the announcement that you are going to tell a good story (and the chuckle that precedes it) is always a dangerous opening.
Rich men's houses are seldom beautiful, rarely comfortable, and never original. It is a constant source of surprise to people of moderate means to observe how little a big fortune contributes to Beauty.
There are big men, men of intellect, intellectual men, men of talent and men of action; but the great man is difficult to find, and it needs --apart from discernment --a certain greatness to find him.
From the happy expression on their faces you might have supposed that they welcomed the war. I have met with men who loved stamps, and stones, and snakes, but I could not imagine any man loving war.
Haunted from my early youth by the transitoriness and pathos of life, I was aware that it is not enough to say "I am doing no harm," I ought to be testing myself daily, and asking myself what I am really achieving.
Convictions no doubt have to be modified or expanded to meet changing conditions but ... to be a reliable political leader sooner or later your anchors must hold fast where other men's drag.
I have always wanted to be a man, if only for the reason that I would like to have gauged the value of my intellect.
If Kitchener was not a great man, he was, at least, a great poster.
Till I see money spent on the betterment of man instead of on his idleness and destruction, I shall not believe in any perfect form of government ...