The Navy can lose us the war, but only the Air Force can win it. Therefore our supreme effort must be to gain overwhelming mastery in the Air. The Fighters are our salvation . . . but the Bombers alone provide the means of victory. . . . In no other way at present visible can we hope to overcome the immense military power of Germany.

When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.

I was shown a picture by Cézanne of a blank wall of a house, which he had made instinct with the most delicate lights and colours.

For with primacy in power is also joined an awe inspiring accountability to the future.

One may imagine that a man who blew the trumpet for his living would be glad to play the violin for his amusement.

I am very glad there are quite a number of people born with a gift and a liking for all of this; like great chessplayers who play sixteen games at once blindfold and die quite soon of epilepsy. Serve them right! I hope the Mathematicians, however, are well rewarded. I promise never to blackleg their profession nor take the bread out of their mouths.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.