A biography for Bob Brownhasn’t been written yet.
“Every time I get a bit worried about having made some second rate choices in life I go back and read about the Suffragettes or William Wilberforce, people who were 'wrong' in their own time, and think, 'Ah well.'”
“I'm suggesting that the prohibition on people who survive on money coming from government, that includes pensioners and public servants, standing for Parliament - it's absurd.”
“I've always thought, and it gets tested at times, that I have a great faith in the fundamental goodness of human beings.”
“For comprehensive Earth action, an all-of-the-Earth representative democracy is required. That is, a global parliament.”
“In securing the future of the planet, we secure happiness for ourselves. One of the aims of the Greens is to turn around the tide of pessimism amongst the young people of the world.”
“I have never met a person in whom I did not see myself reflected.”
“The world's moving; people move around the world. A lot of people coming to this country have terrific talent to bring to the country - not just in business and in the professions but in Parliament as well. And we need some failsafe system so that, right at the outset, they are aware that they have to drop any other citizenship.”
“I think I could have been quite difficult to fathom as a youngster, this kid who didn't talk about himself very much.”
“I have seen such an immense change from the total repression and criminality of homosexuality in my lifetime. It does make me much more buoyant and optimistic about the future. If that change can occur in that time there's hope for many other changes.”
“I am not a conventionally religious man, but in the wilderness I have come closest to finding myself and knowing the universe and accepting God - by which I mean accepting all that I don't know.”
“I am aware that one should always make room for renewal in politics. A democracy is the healthier for the turnover of the depth of talent there is in its community.”
“I will be Green until the day I die, if not for a long time after.”
“There's a presumption that somehow you calculate beforehand whether something is going to be good politically or not. I simply don't.”
“Behind every successful man there's a lot of unsuccessful years.”
“Globally the Greens have arisen like a spontaneous combustion, a reaction to the narrow-minded state-backed exploitation of resources and wealth for a few at the expense of the many.”
“The future will either be green or not at all.”
“There are better alternatives... Australia should be exporting its solar technology, not its uranium.”
“Sure, you can argue one way or the other, and I respect those who think Adani should go ahead. I ask for respect in the other direction.”
“I'm a very great non-violent character. I would never resort to violence to change anything.”
“That's standard for being a Green: standing up for a long-term future, which is a much more clear view of where the world is going to and where this country should be going there than either of the old parties have.”