Polly Toynbee Quotes & Sayings (Page 2)

“My mother begged doctors to end her life. She was beyond the physical ability to swallow enough of the weak morphine pills she had around her. When she knew she was dying I promised to make sure she could go at a time of her choosing, but it was impossible. I couldn't help.”

“There is all the difference in the world between teaching children about religion and handing them over to be taught by the religious.”

“The strongest predictor of unhappiness is anyone who has had a mental illness in the last 10 years. It is an even stronger predictor of unhappiness than poverty - which also ranks highly.”

“Happiness is a real, objective phenomenon, scientifically verifiable. That means people and whole societies can now be measured over time and compared accurately with one another. Causes and cures for unhappiness can be quantified.”

“But instead of standing up for reason, our government is handing education over to the world of faith.”

“Most people come to fear not death itself, but the many terrible ways of dying.”

“Openness about death has led to greater care about all aspects of dying.”

“Crime is only the worst example, but it is a paradigm for other Labour policy disasters. No one tells the voters that crime is falling: let them stay scared senseless.”

“Thresholds of pain, indignity and incapacity are entirely personal.”

“But the single overwhelming reason why jails are bursting is longer sentences given for more crimes.”