All Thomas B. Macaulay Quotes
- It may be laid as an universal rule that a government which attempts more than it ought will perform less. Attempts
- To punish a man because he has committed a crime, or because he is believed, though unjustly, to have committed a crime, is not persecution.… Believed
- A system in which the two great commandments are to hate your neighbor and to love your neighbor's wife. Commandments
- In that temple of silence and reconciliation where the enmities of twenty generations lie buried, in the great Abbey which has during many ages afforded… Abbey
- The best portraits are those in which there is a slight mixture of caricature. Best
- None of the modes by which a magistrate is appointed, popular election, the accident of the lot, or the accident of birth, affords, as far… Accident
- The maxim, that governments ought to train the people in the way in which they should go, sounds well. But is there any reason for… Any
- Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely. Discuss
- And to say that society ought to be governed by the opinion of the wisest and best, though true, is useless. Whose opinion is to… Best
- 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… Birth
- There is surely no contradiction in saying that a certain section of the community may be quite competent to protect the persons and property of… Certain
- [I can] scarcely write upon mathematics or mathematicians. Oh for words to express my abomination of the science. Abomination
- The effect of violent dislike between groups has always created an indifference to the welfare and honor of the state. Always Created
- With the dead there is no rivalry, with the dead there is no change. Aging
- The English doctrine that all power is a trust for the public good. All
- She thoroughly understands what no other Church has ever understood, how to deal with enthusiasts. Catholicism
- Language, the machine of the poet, is best fitted for his purpose in its rudest state. Nations, like individuals, first perceive, and then abstract. They… Abstract
- A good constitution is infinitely better than the best despot. Best
- The reluctant obedience of distant provinces generally costs more than it - The Territory is worth. Empires which branch out widely are often more flourishing… Branch
- We must judge a government by its general tendencies and not by its happy accidents. Accidents
- Knowledge advances by steps, and not by leaps. Advances
- Your Constitution is all sail and no anchor. All
- The English Bible - a book which, if everything else in our language should perish, would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its… Alone
- The object of oratory alone in not truth, but persuasion. Alone
- Few of the many wise apothegms which have been uttered have prevented a single foolish action. Action