"The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be preserved by quotation."
I love quotes so thought I'd start a series of postings on here offering my selection of quotes by various interesting characters. I might as well start with the man behind the quote above, Benjamin Disraeli - author and Conservative Prime Minister from the Victorian era:
Never apologise for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologise for truth.
I am a Conservative to preserve all that is good in our constitution, a Radical to remove all that is bad. I seek to preserve property and to respect order, and I equally decry the appeal to the passions of the many or the prejudices of the few.
As a general rule the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.
The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians.
Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets. The rich and the poor.
Nurture your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes.
Justice is truth in action.
Power has only one duty - to secure the social welfare of the People.Bore: one who has the power of speech but not the capacity for conversation.
He was one of those men who think that the world can be saved by writing a pamphlet.I repeat...that all power is a trust; that we are accountable for its exercise; that from the people, and for the people all springs, and all must exist.
Individuals may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.
It is knowledge that influences and equalizes the social condition of man; that gives to all, however different their political position, passions which are in common, and enjoyments which are universal.
Grief is the agony of an instant, the indulgence of grief the blunder of a life.
You can tell the strength of a nation by the women behind its men.
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
No man is regular in his attendance at the House of Commons until he is married.
The best security for civilization is the dwelling, and upon properly appointed and becoming dwellings depends, more than anything else, the improvement of mankind.
My objection to Liberalism is this that it is the introduction into the practical business of life of the highest kind namely, politics of philosophical ideas instead of political principles.
Great countries are those that produce great people.
The right honourable gentleman caught the Whigs bathing, and walked away with their clothes. He has left them in the full enjoyment of their liberal positions, and he is himself a strict conservative of their garments.
The very phrase 'foreign affairs' makes an Englishman convinced that I am about to treat of subjects with which he has no concern.
Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.
The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.
Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.
Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principle, disavows Progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparation for the future.
The difference of race is one of the reasons why I fear war may always exist; because race implies difference, difference implies superiority, and superiority leads to predominance.
The most dangerous strategy is to jump a chasm in two leaps.
Almost everything that is great has been done by youth.
The secret of success is constancy of purpose.
When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken.
To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge.
A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy.
How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.
Please add any favourites of yours that I haven't included...
