“Success depends on three things: who says it, what he says, how he says it; and of these three things, what he says is the least important.”

“The most important things about the individual are what he cannot or will not say.”

“You have no idea how unimportant is all that the teacher says or does not say on the surface, and how important what he himself is as teacher.”

“He knew how to say many false things that were like true sayings.”

“The things people say of a man do not alter a man. He is what he is. Public opinion is of no value whatsoever.”

“When a client says, It's hard to say, he usually knows what's really going on but doesn't want to talk about it…. I break through that reluctance by acting as if it wasn't there. 'Well, say it anyway. This is the place to say hard-to-say-things.”

“When you find a man you wish to marry, Tessa, remember this: You will know what kind of man he is not by the things he says, but by the things he does.”

“It's okay,” he said. “We're together.” He didn't say, or. After all they'd been through over the last year, he knew that the most important thing was that they were together. She loved him for saying that.”

“Sir Anthony Eden has been pretending that he is now invading Egypt in order to strengthen the United Nations. Every burglar of course could say the same thing, he could argue that he was entering the house in order to train the police. So, if Sir Anthony Eden is sincere in what he is saying, and he may be, he may be, then if he is sincere in what he is saying then he is too stupid to be a prime minister.”

“It’s in the nature of a good despot to say anything that will convince someone to do as he wishes. Only when he does not need them does he really say what he thinks. And by that time, of course, because he has no need of them, they are usually as good as dead. The secret of becoming a successful tyrant lies in an early ability to be all things to all people.”