General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union ex-miner ex-coal heaver ex-lorry driver with John Freeman Editor, New Statesman.
We are not willing to accept, in any shape or form or disguise, wage restraint.
Labour Party Conference, 1961
There are also a hell of a lot of things wrong with our trade union movement.
The Guardian
I am vain enough to think I run this union well.
Sunday Times
I shall never become Prime Minister. I don't want to. I want to remain what I am and in this capacity, as the representative of the trade unions, to make (and break) Prime Ministers.
Politika, quoted by Daily Express
I was a pitboy at fourteen ... and I knew from my very first pay day what had to be done.
And don't think I'll ever accept a knighthood - I don't care what the others do. I won't. Not me. Not Frank Cousins. Never.
Daily Mail