British Politician Quotes

No: by the names inscribed in History's page,
Names that are England's noblest heritage,
Names that shall live for yet unnumbered years
Shrined in our hearts with Cressy and Poictiers;
Let wealth and commerce, laws and learning die,
But leave us still our old nobility.

John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland

Nothing affects the heart like that which is purely from itself, and of its own nature; such as the beauty of sentiments, the grace of actions, the turn of characters, and the proportions and features of a human mind.

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury

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

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

John French, 1st Earl of Ypres

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

As a child, of a politician (James Fox):

What is that fat gentleman in such a passion about?

Charles Shaw-Lefevre, 1st Viscount Eversley

The Conservative Establishment has always treated women as nannies, grannies and fannies.

The real truth is, the number of convicts is too overwhelming for the means of proper and effectual punishment. I despair of any remedy but that which I wish I could hope for - a great reduction in the amount of crime.

The observation of others is coloured by our inability to observe ourselves impartially. We can never be impartial about anything until we can be impartial about our own organism.

Alfred Richard Orage

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

A great many Arabs are alive today because we used these methods and a great many Argyll's are alive today because we used them.

Colin Campbell Mitchell

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

When I pass a belt, I can't resist hitting below it.

Better to break your party on a matter of principle than to let it fall to pieces because you cannot yourself make up your mind what you want to do.

Cuthbert Headlam

English physicians kill you, the French let you die.

William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne

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

James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon

I could never make out what those damned dots meant.

Lord Randolph Churchill

We know that the organised workers of the country are our friends. As for the rest, they don't matter a tinker's cuss.

Parliament itself would not exist in its present form had people not defied the law.

Arthur Scargill

I have no interest sitting all day in Brussels committees enacting job-killing, democracy-destroying legislation inspired by the EU.

God is a spirit. Jesus was led up of the Spirit to be tempted of the Devil; and it is also true that spirits are very likely to lead men to the Devil. Too intimate acquaintance with whisky toddy overnight is often followed by the delirium tremens and blue-devils on the morrow. We advise our readers to eschew alike spirituous and spiritual mixtures. They interfere sadly with sober thinking, and play the Devil with your brains.

Charles Bradlaugh

I have got an infamous army, very weak and ill-equipped, and a very inexperienced staff.

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

There cannot be a body of rules without a rationale, and this rationale constitutes the science.

George Cornewall Lewis

When the British Empire finally sinks beneath the waves of history, it will leave behind it only two memorials: one is the game of Association Football and the other is the expression 'Fuck Off'.

Richard Turnbull (colonial governor)

The archbishop [Archbishop Runcie] is usually to be found nailing his colors to the fence.