Harold Nicolson Quotes

We were preparing not Peace only, but Eternal Peace. There was about us the halo of some divine mission. We must be alert, stern, righteous and ascetic. For we were bent on doing great, permanent and noble things.

Only one person in 1000 is a bore, and HE is interesting because he is one person in 1000.

These, then, are the qualities of my ideal diplomatist. Truth, accuracy, calm, patience, good temper, modesty and loyalty. They are also the qualities of an ideal diplomacy. But, the reader may object, you have forgotten intelligence, knowledge, discernment, prudence, hospitality, charm, industry, courage and even tact. I have not forgotten them. I have taken them for granted.

The worst thing, I fear, about being no longer young is that one is no longer young.

Few things are more agreeable than the spectacle of a man who loses his temper; we should be grateful to such people for providing us with moments of often unsullied delight.

The Irish do not want anyone to wish them well; they want everyone to wish their enemies ill.

We are all inclined to judge ourselves by our ideals; others, by their acts.

Every schoolmaster after the age of forty-nine, is inclined to flatulence is apt to swallow frequently and to puff

Coaches should realize that the only way to conquer drudgery is by getting through it as efficiently as they can. A dull job slackly done becomes twice as dull, whereas a dull job performed as efficiently as possible becomes half as dull. Effort appears to be the main art of living.

The gift of broadcasting is, without question, the lowest human capacity to which any man could attain.

Intellectuals incline to be individualists, or even independents, are not team conscious and tend to regard obedience as a surrender of personality.

The great secret of a successful marriage is to treat all disasters as incidents and none of the incidents as disasters.

To be a good diarist, one must have a snouty, sneaky mind.