Harold MacMillan
A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts.Collection: Trust
It has been said that there is no fool like an old fool, except a young fool. But the young fool has first to grow up to be an old fool to realize what a damn fool he was when he was a young fool.
Once the bear's hug has got you, it is apt to be for keeps.
To be alive at all involves some risk.
Power? It's like a Dead Sea fruit. When you achieve it, there is nothing there.
I read a great number of press reports and find comfort in the fact that they are nearly always conflicting.
I have never found, in a long experience of politics, that criticism is ever inhibited by ignorance.
It is the duty of Her Majesty's government neither to flap nor to falter.
At home, you always have to be a politician; when you're abroad, you almost feel yourself a statesman.
We have not overthrown the divine right of kings to fall down for the divine right of experts.
I was determined that no British government should be brought down by the action of two tarts.
In long experience I find that a man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts.
Tradition does not mean that the living are dead, it means that the dead are living.
When the curtain falls, the best thing an actor can do is to go away.
He is forever poised between a cliche and an indiscretion.
Britain's most useful role is somewhere between bee and dinosaur.
There might be 1 finger on the trigger, but there will be 15 fingers on the safety catch.
It's no use crying over spilt summits.
I was a sort of son to Ike, and it was the other way round with Kennedy.
If people want a sense of purpose they should get it from their archbishop. They should certainly not get it from their politicians.
No man should ever lose sleep over public affairs.
If you don't believe in God, all you have to believe in is decency. Decency is very good. Better decent than indecent. But I don't think it's enough.
Marxism is like a classical building that followed the Renaissance; beautiful in its way, but incapable of growth.
As usual the Liberals offer a mixture of sound and original ideas. Unfortunately none of the sound ideas is original and none of the original ideas is sound.
Memorial services are the cocktail parties of the geriatric set.
(A Foreign Secretary) is forever poised between the cliche and the indiscretion.
Too many people live too much in the past. The past must be a springboard, not a sofa.Collection: Future
Most of our people have never had it so good.Collection: People
The wind of change is blowing through the continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact.Collection: Change
History is apt to judge harshly those who sacrifice tomorrow for today.Collection: Sacrifice
It is, of course, a trite observation to say that we live "in a period of transition." Many people have said this at many times. Adam may well have made the remark to Eve on leaving the Garden of Eden.Collection: Garden
I have learned that in all negotiations nothing matters except the will to reach agreement.Collection: Agreement
After a long life I have come to the conclusion that when all the Establishment is united it is always wrong.Collection: Long
We believe that unless we give opportunity to the strong and able, we shall never have the means to provide real protection for the weak and the old.Collection: Strong
You will find the Americans much as the Greeks found the Romans: great, big, vulgar, bustling people more vigorous than we are and also more idle, with more unspoiled virtues but also more corrupt.Collection: People
90% of what we did the Press didn't know about, and 90% of what they did know about they got wrong.Collection: Knows
I have never found criticism is ever inhibited by ignorance.Collection: Ignorance
Churchill was fundamentally what the English call unstable - by which they mean anybody who has that touch of genius which is inconvenient in normal times.Collection: Mean
Jaw-jaw is better than war-war.Collection: Peace
It was a storm in a tea cup, but in politics we sail in paper boats.Collection: Tea
A Foreign Secretaryand this applies also to a prospective Foreign Secretaryis always faced with this cruel dilemma. Nothing he can say can do very much good, and almost anything he may say may do a great deal of harm. Anything he says that is not obvious is dangerous; whatever is not trite is risky. He is forever poised between the cliche and the indiscretion.Collection: Forever
I am MacWonder one moment and MacBlunder the next.Collection: Next
A successful current affairs television show seems to be more and more a cross between a music hall turn and a scene in a torture chamber.Collection: Successful
Stop-Go seemed more sensiblr than using the brake and accelerator at the same time - a practice that later became fashionable.Collection: Practice
There are three bodies no sensible man directly challenges: the Roman Catholic Church, the Brigade of Guards and the National Union of MineworkersCollection: Men
After long experience of politics, I have never found that there is any inhibition caused by ignorance as regards criticism.Collection: Ignorance
It is a good thing to be laughed at. It is better than to be ignored.Collection: Ignored
The only quality needed for an MP is the ability to write a good letter.Collection: Writing
I'd like that translated, if I may.Collection: May
I will not be able to carry the physical burden of leading the Party at the next general election. I hope it will soon be possible for the customary processes of consultation to be carried on within the Party about its future leadership.Collection: Party