You can be a thorough-going Neo-Darwinian without imagination, metaphysics, poetry, conscience, or decency. For 'Natural Selection' has no moral significance: it deals with that part of evolution which has no purpose, no intelligence, and might more appropriately be called accidental selection, or better still, Unnatural Selection, since nothing is more unnatural than an accident. If it could be proved that the whole universe had been produced by such Selection, only fools and rascals could bear to live.

I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.

The capacity of any conqueror is more likely than not to be an illusion produced by the incapacity of his adversary.

Alcohol is a very necessary article. It enables Parliament to do things at eleven at night that no sane person would do at eleven in the morning.

Has fear ever held a man back from anything he really wanted?

When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.

For nearly twenty years I have been a published author... But I have never yet seen a book of mine offered for sale in a shop window.