Quote collection
547 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"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."
"Sir, very few people reach posterity. Who amongst us may arrive at that destination I presume not to vaticinate. Posterity is a most limited assembly. Those gentlemen who reach posterity are not much more numerous than the planets."
"There is no greater sin than to be trop prononce."
"An author can have nothing truly his own but his style."
"Whenever you see a man who is successful in society, try to discover what makes him pleasing, and if possible adopt his system."
"More pernicious nonsense was never devised by man than treaties of commerce."
"The fruit of my tree of knowledge is plucked, and it is this: “Adventures are to the adventurous.”"
"I am the blank page between the Old and the New Testament."
"What is earnest is not always true; on the contrary error is often more earnest than truth."
"Is it what you call civilization that makes England flourish? Is it the universal development of the faculties of man that has rendered an island, almost unknown to the ancients, the arbiter of the world? Clearly not. It is the inhabitants that have done this. It is an affair of race.... All is race, there is no other truth."
"Damn your principles! Stick to your party."
"At present the peace of the world has been preserved, not by statesmen, but by capitalists."
"There is a thread in our thoughts as there is a pulse in our feelings; he who can hold the one knows how to think, and he who can move the other knows how to feel."
"That doctrine of peace at any price has done more mischief than any I can well recall that have been afloat in this country. It has occasioned more wars than any of the most ruthless conquerors. It has disturbed and nearly destroyed that political equilibrium so necessary to the liberties and the welfare of the world."
"He was one of these men who think that the world can be saved by writing a pamphlet."
"Extreme views are never just; something always turns up which disturbs the calculations formed upon their data."
"We make our own fortune and call it destiny."
"A realist is a man who insists on making the same mistakes his grandfather did."
"Great revolutions, whatever may be their causes, are not lightly commenced, and are not concluded with precipitation."
"Though I sit down now, the time will come whenyou will hear me."