A.P. Herbert Quotes

If we define Futurism as an exploration beyond accepted limits, then the nature of limiting systems becomes the first object of exploration.

The art of conducting consists in knowing when to stop conducting to let the orchestra play.

In oratory affectation must be avoided; it being better for a man by a native and clear eloquence to express himself than by those words which may smell either of the lamp or inkhorn.

Those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded.

Social psychology is especially interested in the effect which the social group has in the determination of the experience and conduct of the individual member.

Being a politician is a poor profession. Being a public servant is a noble one.

All men are equal before fish.

He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.

Every path hath a puddle.

A man's liberties are none the less aggressed upon because those who coerce him do so in the belief that he will be benefited.

To the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort, and hope.

Absolute freedom of the press to discuss public questions is a foundation stone of American liberty.

Society is unity in diversity.

The concept of two people living together for 25 years without a serious dispute suggests a lack of spirit only to be admired in sheep.

Surgeons can cut out everything except cause.

I must respect the opinions of others even if I disagree with them.

Old forms of government finally grow so oppressive that they must be thrown off even at the risk of reigns of terror.

By suppers more have been killed than Galen ever cured

There is no free society without silence, without the internal and external spaces of solitude in which the individual freedom can develop.

There's something called the physiology of forgiveness. Being unable to forgive other people's faults is harmful to one's health.

A man of great memory without learning hath a rock and a spindle and no staff to spin.

The music of the soul is also the music of salesmanship. Exchange value, not truth value counts. On it centers the rationality of the status quo, and all alien rationality is bent to It.

Opinion is ultimately determined by the feelings, and not by the intellect.

I am not going to claim that modern anarchism has any direct relation to Roman jurisprudence; but I do claim that it has its basis in the laws of nature rather than in the state of nature.

How well a posse policy will fare in a world with 3 billion people below the poverty line and nuclear warheads scattered around a dozen or more regions like melons in a field, is not easy to imagine.

The habit of persistence is the habit of victory.

Music helps not the toothache.

The budget should be balanced not by more taxes, but by reduction of follies.

A man of personality can formulate ideals, but only a man of character can achieve them.

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

Learning results from what the student does and thinks, and only from what the student does and thinks. The teacher can advance learning only by influencing the student to learn.

Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves.

The whole inspiration of our civilization springs from the teachings of Christ and the lessons of the prophets. To read the Bible for these fundamentals is a necessity of American life.

Be thrifty, but not covetous.

Be a follower of JESUS CHRIST--I am not seeking followers of my own. Don't be a follower of a MAN--but of CHRIST!

The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.

Solving a problem simply means representing it so as to make the solution transparent.

...The Marines have been the first to land-on embattled beaches throughout the world-we share the unfaltering confidence of all Americans that they will land again-and land hard.

Literature boils with the madcap careers of writers brought to the edge by the demands of living on their nerves, wringing out their memories and their nightmares to extract meaning, truth, beauty.

Any school for free citizens must begin by teaching distrust, not trust. It must teach questioning, not acceptance of stock answers.

To play billiards well was a sign of an ill-spent youth

Education is preparation to live completely.

If politics is the art of the possible, theatre is the art of the impossible.

I hope that while so many people are out smelling the flowers, someone is taking the time to plant some.

I was born old and get younger every day. At present I am sixty years young.

General Motors, General Mills, General Foods, general ignorance, general apathy, and general cussedness elect presidents and Congressmen and maintain them in power.

Entertainment and learning are not opposites; entertainment may be the most effective mode of learning.

When politics and religion are intermingled, a people is suffused with a sense of invulnerability, and gathering speed in their forward charge, they fail to see the cliff ahead of them

There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.

Do actions agree with words? There's your measure of reliability. Never confine yourself to the words.