I loathe all political parties, which I regard as inventions of the devil. My favourite prime minister was Sir Alec Douglas-Home, not because he was on the Right, but because he spent a year in office without, on his own admission, doing a damned thing.

George MacDonald Fraser

Categorized in : Doing Own Political Devil

The two pillars of 'political correctness' are, a) willful ignorance, and b) a steadfast refusal to face the truth.

George MacDonald Fraser

political ignorance two

Looking back over sixty-odd years, life is like a piece of string with knots in it, the knots being those moments that live in the mind forever, and the intervals being hazy, half-recalled times when I have a fair idea of what was happenng, in a general way, but cannot be sure of dates or places or even the exact order in which events took place.

George MacDonald Fraser

order years ideas

If anything she was a shade too plump, but she knew the ninety-seven ways of making love that the Hindus are supposed to set much store by―though mind you, it is all nonsense, for the seventy-fourth position turns out to be the same as the seventy-third, but with your fingers crossed.

George MacDonald Fraser

shade making-love mind

I've been a Danish prince, a Texas slave-dealer, an Arab sheik, a Cheyenne Dog Soldier, and a Yankee navy lieutenant in my time, among other things, and none of 'em was as hard to sustain as my lifetime's impersonation of a British officer and gentleman.

George MacDonald Fraser

yankees texas dog

There's a point, you know, where treachery is so complete and unashamed that it becomes statesmanship.

George MacDonald Fraser

statesmanship treachery knows

I'm as religious as the next man - which is to say I'll keep in with the local parson for form's sake and read the lessons on feast-days because my tenants expect it, but I've never been fool enough to confuse religion with belief in God. That's where so many clergymen... go wrong

George MacDonald Fraser

lessons religious men

In times of horror and torment prayer is a great thing Nobody answers But at least it stops you from thinking.

George MacDonald Fraser

prayer answers thinking

It may be tripe, but it's my tripe - and I do urge other authors to resist encroachments on their brain-children and trust their own judgment rather than that of some zealous meddler with a diploma in creative punctuation who is just dying to get into the act.

George MacDonald Fraser

some own trust creative

I think little of people who will deny their history because it doesn't present the picture they would like.

George MacDonald Fraser

picture think history people

Political correctness is about denial, usually in the weasel circumlocutory jargon which distorts and evades and seldom stands up to honest analysis.

George MacDonald Fraser

political-correctness honest political

I'm rather a cynic, I suppose. I do not believe in the niceness o... by George MacDonald Fraser

I'm rather a cynic, I suppose. I do not believe in the niceness of humanity.

George MacDonald Fraser

suppose rather humanity believe

What is overlooked is the astonishing amount of history Hollywood has got right... For better or worse, nothing has been more influential in shaping our visions of the past than the commercial cinema.

George MacDonald Fraser

better cinema history past

Tony Blair is not just the worst prime minister we've ever had, but by far the worst prime minister we've ever had. It makes my blood boil to think of the British soldiers who've died for that little liar.

George MacDonald Fraser

liar soldiers think blood