They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they’d make up their minds.
Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong – these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism.
Life is fraught with opportunities to keep your mouth shut.
Money is like manure; it’s only good if you spread it around.
Without courage all other virtues lose their meaning.
Where does the family start? It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl – no superior alternative has yet been found.
Never engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed man.
Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.
When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.
What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone?
Don’t argue about the difficulties. The difficulties will argue for themselves.
Nothing is more costly, nothing is more sterile, than vengeance.
A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.
Don’t take ‘no’ for an answer, never submit to failure. Do not be fobbed off with mere personal success or acceptance. You will make all kinds of mistakes, but as long as you are generous and true, and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world or events.
The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground.
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been.
To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real.
Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.
I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents.