A.P. Herbert Quotes

The cow knows not what her tail is worth till she has lost it.

Government is essentially immoral. The State employs evil weapons to subjugate evil, and is alike contaminated by the objects with which it deals, and the means by which it works.

In the realm of culture, the new totalitarianism manifests itself precisely in a harmonizing pluralism, where the most contradictory works and truths peacefully coexist in indifference.

You can't build politics on love. People aren't concerned with love; it's too disordered. They prefer despotism. Too much freedom breeds chaos.

Whether shall the Oxe goe, where he shall not labour?

Without painting, sculpture, music, poetry, and the emotions produced by natural beauty of every kind, life would lose half its charm.

The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it.

One of the first rules of science is if somebody delivers a secret weapon to you, you better use it

Presidents cannot always kick evil-minded persons out of the front door. Such persons are often selected by the electors to represent them.

There are only three ways to meet the unpaid bills of a nation. The first is taxation. The second is repudiation. The third is inflation.

If we deny emotion, we lose all touch with our internal universe.

I outlived the bastards.

When war begins, then hell openeth.

A man is known to be mortal by two things, Sleep and Lust.

The slaves of developed industrial civilization are sublimated slaves.

Unless the U.N. is completely reorganized without the Communist nations in it, we should get out of it.

He that endures is not overcome.

In conditions of private property ... "life-activity" stands in the service of property instead of property standing the service of free life-activity.

A storm is coming; our storm. Emperor - we come for you!

Order generally was a product of human activity. Chaos existed as a raw material from which to create order.

The advancement of knowledge must be translated into increasing health and education for the children.

Thinke of ease, but worke on.

The presumption that any current opinion is not wholly false, gains in strength according to the number of its adherents.

All proofs inevitably lead to propositions which have no proof! All things are known because we want to believe in them.

For now is my grief heavier than the sands of the seas, she thought. This world has emptied me of all but the oldest purpose: tomorrow's life.

It was mostly sweet," he whispered, "and you were the sweetest of all.

I refused to beat my head against stone, of course.

Every pleasure raises the tide of life; every pain lowers the tide of life.

Folly growes without watering.

They say they seek security and quiet, the condition they call peace. Even as they speak they create the seeds of turmoil and violence.

Prayer, to the patriarchs and prophets, was more than the recital of well-known and well-worn phrases-it was the outpouring of the heart.

He that once deceives is ever suspected.

There exists a limit to the force even the most powerful may apply without destroying themselves. Judging this limit is the true artistry of government. Misuse of power is the fatal sin.

God's mill grinds slow, but sure.

With a higher moral nature will come a restriction on the multiplication of the inferior.

Dangers lurk in all systems. Systems incorporate the unexamined beliefs of their creators. Adopt a system, accept its beliefs, and you help strengthen the resistance to change

But it's well known that repression makes a religion flourish.

When I decided to go into politics I weighed the costs. I would get criticism. But I went ahead. So when virulent criticism came I wasn't surprised. I was better able to handle it.

I am sure I'd have made a better all-around man if I hadn't lost so much time just making a living.

Then, as his planet killed him, it occurred to Kynes that his father and all the other scientists were wrong, that the most persistent principles of the universe were accident and error.

Governments always commit their entire populations when the demands grow heavy enough. By their passive acceptance, these populations become accessories to whatever is done in their name.

Thank God she doesn't have to be confirmed by the Senate.(on the birth of his granddaughter)

The range of choice open to the individual is not the decisive factor in determining the degree of human freedom, but what can be chosen and what is chosen by the individual.

Anything that gives us new knowledge gives us an opportunity to be more rational.

To be haunted is to glimpse a truth that might best be hidden.

The slave may be happy, but happiness is not enough.

We cannot be damaged into health.

Since every individual is accountable ultimately to the self, the formation of that self demands our utmost care and attention.

We accept too damned many things on the explanations of people who could have good reasons for lying.

I don't care how big and fast computers are, they're not as big and fast as the world.