Let the children have their night of fun and laughter, let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures.

When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.

The monarchy is so extraordinarily useful. When Britain wins a battle she shouts, God save the Queen; when she loses, she votes down the prime minister.

We (The British) have not journeyed across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy.

Tidiness is a virtue, symmetry is often a constituent of beauty.

I am your servant. You have the right to dismiss me when you please. What you have no right to do is ask me to bear responsibility without the power of action.

The person of truth must be covered with bodyguards of lies.