244 Quotes by Thomas B. Macaulay

I am always nearest to myself," says the Latin proverb.

Your Constitution is all sail and no anchor.

I have long been convinced that institutions purely democratic must, sooner or later, destroy liberty or civilization, or both.

Few of the many wise apothegms which have been uttered have prevented a single foolish action.

Highest among those who have exhibited human nature by means of dialogue stands Shakespeare. His variety is like the variety of nature,--endless diversity, scarcely any monstrosity.

I would rather be poor in a cottage full of books than a king without the desire to read.

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.

Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim.

Those who have read history with discrimination know the fallacy of those panegyrics and invectives which represent individuals as effecting great moral and intellectual revolutions, subverting established systems, and imprinting a new character on their age. The difference between one man and another is by no means so great as the superstitious crowd suppose.