Make the people sovereign and the poor will use the machinery of government to dispossess the rich.

The basic quality for the diplomat is not intelligence but loyalty.

The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take. He becomes fussy about filing, keen on seeing that pencils are sharpened, eager to ensure that the windows are open (or shut) and apt to use two or three different-colored inks.

A committee is organic rather than mechanical in its nature: it is not a structure but a plant. It takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts, and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom in their turn.

The chief product of an automated society is a widespread and deepening sense of boredom.

Imagination is essential and it comes first, for without imagination we are aimless.

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. General recognition of this fact is shown in the proverbial phrase "It is the busiest man who has time to spare."