Margot Asquith
» America » “It is always dangerous to generalize, but the American people, while infinitely generous, are a hard and strong race and, but for the few cemeteries I have seen, I am inclined to think they never die.”
» Genius » “There are big men, men of intellect, intellectual men, men of talent and men of action; but the great man is difficult to find, and it needs –apart from discernment –a certain greatness to find him.”
» Greatness » “The first element of greatness is fundamental humbleness (this should not be confused with servility); the second is freedom from self; the third is intrepid courage, which, taken in its widest interpretation, generally goes with truth; and the fourth –the power to love –although I have put it last, is the rarest.”
» Journalism and Journalists » “Journalism over here is not only an obsession but a drawback that cannot be overrated. Politicians are frightened of the press, and in the same way as bull-fighting has a brutalizing effect upon Spain (of which she is unconscious), headlines of murder, rape, and rubbish, excite and demoralize the American public.”
» Liberty » “The ingrained idea that, because there is no king and they despise titles, the Americans are a free people is pathetically untrue. There is a perpetual interference with personal liberty over there that would not be tolerated in England for a week.”
» Marriage » “To marry a man out of pity is folly; and, if you think you are going to influence the kind of fellow who has ”never had a chance, poor devil,” you are profoundly mistaken. One can only influence the strong characters in life, not the weak; and it is the height of vanity to suppose that you can make an honest man of anyone.”
» Politicians and Politics » “He could not see a belt without hitting below it.”
» War » “From the happy expression on their faces you might have supposed that they welcomed the war. I have met with men who loved stamps, and stones, and snakes, but I could not imagine any man loving war.”
