Independent thinking is not encouraged in a professional Army. It is a form of mutiny. Obedience is the supreme virtue.

God has chosen little nations as the vessels by which He carries His choicest wines to the lips of humanity to rejoice their hearts, to exalt their vision, to strengthen their faith, and if we had stood by when two little nations [Belgium and Serbia] were being crushed and broken by the brutal hands of barbarians, our shame would have rung down the everlasting ages.

You get to know more of the character of a man in a round of golf than in six months of political experience.

Doctinaires are the vultures of principle. They feed upon principle after it is dead.

The home front is always underrated by Generals in the field. And yet that is where the Great War was won and lost. The Russian, Bulgarian, Austrian and German home fronts fell to pieces before their armies collapsed.

What is our task? To make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in.

What do you want to be a sailor for? There are greater storms in politics than you will ever find at sea. Piracy, broadsides, blood on the decks. You will find them all in politics.