“Had Luther and Calvin been confined before they had begun to dogmatize, the states would have been spared many troubles.”

“Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of state.”

“If you give me six sentences written by the most innocent of men, I will find something in them with which to hang them.”

“Deception is the knowledge of kings.”

“Judge character by behavior.”

“Like many a modern parent, I had no clear notion of how to help my most troubled child.”

“We're safe enough now,' he thought, 'we're snug and tight, like an air-raid shelter. We can hold out. It's just the food that worries me. Food and coal for the fire. We've enough for two or three days, not more. By that time...' No use thinking ahead as far as that. And they'd be giving directions on the wireless. People would be told what to do. And now, in the midst of many problems, he realised that it was dance music only coming over the air. Not Children's Hour, as it should have been. He glanced at the dial. Yes, they were on the Home Service all right. Dance records. He switched to the Light programme. He knew the reason. The usual programmes had been abandoned. This only happened at exceptional times. Elections, and such. He tried to remember if it had happened in the war... ("The Birds")”