Born on April 23, 1897, in Toronto‘s Newtonbrook neighbourhood… Lester Bowles Pearson was the 11th Prime Minister of Canada. He is one of Canada’s most popular and well-known prime ministers. In addition to expanding Canadian international influence, Lester Bowles Pearson modernized Canada’s economy by promoting trade with other countries and initiating far-reaching social welfare reforms, including civil rights laws that protect minorities from racial or religious discrimination. Below, you will take a peek into the mind of this great man with some of his quotes.
1. Prime ministers require the hide of a rhinoceros, the morals of St. Francis, the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the leadership of Napoleon, the magnetism of a Beatle and the subtlety of Machiavelli.
2. Under this flag may our youth find new inspiration for loyalty to Canada; for a patriotism based not on any mean or narrow nationalism, but on the deep and equal pride that all Canadians will feel for every part of this good land.
3. We are all descendants of Adam, and we are all products of racial miscegenation.
4. As we enter our centennial year we are still a young nation, very much in the formative stages. Our national condition is still flexible enough that we can make almost anything we wish of our nation. No other country is in a better position than Canada to go ahead with the evolution of a national purpose devoted to all that is good and noble and excellent in the human spirit.
5. Today continuing poverty and distress are a deeper and more important cause of international tensions, of the conditions that can produce war, than previously.
6. As a soldier, I survived World War I when most of my comrades did not.
7. Understanding the nature of conflict leads to peace.
8. The only failures are those who fail to try.
9. Whether we live together in confidence and cohesion; with more faith and pride in ourselves and less self-doubt and hesitation; strong in the conviction that the destiny of Canada is to unite, not divide; sharing in cooperation, not in separation or in conflict; respecting our past and welcoming our future.
10. How can there be peace without people understanding each other; and how can this be if they don’t know each other?
11. Of all our dreams today there is none more important – or so hard to realize – than that of peace in the world. May we never lose our faith in it or our resolve to do everything that can be done to convert it one day into reality.
12. The best defence of peace is not power, but the removal of the causes of war, and international agreements which will put peace on a stronger foundation, than the terror of destruction.
13. Diplomacy is letting someone else have your way.
14. We must keep on trying to solve problems, one by one, stage by stage, if not on the basis of confidence and cooperation, at least on that of mutual toleration and self-interest.
15. The choice, however, is as clear now for nations as it was once for the individual: peace or extinction.