Harold MacMillan Quotes

48 quotes in 544 categories

• Tradition does not mean that the living are dead, it means that the dead are living.
• No man succeeds without a good woman behind him. Wife or mother, if it is both, he is twice blessed indeed.
• One nanny said, "Feed a cold"; she was a neo-Keynesian. Another nanny said, "Starve a cold"; she was a monetarist.
• Stop-Go seemed more sensiblr than using the brake and accelerator at the same time - a practice that later became fashionable.
• Jaw-jaw is better than war-war.
• A successful current affairs television show seems to be more and more a cross between a music hall turn and a scene in a torture…
• The only quality needed for an MP is the ability to write a good letter.
• Revolt by all means, but only on one issue at a time. To do more would be to confuse the whips.
• There are three bodies no sensible man directly challenges: the Roman Catholic Church, the Brigade of Guards and the National Union of Mineworkers
• I was determined that no British government should be brought down by the action of two tarts.
• It has been said that there is no fool like an old fool
• History is apt to judge harshly those who sacrifice tomorrow for today.
• Most of our people have never had it so good.
• No man should ever lose sleep over public affairs.
• A Foreign Secretaryand this applies also to a prospective Foreign Secretaryis always faced with this cruel dilemma. Nothing he can say can do very much…
• If people want a sense of purpose they should get it from their archbishop. They should certainly not get it from their politicians.
• It is the duty of Her Majesty's government neither to flap nor to falter.
• We do not intend to part from the Americans and we do not intend to be satellites. I am sure they do not want us…
• It was a storm in a tea cup, but in politics we sail in paper boats.
• It is, of course, a trite observation to say that we live "in a period of transition." Many people have said this at many times.…

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