Harold MacMillan Quotes

No man succeeds without a good woman behind him. Wife or mother, if it is both, he is twice blessed indeed.

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

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

The wind of change is blowing through the continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact.

Most of our people have never had it so good.

It has been said that there is no fool like an old fool, except a young fool. But the young fool has first to grow up to be an old fool to realize what a damn fool he was when he was a young fool.

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

Memorial services are the cocktail parties of the geriatric set.

If you don't believe in God, all you have to believe in is decency. Decency is very good. Better decent than indecent. But I don't think it's enough.

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.

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

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 good, and almost anything he may say may do a great deal of harm. Anything he says that is not obvious is dangerous; whatever is not trite is risky. He is forever poised between the cliche and the indiscretion.

I'd like that translated, if I may.

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

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

We have not overthrown the divine right of kings to fall down for the divine right of experts.

Jaw-jaw is better than war-war.

To be alive at all involves some risk.

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

I am MacWonder one moment and MacBlunder the next.

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

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.

When the curtain falls, the best thing an actor can do is to go away.

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.

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.

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

90% of what we did the Press didn't know about, and 90% of what they did know about they got wrong.

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

I will not be able to carry the physical burden of leading the Party at the next general election. I hope it will soon be possible for the customary processes of consultation to be carried on within the Party about its future leadership.

It has been said that there is no fool like an old fool

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

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

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.

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

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

There might be 1 finger on the trigger, but there will be 15 fingers on the safety catch.

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

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

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

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

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

He (Aneurin Bevan) enjoys prophesying the imminent fall of the capitalist system, and is prepared to play a part, any part, in its burial, except that of mute.

It isn't those who always addressing each other as comrade who necessarily show the most brotherly feelings.

It's no use crying over spilt summits.

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

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 to be so. The stronger we are, the better partners we shall be; and I feel certain that as the months pass we shall draw continually closer together with mutual confidence and respect.

(A Foreign Secretary) is forever poised between the cliche and the indiscretion.

No man should ever lose sleep over public affairs.

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

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