J. C. Macaulay Quotes

The hearts of men are their books; events are their tutors; great actions are their eloquence.

It is good to be often reminded of the inconsistency of human nature, and to learn to look without wonder or disgust on the weaknesses which are found in the strongest minds.

Everybody's business is nobody's business.

I don't mind your thinking slowly; I mind your publishing faster than you think.

She thoroughly understands what no other Church has ever understood, how to deal with enthusiasts.

I shall cheerfully bear the reproach of having descended below the dignity of history.

The reluctant obedience of distant provinces generally costs more than it - The Territory is worth. Empires which branch out widely are often more flourishing for a little timely pruning.

The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners.

History distinguishes what is accidental and transitory in human nature from what is essential and immutable.

Reform, that we may preserve.

The effect of violent dislike between groups has always created an indifference to the welfare and honor of the state.

Logicians may reason about abstractions. But the great mass of men must have images. The strong tendency of the multitude in all ages and nations to idolatry can be explained on no other principle.

In Plato's opinion, man was made for philosophy; in Bacon's opinion, philosophy was made for man.

A church is disaffected when it is persecuted, quiet when it is tolerated, and actively loyal when it is favored and cherished.

History begins in novel and ends in essay.

Turn where we may, within, around, the voice of great events is proclaiming to us, Reform, that you may preserve!

How well Horatius kept the bridge In the brave days of old.

The whole history of Christianity proves that she has little indeed to fear from persecution as a foe, but much to fear from persecution as an ally.

He [Charles II] was utterly without ambition. He detested business, and would sooner have abdicated his crown than have undergone the trouble of really directing the administration.

A system in which the two great commandments are to hate your neighbor and to love your neighbor's wife.

The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm.

The English doctrine that all power is a trust for the public good.

We must judge of a form of government by it's general tendency, not by happy accidents

People who take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants.

Not sure if I need a glass of wine or a gun or both.

For some time now, I have been encouraging people to ask themselves why things look the way they do.

Repentance may be old-fashioned, but it is not outdated so long as there is sin.

I hope people don't think I'm crazy, because I'm not.

I enjoy my life. I think I have a very good life. And I think I'm very satisfied with the direction of my career and just my lifestyle and everything like that. So I wouldn't change a single thing.

To be prejudiced is the privilege of the thinking human being. ... The open mind is the empty mind.

God very seldom succeeds. He has very nearly everything against him, of course.

Mozart is everyone's tea, pleasing to highbrows, middlebrows and lowbrows alike, though they probably all get different kinds of pleasure from him.

No man in the world acts up to his own standard of right.

Genius is subject to the same laws which regulate the production of cotton and molasses.

The real object of the drama is the exhibition of human character.

The sweeter sound of woman's praise.

I'd tell you to go to hell but I don't want to see you again.

Nothing, perhaps, is strange, once you have accepted life itself, the great strange business which includes all lesser strangeness.

One never feels such distaste for one's countrymen and countrywomen as when one meets them abroad.

Even the law of gravitation would be brought into dispute were there a pecuniary interest involved.

Books are becoming everything to me. If I had at this moment any choice in life, I would bury myself in one of those immense libraries...and never pass a waking hour without a book before me.

We never could clearly understand how it is that egotism, so unpopular in conversation, should be so popular in writing.

Nobles by the right of an earlier creation, and priests by the imposition of a mightier hand.

More sinners are cursed at not because we despise their sins but because we envy their success at sinning.

In every age the vilest specimens of human nature are to be found among demagogues.

Shakespeare has had neither equal nor second.

The English Bible - a book which, if everything else in our language should perish, would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power.

As civilization advances, poetry almost necessarily declines.

Occasionally, I just need to escape from my work or be reminded of the comparative bliss of my own life, so I pick up a novel.

Making books is hard work. Some books are, of course, more demanding than others.