212 Quotes by Thomas Babington Macaulay

To punish a man because we infer from the nature of some doctrine which he holds, or from the conduct of other persons who hold the same doctrines with him, that he will commit a crime, is persecution, and is, in every case, foolish and wicked.

Perhaps no person can be a poet, or even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind.

The highest proof of virtue is to possess boundless power without abusing it.

He had a wonderful talent for packing thought close, and rendering it portable.

Persecution produced its natural effect on them. It found them a sect; it made them a faction.

A man who should act, for one day, on the supposition that all the people about him were influenced by the religion which they professed would find himself ruined by night.

And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods?

In after-life you may have friends – fond, dear friends; but never will you have again the inexpressible love and gentleness lavished upon you which none but a mother bestows.

The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.