QuotesCosmos
A. J. Sylvester, diary entry (22 April 1933), quoted in Life with Lloyd George: The Diary of A. J. Sylvester, 1931–45, ed. Colin Cross (1975), p. 95
“

[David Lloyd George] made a strong defence of F. E. Smith. Somehow or other he always thrusted the worst side of his nature on to the public, whereas he was a man of sterling character and one of the finest he had ever known... When L[loyd] G[eorge] made him Lord Chancellor, there were a number of important people, including judges, who "thought I made a great mistake". But some time afterwards two judges, one of whom was Lord Dunedin, came and said: "When you made Birkenhead Lord Chancellor, we frankly thought you had made a great mistake. We now see you were right and we were wrong. He is the best Lord Chancellor we have ever had".

— A. J. Sylvester

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "[David Lloyd George] made a strong defence of F. E. Smith. Somehow or other he always thrusted the worst side of his nature on to the public, whereas he was a man of sterling character and one of the finest he had ever known... When L[loyd] G[eorge] made him Lord Chancellor, there were a number of important people, including judges, who "thought I made a great mistake". But some time afterwards two judges, one of whom was Lord Dunedin, came and said: "When you made Birkenhead Lord Chancellor, we frankly thought you had made a great mistake. We now see you were right and we were wrong. He is the best Lord Chancellor we have ever had"." in the context of "A. J. Sylvester, diary entry (22 April 1933), quoted in Life with Lloyd George: The Diary of A. J. Sylvester, 1931–45, ed. Colin Cross (1975), p. 95" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead" (Quotes about Smith) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

Tags

#F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead#lord#chancellor#thought#mistake#george#judges#lloyd#great#ever#afterwards#birkenhead

About F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead

Frederick Edwin Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead, GCSI, PC (12 July 1872 – 30 September 1930) was a British Conservative statesman and lawyer of the early 20th century. He was a skilled orator, noted for his staunch opposition to Irish nationalism, his wit, pugnacious views, and hard living and drinking. He is perhaps best remembered today as Winston Churchill's greatest personal and political friend until Smith's untimely death at age 58.