Harold Macmillan Quotes

Most of our people have never had it so good.

After a long life I have come to the conclusion that when all the Establishment is united it is always wrong.

History is apt to judge harshly those who sacrifice tomorrow for today.

If people want a sense of purpose they should get it from their archbishop. They should certainly not get it from their politicians.

One nanny said, "Feed a cold"; she was a neo-Keynesian. Another nanny said, "Starve a cold"; she was a monetarist.

The only quality needed for an MP is the ability to write a good letter.

Churchill was fundamentally what the English call unstable - by which they mean anybody who has that touch of genius which is inconvenient in normal times.

A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts.

We believe that unless we give opportunity to the strong and able, we shall never have the means to provide real protection for the weak and the old.

At home, you always have to be a politician; when you're abroad, you almost feel yourself a statesman.

Tradition does not mean that the living are dead, it means that the dead are living.

I was determined that no British government should be brought down by the action of two tarts.

Stop-Go seemed more sensiblr than using the brake and accelerator at the same time - a practice that later became fashionable.

It was a storm in a tea cup, but in politics we sail in paper boats.

Although I am still in favour of a National Government in these difficult times, and shall probably be found in the great majority of cases in the Government Lobby, there are some issues that have arisen, or are likely to arise, upon which I am unable to give the Government the support which it has, perhaps, the right to expect from those receiving the Government Whip. It occurs to me, therefore, that it would perhaps be more satisfactory if I was no longer regarded as being among the supporters of the present Administration.

After long experience of politics, I have never found that there is any inhibition caused by ignorance as regards criticism.

You will find the Americans much as the Greeks found the Romans: great, big, vulgar, bustling people more vigorous than we are and also more idle, with more unspoiled virtues but also more corrupt.

As usual the Liberals offer a mixture of sound and original ideas. Unfortunately none of the sound ideas is original and none of the original ideas is sound.

I have learned that in all negotiations nothing matters except the will to reach agreement.

It's a good thing to be laughed at. It's better than to be ignored.

I'd like that translated, if I may.

I read a great number of press reports and find comfort in the fact that they are nearly always conflicting.

He is forever poised between a cliche and an indiscretion.

Too many people live too much in the past. The past must be a springboard, not a sofa.

It's no use crying over spilt summits.

There are three bodies no sensible man directly challenges: the Roman Catholic Church, the Brigade of Guards and the National Union of Mineworkers

Britain's most useful role is somewhere between bee and dinosaur.

Once the bear's hug has got you, it is apt to be for keeps.

I was a sort of son to Ike, and it was the other way round with Kennedy.

Memorial services are the cocktail parties of the geriatric set.

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. Adam may well have made the remark to Eve on leaving the Garden of Eden.

It is the duty of Her Majesty's government neither to flap nor to falter.

Power? It's like a Dead Sea fruit. When you achieve it, there is nothing there.

Marxism is like a classical building that followed the Renaissance; beautiful in its way, but incapable of growth.

I am MacWonder one moment and MacBlunder the next.

Jaw-jaw is better than war-war.

You can hardly say boo to a goose in the House of Commons now without cries of "Ungentlemanly," "Not fair" and all the rest.