Harold MacMillan Quotes

Quotes about:

• Most of our people have never had it so good.

  Harold MacMillan

  People, History, British History

  Speech, Bedford, England, 20 July 1957.

  52 Copy quote

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

  Harold MacMillan

  Future, Past, People

  54 Copy quote

• No man succeeds without a good woman behind him. Wife or mother, if it is both, he is twice blessed indeed.

  Harold MacMillan

  Love, Life, Friendship

  79 Copy quote

• 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

  Growing Up, Fool, Firsts

  38 Copy quote

• 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

  Change, Wind, Political

  "Mr Macmillan's appeal to South Africans". Harold MacMillan's speech to the South African Parliament, "The Times" (p. 15), February 4, 1960.

  53 Copy quote

• 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

  Strong, Real, Believe

  3 Copy quote

• History is apt to judge harshly those who sacrifice tomorrow for today.

  Harold MacMillan

  Sacrifice, Judging, Today

  19 Copy quote

• 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

  Garden, Eden, People

  20 Copy quote

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

  Harold MacMillan

  Agreement, Matter, Negotiation

  23 Copy quote

• A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts.

  Harold MacMillan

  Trust, Men, Kind

  65 Copy quote

• 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

  Ideas, Sound, Usual

  Speech to London Conservatives, 7 Mar. 1961, in The Times 8 Mar. 1961

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  People, Purpose, Want

  Quoted in The Life of Politics.

  5 Copy quote

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

  Harold MacMillan

  Government, Two, Determined

  Comment on the Profumo affair, July 1963, in Anthony Sampson 'Macmillan' (1967) p. 243

  16 Copy quote

• 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

  People, Greek, Virtue

  "Will Trump's presidency finally kill the myth of the special relationship?" by Geoffrey Wheatcroft, www.theguardian.com. February 14, 2017.

  6 Copy quote

• Tradition does not mean that the living are dead, it means that the dead are living.

  Harold MacMillan

  Mean, Doe, Tradition

  1963 In theManchester Guardian, 18 Dec.

  11 Copy quote

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

  Harold MacMillan

  Ignorance, Long, Political

  Hansard 11 July 1963, col. 1411

  4 Copy quote

• A Foreign Secretaryand this applies also to a prospective Foreign Secretaryis always faced with this cruel dilemma. Nothing he can say can do very much good, and almost anything he may say may do a great deal of harm. Anything he says that is not obvious is dangerous; whatever is not trite is risky. He is forever poised between the cliche and the indiscretion.

  Harold MacMillan

  Forever, May, Cliche

  19 Copy quote

• 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

  Mean, Government, Genius

  10 Copy quote

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

  Harold MacMillan

  Long, Establishment, Conclusion

  10 Copy quote

• 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

  Believe, Thinking, Atheism

  21 Copy quote

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

  Harold MacMillan

  Knows, Presses

  6 Copy quote

• We have not overthrown the divine right of kings to fall down for the divine right of experts.

  Harold MacMillan

  Kings, Fall, Divine Right

  1950 Speech, Strasbourg,16 Aug.

  13 Copy quote

• Jaw-jaw is better than war-war.

  Harold MacMillan

  Peace, War, Humorous

  "Jaw-jaw is better than war-war" by Richard Norton-Taylor, www.theguardian.com. September 10, 2015.

  13 Copy quote

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

  Harold MacMillan

  Writing, Mps, Political

  17 Copy quote

• I'd like that translated, if I may.

  Harold MacMillan

  May, Ifs

  "Mr Macmillan seeks end to world fear". The Times (p. 12), September 30, 1960.

  18 Copy quote

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