Macmillan Harold Quotes & Sayings

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

Jaw-jaw is better than war-war. — Harold Macmillan

Memorial services are the cocktail parties of the geriatric set. — Harold Macmillan

It is the duty of Her Majesty's government neither to flap nor to falter. — Harold Macmillan

Today, as a result of the policy of Macmillan's Government, Great Britain presents in the United Nations the face of Pecksniff and in Katanga the face of Gradgrind. — Conor Cruise O'Brien

No man should ever lose sleep over public affairs. — Harold Macmillan

Although I am still in favour of a National Government in these difficult times, and shall probably be found in the great majority of cases in the Government Lobby, there are some issues that have arisen, or are likely to arise, upon which I am unable to give the Government the support which it has, perhaps, the right to expect from those receiving the Government Whip. It occurs to me, therefore, that it would perhaps be more satisfactory if I was no longer regarded as being among the supporters of the present Administration. — Harold Macmillan

90% of what we did the Press didn't know about, and 90% of what they did know about they got wrong. — Harold Macmillan

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

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

I have learned that in all negotiations nothing matters except the will to reach agreement. — Harold Macmillan

As a student, I had stayed with Winston Churchill; later, I had lunched with Harold Macmillan - in fact, had met most of the post-war prime ministers of Great Britain from Douglas-Home to Tony Blair. — Nigel Hamilton

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

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

I didn't bother with television myself because it consisted largely of windmills, puppets and pottery wheels, interspersed with elderly men smoking pipes while they discussed Harold Macmillan in Old Etonian accents. — Christopher Fowler

I'd like that translated if I may.

British Prime Minster Harold Macmillan
on Nikita Khruschev's shoe banging at the UN General Assembly on 29th September 1960 — Harold Macmillan

The only quality needed for an MP is the ability to write a good letter. — Harold Macmillan

There are three bodies no sensible man directly challenges: the Roman Catholic Church, the Brigade of Guards and the National Union of Mineworkers — Harold Macmillan

Britain's most useful role is somewhere between bee and dinosaur. — Harold Macmillan

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

It isn't those who always addressing each other as comrade who necessarily show the most brotherly feelings. — Harold Macmillan

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

It's a good thing to be laughed at. It's better than to be ignored. — Harold Macmillan

If ever the call comes to them, the young will go straight from the ranks of the neutralists into the ranks of he Majesty's Forces, as they have so often done in the past. — Harold Macmillan

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

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

One nanny said, "Feed a cold"; she was a neo-Keynesian. Another nanny said, "Starve a cold"; she was a monetarist. — Harold Macmillan

It was a storm in a tea cup, but in politics we sail in paper boats. — Harold Macmillan

It is, of course, a trite observation to say that we live "in a period of transition." Many people have said this at many times. Adam may well have made the remark to Eve on leaving the Garden of Eden. — Harold Macmillan

Too many people live too much in the past. The past must be a springboard, not a sofa. — Harold Macmillan

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

I will not be able to carry the physical burden of leading the Party at the next general election. I hope it will soon be possible for the customary processes of consultation to be carried on within the Party about its future leadership. — Harold Macmillan

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

Tradition does not mean that the living are dead, it means that the dead are living. — Harold Macmillan

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

Churchill was fundamentally what the English call unstable - by which they mean anybody who has that touch of genius which is inconvenient in normal times. — Harold Macmillan

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

We do not intend to part from the Americans and we do not intend to be satellites. I am sure they do not want us to be so. The stronger we are, the better partners we shall be; and I feel certain that as the months pass we shall draw continually closer together with mutual confidence and respect. — Harold Macmillan

I was a sort of son to Ike, and it was the other way round with Kennedy. — Harold Macmillan

To be alive at all involves some risk. Harold Macmillan — Anonymous

He is forever poised between a cliche and an indiscretion. — Harold Macmillan

You will find the Americans much as the Greeks found the Romans: great, big, vulgar, bustling people more vigorous than we are and also more idle, with more unspoiled virtues but also more corrupt. — 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. — Harold Macmillan

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

I think that Harold MacMillan is a very intelligent man, who, as so often happens in politics, achieved supreme power too late. — Malcolm Muggeridge

He (Aneurin Bevan) enjoys prophesying the imminent fall of the capitalist system, and is prepared to play a part, any part, in its burial, except that of mute. — Harold Macmillan

History is apt to judge harshly those who sacrifice tomorrow for today. — Harold Macmillan

I have never found, in a long experience of politics, that criticism is ever inhibited by ignorance. — Harold Macmillan

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. — Harold Macmillan

in business doing nothing is often the hardest thing. (And not just in business. Harold Macmillan, prime minister during the Cuban missile crisis, mused then 'on the frightful desire to do something, with the knowledge that not to do anything was prob. the right answer'.) — Simon Kuper

The wind of change is blowing through the continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. — Harold Macmillan

I am MacWonder one moment and MacBlunder the next. — Harold Macmillan

We believe that unless we give opportunity to the strong and able, we shall never have the means to provide real protection for the weak and the old. — Harold Macmillan

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

I'd like that translated, if I may. — Harold Macmillan

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. — Harold Macmillan

Most of our people have never had it so good. — Harold Macmillan

It's no use crying over spilt summits. — Harold Macmillan

After long experience of politics, I have never found that there is any inhibition caused by ignorance as regards criticism. — Harold Macmillan

As usual the Liberals offer a mixture of sound and original ideas. Unfortunately none of the sound ideas is original and none of the original ideas is sound. — Harold Macmillan