The costliest myth of our time has been the myth of the Communist monolith.

Diplomacy means all the wicked devices of the Old World, spheres of influence, balances of power, secret treaties, triple alliances, and, during the interim period, appeasement of Fascism.

The appetite for power is old and irrepressible in humankind, and in its action almost always destructive.

If power corrupts, weakness in the seat of power, with its constant necessity of deals and bribes and compromising arrangements,corrupts even more.

The conduct of war was so much more interesting than its prevention.

Disaster is rarely as pervasive as it seems from recorded accounts. The fact of being on the record makes it appear continuous and ubiquitous whereas it is more likely to have been sporadic both in time and place.

No more distressing moment can ever face a British government than that which requires it to come to a hard, fast and specific decision.