A.P. Herbert Quotes

The conception of two people living together for twenty-five years without having a cross word suggests a lack of spirit only to be admired in sheep

— A.P. Herbert

“Holy Mother we do believe,
That without sin Thou didst conceive;
May we now in Thee believing,
Also sin without conceiving.”

— A.P. Herbert

“A highbrow is the kind of person who looks at a sausage and thinks of Picasso.”

— A.P. Herbert

“The Englishman never enjoys himself except for a noble purpose.”

— A.P. Herbert

“People must not do things for fun. We are not here for fun. There is no reference to fun in any Act of Parliament.”

— A.P. Herbert

“The critical period of matrimony is breakfast-time.”

— A.P. Herbert

“I am sure that the party system is right and necessary. There must be some scum.”

— A.P. Herbert

“This high official, all allow, is grossly overpaid; there wasn't any Board, and now there isn't any Trade.”

— A.P. Herbert

The portions of a woman which appeal to man's depravity Are constructed with considerable care.

— A.P. Herbert

“Don't let's go to the dogs tonight, For mother will be there.”

— A.P. Herbert

Justice should be cheap but judges expensive.

— A.P. Herbert

“Well, fancy giving money to the Government! Might as well have put it down the drain.”

— A.P. Herbert

As my poor father used to say In 1963, Once people start on all this Art Goodbye, moralitee! And what my father used to say Is good enough for me.

— A.P. Herbert

“Elderly gentlemen, gentle in all respects, kind to animals, beloved by children, and fond of music, are found in lonely corners of the downs, hacking at sandpits or tussocks of grass, and muttering in a blind, ungovernable fury elaborate maledictions which could not be extracted from them by robbery or murder. Men who would face torture without a word become blasphemous at the short fourteenth. It is clear that the game of golf may well be included in that category of intolerable provocations which may legally excuse or mitigate behavior not otherwise excusable.”

— A.P. Herbert

“Citizens who take it upon themselves to do unusual actions which attract the attention of the police should be careful to bring these actions into one of the recognized categories of crimes and offences, for it is intolerable that the police should be put to the pains of inventing reasons for finding them undesirable.”

— A.P. Herbert

“An act of God was defined as something which no reasonable man could have expected.”

— A.P. Herbert

My ball is in a bunch of fern, A jolly place to be; An angry man is close astern- He waves his club at me. Well, let him wave-the sky is blue; Go on, old ball, we are but two-We may be down in three, Or nine-or ten-or twenty-five-It matters not; to be alive, Is good enough for me.

— A.P. Herbert

“A man who has made up his mind on a given subject twenty-five years ago and continues to hold his political opinions after he has been proved to be wrong is a man of principle; while he who from time to time adapts his opinions to the changing circumstances of life is an opportunist.”

— A.P. Herbert

“Men who would face torture without a word become blasphemous at the short fourteenth. It is clear that the game of golf may well be included in that category of intolerable provocations which may legally excuse or mitigate behaviour not otherwise excusable.”

— A.P. Herbert

“Let's stop somebody from doing something! Everybody does too much.”

— A.P. Herbert

“For I must write to The Times tonight, and save the world from sin.”

— A.P. Herbert

Aven, I have given up smoking again! ... God! I feel fit. Homicidal, but fit. A different man. Irritable, moody, depressed, rude, nervy, perhaps; but the lungs are fine.

— A.P. Herbert

The rain is plentious but, by God's decree,
Only a third is meant for you and me;
Two-thirds are taken by the growing things
Or vanish Heavenward on vapour's wings:
Nor does it mathematically fall
With social equity on one and all.
The population's habit is to grow
In every region where the water's low:
Nature is blamed for failings that are Man's,
And well-run rivers have to change their plans.

— A.P. Herbert

“Harriet, Hi! Light of my eye! Come to the pictures and have a good cry, For it's jolly old Saturday, Mad-as-a-hatter-day, Nothing-much-matter-day-night!”

— A.P. Herbert

“The Common Law of England has been laboriously built about a mythical figure-the figure of 'The Reasonable Man'.”

— A.P. Herbert

“There is no reason why a joke should not be appreciated more than once. Imagine how little good music there would be if, for example, a conductor refused to play Beethoven's Fifth Symphony on the ground that his audience might have heard it before.”

— A.P. Herbert

“The whole Constitution has been erected upon the assumption that the King not only is capable of doing wrong but is more likely to do wrong than other men if he is given the chance.”

— A.P. Herbert

A dull speaker, like a plain woman, is credited with all the virtues, for we charitably suppose that a surface so unattractive must be compensated by interior blessings.

— A.P. Herbert

“The essence of humour is surprise; that is why you laugh when you see a joke in Punch.”

— A.P. Herbert

Greenfly, it's difficult to see Why God, who made the rose, made thee.

— A.P. Herbert