House Of Lords Quotes & Sayings

My eldest brother sees the spirit of sickness and removes it before it takes shape, so his name does not get out of the house. My elder brother cures sickness when it is still extremely minute, so his name does not get out of the neighborhood. As for me, I puncture veins, prescribe potions, and massage skin, so from time to time my name gets out and is heard among the lords. — Sun Tzu

Give them a corrupt House of Lords, give them a venal House of Commons, give they a tyrannical Prince, give them a truckling court, and let me have but an unfettered press. I will defy them to encroach a hair's breadth upon the liberties of England. — Richard Brinsley Sheridan

The House of Lords, architecturally, is a magnificent room, and the dignity, quiet, and repose of the scene made me unwillingly acknowledge that the Senate of the United States might possibly improve its manners. Perhaps in our desire for simplicity, absence of title, or badge of office we may have thrown over too much. — M. E. W. Sherwood

My most ardent wish is that you, and everyone like you, will look up. That you'll do so and never be beaten into the ground again. I write handbills because I can write those words without fear of reprisal - because if I am discovered, the House of Lords will never prosecute me. I write because those words must be written. I write because to not write, to not speak, would be to waste what I have been given. — Courtney Milan

What we need is someone to abolish the House Of Lords, get rid of the Royal Family ... — John Boorman

I've always said that I favour an elected second chamber and I think it's important that there are members of the House of Lords who are willing to vote for their own demise. — Jim Knight

In March of 1915, all three of Lord and Lady Chetwynd-Pitt's sons'd been gassed, blown up or machine-gunned in the very same week at the battle of Neuve-Chapelle. All three. Imagine that: On Monday, you've got three sons, by Friday you've got none. Lady Albertina had just, y'know, caved in. Physically, mentally, spiritually, brutally. — David Mitchell

Anyone from abroad will tell you that it is the class system that really lies at the root of our problems, economic and industrial. The House of Lords symbolises that. — Tony Benn

The House of Lords, an illusion to which I have never been able to subscribe - responsibility without power, the prerogative of the eunuch throughout the ages. — Tom Stoppard

Twenty thousand thieves landed at Hastings. These founders of the House of Lords were greedy and ferocious dragoons, sons of greedy and ferocious pirates ... Such, however, is the illusion of antiquity and wealth, that decent and dignified men now existing, boast their descent from these filthy thieves, who showed a far juster conviction of their own merits, by assuming for their types the swine, goat, jackal, leopard, wolf, and snake, which they severally resembled. — Lewis Carroll

I don't believe in the hereditary principle in the House of Lords. Imagine going to the dentist, sitting in the chair and he says, 'I'm not a dentist myself, but my father was a dentist and his father before him. Now, open wide! — Tony Benn

A severe though not unfriendly critic of our institutions said that the cure for admiring the House of Lords was to go and look at it. — Walter Bagehot

Hembry," he said, not lifting his gaze from Juliana's. "We will retire to the music room. Lady Juliana wishes to play with me."
She laughed at his outrageous statement as the butler disappeared to light the lamps in the music room. "Play for you, you rouge. Music. Nothing else."
"Hmmm...," he enigmatically replied.
Sinclair allowed her to put her own interpretation on his intentions as they entered the house. — Alexandra Hawkins

The cure for admiring the House of Lords is to go and look at it. — Walter Bagehot

I have a huge admiration for the House of Lords, I have a huge admiration for the people who work in the House of Lords, they're great public servants and they do an absolutely tremendous job. — John Major

It would be wholly wrong constitutionally for the unelected House of Lords to do anything, to kill anything of a financial nature that has been through the House of Commons not once but twice. — Nigel Lawson

We must restore faith in politics. Reform of the House of Lords is only one part of the answer, but it is a vital one. — Charles Kennedy

I do strongly believe myself that members of the government who sit in the House of Lords should be accountable to the elected House because otherwise there is a democratic deficit, and that is wrong. — John Bercow

Lives the man that can figure a naked Duke of Windlestraw addressing a naked House of Lords? — Thomas Carlyle

The Government and the Parliament, even the House of Lords, will consent to a large increase of electors; and men who have not considered the subject fully will imagine they have gained much by the concession. — John Bright

Where might is, the right is:
Long purses make strong swords.
Let weakness learn meekness:
God save the House of Lords! — Algernon Charles Swinburne

Would you condemn me to such a cavernous, empty life, Miranda? — Dominique Eastwick

Bishops sit in the House of Lords automatically. — Richard Dawkins

During the last 100 years, the House of Lords has never contributed one iota to popular liberties or popular freedom, or done anything to advance the common weal; but during that time it has protected every abuse and sheltered every privilege. — Joseph Chamberlain

The House of Lords is a model of how to care for the elderly. — Frank Field

I go to the House of Lords in the afternoon and try to walk halfway. I may be thinking about what I'm going to write. It's much more satisfying than sitting in a chair. — Ruth Rendell

Lady Astor. "My father fought against her when she was first elected." That was 1919, when Michael was only six, but he remembered going around Plymouth in a coach, electioneering with his father. "The Labour candidate got about twice the vote my father got. But my father got very friendly with Lady Astor. She was a very great spokesman for Plymouth. She had a lot to be said for her." Lord Astor, too, earned Michael's admiration for supporting the ambitious plan to rebuild Plymouth after the war. Michael loved to quote a line from The Way We Live concerning Lord Astor's effort to interest the House of Lords in the rebuilding plan: "Such was the power of the House of Lords that nothing was done. — Carl Rollyson

Tyrion Lannister sniggered. That was when Catelyn knew he was hers. "This man came a guest into my house, and there conspired to murder my son, a boy of seven," she proclaimed to the room at large, pointing. Ser Rodrik moved to her side, his sword in hand. "In the name of King Robert and the good lords you serve, I call upon you to seize him and help me return him to Winterfell to await the king's justice."
She did not know what was more satisfying: the sound of a dozen swords drawn as one or the look on Tyrion Lannister's face. — George R R Martin

The episcopal palace was a huge and beautiful house, built of stone at the beginning of the last century by M. Henri Puget, Doctor of Theology of the Faculty of Paris, Abbe of Simore, who had been Bishop of D - in 1712. This palace was a genuine seignorial residence. Everything about it had a grand air, - the apartments of the Bishop, the drawing-rooms, the chambers, the principal courtyard, which was very large, with walks encircling it under arcades in the old Florentine fashion, and gardens planted with magnificent trees. In the dining-room, a long and superb gallery which was situated on the ground-floor and opened on the gardens, M. Henri Puget had entertained in state, on July 29, 1714, My Lords Charles Brulart de Genlis, archbishop; Prince — Victor Hugo

The House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians. — Tony Benn

A man may speak very well in the House of Commons, and fail very completely in the House of Lords. There are two distinct styles requisite: I intend, in the course of my career, if I have time, to give a specimen of both. — Benjamin Disraeli

We in the House of Lords are never in touch with public opinion. That makes us a civilised body. — Oscar Wilde

The House of Lords is like a glass of champagne that has stood for five days. — Clement Attlee

It is easy to conceive that a band of interested men, such as placemen, pensioners, lords of the bedchamber, lords of the kitchen, lords of the necessary-house, and the lord knows what besides, can find as many reasons for monarchy as their salaries, paid at the expense of the country, amount to; but if I ask the farmer, the manufacturer, the merchant, the tradesman, and down through all the occupations of life to the common labourer, what service monarchy is to him? he can give me no answer. If I ask him what monarchy is, he believes it is something like a sinecure. — Thomas Paine

In the rosy glow it diffused her companions seemed full of amiable qualities. She liked their elegance; their lightness, their lack of emphasis: even the self-assurance which at times was so like obtuseness now seemed the natural sign of social ascendency. They were lords of the only world she cared for, and they were ready to admit her to their ranks and let her lord it with them. Already she felt within her a stealing allegiance to their standards, an acceptance of their limitations, a disbelief in the things they did not believe in, a contemptuous pity for the people who were not able to live as they lived. — Edith Wharton

Every man has a House of Lords in his own head. Fears, prejudices, misconceptions - those are the peers and they are hereditary. — David Lloyd George

Look, I'm a member of the House of Lords and I'm the first to admit that I don't understand how one gets new laws through. — Alan Sugar

What of the Parliament? Or the succession of the marquessate?"

"Don't you see?" He shook his head, searching for the words, he who was known for his eloquence on the floor of the House of Lords. "None of that matters. Without you, I am a shadow of a man, a wisp. Parliament, even the marquessate, can survive without me, but I cannot survive without you. — Elizabeth Hoyt

More recently, during a debate in the House of Lords in 1978 one of the members said: "If there is a more hideous language on the face of the earth than the American form of English, I should like to know what it is." (We should perhaps bear in mind that the House of Lords is a largely powerless, nonelective institution. It is an arresting fact of British political life that a Briton can enjoy a national platform and exalted status because he is the residue of an illicit coupling 300 years before between a monarch and an orange seller.) — Bill Bryson

I am not going to the House of Lords. Never. That's not who I am. That's not where I am. — Gordon Brown

Everybody is entitled to believe. Churches have exactly the same right to exist as a football club, a trade union or a political party. But if you and I set up the Church of the Fairies of the Garden, then I don't think we should automatically be meeting the queen, be entitled to seats in the House of Lords or get public money for our fairy schools. — A.C. Grayling

The House of Commons, refused to receive the addresses of the colonies, when the matter was pending; besides, we hold our rights neither from them nor from the Lords. — Christopher Gadsden

[I]n Great-Britain it is said that their constitution relies on the house of commons for honesty, and the lords for wisdom; whichwould be a rational reliance if honesty were to be bought with money, and if wisdom were hereditary. — Thomas Jefferson

Take all your dukes and marquesses and earls and viscounts, pack them into one chamber, call it the House of Lords to satisfy their pride and then strip it of all political power. It's a solution so perfectly elegant and preposterous that only the British could have managed it. — Charles Krauthammer

What can you do?"
"Head one of the largest estates in England and vote in the House of Lords," Jason replied. "And brush down a horse. What can you do?"
"Write a paper on the difference between Brunelleschi's and Ghiberti's bronze work," Winn quipped and then, after a thought, "and argue with the butcher."
"Well . . . we are two utterly useless people," Jason surmised. "Except for the butcher."
"And the horses. — Kate Noble

The house of Lords must be the only institution in the world which is kept efficient by the persistent absenteeism of most of its members. — Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel

She was a clever girl, but she filled that brain of hers with far too much fluff on the types of gowns and the styles of bonnets. Then again, he shouldn't be wishing her intelligence was put to use elsewhere. Lord knows the little chit might end up a brilliant political hostess or married to a member of the House of Lords. He wouldn't give her credit for anything less and the very idea of her having any influence over a man in politics was terrifying.

-Lucien's thoughts about Audrey. His Wicked Seduction — Lauren Smith

Labour politicians for generations have fought to bring democracy to the House of Lords. — Charles Kennedy

I?m not even sure I?d go into a reformed House of Lords. But let?s put it like this, the decision would have been easier had there been not even complete reform but a substantial stride. — Neil Kinnock

It is quite clear from what has been said and written that, time after time after time, there has been a conspiracy between the Conservative Front Bench in this House and the inbuilt Conservative majority in the House of Lords to defeat legislation that has passed through the House of Commons ... I warn the House of Lords of the consequences ... it is our strong view that the House of Lords should recall that its role is not that of a wrecking chamber, but of a revising chamber. In recent weeks, it has been wrecking legislation passed by this House. — James Callaghan

The House of Lords says I'm not a member of it. My passport says I am - get used to it. — Christopher Monckton

The House of Lords must go - not be reformed, not be replaced, not be reborn in some nominated life-after-death patronage paradise, just closed down, abolished, finished. — Neil Kinnock

The House of Lords has many fine aspects, but at its heart, it is a betrayal of the core democratic principle that those in the enlightened world hold so dear - that those who make the laws of the land should be elected by those who must obey those laws. — Charles Kennedy