Orders can be benign or malign, but the habit of obeying them can become ingrained.

It is only by having desire thwarted, and thereby learning to control it — in other words, by becoming civilized — that men become fully human.

Feeling good about yourself is not the same thing as doing good. Good policy is more important than good feelings.

Childhood in large parts of modern Britain, at any rate, has been replaced by premature adulthood, or rather adolescence. Children grow up very fast but not very far. That is why it is possible for 14 year olds now to establish friendships with 26 year olds - because they know by the age of 14 all they are ever going to know.

The need always to lie and always to avoid the truth stripped everyone of what Custine called 'the two greatest gifts of God-the soul and the speech which communicates it.' People became hypocritical, cunning, mistrustful, cynical, silent, cruel, and indifferent to the fate of others as a result of the destruction of their own souls.

The aim of untold millions is to be free to do exactly as they choose and for someone else to pay when things go wrong.

Orders can be benign or malign, but the habit of obeying them can become ingrained.