Anthony eden

Responding to the question "If Mr. Stalin dies, what will be the effect on international affairs?" That is a good question for you to ask, not a wise question for me to answer.

Every succeeding scientific discovery makes greater nonsense of old-time conceptions of sovereignty.

The free world has need that its foreign policies should fairly measure the realities of the world in which we live. There are certain principles to which we hold: the sanctity of treaties, good faith between nations, the interdependence of peoples from which no country, however powerful, can altogether escape.

Long experience has told me that to be criticized is not always to be wrong.

If we had allowed things to drift, everything would have gone from bad to worse. Nasser would have become a kind of Moslem Mussolini, and our friends in Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and even Iran would gradually have been brought down. His efforts would have spread westwards, and Libya and North Africa would have been brought under his control.

All prejudices are equally fatal to good government.

Man should be master of his environment, not its slave. That is what freedom means.

We have many times led Europe in the fight for freedom. It would be an ignoble end to our long history if we tamely accepted to perish by degrees.

The more the planners, the worse the plans.

No democratic world will work as it should work until we recognize that we can only enjoy any right so long as we are prepared to discharge its equivalent duty. This applies just as much to states in their dealing with one another as to individuals within the states.

Corruption never has been compulsory.

If you've broken the eggs, you should make the omelette.

It is a common happening that those in power, as their tenure of office continues, find themselves less and less able to contemplate relinquishing it.

Eden ha[s] put his country in a position where she sustained the greatest diplomatic reverse since Bismarck in similar circumstances had called Palmerston's bluff in the matter of Schleswig-Holstein...Further damage was done when Russia proved by her action in Spain, that she was not a good European as Mr. Eden had assured the world was the case.

Although [in 1937] we might still hope to prevent the divisions of Europe into Fascist and anti-Fascist camps, our real affinities and interests, strategic as well as political, lay with France, a fact which some of my colleagues were most reluctant to realise.

There is now doubt in our minds that Nasser, whether he likes it or not, is now effectively in Russian hands, just as Mussolini was in Hitler's. It would be as ineffective to show weakness to Nasser now in order to placate him as it was to show weakness to Mussolini.

Anthony's father was a mad baronet and his mother a very beautiful woman. That's Anthony-half mad baronet, half beautiful woman.

We are not at war with Egypt. We are in an armed conflict.

Our quarrel is not with Egypt, still less with the Arab world. It is with Colonel Nasser. He has shown that he is not a man who can be trusted to keep an agreement. Now he has torn up all his country's promises to the Suez Canal Company and has even gone back on his own statements.

Everyone is always in favour of general economy and particular expenditure.

You may gain temporary appeasement by a policy of concession to violence, but you do not gain lasting peace that way.

Slowly and painfully man is learning that he must do unto others what he would have them do to him.

The worst of being sacked is you can never find your car.

Nothing is more destructive of human dignity than a rule which imposes a mute and blind obedience.

We best avoid wars by taking even physical action to stop small ones.

I am one of a rare breed of true politicians who definitely say what they may or may not mean with absolute certainty.

We cannot agree that an act of plunder which threatens the livelihood of many nations should be allowed to succeed.

Drift is the demon of democracy.

Author details

Anthony Eden: Biography and Life Work

Anthony Eden was a notable British politician and military officer. The story of Anthony Eden began on 12 June 1897 in Rushyford, County Durham, England. The legacy of Anthony Eden continues today, following their passing on 14 January 1977 in Alvediston, Wiltshire.

Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977), was a British politician and military officer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 until his resignation in 1957.

Legacy and Personal Influence

Academic foundations were established at Eton College. Personally, Anthony Eden was married to Beatrice Beckett (divorced), Clarissa Spencer-Churchill.

Philosophical Views and Reflections

Eden had grave misgivings about American foreign policy under Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and President Dwight D. Eisenhower . As early as March 1953, Eisenhower was concerned at the escalating costs of defence and the increase of state power that it would bring. Eden was irked by Dulles's policy of " brinkmanship ", the display of muscle, in relations with the communist world . In particular, both had heated exchanges with one another regarding the proposed American aerial strike operation ( Vulture ) to try to save the beleaguered French Union garrison at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in early 1954. The operation was cancelled, in part, because of Eden's refusal to commit to it for fear of Chinese intervention and ultimately a third world war . Dulles then walked out early in the Geneva Conference talks and was critical of the American decision not to sign it. Nevertheless, the success of the conference ranked as the outstanding achievement of Eden's third term in the Foreign Office . During the summer and autumn of 1954, the Anglo-Egyptian agreement to withdraw all British forces from Egypt was also negotiated and ratified.

Personal and political papers of Anthony Eden and papers of the Eden family can be found at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham in the Avon Papers collection. A collection of letters and other papers relating to Anthony Eden can also be found at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.

EQ
Empery Quotes
Inspire · Reflect · Repeat