Quotes of the day

"We always have been, we are, and I hope that we always shall be, detested in France."

(Attributed to the first Duke of Wellington in Wellington and His Friends (1965) by his descendant Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington, p. 138, and in The Economist (16 June 2005). The Duke had, of course, spent most of his adult life at war with France, and the statement is quoted to show that disagreements with our neighbours on the other side of the channel have a long history, not to suggest that this is a good thing.)

"I should have given more praise."

(As quoted in A History of Warfare (1968) by Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein: "Sir Winston Churchill once told me of a reply made by the Duke of Wellington, in his last years, when a friend asked him: "If you had your life over again, is there any way in which you could have done better?" The old Duke replied: "Yes, I should have given more praise.")

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