If you are to stand up for your Government you must be able to stand up to your Government.

If you are to stand up for your Government you must be able to stand up to your Government.

It is the very essence of despotism that it can never afford to fail. This is what distinguishes it most read more

It is the very essence of despotism that it can never afford to fail. This is what distinguishes it most vitally from democracy. In a despotism there is no organized opposition which can take over the power when the Administration in office has failed. All the eggs are in one basket. Everything is staked on one coterie of men. When the going is good, they move more quickly and efficiently than democracies, where the opposition has to be persuaded and conciliated. But when they lose, there are no reserves. There are no substitutes on the bench ready to go out on the field and carry the ball. That is why democracies with the habit of party government have outlived all other forms of government in the modern world. They have, as it were, at least two governments always at hand, and when one fails they have the other. They have diversified the risks of mortality, corruption, and stupidity which pervade all human affairs. They have remembered that the most beautifully impressive machine cannot run for very long unless there is available a complete supply of spare parts.

I've never professed to be anything but an average student.

I've never professed to be anything but an average student.

If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs read more

If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.

Oh, I'm not going to do anything to them. The thought that I might will be enough to keep them read more

Oh, I'm not going to do anything to them. The thought that I might will be enough to keep them going.

Be England what she will, with all her faults she is my country still.

Be England what she will, with all her faults she is my country still.

All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.

All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.

Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what it is you want to hear.

Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what it is you want to hear.

Crime, like disease, is not interesting; it is something to be done away with by general consent, and that is read more

Crime, like disease, is not interesting; it is something to be done away with by general consent, and that is all about it.