Classic quotes and observations on coalition governments

• Margaret Thatcher, James Cagney and Napoleon all had their thoughts on coalition government

"The poor man who enters into a partnership with one who is rich makes a risky venture"

Ancient Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus

"First in a village than second at Rome"

Julius Caesar

"Alliances, to be sure, are good, but forces of one's own are still better"

Frederick William of Brandenburg (the Great Elector)

"We (Boswell and Johnson] are both Tories; both lovers of loyalty, a principle which I take to be absolutely extinguished in Britain"

Diarist James Boswell

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. Twas never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide"

Second US president John Adams

"It is better to have a known enemy than a forced ally"

Napoleon

"The allies we gain by victory will turn against us upon the bare whisper of defeat"

Napoleon

"The best way to keep one's word is not to give it"

Napoleon

"Necessity never made a good bargain"

Benjamin Franklin

"We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately"

Benjamin Franklin

"Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none"

Thomas Jefferson

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free"

Abraham Lincoln

"England does not love coalitions"

Benjamin Disraeli

"There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour"

Benjamin Disraeli

"A majority is always better than the best repartee"

Benjamin Disraeli

"It destroys one's nerves to be amiable every day to the same human being"

Benjamin Disraeli

"The most dangerous foe to truth and freedom in our midst is the compact majority. Yes, the damned compact liberal majority"

Henrik Ibsen

"If you want to win her hand/Let the maiden understand/That she's not the only pebble on the beach"

Songwriter Harry Braisted

"A married couple are well suited when both feel the need for an argument at the same time"

Biologist and philosopher Jean Rostand

"I respect fidelity to colleagues even though they are fit for the hangman"

Political theorist Harold Laski

"The true meaning of unified command is not to give orders but to make suggestions"

Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch, 1931

"In war I would deal with the devil and his grandmother"

Stalin

"Even Napoleon's reputation suffered when students came to realise he always fought against coalitions – and therefore against divided counsels and diverse political, economic and military interests"

General Dwight D Eisenhower

"Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but co-operation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off"

Franklin D. Roosevelt

"It is not always possible to have everything go as one likes. In working with allies, it sometimes happens that they develop opinions of their own"

Sir Winson Churchill

"War without allies is bad enough – with allies it is hell"

Air Marshal Sir John Slessor

"I don't want loyalty. I want loyalty. I want him to kiss my ass in Macy's window at high noon and tell me it smells like roses. I want his pecker in my pocket."

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author David Halberstam

"Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it politic? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: is it right?

Martin Luther King

"Expediency is everything"

Watergate lawyer John Dean

"Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates"

Gore Vidal

"I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end"

Margaret Thatcher

"You dirty, double-crossing rat"

James Cagney