“I was myself so smitten in public opinion that it was the almost universal view that my political life was at last ended.”

“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.”

“When I hear a man say that his childhood was the happiest time of his life, I think (puff) my friend, you have had a pretty poor life.”

“When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.”

“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.”

“I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial... I thought I knew a good deal about it all, I was sure I should not fail.”

“You create your own universe as you go along.”