Quotes Library

March 11, 2025

Finality is not the language of politics.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), British writer, politician, prime minister, speech in the House of Commons, 28 Feb 1849, Seldes p.109

Does that not suggest that all change is incremental?

Politics is a slow-moving phenomenon and in liberal democratic societies the railway to finality is very long, with too many sidings where many a promising initiative can be parked for a long, long time, and often are.


More Quotes

March 14, 2025
[Of political life] The hatreds which sound so real when you read the words, which look so true when you see their scornful attitudes
August 6, 2025
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety)
September 29, 2025
Always deny what you don’t want to be known, and always affirm what you want to be believed.
Page 105 of 122