Quotations

"It is good to have been born in this time of decay. Our generation was granted a privilege that future generations may never know—a view of Western civilization in its totality, and a knowledge of its inner meaning. We were given the pure truths of the Christian religion, and the morality of sacrifice which turns renunciation into triumph and suffering into a secret joy. We also had the chance to see what will happen should we lose these gifts. . . . Of course it is hard to feel the full confidence that those teachings require. But they are addressed to each of us individually, and their validity is not affected by what others think or do. We have within ourselves the source of our salvation: all that is needed is to summon it, and to go out into the world."
Sir Roger Scruton

"The Right Honourable gentleman has sat so long on the fence that the iron has entered his soul."  

Lloyd George on Sir John (later Viscount) Simon.

“Here lies an anachronism in the vague expectation of eternity”.
Dorothy L. Sayer's detective, Lord Peter Wimsey, expressed his desire for this epitaph on his grave -in the fourth of “The Wimsey Papers”, published in the Spectator during World War II.

“Am I not deserving of praise for the moderation which marked my proceedings? Consider the situation in which victory at Plassey had placed me. A great prince was dependent on my pleasure; an opulent city lay at my mercy…I walked through vaults…piled…with gold and jewels! Mr Chairman, at this moment I stand astonished at my own moderation!"

Robert Clive commenting on accusations of looting the Bengal treasury after his victory at Plassey, at his impeachment trial in 1773.