One of the characteristics of modern political life is its professionalization, such that it attracts mainly the kind of people with so great an avidity for power and self-importance that they do not mind very much the humiliations of the public exposure to which they are inevitably subjected. - Theodore Dalrymple
Demonstrative proof is lacking, but if we thought only about those things about which such proof were available, our minds would be empty most of the time. - Theodore Dalrymple
There is nothing that an intellectual less likes to change than his mind, or a politician his policy. - Theodore Dalrymple
I have the not altogether unsatisfying impression that civilisation is collapsing around me.Is it my age, I wonder, or the age we live in? I am not sure. Civilisations do collapse, after all, but on the other hand people grow old with rather greater frequency. - Theodore Dalrymple
Feeling good about yourself is not the same thing as doing good. Good policy is more important than good feelings. - Theodore Dalrymple
To regret religion is to regret Western civilization. - Theodore Dalrymple
Facts are much more malleable than prejudices. - Theodore Dalrymple