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How Very Seldom Do You Encounter In The World A Man Of Great Abilities, Acquirements, Experience, Who Will Unmask His Mind, Unbutton His Brains, And Pour Forth In Careless And Picturesque Phrase All The Results Of His Studies And Observation; His Knowledge Of Men, Books, And Nature. On The Contrary, If A Man Has By Any Chance An Original Idea, He Hoards It As If It Were Old Gold; And Rather Avoids The Subject With Which He Is Most Conversant, From Fear That You May Appropriate His Best Thoughts.

-Benjamin Disraeli

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How Very Seldom Do

Benjamin Disraeli

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How Very Seldom Do You Encounter In The World A Man Of Great Abilities, Acquirements, Experience, Who Will Unmask His Mind, Unbutton His Brains, And Pour Forth In Careless And Picturesque Phrase All The Results Of His Studies And Observation; His Knowledge Of Men, Books, And Nature. On The Contrary, If A Man Has By Any Chance An Original Idea, He Hoards It As If It Were Old Gold; And Rather Avoids The Subject With Which He Is Most Conversant, From Fear That You May Appropriate His Best Thoughts.

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What Appear To Be Calamities Are Often The Sources Of Fortune.

Women Carry A Beautiful Hand With Them To The Grave, When A Beautiful Face Has Long Ago Vanished.

Nurture Your Mind With Great Thoughts

Adventures Are To The Adventurous.

There Is Moderation Even In Excess.

In The Study Of The Fine Arts, They Mutually Assist Each Other.

Christianity Teaches Us To Love Our Neighbor As Ourself; Modern Society Acknowledges No Neighbor.

Conservatism... Offers No Redress For The Present, And Makes No Preparation For The Future.

I Say That Justice Is Truth In Action.

There Is No Education Like Adversity.

The Originality Of A Subject Is In Its Treatment.

We Can Know Nothing Of Humankind Without Knowing Something Of Ourselves. Self-knowledge Is The Property Of Those People Whose Passions Have Their Full Play, But Who Ponder Over Their Results.

Sir, I Shall Not Defeat You - I Shall Transcend You.

Rothschild Is The Lord And Master Of The Money Markets Of The World, And Of Course Virtually Lord And Master Of Everything Else. He Literally Held The Revenues Of Southern Italy In Pawn, And Monarchs And Ministers Of All Countries Courted His Advice And Were Guided By His Suggestions.

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.

With Words We Govern Men.

Power Has Only One Duty - To Secure The Social Welfare Of The People.

Welfare Programs

I Am A Conservative To Preserve All That Is Good In Our Constitution, A Radical To Remove All That Is Bad.

People Are Defeated By Easy, Victorious And Cheap Successes More Than By Adversity.

A Man's Fate Is His Own Temper; And According To That Will Be His Opinion As To The Particular Manner In Which The Course Of Events Is Regulated. A Consistent Man Believes In Destiny, A Capricious Man In Chance.

Man Is Only Truly Great When He Acts From The Passions; Never Irresistible But When He Appeals To The Imagination.

Diligence Is The Mother Of Good Fortune.

All Paradise Opens! Let Me Die Eating Ortolans To The Sound Of Soft Music!

Perseverance And Tact Are The Two Great Qualities Most Valuable For All Those Who Would Climb, But Especially For Those Who Have To Step Out Of The Crowd.

As I Sat Opposite The Treasury Bench The Ministers Reminded Me Of One Of Those Marine Landscapes Not Very Unusual On The Coasts Of South America. You Behold A Range Of Exhausted Volcanoes.

How Very Seldom Do You Encounter In The World A Man Of Great Abilities, Acquirements, Experience, Who Will Unmask His Mind, Unbutton His Brains, And Pour Forth In Careless And Picturesque Phrase All The Results Of His Studies And Observation; His Knowledge Of Men, Books, And Nature. On The Contrary, If A Man Has By Any Chance An Original Idea, He Hoards It As If It Were Old Gold; And Rather Avoids The Subject With Which He Is Most Conversant, From Fear That You May Appropriate His Best Thoughts.

A Good Eater Must Be A Good Man; For A Good Eater Must Have A Good Digestion, And A Good Digestion Depends Upon A Good Conscience.

If You Establish A Democracy, You Must In Due Time Reap The Fruits Of A Democracy. You Will In Due Season Have Great Impatience Of Public Burdens, Combined In Due Season With Great Increase Of Public Expenditure. You Will In Due Season Have Wars Entered Into From Passion And Not From Reason; And You Will In Due Season Submit To Peace Ignominiously Sought And Ignominiously Obtained, Which Will Diminish Your Authority And Perhaps Endanger Your Independence. You Will In Due Season Find Your Property Is Less Valuable, And Your Freedom Less Complete.

Destiny Is Our Will, And Our Will Is Nature.

Lady Lytton Rules Her Husband, But That I Suppose Is Always The Case Where Marriages Are What Is Called 'happy'.

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.

Ignorance Never Settles A Question.

Wherever Is Found What Is Called A Paternal Government, There Is Found State Education. It Has Been Discovered That The Best Way To Insure Implicit Obedience Is To Commence Tyranny In The Nursery.

The Health Of The People Is Really The Foundation Upon Which All Their Happiness And All Their Powers As A State Depend.

We Live In Age Of Prudence. The Leaders Of The People Now Generally Follow.

Like All Great Travellers, I Have Seen More Than I Remember, And Remember More Than I Have Seen.

Ah, Ireland... That Damnable, Delightful Country, Where Everything That Is Right Is The Opposite Of What It Ought To Be.

I Will Sit Down Now, But The Time Will Come When You Will Hear Me.

Books Are The Curse Of The Human Race.

A Practical Man Is A Man Who Practices The Errors Of His Forefathers.

Were It Not For Music, We Might In These Days Say, The Beautiful Is Dead.

The Girl Of The Period Sets Up To Be Natural, And Is Only Rude; Mistakes Insolence For Innocence; Says Everything That Comes First To Her Lips, And Thinks She Is Gay When She Is Only Giddy.

There Is No Index Of Character So Sure As The Voice.

More Pernicious Nonsense Was Never Devised By Man Than Treaties Of Commerce.

There Is No Gambling Like Politics.

An Amateur May Not Be An Artist, Though An Artist Should Be An Amateur.

The Characteristic Of The Present Age Is Craving Credulity.

Characteristics

I Was Told That The Privileged And The People Formed Two Nations.

Beware Of Endeavoring To Become A Great Man In A Hurry. One Such Attempt In Ten Thousand May Succeed. These Are Fearful Odds.

Nature, Like Man, Sometimes Weeps From Gladness.

Time Is Precious, But Truth Is More Precious Than Time.

Finality Is Not The Language Of Politics.

I Was Told, Continued Egremont, That An Impassable Gulf Divided The Rich From The Poor; I Was Told That The Privileged And The People Formed Two Nations, Governed By Different Laws, Influenced By Different Manners, With No Thoughts Or Sympathies In Common; With An Innate Inability Of Mutual Comprehension.

You Know Who The Critics Are? The Men Who Have Failed In Literature And Art.

There Are Few Young Women In Existence Who Have Not The Power Of Fascinating, If They Choose To Exert It.

Variety Is The Mother Of Enjoyment.

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.

Novelty Is An Essential Attribute Of The Beautiful.

War Is Never A Solution; It Is An Aggravation.

The More You Are Talked About The Less Powerful You Are.

Posterity Will Do Justice To That Unprincipled Maniac Gladstone - Extraordinary Mixture Of Envy, Vindictiveness, Hypocrisy And Superstition; And With One Commanding Characteristic - Whether Prime Minister Or Leader Of The Opposition, Whether Preaching, Praying, Speechifying Or Scribbling - Never A Gentleman.

The Expected Always Happens

Knowledge Of Mankind Is A Knowledge Of Their Passions.

Worry - A God, Invisible But Omnipotent. It Steals The Bloom From The Cheek And Lightness From The Pulse; It Takes Away The Appetite, And Turns The Hair Gray.

Moderation Has Been Called A Virtue To Limit The Ambition Of Great Men, And To Console Undistinguished People For Their Want Of Fortune And Their Lack Of Merit.

Beauty Can Inspire Miracles.

There Is No Greater Sin Than To Be Trop Prononce.

As A General Rule, The Most Successful Man In Life Is The Man Who Has The Best Information.

Apologies Only Account For That Which They Do Not Alter.

Nine-tenths Of All Existing Books Are Nonsense.

Grief Is The Agony Of An Instant. The Indulgence Of Grief The Blunder Of A Life.

The Continent Will Not Suffer England To Be The Workshop Of The World.

Propriety Of Manners, And Consideration For Others, Are The Two Main Characteristics Of A Gentleman.

Female Friendships Are Of Rapid Growth.

Real Politics Are The Possession And Distribution Of Power.

Distribution Of Power

Be Amusing: Never Tell Unkind Stories; Above All, Never Tell Long Ones.

Popular Privileges Are Consistent With A State Of Society In Which There Is Great Inequality Of Position. Democratic Rights, On The Contrary, Demand That There Should Be Equality Of Condition As The Fundamental Basis Of The Society They Regulate.

Her Majesty Is Not A Subject.

Give A Man A Fish And He Will Eat For A Day; Teach A Man To Fish And He Will Eat For A Lifetime; Give A Man Religion And He Will Die Praying For A Fish.

Teach A Man To Fish

Predominant Opinions Are Generally The Opinions Of The Generation That Is Vanishing.

What Is Earnest Is Not Always True; On The Contrary Error Is Often More Earnest Than Truth.

I Am Bound To Furnish My Antagonists With Arguments, But Not With Comprehension.

A Man May Speak Very Well In The House Of Commons, And Fail Very Completely In The House Of Lords. There Are Two Distinct Styles Requisite: I Intend, In The Course Of My Career, If I Have Time, To Give A Specimen Of Both.

The Magic Of First Love Is Our Ignorance That It Can Ever End.

It Is A Great Mistake To Suppose That Bribery And Corruption, Although They May Be Very Convenient For Gratifying The Ambition Or The Vanity Of Individuals, Have Any Great Effect Upon The Fortunes Or The Power Of Parties. And It Is A Great Mistake To Suppose That Bribery And Corruption Are Means By Which Power Can Either Be Ob-tained Or Retained.

Frank And Explicit - That Is The Right Line To Take When You Wish To Conceal Your Own Mind And Confuse The Minds Of Others.

The Constitution Of England Is Not A Paper Constitution. It Is An Aggregate Of Institutions, Many Of Them Founded Merely Upon Prescription, Some Of Them Fortified By Muniments, But All Of Them The Fruit And Experience Of An Ancient And Illustrious People.

A Great Person Is One Who Affects The Mind Of Their Generation.

Assassination Has Never Changed The History Of The World.

There Are Amusing People Who Do Not Interest, And Interesting People Who Do Not Amuse

The Tone And Tendency Of Liberalism...is To Attack The Institutions Of The Country Under The Name Of Reform And To Make War On The Manners And Customs Of The People Under The Pretext Of Progress.

No Affection And A Great Brain, These Are The People To Command The World.

Be Thine Own Privy Counsellor.

You Can Tell The Strength Of A Nation By The Women Behind Its Men.

Generally Speaking, Among Sensible Persons, It Would Seem That A Rich Man Deems That Friend A Sincere One Who Does Not Want To Borrow His Money; While, Among The Less Favored With Fortune's Gifts, The Sincere Friend Is Generally Esteemed To Be The Individual Who Is Ready To Lend It.

The Profound Thinker Always Suspects That He Is Superficial.

What We Call The Heart Is A Nervous Sensation, Like Shyness, Which Gradually Disappears In Society. It Is Fervent In The Nursery, Strong In The Domestic Circle, Tumultuous At School.

The Difference Between A Misfortune And A Calamity Is This: If Gladstone Fell Into The Thames, It Would Be A Misfortune. But If Someone Dragged Him Out Again, That Would Be A Calamity.

Great Revolutions, Whatever May Be Their Causes, Are Not Lightly Commenced, And Are Not Concluded With Precipitation.

Amusement To An Observing Mind Is Study.

If The History Of England Be Ever Written By One Who Has The Knowledge And The Courage,-and Both Qualities Are Equally Requisite For The Undertaking, - The World Will Be More Astonished Than When Reading The Roman Annals By Niebuhr.

He Who Anticipates His Century Is Generally Persecuted When Living, And Always Pilfered When Dead.

There Can Be No Economy Where There Is No Efficiency.

Cleanliness And Order Are Not Matters Of Instinct; They Are Matters Of Education, And Like Most Great Things, You Must Cultivate A Taste For Them.

There Are Some Silent People Who Are More Interesting Than The Best Talkers.

Great Countries Are Those That Produce Great People.

Of All Unfortunate Men One Of The Unhappiest Is A Middling Author Endowed With Too Lively A Sensibility For Criticism.

No Man Will Treat With Indifference The Principle Of Race. It Is The Key To History, And Why History Is Often So Confused Is That It Has Been Written By Men Who Are Ignorant Of This Principle And All The Knowledge It Involves. . . Language And Religion Do Not Make A Race--there Is Only One Thing Which Makes A Race, And That Is Blood.

As For Our Majority... One Is Enough.

Tobacco Is The Tomb Of Love.

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.

A Canter Is The Cure For All Evil.

"sorry" Only Counts For That Which It Cannot Alter.

I Believe Absence Is A Great Element Of Charm.

The Greatest Of All Evils Is A Weak Government

Weak Government

Knowledge Must Be Gained By Ourselves. Mankind May Supply Us With Facts; But The Results, Even If They Agree With Previous Ones, Must Be The Work Of Our Own Minds.

No One But An Adventurous Traveler Can Know The Luxury Of Sleep.

Life Is Not Dated Merely By Years. Events Are Sometimes The Best Calendars.

A Very Remarkable People The Zulus: They Defeat Our Generals, They Convert Our Bishops, They Have Settled The Fate Of A Great European Dynasty.

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.

To Be Famous When You Are Young Is The Fortune Of The Gods.

Poverty Has Its Duties As Well As Its Rights.

I Believe That, Without Party, Parliamentary Government Is Impossible.

There Are Few Faces That Can Afford To Smile: A Smile Is Sometimes Bewitching, In General Vapid, Often A Contortion.

Free Trade Is Not A Principle, It Is An Expedient.

I Rather Like Bad Wine; One Gets So Bored With Good Wine.

Everyone Likes Flattery; And When You Come To Royalty You Should Lay It On With A Trowel.

The Choicest Pleasures Of Life Lie Within The Ring Of Moderation.

The Depositary Of Power Is Always Unpopular.

Every Man Has A Right To Be Conceited Until He Is Successful.

To Do Nothing And Get Something, Formed A Boy's Ideal Of A Manly Career.

Little Things Affect Little Minds.

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.

We Cannot Learn Men From Books.

It Is Remarkable That When Great Discoveries Are Effected, Their Simplicity Always Seems To Detract From Their Originality: On These Occasions We Are Reminded Of The Egg Of Columbus!

Things Must Be Done By Parties, Not By Persons Using Parties As Tools.

At Present The Peace Of The World Has Been Preserved, Not By Statesmen, But By Capitalists.

Nature Is More Powerful Than Education; Time Will Develop Everything.

The Greeks Adored Their Gods By The Simple Compliment Of Kissing Their Hands; And The Romans Were Treated As Atheists If They Would Not Perform The Same Act When They Entered A Temple. This Custom, However, As A Religious Ceremony Declined With Paganism,but Was Continued As A Salutation By Inferiors To Their Superiors, Or As A Token Of Esteem Among Friends.

Destiny Bears Us To Our Lot, And Destiny Is Perhaps Our Own Will.

We Have Legalized Confiscation, Consecrated Sacrilege, And Condoned High Treason.

England Is A Domestic Country. Here The Home Is Revered And The Hearth Sacred. The Nation Is Represented By A Family,--the Royal Family,--and If That Family Is Educated With A Sense Of Responsibility And A Sentiment Of Public Duty, It Is Difficult To Exaggerate The Salutary Influence It May Exercise Over A Nation.

Courage Is Fire, And Bullying Is Smoke.

Nonsense, When Earnest, Is Impressive, And Sometimes Takes You In. If You Are In A Hurry, You Occasionally Mistake It For Sense.

Bore: One Who Has The Power Of Speech But Not The Capacity For Conversation.

As A Rule, Man Is A Fool. When It's Hot, He Wants It Cool; When Its Cool, He Wants It Hot. Always Wanting, What Is Not.

The Feeling Of Satiety, Almost Inseparable From Large Possessions, Is A Surer Cause Of Misery Than Ungratified Desires.

There Is No Gambling Like Politics. Nothing In Which The Power Of Circumstance Is More Evident.

The Feathered Arrow Of Satire Has Oft Been Wet With The Heart's Blood Of Its Victims.

The World Is Devoted To Physical Science, Because It Believes Theses Discoveries Will Increase Its Capacity Of Luxury And Self-indulgence. But The Pursuit Of Science Only Leads To The Insoluble.

He Was One Of These Men Who Think That The World Can Be Saved By Writing A Pamphlet.

The Legacy Of Heroes Is The Memory Of A Great Name And The Inheritance Of A Great Example.

I Have Brought Myself, By Long Meditation, To The Conviction That A Human Being With A Settled Purpose Must Accomplish It, And That Nothing Can Resist A Will Which Will Stake Even Existence Upon Its Fulfillment.

A Female Friend, Amiable, Clever, And Devoted, Is A Possession More Valuable Than Parks And Palaces; And Without Such A Muse, Few Men Can Succeed In Life, None Be Contented.

England Does Not Love Coalitions.

No One For A Moment Can Pretend That Printing Is So Great A Discovery As Writing, Or Algebra As A Language.

There Is No Waste Of Time Like Making Excuses.

In Art The Greeks Were The Children Of The Egyptians. The Day May Yet Come When We Shall Do Justice To The High Powers Of That Mysterious And Imaginative People.

Truth Travels Slowly, But It Will Reach Even You In Time.

Yes, I Am A Jew And When The Ancestors Of The Right Honorable Gentleman Were Brutal Savages In An Unknown Island, Mine Were Priests In The Temple Of Solomon.

Having The Courage To Live Within One's Means Is Respectability.

I Am The Blank Page Between The Old And The New Testament.

In Great Cities Men Are Brought Together By The Desire Of Gain. They Are Not In A State Of Co-operation, But Of Isolation, As To The Making Of Fortunes; And For All The Rest They Are Careless Of Neighbors.

Romance Has Been Elegantly Defined As The Offspring Of Fiction And Love.

If Confidence Is A Plant Of Slow Growth, Credit Is One Which Matures Much More Slowly.

Demagogues And Agitators Are Very Unpleasant, They Are Incidental To A Free And Constitutional Country, And You Must Put Up With These Inconveniences Or Do Without Many Important Advantages.

The Right Hon. Gentleman [sir Robert Peel] Caught The Whigs Bathing, And Walked Away With Their Clothes.

I Never Deny. I Never Contradict. I Sometimes Forget.

All Is Race; There Is No Other Truth ,and Every Race Must Fall Which Carelessly Suffers Its Blood To Become Mixed.

A Nation, As An Individual, Has Duties To Fulfill Appointed By God And His Moral Law.

Everything In This World Depends Upon Will.

The Gondola Of London [a Hansom].

Next To The Assumption Of Power Was The Responsibility Of Relinquishing It.

If You Want To Be A Leader Of People, You Must Learn To Watch Events.

The Conduct Of Men Depends Upon Their Temperament, Not Upon A Bunch Of Musty Maxims.

How Much Easier It Is To Be Critical Than To Be Correct.

Positive Thinking

Nothing Can Resist A Will Which Will Stake Even Existence Upon Its Fulfillment.

To Achieve What You Want, You Have To Be Stronger Than Those Around You

As A Rule, He Or She Who Has The Most Information Will Have The Greatest Success In Life.

Congratulations

The View Of Jerusalem Is The History Of The World; It Is More, It Is The History Of Earth And Of Heaven.

No Government Can Be Long Secure Without A Formidable Opposition. It Reduces Their Supporters To That Tractable Number Which Can Be Managed By The Joint Influences Of Fruition And Hope. It Offers Vengeance To The Discontented, And Distinction To The Ambitious; And Employs The Energies Of Aspiring Spirits, Who Otherwise May Prove Traitors In A Division Or Assassins In A Debate.

The Egremonts Had Never Said Anything That Was Remembered, Or Done Anything That Could Be Recalled.

It Was Not Reason That Besieged Troy; It Was Not Reason That Sent Forth The Saracen From The Desert To Conquer The World; That Inspired The Crusades; That Instituted The Monastic Orders; It Was Not Reason That Produced The Jesuits; Above All, It Was Not Reason That Created The French Revolution. Man Is Only Great When He Acts From The Passions; Never Irresistible But When He Appeals To The Imagination.

Conquer The World

What Wonderful Things Are Events! The Least Are Of Greater Importance Than The Most Sublime And Comprehensive Speculations.

Increased Means And Increased Leisure Are The Two Civilizers Of Man.

I Feel A Very Unusual Sensation - If It Is Not Indigestion, I Think It Must Be Gratitude.

A Realist Is A Man Who Insists On Making The Same Mistakes His Grandfather Did.

The Unfortunate Are Always Egotistical.

Governments Do Not Govern, But Merely Control The Machinery Of Government, Being Themselves Controlled By The Hidden Hand.

Travel Teaches Toleration.

The Governments Of The Present Day Have To Deal Not Merely With Other Governments, With Emperors, Kings And Ministers, But Also With The Secret Societies Which Have Everywhere Their Unscrupulous Agents, And Can At The Last Moment Upset All The Governments' Plans.

World Government

Is Man An Ape Or An Angel? Now I Am On The Side Of The Angels.

Change Is As Inexorable As Time, Yet Nothing Meets With More Resistance.

Gentl, I Am A Party Man. I Believe That, Without Party, Parliamentary Government Is Impossible. I Look Upon Parliamentary Government As The Noblest Government In The World, And Certainly The One Most Suited To England.

What We Call Public Opinion Is Generally Public Sentiment.

I Have A Great Confidence In The Revelations Which Holidays Bring Forth.

Great Confidence

The Affections Are The Children Of Ignorance; When The Horizon Of Our Experience Expands, And Models Multiply, Love And Admiration Imperceptibly Vanish.

For Nearly Five Years The Present Ministers Have Harassed Every Trade, Worried Every Profession, And Assailed Or Menaced Every Class, Institution, And Species Of Property In The Country. Occasionally They Have Varied This State Of Civil Warfare By Perpetrating Some Job Which Outraged Public Opinion, Or By Stumbling Into Mistakes Which Have Been Always Discreditable, And Sometimes Ruinous. All This They Call A Policy, And Seem Quite Proud Of It; But The Country Has, I Think, Made Up Its Mind To Close This Career Of Plundering And Blundering.

We Make Our Fortunes And We Call Them Fate.

It Is The Lot Of Man To Suffer; It Is Also His Fortune To Forget. Oblivion And Sorrow Share Our Being, As Darkness And Light Divide The Course Of Time.

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