Personal virtue is no substitute for political hard-headedness.

To wear your heart on your sleeve isn't a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best.

...Conservatives have excellent credentials to speak about human rights. By our efforts, and with precious little help from self-styled liberals, we were largely responsible for securing liberty for a substantial share of the world's population and defending it for most of the rest.

As a motive for terror, religion has more often than not required a good deal of lubrication by lucre.

But the whole history of America is quite different from Europe. People went there to get away from the intolerance and constraints of life in Europe. They sought liberty and opportunity; and their strong sense of purpose has over two centuries, helped create a new unity and pride in being American.

When will Labour learn that you cannot build Jerusalem in Brussels.

The Iraqis had paid a terrible price for Saddam's folly (in the Gulf War). But looking at the devastation they left behind (in Kuwait), my sympathy was limited.