“You can't learn too soon that the most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.”
The Circle
Plays
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W. Somerset Maugham 158
British playwright, novelist, short story writer 1874–1965Related quotes

“Protection is not a principle, but an expedient.”
Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1845/mar/17/agricultural-interest in the House of Commons (17 March 1845).
1840s

Source: From Anson Chan's speech commenting on her handling the controversial 1986 child custody case on the eve of her retirement on April 27, 2001.

“Free trade is not a principle; it is an expedient.”
On Import Duties (25 April 1843). Compare: "It is a condition which confronts us, not a theory" (Grover Cleveland, Annual Message, 1887, in reference to the tariff); "Protection is not a principle but an expedient" (below).
1840s

The TB12 Method (Simon & Schuster, 2017), pp. 271 https://books.google.it/books?id=5xQrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT271-272.

“I think the most un-American thing you can say is, “You can't say that.””
As quoted in The Nastiest Things Ever Said About Democrats (2006) by Martin Higgins, p. 171, and The Nastiest Things Ever Said About Republicans (2006) by Martin Higgins, p. 204
“Learning too soon our limitations, we never learn our powers.”
The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Unclassified

“Do people always fall in love with things they can't have?'
'Always,' Carol said, smiling, too.”
Source: The Price of Salt