F. E. Smith Short Quotes

18 Sourced Quotes

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Austen [Chamberlain] always played the game, and he always lost it.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
Churchill has spent the best years of his life preparing impromptu remarks.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
He has devoted the best years of his life to preparing his impromptu speeches.
On Winston Churchill

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
To me it is frankly inconceivable that India will ever be fit for Dominion self-government.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
The world continues to offer glittering prizes to those who have stout hearts and sharp swords.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
I have always placed my highest and most permanent hopes upon the eternity of the Communal situation.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
A people so individual in its genius, so tenacious in love or hate, so captivating in its nobler moods.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
Judge Darling: And who is George Robey?
Smith: Mr George Robey is the Darling of the music halls, m'lud.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
Nature has no cure for this sort of madness [Marxism], though I have known a legacy from a rich relative work wonders.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
Judge: I've listened to you for an hour and I'm none wiser.
Smith: None the wiser, perhaps, my lord but certainly better informed.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
I should rather say they [the Liberals] were begotten by Chinese slavery out of passive resistance, by a rogue sire out of a dam that roared.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
Judge: I have read your case, Mr Smith, and I am no wiser now than I was when I started.
Smith: Possibly not, My Lord, but far better informed.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
Judge: What do you suppose I am on the bench for?
Smith: It is not for me, Your Honour, to attempt to fathom the inscrutable workings of Providence.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
Master Of The Rolls: Really, Mr Smith, do give this court credit for some little intelligence.
Smith: That is the mistake I made in the court below, my lord

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
It would be possible to say without exaggeration that the miners' leaders were the stupidest men in England if we had not frequent occasion to meet the owners.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
Judge: You are extremely offensive, young man!
Smith: As a matter of fact we both are; and the only difference between us is that I am trying to be, and you can't help it.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
We have the highest authority for believing that the meek shall inherit the earth; though I have never found any particular corroboration of this aphorism in the records of Somerset House.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead
Smith (to The Court): At the time, my client was as drunk as a judge.
Judge (interjecting): Mr. Smith, I think you'll find the phrase is 'as drunk as a lord'.
Smith: As your Lordship pleases.

F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead