“It is difficult for a statesman who still has a political future to reveal everything that he knows”

—  George Orwell

Review of Their Finest Hour by Winston Churchill, New Leader (14 May 1949)
Context: It is difficult for a statesman who still has a political future to reveal everything that he knows: and in a profession in which one is a baby at 50 and middle-aged at seventy-five, it is natural that anyone who has not actually been disgraced should feel that he still has a future.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 30, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is difficult for a statesman who still has a political future to reveal everything that he knows" by George Orwell?
George Orwell photo
George Orwell 473
English author and journalist 1903–1950

Related quotes

Thiago Silva photo

“It’s difficult to identify where he can still improve. He has already proven to have everything.”

Thiago Silva (1984) Brazilian footballer

Franco Baresi, 2012 http://football-italia.net/19459/baresi-thiago-silva-my-heir
From former and current footballers

Sathya Sai Baba photo

“I know everything that has happened to everybody in the past, everything that is happening now and everything that will happen in the future.”

Sathya Sai Baba (1926–2011) Indian guru

Sathyam, Sivam, Sundaram - Part 3. by N. Kasturi. Page 305 US ed. Next to the last chapter.

“He who has seen everything empty itself is close to knowing what everything is filled with.”

Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Argentinian poet

Quien ha visto vaciarse todo, casi sabe de qué se llena todo.
Voces (1943)

George Bernard Shaw photo

“He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.”

George Bernard Shaw Major Barbara

Source: 1900s, Major Barbara (1905)

David Lloyd George photo

“A politician is a person with whose politics you don't agree; if you agree with him he's a statesman.”

David Lloyd George (1863–1945) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

As quoted in The British System of Government (1965) by Dilwyn Thomas
Undated

Alexander Mackenzie photo

“St. John Telegraph – he was loved by the people and his political opponents were compelled to respect him even above their own chosen leader. As a statesman, he has had few equals.”

Alexander Mackenzie (1822–1892) 2nd Prime Minister of Canada

Buckingham and Ross 1892, p. 660
His Character

W. Mark Felt photo

“He knows everything there is to know in the FBI. He has access to absolutely everything.”

W. Mark Felt (1913–2008) Whistleblower who exposed the Watergate scandal

H.R. Haldeman, White House chief of staff statement about Felt's suspected leaks in 1972 to Richard Nixon, to which Nixon replied, "Why in the hell would he do that?"

Halldór Laxness photo

“It's an old saying that one still has to know something, despite everything.”

Halldór Laxness book Kristnihald undir Jökli (bók)

Kristnihald undir Jökli (Under the Glacier/Christianity at Glacier) (1968)

“…everything has a past. Everything – a person, an object, a word, everything. If you don’t know the past, you can’t understand the present and plan properly for the future.”

Chaim Potok book Davita's Harp

Source: Davita's Harp

“Everything meant something, still, some meanings were revealed sooner than others. And that some were seemingly never revealed in no way disproved the fact.”

Avram Davidson (1923–1993) novelist

Vergil in Averno (1987)

Related topics