Hugh Mackay Quotes

• Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.

  Hugh Mackay

  Relationship, Perfect, Dating

  72 Copy quote

• If I were asked about what to do about the level of insecurity and anxiety in contemporary Australian society, I wouldn't start with politics and I wouldn't say too much about terrorism. I'd suggest as a first step, that you invite the neighbours over for a drink this weekend. Today a drink, tomorrow a barbeque, pretty soon, a community.

  Hugh Mackay

  Weekend, Community, Anxiety

  7 Copy quote

• The thing we need most is each other.

  Hugh Mackay

  Needs

  10 Copy quote

• One of the most important responsibilities of leaders in any setting - including business organisations - is to tell us our own story; to explain us to ourselves; to help us weave some meaning and purpose into the fabric of our lives; to illuminate our understanding of where we have come from; to paint word pictures of our future onto which we can project our aspirations.

  Hugh Mackay

  Leadership, Business, Responsibility

  13 Copy quote

• Actually, I can't imagine anything more tedious than a perfect person, especially if it was someone who also demanded perfection from me.

  Hugh Mackay

  Perfect, Imagine, Persons

  17 Copy quote

• On average, Australians watch more than three hours of television a day, compared with 12 minutes a day spent by the average couple talking to each other.

  Hugh Mackay

  Couple, Average, Talking

  7 Copy quote

• One reason we resist making deliberate choices is that choice equals change and most of us, feeling the world is unpredictable enough, try to minimise the trauma of change in our personal lives.

  Hugh Mackay

  Choices, Feelings, Trying

  7 Copy quote

• The yearning for strong leadership is more about strength of purpose - clarity of vision - than about merely 'getting tough'.

  Hugh Mackay

  Leadership, Strong, Vision

  7 Copy quote

• A strangely reflective, even melancholy day. Is that because, unlike our cousins in the northern hemisphere, Easter is not associated with the energy and vitality of spring but with the more subdued spirit of autumn.

  Hugh Mackay

  Easter, Cousin, Spring

  10 Copy quote

• So, if falling crime rates coincide with the rise of violent video games and increasing violence on TV and at the cinema, should we conclude that media violence is causing the drop in crime rates?

  Hugh Mackay

  Fall, Games, Media

  65 Copy quote

• Polls are no substitute for leadership because, at its very essence, leadership is about giving people what they don't already have - a sense of vision, inspiration, or even an adequate grasp of a particular subject.

  Hugh Mackay

  Leadership, Inspiration, Essence

  7 Copy quote

• Some researchers sensibly suggest that rather than worrying too much about which programs our children are watching, we should concentrate on trying to reduce the total amount of time they spend in front of the screen.

  Hugh Mackay

  Children, Worrying Too Much, Trying

  9 Copy quote

• It seems inevitable that the magic of the written word will fade.

  Hugh Mackay

  Magic, Lovely, Inevitable

  5 Copy quote

• Although we love the idea of choice - our culture almost worships it - we seek refuge in the familiar and the comfortable.

  Hugh Mackay

  Ideas, Choices, Culture

  4 Copy quote

• Obviously, every child should be given the best possible opportunity to acquire literacy skills.

  Hugh Mackay

  Education, Children, Opportunity

  8 Copy quote

• No one welcomes chaos, but why crave stability and predictability?

  Hugh Mackay

  Chaos, Stability, Crave

  7 Copy quote

• But the rule seems to be that the bigger and more life-changing the decision, the less it will seem like a decision at all.

  Hugh Mackay

  Life Changing, Decision, Bigger

  7 Copy quote

• I suspect the secret of personal attraction is locked up in our unique imperfections, flaws and frailties.

  Hugh Mackay

  Unique, Imperfection, Secret

  13 Copy quote

• Reading is a huge effort for many people, a bore for others, and, believe it or not, many people prefer watching TV.

  Hugh Mackay

  Believe, Reading, People

  6 Copy quote

• It is the misfortune of contemporary leaders, across the whole spectrum of Australian life, that the community's demand for strong leadership is growing in direct proportion to our lack of confidence in ourselves. The end of this century is an unusually difficult time to be a leader in Australia.

  Hugh Mackay

  Leadership, Strong, Australia

  8 Copy quote

• The copycat effects of media violence, similar to those previously attributed to westerns, radio serials and comic books, are easy to exaggerate.

  Hugh Mackay

  Book, Media, Violence

  89 Copy quote

• With increasing frequency and growing vehemence, you hear people saying they are ashamed to be Australians.

  Hugh Mackay

  People, Growing, Vehemence

  4 Copy quote

• Still, most of those effects occur in the context of harmless play and it is patently obvious that children are not normally turned into aggressive little monsters by TV or video games, since most children do not become aggressive little monsters.

  Hugh Mackay

  Children, Games, Play

  6 Copy quote

• Is it possible that literacy standards are falling because young Australians are growing up in a culture in which they can be entertained and informed, and in which they can communicate effectively, without having to master any but the most rudimentary literacy skills?

  Hugh Mackay

  Growing Up, Fall, Skills

  7 Copy quote

• Universal literacy was a 20th-century goal. Before then, reading and writing were skills largely confined to a small, highly educated class of professional people.

  Hugh Mackay

  Education, Reading, Writing

  11 Copy quote

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