Quotes from Jonathan Lynn & Anthony Jay

Clarification is not to clarify things. It is to put one's self in the clear (Sir Humphrey Appleby)

Paperwork is the religion of the Civil Service. I can just imagine Sir Humphrey Appleby on his deathbed, surround by wills and insurance claim forms, looking up and saying, 'I cannot go yet, God, I haven't done the paperwork.

a cynic is only a term used by an idealist to describe a realist.

I went on to explain that it is an honour, and also that we need a transport policy. "If by 'we' you mean Britain, that's perfectly true," he acknowledged. "But if by 'we' you mean you and me and this Department, we need a transport policy like an aperture in the cranial cavity.

He's a smooth-tongued, cold-eyed, hard-nosed, two-faced creep,' I said, trying to be fair. She was puzzled. 'How is he so successful?' 'Because,' I explained, 'he's a smooth-tongued, cold-eyed, hard-nosed, two-faced creep.

Jim Is there no other way? Claire We could just say no to him. Jim Can't risk that. Collapse of conference, collapse of backbench support, collapse of Cabinet. Collapse of my career. The biggest disaster since Dunkirk. Humphrey I think not, Prime Minister. Jim Name a bigger one. Humphrey The Freedom of Information Act.