Quotes from Harold MacMillan

You can hardly say boo to a goose in the House of Commons now without cries of "Ungentlemanly," "Not fair" and all the rest.

At home, you always have to be a politician; when you're abroad, you almost feel yourself a statesman.

It is a good thing to be laughed at. It is better than to be ignored.

It is the duty of Her Majesty's Government neither to flap nor to falter.

Most of our people have never had it so good.

Power? It's like a Dead Sea fruit. When you achieve it, there is nothing there.

(A Foreign Secretary) is forever poised between the cliche and the indiscretion.

He is forever poised between a cliche and an indiscretion.

Memorial services are the cocktail parties of the geriatric set.

After a long life I have come to the conclusion that when all the Establishment is united it is always wrong.

If people want a sense of purpose they should get it from their archbishop. They should certainly not get it from their politicians.

When the curtain falls, the best thing an actor can do is to go away.

I was determined that no British government should be brought down by the action of two tarts.

Revolt by all means, but only on one issue at a time. To do more would be to confuse the whips.

Stop-Go seemed more sensiblr than using the brake and accelerator at the same time - a practice that later became fashionable.

Marxism is like a classical building that followed the Renaissance; beautiful in its way, but incapable of growth.

I read a great number of press reports and find comfort in the fact that they are nearly always conflicting.

If you don't believe in God, all you have to believe in is decency. Decency is very good. Better decent than indecent. But I don't think it's enough.

It has been said that there is no fool like an old fool, except a young fool. But the young fool has first to grow up to be an old fool to realize what a damn fool he was when he was a young fool.

Once the bear's hug has got you, it is apt to be for keeps.

We have not overthrown the divine right of kings to fall down for the divine right of experts.

There might be 1 finger on the trigger, but there will be 15 fingers on the safety catch.

A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts.

In long experience I find that a man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts.