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Quotes by Macaulay
38 quotations from The Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations (1896), with the subject each one is filed under.
He was utterly without ambition [Chas. II.]. He detested business, and would sooner have abdicated his crown than have undergone the trouble of really directing the administration.— filed under Abdication
Pope's trans. He had a head which statuaries loved to copy, and a foot the deformity of which the beggars in the streets mimicked.— filed under Appearance
That wonderful book, while it obtains admiration from the most fastidious critics, is loved by those who are too simple to admire it.— filed under Books
How well Horatius kept the bridge In the brave days of old.— filed under Bravery
And the chief-justice was rich, quiet, and infamous.— filed under Character
We hardly know any instance of the strength and weakness of human nature so striking and so grotesque as the character of this haughty, vigilant, resolute, sagacious blue-stocking, half Mithridates and half Trissotin, bearing up against a world in arms, with an ounce of poison in one pocket and a quire of bad verses in the other.— filed under Character
Jeremiah VII. And she (the Roman Catholic Church) may still exist in undiminished vigor, when some traveller from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's.— filed under Churches
Men of great conversational powers almost universally practise a sort of lively sophistry and exaggeration which deceives for the moment both themselves and their auditors.— filed under Conversation
In truth it may be laid down as an almost universal rule that good poets are bad critics.— filed under Criticism
Italian Writers. Dante. The opinion of the great body of the reading public is very materially influenced even by the unsupported assertions of those who assume a right to criticise.— filed under Criticism
The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.— filed under Cruelty
To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late, And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers And the temples of his gods?— filed under Death
Cut off my head, and singular I am, Cut off my tail, and plural I appear; Although my middle's left, there's nothing there! What is my head cut off? A sounding sea; What is my tail cut off? A rushing river; And in their mingling depths I fearless play, Parent of sweetest sounds, yet mute forever.— filed under Fish
The First Violets. She (the R. C. Church) may still exist in undiminished vigour when some traveller from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's.— filed under Futurity
That is the best government which desires to make the people happy, and knows how to make them happy.— filed under Prince De Ligne
I shall cheerfully bear the reproach of having descended below the dignity of history.— filed under History
His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. It enabled him to run, though not to soar.— filed under Imagination
The kiss, in which he half forgets even such a yoke as yours. S.— filed under Kisses
A kind of semi-Solomon, half-knowing everything, from the cedar to the hyssop.— filed under Knowledge
Pope's trans. *** Aman of the world amongst men of letters, a man of letters amongst men of the world.— filed under Literature
But thou, through good and evil, praise and blame, Wilt not thou love me for myself alone? Yes, thou wilt love me with exceeding love, And I will tenfold all that love repay; Still smiling, though the tender may reprove, Still faithful, though the trusted may betray.— filed under Love
The hearts of men are their books; events are their tutors; great actions are their eloquence.— filed under Man
The conformation of his mind was such, that whatever was little seemed to him great, and whatever was great seemed to him little— filed under Mind
We know no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality.— filed under Morality
Out of his surname they have coined an epithet for a knave, and out of his Christian name a synonyme for the Devil.— filed under Name
Princeps. There were gentlemen and there were seamen in the navy of Charles the Second. But the seamen were not gentlemen; and the gentlemen were not seamen.— filed under Occupations-Navigation
The object of oratory alone is not truth, but persuasion.— filed under Oratory
And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers And the temple of his gods?— filed under Patriotism
The merit of poetry, in its wildest forms, still consists in its truth-truth conveyed to the understanding, not directly by the words, but circuitously by means of imaginative associations, which serve as its conductors.— filed under Poetry
Orators. We hold that the most wonderful and splendid proof of genius is a great poem produced in a civilized age.— filed under Poetry
Free trade, one of the greatest blessings which a government can confer on a people, is in almost every country unpopular.— filed under Politics
The sweeter sound of woman's praise.— filed under Praise
Ye diners out from whom we guard our spoons.— filed under Prudence
Psalm. The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.— filed under Religion
A system in which the two great commandments were, to hate your neighbour and to love your neighbour's wife.— filed under Society
Then none was for a party; Then all were for the state; Then the great man helped the poor, great : And the poor man loved the : Then lands were fairly portioned; Then spoils were fairly sold The Romans were like brothers In the brave days of old. .— filed under Unkindness
Oh! wherefore come ye forth in triumph from the North, With your hands and your feet, and your raiment all red? And wherefore doth your rout send forth a joyous shout? And whence be the grapes of the wine-press which ye tread?— filed under War
The most beautiful object in the world, it will be allowed, is a beautiful woman.— filed under Sam'L Johnson-Seward's