitated by a frisbee or of finding Elvis.

- Boris Johnson

Chance, Becoming, Prime, Frisbee

We were told by President Obama that in respect of international trade, we would have to get to the back of the queue - not a position that America normally requires the United Kingdom to be in when it comes to other matters, such as the Iraq War.

- Boris Johnson

Other, International Trade, Normally

One thing you have got to do politically is to identify the ties that bind society together and try to strengthen them.

- Boris Johnson

One Thing, Them, Identify, Bind

When lorry drivers come up behind me and I'm cycling, innocently keeping to my side of the road, and they decide because they are so big, and their lorry is so powerful, and they just want to clear me out of the road, and they hoot aggressively, then I do see red a bit. I do.

- Boris Johnson

Behind, Big, Cycling, Drivers

What I really think about Banksy is I think he's a genius; he's a great artist, and I like his stuff. But he's got to accept it if, from time to time, someone will need to paint over his work.

- Boris Johnson

Artist, I Think, About, From Time To Time

Ping-pong was invented on the dining tables of England in the 19th century, and it was called Wiff-waff! And there, I think, you have the difference between us and the rest of the world. Other nations, the French, looked at a dining table and saw an opportunity to have dinner; we looked at it an saw an opportunity to play Wiff-waff.

- Boris Johnson

Play, Other, I Think, Table

Never in my life did I think I would be congratulated by Mick Jagger for achieving anything.

- Boris Johnson

My Life, Think, I Think, None

It's not reasonable for companies that have chief executives and board members who are paid very considerable sums to subsidise low pay through in-work benefits.

- Boris Johnson

Through, Benefits, Very, Board

My friends, as I have discovered myself, there are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters.

- Boris Johnson

Only, Discovered, Disasters, Fresh

I think I'm basically a liberal Conservative - I believe in low tax, spirit of free enterprise, and in making sure that we as politicians create the framework for business to produce the dosh that we're going to need to pay for the poorest. And the longer I live, the more I think that we all have a duty to each other.

- Boris Johnson

Conservative, Other, I Think, Poorest

The dreadful truth is that when people come to see their MP they have run out of better ideas.

- Boris Johnson

Ideas, Run, Come, Dreadful

That is the best case for Bush; that, among other things, he liberated Iraq. It is good enough for me.

- Boris Johnson

Other, Bush, Among, Case

I am hoping very much to get re-elected but it is going to be a tough fight.

- Boris Johnson

I Am, Hoping, Very, Re-Elected

Obama's extraordinary political skills suggest he is more than capable of rising above any personal historical grudges he may have inherited.

- Boris Johnson

More, Rising, May, Inherited

If you turn a blind eye to fare evasion, if you accustom people to getting away with minor crime, you are making it more likely that they will go on to commit more serious crimes. That is why we have so much disorder in London. It is a disgrace.

- Boris Johnson

Blind, Away, Fare, Accustomed

There's an idea that London is a planet on its own: that it's starting to diverge from the rest of the solar system. We need to combat that.

- Boris Johnson

Rest, London, Need, Starting

I'm not particularly politically correct, so I tend to reflect what I think are the terrible realities of life, which I think are, generally speaking, conservative.

- Boris Johnson

Think, Conservative, Which, Terrible

Times have been tough, the economy has been tough. But I want to bring forward a fantastic manifesto for taking the city forwards.

- Boris Johnson

City, Been, Forwards, Manifesto

I think the risks that people see of terrorism are incredibly important but we are very confident we have got the right people on it and the risks have been minimised.

- Boris Johnson

Think, Been, Very, Right People

My chances of being PM are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive.

- Boris Johnson

Mars, Chances, Reincarnated, Olive

I believe we now have a glorious opportunity: we can pass our laws and set our taxes entirely according to the needs of the U.K. economy.

- Boris Johnson

Laws, Needs, Set, Entirely

I suppose with houses and assets, then I guess I would be a millionaire. But so are a lot of people.

- Boris Johnson

Lot, Would, Guess, Assets

I do think human beings cannot be faulted for wishing to judge themselves and their lives and their achievements by others around them; that is a natural human feeling.

- Boris Johnson

Think, Achievements, Lives, Wishing

I have not been more robust towards female rather than male assembly members and I do not believe I have been remotely sexist.

- Boris Johnson

Been, Sexist, Robust, Members

So I'm definitely in favour of stimulating the dynamic wealth creation sectors of the economy.

- Boris Johnson

Wealth, Sectors, Definitely, Creation

But if people want to swim in the Thames, if they want to take their lives into their own hands, then they should be able to do so with all the freedom and exhilaration of our woad-painted ancestors.

- Boris Johnson

Hands, Want, Lives, Thames

I want London to be a competitive, dynamic place to come to work.

- Boris Johnson

Work, London, Want, Dynamic

I'm in politics to change things - if possible, for the better. I was a journalist for a long time, but I had a kind of midlife crisis, and I decided I needed to do something to get on the pitch and stop endlessly kicking over other peoples' sandcastles.

- Boris Johnson

Politics, Other, Endlessly, Change Things

The Italians, who used to be a great motor-manufacturing power, have been absolutely destroyed by the euro - as was intended by the Germans.

- Boris Johnson

Been, Destroyed, Euro, Germans

We cannot turn our backs on Europe. We are part of Europe.

- Boris Johnson

Part, Cannot, We Cannot, Europe

London is the most commercially important city in Europe, and it's the most populous city. It should be for the whole of the European continent what New York is to America. That's what it should be.

- Boris Johnson

London, New, Continent, Europe

If I'd been on the Remain side I would have tried to have seen the best in Europe and tried to explain that. Instead, what they've done is endlessly try and talk up what they see as the weaknesses of Britain and they aren't there. That's a total mistake.

- Boris Johnson

Explain, Been, Endlessly, Europe

I'm a one-nation Tory.

- Boris Johnson

Tory

I love tennis with a passion. I challenged Boris Becker to a match once and he said he was up for it but he never called back. I bet I could make him run around.

- Boris Johnson

Love, Match, Could, Tennis

I believe in immigration. But I feel people think it would be better if there was an Australian-style points based system so we could actually get a good system.

- Boris Johnson

Think, Immigration, Based, I Believe In

The euro has become a means by which superior German productivity is able to gain an absolutely unbeatable advantage over the whole eurozone territory.

- Boris Johnson

Over, Which, Means, Territory

The Lib Dems are not just empty. They are a void within a vacuum surrounded by a vast inanition.

- Boris Johnson

Vacuum, Surrounded, Void, Lib

I've always sort of thought that politics was a high and noble calling and a good thing to do.

- Boris Johnson

Politics, Always, High, Calling

Some people play the piano, some do Sudoku, some watch television, some people go out to dinner parties. I write books.

- Boris Johnson

Play, Some, I Write, Some People

Sometimes I can think of so many ways of expressing myself that I feel I'm an old typewriter, and too many keys come forward at once - and I get jammed.

- Boris Johnson

Think, Old, Keys, Typewriter

London is a fantastic creator of jobs - but many of these jobs are going to people who don't originate in this country.

- Boris Johnson

London, Country, Creator, Originate

My policy on cake is pro having it and pro eating it.

- Boris Johnson

Birthday, Having, Pro, Cake

If we judged everybody by the stupid, unguarded things they blurt out to their nearest and dearest, then we wouldn't ever get anywhere.

- Boris Johnson

Stupid, Everybody, Dearest, Judged

I've done eight years as mayor of London. I enjoyed it hugely; it was a massive privilege.

- Boris Johnson

London, Hugely, Massive, Enjoyed

I'd like thousands of schools as good as the one I went to, Eton.

- Boris Johnson

Good, Like, Schools, Thousands

This is an absolute turning point in the story of our country because I think if we go on with being enmeshed in the E.U., it will continue to erode our democracy. That is something that worries me.

- Boris Johnson

Think, Country, I Think, Turning

I lead a life of blameless domesticity and always have done.

- Boris Johnson

Lead, Done, Always, Blameless

I'm not one of those people who believes in going endlessly around finger wagging and ticking people off for occasional colourful use of language.

- Boris Johnson

Finger, Going, Ticking, Endlessly

I always believe writing is an indispensable part of one's political armoury.

- Boris Johnson

Writing, Always, Part, Indispensable

I love swimming in rivers, and well remember once jumping in at Chiswick.

- Boris Johnson

Love, Swimming, Remember, Rivers

I want London to be the most cycle-friendly city on Earth, and I want more people to be happy and safe on bicycles.

- Boris Johnson

City, London, More People, Safe

What I worry about is that people are losing confidence, losing energy, losing enthusiasm, and there's a real opportunity to get them into work.

- Boris Johnson

Work, Confidence, Worry, Losing

I want to win and I want to be in office.

- Boris Johnson

Win, Want, Office

It just happens I write fast and always have done.

- Boris Johnson

Always, Just, I Write, Fast

If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.