Harold MacMillan Quotes

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.

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

Most of our people have never had it so good.

I am MacWonder one moment and MacBlunder the next.

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.

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

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

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

If ever the call comes to them, the young will go straight from the ranks of the neutralists into the ranks of he Majesty's Forces, as they have so often done in the past.

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

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

A successful current affairs television show seems to be more and more a cross between a music hall turn and a scene in a torture chamber.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

It's no use crying over spilt summits.

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

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

Stop-Go seemed more sensiblr than using the brake and accelerator at the same time - a practice that later became fashionable.

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

Jaw-jaw is better than war-war.

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

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

No man should ever lose sleep over public affairs.

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

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.

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

Memorial services are the cocktail parties of the geriatric set.

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.

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

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

We believe that unless we give opportunity to the strong and able, we shall never have the means to provide real protection for the weak and the old.

I have never found criticism is ever inhibited by ignorance.

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

Revolt by all means, but only on one issue at a time. To do more would be to confuse the whips.

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

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.

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

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

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

I was a sort of son to Ike, and it was the other way round with Kennedy.

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

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.