Thomas Babington Macaulay Quotes & Sayings (Page 3)

“The effect of violent dislike between groups has always created an indifference to the welfare and honor of the state.”

“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.”

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

“The maxim, that governments ought to train the people in the way in which they should go, sounds well. But is there any reason for believing that a government is more likely to lead the people in the right way than the people to fall into the right way of themselves?”

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

“The puritan hated bear baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.”

“American democracy must be a failure because it places the supreme authority in the hands of the poorest and most ignorant part of the society.”

“A good constitution is infinitely better than the best despot.”

“An acre in Middlesex is better than a principality in Utopia.”

“I shall cheerfully bear the reproach of having descended below the dignity of history if I can succeed in placing before the English of the nineteenth century a true picture of the life of their ancestors.”