Quotes Library

January 18, 2025

To succeed pre-eminently in English public life it is necessary to conform either to the popular image of a bookie or of a clergyman; Churchill being a perfect example of the former, [Lord] Halifax of the latter.

Malcolm Muggeridge, (1903-1990), British journalist, The Infernal Grove (1973), Jay p.268

Is it a surprise then that Boris Johnson always sought to portray himself as a super-street-smart Churchillian?

This makes for a half-decent parlour game that can be enjoyed around the world—identifying the bookies and clergymen (and other categories) in the political classes of other countries, particularly former British dominions such as the USA, Canada, Australia, and so on…


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The flood of money that gushes into politics today is a pollution of democracy.
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A majority is always the best repartee. Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881), British prime minister and novelist, Tancred (1847),
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No man is fit to govern great societies who hesitates about disobliging the few who have access to him
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