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...
historical essentials human-nature
History distinguishes what is accidental and transitory in human nature from what is essential and immutable.
lasts tables produce
I shall not be satisfied unless I produce something which shall for a few days supersede the last fashionable novel on the tables of young ladies.
dust two drawing
A few more days, and this essay will follow the Defensio Populi to the dust and silence of the upper shelf... For a month or two it will occupy a few minutes of chat in every drawing-room, and a few columns in every magazine; and it will then be withdrawn, to make room for the forthcoming novelties.
wise men sage
Every man who has seen the world knows that nothing is so useless as a general maxim.... If, like those of Rochefoucault, it be sparkling and whimsical, it may make an excellent motto for an essay. But few, indeed, of the many wise apophthegms which have been uttered from the time of the Seven Sages of Greece to that of Poor Richard have prevented a single foolish action.
night men hypocrisy
A man who should act, for one day, on the supposition that all the people about him were influenced by the religion which they professed would find himself ruined by night.
religion society church
A church is disaffected when it is persecuted, quiet when it is tolerated, and actively loyal when it is favored and cherished.
war civilization citizens
It has often been found that profuse expenditures, heavy taxation, absurd commercial restrictions, corrupt tribunals, disastrous wars, seditions, persecutions, conflagrations, inundation, have not been able to destroy capital so fast as the exertions of private citizens have been able to create it.
religion awake hippopotamus
I have seen the hippopotamus, both asleep and awake; and I can assure you that, awake or asleep, he is the ugliest of the works of God.
oratory persuasion power-of-persuasion
The object of oratory alone in not truth, but persuasion.
god father men
And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods?
advertising making-money mint
Nothing except the mint can make money without advertising.
humor government broken
Nothing is so galling to a people not broken in from birth as a paternal, or, in other words, a meddling government, a government which tells them what to read, and say, and eat, and drink and wear.
mixtures portraits painting
The best portraits are those in which there is a slight mixture of caricature.
constitution despots
A good constitution is infinitely better than the best despot.