Bernard Levin Quotes

12 Sourced Quotes

Once, when a British Minister sneezed, men half a world away would blow their noses. Now when a British Prime Minister sneezes nobody else will even say, 'Bless You.'

Bernard Levin
The less the power, the greater the desire to exercise it.

Bernard Levin
The truth in these matters may be stated as a scientific law: 'The persistence of public officials varies inversely with the importance of the matter on which they are persisting.'

Bernard Levin
I have heard tell of a Professor of Economics who has a sign on the wall of his study, reading 'the future is not what it was'. The sentiment was admirable; unfortunately, the past is not getting any better either.

Bernard Levin
In every age of transition men are never so firmly bound to one way of life as when they are about to abandon it, so that fanaticism and intolerance reach their most intense forms just before tolerance and mutual acceptance come to be the natural order of things.

Bernard Levin
I have more than once pointed out that no organization with 'Liberation' in its title has ever, or ever will, liberate anyone or anything.

Bernard Levin
Between them, then, Walrus and Carpenter, they divided up the Sixties.

Bernard Levin
Since when was fastidiousness a quality useful for political advancement?

Bernard Levin
Harold Macmillan, whose elevation was achieved by a brutality, cunning and greed for power normally met only in the conclaves of Mafia capi, said, after he had climbed the greasy pole and pushed all his rivals off (takes out handkerchief containing concealed onion) that the whole thing was Dead Sea Fruit.

Bernard Levin
Countries like ours are full of people who have all of the material comforts they desire, yet lead lives of quiet (and at times noisy) desperation, understanding nothing but the fact that there is a hole inside them and that however much food and drink they pour into it, however many motorcars and television sets they stuff it with, however many well-balanced children and loyal friends they parade around the edges of it... it aches!

Bernard Levin
The cure for mixed metaphors, I have always found, is for the patient to be obliged to draw a picture of the result.

Bernard Levin
I suppose we all tend to remember only the happiness from our childhood, as a sundial refuses to tell the time except in fine weather.

Bernard Levin