David Lloyd George

The finest eloquence is that which gets things done; the worst is that which delays them.

[T]he question of indemnity. (Cheers.) Who is to foot the bill? (A voice—“Germany.”) I am again going to talk to you quite frankly about this. By the jurisprudence of every civilized country in the world, in any lawsuit the loser pays. It …

Trial of the Kaiser; punishment of those responsible for atrocities; fullest indemnities from Germany; Britain for the British, socially and industrially; rehabilitation of those broken in the war; and a happier country for all.

What is our task? To make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in.

Diplomats were invented simply to waste time.

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.

Great Britain would spend her last guinea to keep a navy superior to that of the United States or any other power.

I have always stood during the whole of my life for the under-dog. I have not changed, and am going still to fight his battle.

No democracy has ever long survived the failure of its adherents to be ready to die for it....My own conviction is this, the people must either go on or go under.

I feel I can't go on with this bloody business: I would rather resign.

If anything were required to convert me to the need for Scottish Home Rule, I think it was that solitary experience I had upon a Private Bill Committee... [P]urely local, and if I may say purely provincial questions ought to be delegated …

[Proportional representation is a] device for defeating democracy, the principle of which was that the majority should rule, and for bringing faddists of all kinds into Parliament, and establishing groups and disintegrating parties.

It is impossible in words to describe our sense of gratitude and the thrill of pride with which we always think about the way in which the Empire came to our assistance when we risked the life of these islands upon the struggle for liberty …

[Lloyd George] was very pleased last night, for he had given the soldiers a dressing-down in the morning. He was dealing with Haig's demand for more men & informed them that Haig would get no more than had already been decided upon. 'He …

The men and women of this country will be burnt into fine building material for the new Britain in the fiery kilns of the war.

The old hide-bound Liberalism was played out; the Newcastle programme [of 1891] had been realised. The task now was to build up the country.

He won't fight the Germans but he will fight for Office.

The fight must be to a finish—to a knock-out.

I have always been sympathetic to the claims of Ulster, and as a Protestant Nonconformist I have a thorough appreciation of the Ulster anxieties about Home Rule.

What we stint in materials we squander in lives... What you spare in money you spill in blood.

You have practically taken over the whole of the engineering works of this country and controlled them by the State. I have seen resolutions passed from time to time at Trade Union Congresses [laughter] about nationalising the industries …

The Government can lose the war without you; they cannot win it without you.

The Government were on the look-out for a good, strong business man, with some push and go in him, who will be able to put the thing through.

A ramshackle old empire.