John Key Quotes

I have more engagement with New Zealand than people might think. Unlike the impression I have of the American president, who sits in the Oval Office and people come to them.

It’s possible to spend every waking hour here on the ninth floor and not get out of the office. And this isn’t the real world in here. And contrary to public opinion, I’m not incredibly poll-driven. They are an ongoing indicator of how we are going, but I take the feedback I get on the street as being the most important.

Your personality as the prime minister feeds through to what you emphasise, and what you don’t, how you’ll handle a situation – whether you’ve got the combination of intelligence or instincts to adapt and to make good decisions.

I believe the future of our country can be really great.

Bronagh looks after the kids and without her the family would disintegrate… there are some things you can’t discuss with anyone other than your wife. There has to be a strong bond of trust.

We have been given the trust and goodwill of New Zealanders. I do not take that trust for granted, and I never will.

We are a small, open economy, highly dependent on global flows. It is inevitably a demand that dramatically alters and that is reflected in what we feel here in New Zealand. So there is at its most basic level a limit to what we can do and that is true everywhere.

I have always thought, genuinely thought, that elections are like world cups. They sometimes look easier from the outside and they are very difficult when you are in the middle of them.

I want to leave New Zealand in better shape than I found it. I know the job of prime minister is not forever and I’m going to do the best I can every day to make that difference.

New Zealand needs to balance its environmental responsibilities with its economic opportunities, because the risk is that if you don’t do that – and you want to lead the world – then you might end up getting unintended consequences.

We live in a world where equality is pretty important.

I’m often at events when they’re quite light-hearted social events when people would want me to kid around.

I’ve always been a glass-half-full as opposed to a glass-half-empty, and the day that changes is the day I should leave.

Let’s just get a deal done then let’s worry about expanding it.

If I had terminal cancer, I had a few weeks to live, I was in tremendous amount of pain – if they just effectively wanted to turn off the switch and legalise that by legalising euthanasia, I’d want that.

You get out of life what you put into it. I think you need a bit of luck but you also make a bit of luck. I think that if you’re a pretty decent person you’ll get back what you put in.

Sunday night I always cook if I can – if I’m home, I always cook.

Moral persuasion over a period of time makes a difference, but we shouldn’t be naive to think that just because we raise it in a meeting it will make all those problems go away. It won‘t and it doesn’t.

There is much more good gained from having a fully functioning financial market than there ever is not having that.

Sure I can sit around and do absolutely nothing for the next nine years and I might survive that long but it’s not going to take New Zealand anywhere.

The public talk colloquially, the public’s grammar‘s not perfect. They kid around and I don’t think they overly mark me down for that. They just see me as a normal guy.

Investment is crucial. Because the truth is, you only get jobs and growth in the economy when people invest money, at their own risk, in setting up a business or expanding an existing business.

You are not going to change me and if you do, it will look like a fraud, it will be a fraud.

I always had a long-term view of going into politics, so I suppose I was always careful. I mean, I got offered all these rinky dink tax deals, but I always paid my taxes. I am naturally quite conservative.

I was really fascinated by politics. It always has been part of my view that politics really is a calling or you wouldn’t go into it, because it’s demanding and potentially has a toll on you and your family.

I have quite a strong sense of wanting to sort of, wanting to help others. I’m not claiming I’m a saint, but I have a genuine, genuine belief in trying to help others.

I engage with a lot of journalists, some of them have history and some of them don’t, that’s not my concern. My concern is to make sure I represent the views I want to represent on those shows.

I think what happens when you are prime minister is no day is the same and every day you are under pressure. And there is always so much happening that the days just flash by and flash into weeks.

I guess I’m reasonably confident in all honesty. But I definitely don’t think I’m arrogant. I’m pretty down to earth, I mean I’m genuinely down to earth.

I care about people’s human rights and, as a country, we have a very proud record indeed. But I’m also realistic about what we can do… we can raise those issues with leaders and we can talk about those issues, and we do that.