Diplomacy is unfashionable in the world of knee-jerk reaction and the dogmatic sound bite on television.

- Douglas Hurd

Ten Downing Street is a house, not an office. That is its most important characteristic.

- Douglas Hurd

People know they are lacking something, they are constantly wanting some kind of spiritual guidance.

- Douglas Hurd

People are very interested in politics, they just don't like it labelled 'politics'.

- Douglas Hurd

History provides no precise guidelines.

- Douglas Hurd

But Germany will always suffer, I fear, from the intensely dramatic character of the crimes of the Third Reich.

- Douglas Hurd

War on Iraq runs the risk of turning the Middle East into an inexhaustible recruiting ground for anti- western terrorism.

- Douglas Hurd

We should be wary of politicians who profess to follow history while only noticing those signposts of history that point in the direction which they …

- Douglas Hurd

There are thus great swathes of the past where understanding is more important and reputable than judgement, because the principal actors performed i…

- Douglas Hurd