Bernard Levin Quotations

Because tobacco is responsible for an impressive one-third of cancers, prevention efforts naturally begin with it.

No amount of manifest absurdity... could deter those who wanted to believe from believing.

Ask a man which way he is going to vote, and he will probably tell you. Ask him, however, why, and vagueness is all.

What has happened to architecture since the second world war that the only passers-by who can contemplate it without pain are those equipped with a white stick and a dog?

Once, when a British Prime Minister sneezed, men half a world away would blow their noses. Now when a British Prime Minister sneezes nobody else will even say 'Bless You'.

Let us never allow ourselves to think that poverty is an excuse for an invitation to totalitarianism, and if we should be tempted to think as much, let us remind ourselves that totalitarianism not only extinguishes liberty but institutionalises poverty as well

It is assumed that when anyone gets into debt, the fault is entirely and always the fault of the lender.

Whom the mad would destroy, first they make gods.

The cure for mixed metaphors, I have always found, is for the patient to be obliged to draw a picture of the result.

The less the power, the greater the desire to exercise it.

The Stag at Bay with the mentality of a fox at large.

I suppose we all tend to remember only the happiness from our childhood, as a sundial refuses to tell the time except in fine weather.

If we expected self-reliance of family groups, if we expected hardiness and resilience and initiative on the part of individuals, and if we rewarded initiative instead of dependence on government, we would not only ameliorate many of the family-related social problems we see at present, but we would also reduce our vulnerability to terrorism. People who are hardy, resilient, and self reliant are a lot harder to terrorize.

Countries like ours are full of people who have all of the material comforts they desire, yet lead lives of quiet (and at times noisy) desperation, understanding nothing but the fact that there is a hole inside them and that however much food and drink they pour into it, however many motorcars and television sets they stuff it with, however many well-balanced children and loyal friends they parade around the edges of it. . . it aches!

In every age of transition men are never so firmly bound to one way of life as when they are about to abandon it.

Prevention is very broad. It is not just prevention of cancer development, but includes advances in diagnosis and treatment that reduce suffering and mortality from the disease.

No amount of manifest absurdity . . . could deter those who wanted to believe from believing.