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.

A communist is like a crocodile: when it opens its mouth you cannot tell whether it is trying to smile or preparing to eat you up.

I could not help reflecting that the bullet which had struck the chestnut [horse] had certainly passed within a foot of my head. So at any rate I had been 'under fire.' That was something.

Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times.

A heightened sense of the observation of nature is one of the chief delights that have come to me through trying to paint.

Don't argue about the difficulties. The difficulties will argue for themselves.

Everybody has always underrated the Russians. They keep their own secrets alike from foe and friends.