Powerful empires existed and flourished here while Englishmen were still wandering painted in the woods, and when the British Colonies were wildernes… - George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston

It is not one, I think, of which we have any cause to be ashamed. We have endeavoured to exercise a steadying and moderating influence in the politics of the world, and I think and hope that we have conveyed not merely the impression, but the conviction that, whatever other Governments or countries may do, the British Government is never untrue to its word, is never disloyal to its colleagues or its allies, never does anything underhand or mean; and if this conviction be widespread, as I believe it to be, that is the real basis of the moral authority which the British Empire has long exerted and, I believe, will long continue to exert in the affairs of mankind.

[Frenchmen] are not the sort of people one would go tiger-shooting with.

No one believes more firmly than we do that the safety and welfare of India depend on the permanence of British administration.