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Quotes by British Authors
"People ask 'do you make a conscious effort not to swear?' - if you're doing silly stuff you're not tempted to put swearing in. All the comics from my childhood, who were funny without swearing, were the people that influenced me. What I do is quite traditional anyway."
"News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising."
"One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes."
"The passage of time is simply an illusion created by our brains."
"Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions."
"If we lose the war in the air we lose the war and we lose it quickly."
"American troops have not only occupied Ulster but are arriving in increasing numbers in England."
"How many hours are there in a mile? Is yellow square or round? Probably half the questions we ask-half our great theological and metaphysical problems-are like that."
"The difference between a misfortune and a calamity is this: If Gladstone fell into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him out again, that would be a calamity."
"Without Hitler, the State of Israel probably would not exist today. To that extent he was probably the Jews' greatest friend."
"Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder."
"To know ourselves, is agreed by all to be the most useful Learning; the first Lessons, therefore, given us ought to be on that Subject."
"I really like the Observer. I think I'd love to have a column with a broad reach that would enable me to do some proper reporting, but keep it on sort of a humorous level. I've always had a very happy experience writing for them."
"And new Philosophy calls all in doubt, the element of fire is quite put out; the Sun is lost, and the earth, and no mans wit can well direct him where to look for it."
"What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite."
"As a philosopher, if I were speaking to a purely philosophic audience I should say that I ought to describe myself as an Agnostic, because I do not think that there is a conclusive argument by which one can prove that there is not a God. On the other hand, if I am to convey the right impression to the ordinary man in the street I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods."
"I love this country, I love these people, though I can't say I love their politicians. People are always nicer than politicians, but here, you can mark that difference up a hundredfold."
"I have felt that odd whirr of wings in the head."
"God had brought me to my knees and made me acknowledge my own nothingness, and out of that knowledge I had been reborn. I was no longer the centre of my life and therefore I could see God in everything."
"Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming."
"They can certainly expect to be very impressed with the technical aspects of the show, fooled and led up the garden path by the story and ultimately have a jolly good laugh!"
"I work with the options I have in front of me and my reasons for choosing a job can vary enormously depending on the circumstances. Sometimes I take a job because it's a group of people I'm dying to work with, and sometimes it can be a desire to shake things up a bit and not to take myself too seriously."
"I believe in benevolent dictatorship provided I am the dictator."
"A mind lively and at ease, can do with seeing nothing, and can see nothing that does not answer."
"A mixture of admiration and pity is one of the surest recipes for affection."
"The logic of Palladian architecture presented an aesthetic formula which could be applied universally."
"I've made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite."
"Now being upon the haunches (as he necessarily must be in this case) is it impossible but he must be light in hand, because no horse can be rightly upon his haunches without being so."
"Many people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so."
"Discrimination against Jews can be read in Thomas Aquinas, and insults against Jews in Martin Luther."
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