Thomas B. Macaulay
Thomas B. Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, PCwas a British historian and Whig politician. He wrote extensively as an essayist and reviewer; his books on British history have been hailed as literary masterpieces. He was a member of the Babington family by virtue of his aunt's marriage to Thomas Babington...
past men views
Those who compare the age in which their lot has fallen with a golden age which exists only in imagination, may talk of degeneracy and decay; but no man who is correctly informed as to the past, will be disposed to take a morose or desponding view of the present.
spring expression ideas
Propriety of thought and propriety of diction are commonly found together. Obscurity and affectation are the two greatest faults of style. Obscurity of expression generally springs from confusion of ideas; and the same wish to dazzle, at any cost, which produces affectation in the manner of a writer, is likely to produce sophistry in his reasonings.
history may incidents
A history in which every particular incident may be true may on the whole be false.
character evil despair
A vice sanctioned by the general opinion is merely a vice. The evil terminates in itself. A vice condemned by the general opinion produces a pernicious effect on the whole character. The former is a local malady; the latter, constitutional taint. When the reputation of the offender is lost, he too often flings the remainder of his virtue after it in despair.
drama real character
The real object of the drama is the exhibition of human character.
imagination advancement creation
Generalization is necessary to the advancement of knowledge; but particularity is indispensable to the creations of the imagination.
hate war fighting
War is never lenient but where it is wanton; where men are compelled to fight in self-defence, they must hate and avenge. This may be bad, but it is human nature; it is the clay as it came from the hands of the Potter.
pain religion bears
The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.
poetry age genius
We hold that the most wonderful and splendid proof of genius is a great poem produced in a civilized age.
country mean fate
Scotland by no means escaped the fate ordained for every country which is connected, but not incorporated, with another country of greater resources.
dream men progress
If any person had told the Parliament which met in terror and perplexity after the crash of 1720 that in 1830 the wealth of England would surpass all their wildest dreams, that the annual revenue would equal the principal of that debt which they considered an intolerable burden, that for one man of
philosophy men should
To sum up the whole, we should say that the aim of the Platonic philosophy was to exalt man into a god.
evil produce cures
There is only one cure for the evils which newly acquired freedom produces, and that cure is freedom.
ignorance learning half
Half-knowledge is worse than ignorance.