British Politician Quotes

Kingdoms are but cares,
State is devoid of stay;
Riches are ready snares,
And hasten to decay.

Henry VI of England

There is no end to observations on the difference between the measures likely to be pursued by a minister backed by a standing army, and those of a court awed by the fear of an armed people.

Loopholes are not always of a fixed dimension. They tend to enlarge as the numbers that pass through wear them away.

Harold Lever, Baron Lever of Manchester

[National Socialism] has survived the flames of war and the tempest of vilification because, when war has done its worst and vilification has run its entire gamut, National Socialism remains, in the final analysis, synonymous with higher man's will to survive, his instinct for health and strength, and his desire for beauty in life; and, as long as that will, that instinct, and that desire remain on this earth, the creed of National Socialism will remain, indestructible.

I dislike censorship. Like an appendix it is useless when inert and dangerous when active.

Maurice Edelman

The Conservative Party always in time forgives those who were wrong. Indeed often, in time, they forgive those who were right.

The fact is, we're looking for a very small number of very evil needles in a very large haystack, which is the city of London.

When I came here seventeen years ago and I said that I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the European Union, you all laughed at me — well, I have to say, yow're not laughing now, are you?

People in this country have had enough of experts.

I was tenaciously opposed by the governor and deputy-governor of the Bank, who had seats in parliament, and I had the City for an antagonist on almost every occasion.

William Ewart Gladstone

I believe with all my heart that the Church of Jesus Christ should be a Church of blurred edges.

I am an Orangeman first and a politician and member of this parliament [Stormont] afterwards.

James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon

Trusting in the God of our fathers and confident that our cause is just, we will never surrender our heritage.

There is a glut of chemical books, but a scarcity of chemical truths.

John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

Cheese. Shropshire Blue—it's so high in calorific content you need only rub against it, and that's enough.

On why he is so large

Denis Healey: Can he assure us there is no question of American military intervention as this could only make the situation worse?
Sir Geoffrey Howe: There is no question of that.

Of Adolf Hitler:

I, and many others who had interviews with him, were at first impressed by his sincerity, and later realized that he was sincere only in his belief that he was destined to rule the world.

Vernon Bartlett

Jesus Christ was not a conservative. That's a racing certainty.

I do not believe there is a long-term future for the privately rented sector in its present form.

Anthony Crosland

If we expect to inherit the blessings of our Fathers, we should return a little more to their primitive Simplicity of Manners.

India has left a deeper mark upon the history the philosophy and the religion of mankind than any other terrestrial unit in the universe.

George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston

Every bodily process is pulsing to its own beat within the overall beat of the solar system.

Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington

It is in this context that Trotsky's attack on Stalin must be understood. Trotsky's attack on Stalin was not directed against Stalin as an individual but against someone who during the course of struggle had emerged as the most representative spokesman of the Bolshevik Party which was upholding, defending, and applying Leninism. The main target of Trotsky's attacks, therefore, was not Stalin but the Bolshevik Party. It was revolutionary Bolshevism - Leninism - that was under attack. It was an attack on the metodhs and forms of organisation of the Bolshevik Party - an attack on the fundamental Leninist policies pursued by the Party.

The tendency everywhere in America to concentrate power and responsibility in one man is unmistakable.

The poverty and unemployment which we came into existence to fight have been largely conquered