Clyde Packer Quotes
101 Clyde Packer Quotes
1 2 3
My father always regarded the Telegraphs as instruments of propaganda rather than simply as money-making ventures.
Clyde Packer
[On being pushed by Colin Bednall for Channel Nine to spend money to secure one of the only two lines available for television on the new coaxial cable link between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne which would be expensive. And Frank Packer saying that a board meeting had been called because Colin Bednall had succumbed to Parkinson’s Disease.] Dad, you don’t by any chance mean Parkinson’s Law [When expenses rise to meet income.], do you? [‘Well, whatever it is that’s wrong with Mr Bednall, all those not in favour of allowing him to spend so much money, raise your hands.’ –
Frank Packer.]
Clyde Packer
[On one day Kerry and Clyde Packer as boys naughtily throwing sand at a little girl who was also playing on the beach. The girls mother said to the boys if they did not stop throwing sand at their daughter they would have to leave.] Why? [‘Because I own the beach.’ – Girls mother.] How much money have you got? [‘A million pounds.’ – Girls mother. This immediately silenced both Clyde and Kerry the young materialists, who had heard their father talk of a great deal of money, but never quite a million.]
Clyde Packer
[On the Australian Women’s Weekly going from weekly to monthly.] When the Weekly went monthly, that’s when it lost its great influence on the Australian way of life. It no longer has that ability to shape and change the way people think in this country.
Clyde Packer
[In May 2001 on whether he ever wanted to go back.] I was in Sydney last month. I went out to see Kerry. We had to sit in the car at the gates to his house while a television camera checked to see who we were. Then the gates swung open and we went inside. It was a dinner. Kerry had a butler there. When he came over to the table, he leant over the soup and I could see a shoulder holster with a bloody great black gun stuck to it. I didn’t want to have to live like that.
Clyde Packer
[In May 2001 on Tyrrell’s Long Flat Red and his wife a tall slim Australian model Kate Clifford whose hair was the colour of the wine.] Have a glass of red. Here’s Long Flat Red.
Clyde Packer
[At his home overlooking the Pacific Ocean and run by a staff of 10 on him always asking visitors what they knew of John Singleton, or whoever, how things were going, although he always knew because he read as many Australian newspapers and magazines as anyone living in Sydney. I said to him: `Do you miss Australia?' He waved towards the ocean and replied:] Why would I miss Australia, with that view?
Clyde Packer
[On not wanting to talk about the incident that caused the breach in his relationship with his father Frank Packer.] It’s too close to home.
Clyde Packer
[On what he said after having the break up with his father he had] Resigned from the Packer family.
Clyde Packer
[To Mike Willesee one night in 1974.] My father is in a coma and will die tonight. I don’t know what to do. [‘Go and see him Clyde. The fight’s over now.’ – Mike Willesee.] But I don’t know what to say. [‘Do you love him?’ – Mike Willesee.] Yes. I do. [‘Then tell him.’ – Mike Willesee.] [Clyde went and visited his father.
Clyde Packer
[To John Laws on Australia.] I’m so worried about that country, we don't even have a Kipling. God forbid Australia should be remembered for Ned Kelly, Brett Whiteley and Harry Seidler. [On Clyde Packer - ‘He always loved Australia.’ – John Laws.]
Clyde Packer
[On racism related issues.] The mob meathead culture.
Clyde Packer
[To former channel nine head Nigel Dick.] You are very lucky your name is Nigel Dick because to be a Packer is a very tough call.
Clyde Packer
[On being afraid of his father.] Until I heard he was dead, then I wasn't afraid of him anymore
Clyde Packer
[To Barry Humphries in the early seventies suggesting that he do a show at the terrifying St George’s Leagues Club.] You’ll broaden your audience there, old son. Otherwise you’ll end up performing for a lot of Eastern Suburbs pricks.
Clyde Packer
[To Barry Humphries on once giving him a large coffee table book – ‘An Encyclopedia of Vampires’ which was inscribed with:] To Barry from his personal bloodsucker. [He had been Barry Humphries personal manager for a time.]
Clyde Packer
[To Barry Humphries give him some wise counsel on his newly appointed personal manager.] Be realistic. Give them a reasonable margin for theft, otherwise they’ll help themselves without your blessing. [‘I didn’t, and they did.’ – Barry Humphries.]
Clyde Packer
[On the 21st of November 1975 wearing a black armband.] Here’s one for you too, Barry [Humphries]. Someone in this town should be mourning for General Franco. [A Spanish dictator.]
Clyde Packer
I decided the serious business to be in was publishing…
Clyde Packer
I am a very private person…
Clyde Packer
[While lying in his US hospital bed to his wife when euthanasia advocate Jack Kevorkian turned up on the same floor.] Tell Dr Death to f*ck off.
Clyde Packer
Bonus
[On Clyde Packer.] In the US, he lived like a medieval lord.
John Singleton
[On Clyde Packer.] He had a really sharp mind and stood for no nonsense.
Nick Carroll (Former Editor in chief of Western Empire)
[On young Clyde Packer who was an alternate director of the Anglican Press Ltd.] He knew a lot about printing. He did his homework. He was enormously helpful to us.
Francis James (Managing Director of Anglican Press Ltd)
[On Clyde Packer in April 2001.] Clyde Packer was a man of great warmth and great intelligence. He was a serious loss to Australian television and will be a serious loss to his many friends.
Mike Willesee
Clyde Packer was an irrepressible ideas man. He brought wit, drama and a huge fund of ideas to our debates.
Peter Coleman (Editor of Quadrant)
David McNicoll used to say that Clyde took after his mother and his brother Kerry took after their father. But I thought it was a kind of equal division with Clyde. He was much more interested in the life of the mind than Kerry ever was. Clyde was really very independent, a bit of a rebel, a person hard to classify. Anyway, he was a great benefactor to Quadrant…
Peter Coleman (Editor of Quadrant)
He had a miraculous personality; he loved life, he was a bon vivant and I don't think you could ever accuse him of drinking cheap wine. He used to tell me that the corks that he pulled out of his bottles cost more than any full bottle of booze I bought in my whole life.
Harry M. Miller
He was inventive, intelligent, erudite, caring and to be frank with you, hardly ever tough and very rarely even firm. I've always believed that Clyde marched to a different drum… it was just about him choosing another life.
Harry M. Miller
[At his funeral.] If you were here - and quite possibly you are - I can imagine you looking across the aisle, jingling the change in your pocket and saying in a pretty audible sotto voce: `There's old so and so, what a bloody hypocrite to show his face at my memorial service.'
Barry Humphries
[On Clyde Packer.] I often thought you went through life hoping only for the respect of your family but the unqualified love of head waiters.
Barry Humphries
The only time a beautiful young woman dressed in nothing but a mink coat had knocked at my hotel room door, she carried a card which read: ‘With the compliments of the Honourable Robert Clyde Packer.’
Barry Humphries
1 2 3
Return from Clyde Packer Quotes to
Quoteswise.com