A.P. Herbert Quotes

An autobiography is the story of how a man thinks he lived.

If you think about it, the historian's task is like that of the detective.

Well, it seems to me Lincoln, I suppose, is kind of a model of a particular sort of presidency, a presidency that first of all is elected by a minority of the votes.

Let thy mind's sweetness have its operation upon thy body, clothes, and habitation.

He that trusts much Obliges much, says the Spaniard.

Hee that goes barefoot, must not plant thornes.

There is nothing more American than brutal violence. The country was built on it, revels in it and shows every evidence of clinging to it with the crazed, destructive strength of an obsessive lover.

If the braine sowes not corne, it plants thistles.

I could write a treatise on the sudden transformation of life into archaeology

A married man turns his staffe into a stake.

There is great force hidden in a sweet command.

Before you make a friend, eate a bushell of salt with him.

God heales, and the Physitian hath the thankes.

I was taken by a morsell, saies the fish. [I was taken by a morsel, says the fish.]

When a Lackey comes to hells doore, the devills locke the gates.

Read as you taste fruit or savor wine, or enjoy friendship, love, or life.

When prayers are done, my Lady is ready.

A beane in liberty is better then a comfit in prison.

Hee that hath one hogge makes him fat, and hee that hath one son makes him a foole.

Obscenity is a moral concept in the verbal arsenal of the establishment, which abuses the term by applying it, not to expressions of its own morality but to those of another.

The resolved mind hath no cares.

Laugh not too much; the witty man laughs least: For wit is news only to ignorance. Lesse at thine own things laugh; lest in the jest Thy person share, and the conceit advance.

A feather in hand is better then a bird in the ayre.

Morality knows nothing of geographical boundaries, or distinctions of race.

If the staffe be crooked, the shadow cannot be straight.

Every cause produces more than one effect.

No day so clear but hath dark clouds.

Unless the great majority of Americans not only have, but believe they have, a fair chance, the better American future will be dangerously compromised.

The adoption by Jefferson and the Republicans of the political structure of their opponents is of an importance hardly inferior to that of the adoption of the Constitution by the states.

The only fruitful promise of which the life of any individual or any nation can be possessed, is a promise determined by an ideal.

Of course, Americans have no monopoly of patriotic enthusiasm and good faith.

God is a sort of burglar. As a young man you knock him down; as an old man you try to conciliate him, because he may knock you down.

Don’t believe me, believe your Bible!

So far I, at least, have no fault to find with implications of Hamilton's Federalism, but unfortunately his policy was in certain other respects tainted with a more doubtful tendency.

The first phase of American political history was characterized by the conflict between the Federalists and the Republicans, and it resulted in the complete triumph of the latter.

The steady pressure to consume, absorb, participate, receive, by eye, ear, mouth, and mail involves a cruelty to intestines, blood pressure, and psyche unparalleled in history.

In Mathematics it is always best to cheat.

You can't run a government solely on a business basis...Government should be human. It should have a heart.

Fans today don't only care about achievement, but about good looks, good public appearance and good lifestyle.

Psychiatrist to patient: Maybe you don't have a complex. Maybe you are inferior.

If something is inevitable, it will happen

Don't forget that the only two things people read in a story are the first and last sentences. Give them blood in the eye on the first one.

It [freedom] is a thing of the spirit. Men must be free to worship, to think, to hold opinions, to speak without fear. They must be free to challenge wrong and oppression with the surety of justice.

Golf without Jones would be like France without Paris: leaderless, lightless and lonely.

You may bring a horse to the river, but he will drinke when and what he pleaseth.

Twenty million people are starving. Whatever their politics, they shall be fed!

Much dearer be the things which come through hard distress.

The Royall Crowne cures not the head-ach. [The Royal Crown cures not the headache.]

A sad, wise valor is the brave complexion.

Strong as it looks at the outset, State-agency perpetually disappoints every one. Puny as are its first stages, private efforts daily achieve results that astound the world.