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date: 07 February 2025

David Lloyd George 1863–1945
British Liberal statesman; Prime Minister, 1916–22 

  1. You cannot feed the hungry on statistics.
    speech, House of Commons, 1904
  2. The leal and trusty mastiff which is to watch over our interests, but which runs away at the first snarl of the trade unions…A mastiff? It is the right hon. Gentleman's poodle.
    on the House of Lords and A. J. Balfour respectively
    in the House of Commons, 26 June 1907
  3. A fully-equipped duke costs as much to keep up as two Dreadnoughts; and dukes are just as great a terror and they last longer.
    speech at Newcastle, 9 October 1909
  4. At eleven o'clock this morning came to an end the cruellest and most terrible war that has ever scourged mankind. I hope we may say that thus, this fateful morning, came to an end all wars.
    speech in the House of Commons, 11 November 1918; see Wells
  5. What is our task? To make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in.
    speech at Wolverhampton, 23 November 1918
  6. The finest eloquence is that which gets things done and the worst is that which delays them.
    speech at Paris Peace Conference, 18 January 1919
  7. If you want to succeed in politics, you must keep your conscience well under control.
    Lord Riddell, diary, 23 April 1919
  8. He will be just like the scent on a pocket handkerchief.
    on being asked what place Arthur Balfour would have in history
    Thomas Jones diary, 9 June 1922
  9. Death is the most convenient time to tax rich people.
    in Lord Riddell's Intimate Diary of the Peace Conference and After, 1918–23 (1933)
  10. Negotiating with de Valera…is like trying to pick up mercury with a fork.
    to which de Valera replied, ‘Why doesn't he use a spoon?’
    M. J. MacManus Eamon de Valera (1944) ch. 6
  11. Sufficient conscience to bother him, but not sufficient to keep him straight.
    of Ramsay MacDonald
    A. J. Sylvester Life with Lloyd George (1975)