Michael Dobbs Quotes & Sayings

She went up on tiptoes, just so she could look down on him. — Michael Dobbs

Morality, Sir, is the monologue of the unexcited and the unexcitable, the revenge of the unsuccessful, the punishment of those who tried and failed, or who never had the courage to try at all. — Michael Dobbs

The higher up the tree a cat climbs, the farther it will fall. It's the same for politicians, except politicians don't bounce. — Michael Dobbs

Some people come to the edge of the cliff and they look over, then run away in fear. They never realize it's possible to fly, to soar, to be free. They spend their lives crawling along cliff tops without finding the courage. — Michael Dobbs

JFK's great virtue, and the essential difference between him and George W. Bush, was that he had an instinctive appreciation for the chaotic forces of history. — Michael Dobbs

There is no need to outrun the lion. All that is necessary for a man to do in order to survive is to outrun his friends. — Michael Dobbs

In extraordinary circumstances and against the odds, Churchill became Prime Minister instead of Halifax, and that one decision changed the course of history. — Michael Dobbs

For some it is the end of the rope. For others it is only the beginning. — Michael Dobbs

Why waste a life in search of an epitaph? 'Fondly Remembered'. Who other than a halfwit has that chiselled above his head? — Michael Dobbs

The nature of ambition is that it requires casualties. — Michael Dobbs

The time for change is when it can no longer be resisted. In other words, when you have a man by the balls and are pulling hard, he will invariably follow in your footsteps. — Michael Dobbs

You might think that, I could not possibly comment — Michael Dobbs

Communism was not defeated by any one individual or even a combination of individuals. In the last resort communism defeated itself. — Michael Dobbs

These days there was little room left in Hal's life for his younger brother, and Charlie felt - what did he feel, deep down, when he allowed himself to be honest? Angry, stinking bloody one-bottle-a-time furious - not with Hal, of course, but with life. It hadn't worked out for him, and he didn't understand why. — Michael Dobbs

Tell me, McFadden, what do you think of our beloved Mr. Chamberlain? Mac didn't care for such direct questions. All his adult life had been spent in the mentality of the gulag, never openly complaining, always seeming to conform, never risking a row. Perhaps that's why he had agreed to marry, not so much to avoid disappointing the lady but more because it was the simplest way to fit into the flow of things. — Michael Dobbs

Loyalty is like the Doctrine of Celibacy - easy to proclaim but damned difficult to live by. — Michael Dobbs

Nothing lasts, not forever. Not laughter, not lust, not even life itself. Not forever. Which is why we make the most of what we have. — Michael Dobbs

Politicians are much like aging authors and older women. The dangerous phase in their lives is when they are no longer content with the respect of friends but demand the adulation of an audience. — Michael Dobbs

Politics requires sacrifice. The sacrifice of others, of course. — Michael Dobbs

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Truth lies in the hands of its editor. — Michael Dobbs

Democracy is like a great play. It lasts more than one act. You must be patient, — Michael Dobbs

The design is based on the old St. Stephen's Chapel, where the earliest parliamentarians sat, like choirboys in facing pews, yet there is little that is angelic in the modern set-up. Members face each other in confrontation, as antagonists. They are separated by two red lines on the carpet, whose distance apart represents the distance of two sword lengths, yet this is misleading, for the most imminent danger is never more than a dagger's distance away, on the benches behind. — Michael Dobbs

You talk about a tide of history. Well, there are some occasions when one man seems to stand his ground and just refuses to accept getting washed away. That's how we arrogant Americans won the New World. And that's how you, Mr Churchill, have saved the Old World. But for you, the whole of Europe would by now be one vast concentration camp. Nobody's ever going to forget that. — Michael Dobbs

It's not respect but fear that motivates a man; that's how empires are built and revolutions begin. It is the secret of great men. When a man is afraid you will crush him, utterly destroy him, his respect will always follow. Base fear is intoxicating, overwhelming, liberating. Always stronger than respect. Always. — Michael Dobbs

We won the bloody war. Never again, we said. Then Hitler comes along and starts building his squadrons of panzers and fighter planes - purely for defense, he assures everyone, and we believe him. Even when he marches into the Rhineland we believe him. Two years later he's trampling all over bloody Austria, and now he's ripping Czechoslovakia to pieces. And still our Prime Minister says he trusts him! His — Michael Dobbs

Since he was much weaker than his enemy, he could afford to display no weakness at all. — Michael Dobbs

Politics. The word is taken from the Ancient Greek. "Poly" means "many." And ticks are tiny, bloodsucking insects. — Michael Dobbs

Loyalty is like instant coffee: it's cheap and ultimately unsatisfying. — Michael Dobbs

He talked about the future with such certainty, he might have been talking about the past. — Michael Dobbs

Neither does the British Empire for which Churchill fought with all his heart. And no one believes what they read in the newspapers any more. — Michael Dobbs

It seemed scarcely a moment since she had made it back home, — Michael Dobbs

This was suburban Surrey, the land of the A and B social classes in the terminology of pollsters, where passports lay at the ready and Range Rovers stood in the driveway. Range Rovers? The only time they ever encountered mud was when being driven carelessly over front lawns late on a Friday night or when dropping off their little Johnnies and Emmas at their private schools. — Michael Dobbs

I'm an Englishman, after all, — Michael Dobbs

I knew what was waiting out there for me," he said. "Terrifying things. There were German patrol boats, mine fields, and nearly a thousand miles of stormy seas." "So why did you do it?" "Because also waiting for me was the most terrifying and wonderful thing of all. The future. — Michael Dobbs

Cruelty of any kind is unforgivable . That's why there is no point at all in being creek in half-measure. — Michael Dobbs

The immediate reactions of the two superpower leaders when confronted with the gravest international crisis of their careers were much the same, shock, wounded pride, grim determination, and barely repressed fear. — Michael Dobbs

His deepest need was that people should like him. An admirable trait that; in a spaniel. Or a whore. — Michael Dobbs

A prime minister can chose his friends and his Cabinet but not his relatives. Part Chairman Lord Williams — Michael Dobbs

Why be so bloody miserable when you can pick up a good book or watch a great television drama? — Michael Dobbs

Silk handkerchief that erupted out of the breast pocket, an affectation he had adopted to distance himself from the Westminster hordes in their banal Christmas-stocking ties and Marks & Spencer suits. — Michael Dobbs

All members of a Cabinet are referred to as Right. Honorable Gentlemen. There are only three things wrong with such a title ... — Michael Dobbs

Loyalty may be good news, but it is rarely good advice. — Michael Dobbs

What value can we place on our parliamentary institutions if constituencies return only tame, docile and subservient members who try to stamp on every form of independent judgement? — Michael Dobbs

You might very well think that - I couldn't possibly comment. — Michael Dobbs

And even if fairies built a nest in the bottom of my garden and it should turn out that I have to live for a thousand years, there's not one of them when I'll be of a mind to trust you. — Michael Dobbs

This will not be easy,' he said. 'Neither is failure. — Michael Dobbs