BERNARD LEVIN

… a brutality, cunning and greed for power normally met only in the conclaves of Mafia capi

The less the power, the greater the desire to exercise it.

A new Russian Revolution is inevitable, and that it may come much sooner than anyone would now dare to hope… I do not believe it possible that the thirst for freedom and decency in the countries of the Soviet Empire can remain much longer unslaked, and that any attempt either to quench it by total repression or to satisfy it by real reforms, will be cataclysmically destructive of the eroded foundations of the entire State system.

The cure for mixed metaphors, I have always found, is for the patient to be obliged to draw a picture of the result.

I suppose we all tend to remember only the happiness from our childhood, as a sundial refuses to tell the time except in fine weather.

Let us never allow ourselves to think that poverty is an excuse for an invitation to totalitarianism, and if we should be tempted to think as much, let us remind ourselves that totalitarianism not only extinguishes liberty but institutionalises poverty as well

Because tobacco is responsible for an impressive one-third of cancers, prevention efforts naturally begin with it.

Ask a man which way he is going to vote, and he will probably tell you. Ask him, however, why, and vagueness is all.

Countries like ours are full of people who have all of the material comforts they desire, yet lead lives of quiet (and at times noisy) desperation, understanding nothing but the fact that there is a hole inside them and that however much food and drink they pour into it, however many motorcars and television sets they stuff it with, however many well-balanced children and loyal friends they parade around the edges of it. . . it aches!

No amount of manifest absurdity... could deter those who wanted to believe from believing.

Once, when a British Prime Minister sneezed, men half a world away would blow their noses. Now when a British Prime Minister sneezes nobody else will even say 'Bless You'.

Because tobacco is responsible for an impressive one-third of cancers, prevention efforts naturally begin with it.

What has happened to architecture since the second world war that the only passers-by who can contemplate it without pain are those equipped with a white stick and a dog?

Ask a man which way he is going to vote, and he will probably tell you. Ask him, however, why, and vagueness is all.

No amount of manifest absurdity... could deter those who wanted to believe from believing.

A new Russian Revolution is inevitable, and that it may come much sooner than anyone would now dare to hope… I do not believe it possible that the thirst for freedom and decency in the countries of the Soviet Empire can remain much longer unslaked, and that any attempt either to quench it by total repression or to satisfy it by real reforms, will be cataclysmically destructive of the eroded foundations of the entire State system.

… a brutality, cunning and greed for power normally met only in the conclaves of Mafia capi

The persistence of public officials varies inversely with the importance of the matter on which they are persisting

Let us never allow ourselves to think that poverty is an excuse for an invitation to totalitarianism, and if we should be tempted to think as much, let us remind ourselves that totalitarianism not only extinguishes liberty but institutionalises poverty as well

The cure for mixed metaphors, I have always found, is for the patient to be obliged to draw a picture of the result.

Countries like ours are full of people who have all of the material comforts they desire, yet lead lives of quiet (and at times noisy) desperation, understanding nothing but the fact that there is a hole inside them and that however much food and drink they pour into it, however many motorcars and television sets they stuff it with, however many well-balanced children and loyal friends they parade around the edges of it. . . it aches!

The Stag at Bay with the mentality of a fox at large.

I suppose we all tend to remember only the happiness from our childhood, as a sundial refuses to tell the time except in fine weather.

Whom the mad would destroy, first they make gods.

The less the power, the greater the desire to exercise it.

In every age of transition men are never so firmly bound to one way of life as when they are about to abandon it.

It is assumed that when anyone gets into debt, the fault is entirely and always the fault of the lender.