The politician who never made a mistake never made a decision.

A consensus politician is someone who does something that he doesn't believe is right because it keeps people quiet when he does it.

The first requirement of politics is not intellect or stamina but patience. Politics is a very long run game and the tortoise will usually beat the hare.

Only in Britain could it be thought a defect to be 'too clever by half'. The probability is that too many people are too stupid by three-quarters.

Sometimes you don't know if you're Caesar about to cross the Rubicon or Captain Queeg cutting your own tow line.

It's not that Governments are constitutionally incapable of making the right decision, it's that they only do so as a matter of last resort.

The second best decision in time is infinitely better than the perfect decision too late.