Quotations by John Curtin

Without any inhibitions of any kind ,I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom."

Our men have shown the stuff of which we are made on many a death-charged battlefield; in many a spine-chilling battle; on the storm-tossed seven seas. These deeds are a salute to our nationhood . . . The flame of freedom lit is this land by our first settlers, and kept aglow by the generations which followed, is not extinguishable by any enemy . . . (January 1942 )

I believe that there is in Australia today an intense love of country, greater in its expression than has yet been called forth at any previous period in Australia’s history. (March 1942)

In order to wage war effectually, there has to be . . . a determination on the part of the people to pledge themselves to the cause because the cause, when won, will have been worth the winning. (March 1943)

There is a price that the world must pay for peace . . . some consideration for others and a willingness to share with them a world which is, after all, good enough to give each of us a place in it, if only all of us will observe reason and goodwill towards one another. (February 1945)

The pursuit of knowledge is far more important than even knowledge itself. It involves discipline and training, which, in turn are moulders of character. (April 1932)

The price of liberty is eternal ‘vigilance’, and this vigilance can best be guaranteed by keeping before the people’s eyes an appreciation of the value of what has been obtained for them at the price of grievous sacrifice.  (May 1933)

Is not Anzac day a day that breathes the very soul of freedom? Is it not a day that stands deathlessly? Along with all those other days on which a blow has been struck for a free and decent and dignified way of life. And is not freedom the hope of the world? (April 1945)

John Curtin