Top 564 Quotes & Sayings by Benjamin Disraeli - Page 9

If confidence is a plant of slow growth, credit is one which matures much more slowly.

A nation will not count the sacrifice it makes, if it supposes it is engaged in a struggle for its fame, its influence and its existence.

A very remarkable people the Zulus: they defeat our generals, they convert our bishops, they have settled the fate of a great European dynasty.

Accent and emphasis are the pith of reading; punctuation is but secondary.

Change is constant in a progressive country.

This is the third time that, in the course of six years, during which I have had the lead of the Opposition in the House of Commons, I have stormed the Treasury Benches: twice, fruitlessly, the third time with a tin kettle to my tail which rendered the race hopeless. You cannot, therefore, be surprised, that I am a little wearied of these barren victories, which like Alma, Inkerman, and Balaclava, may be glorious but are certainly nothing more.

I suppose, to use our national motto, something will turn up.

Of all unfortunate men one of the unhappiest is a middling author endowed with too lively a sensibility for criticism.

I do not believe such a quality as chance exists. Every incident that happens must be a link in a chain.

The Athanasian Creed is the most splendid ecclesiastical lyric ever poured forth by the genius of man.

We are indeed a nation of shopkeepers.

We are now in want of an art to teach how books are to be read rather than to read them. Such an art is practicable.

You must originate, and you must sympathize; yon must possess, at the same time, the habit of communicating and the habit of listening. The union is rather rare, but irresistible.

The enterprise of America precedes that of Europe, as the industry of England precedes that of the rest of Europe.

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.

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.

London owes everything to its press: it owes as much to its press as it does to its being the seat of government and the law.

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.

Meditation is culture.

Terror has its inspiration, as well as competition.

Turtle makes all men equal.

No conjunction can possibly occur, however fearful, however tremendous it may appear, from which a man by his own energy may not extricate himself, as a mariner by the rattling of his cannon can dissipate the impending waterspout.

Destiny is our will, and our will is nature.

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.

There are so many plans, so many schemes, and so many reasons why there should be neither plans nor schemes.

Novelty is an essential attribute of the beautiful.

This is to be observed of the Bishop of London, that, though apparently of a spirit somewhat austere, there is in his idiosyncrasy a strange fund of enthusiasm, a quality which ought never to be possessed by an Archbishop of Canterbury, or a Prime Minister of England. The Bishop of London sympathies with everything that is earnest; but what is earnest is not always true; on the contrary error is often more earnest than truth.

The gondola of London [a hansom].

I do not understand how an aristocracy can exist, unless it be distinguished by some quality which no other class of the community possesses.

What wonderful things are events! The least are of greater importance than the most sublime and comprehensive speculations.

A Protestant, if he wants aid or advice on any matter, can only go to his solicitor.

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.

In the study of the fine arts, they mutually assist each other.

Gentlemen, the Tory party, unless it is a national party, is nothing.

The noble Lord (Stanley) was the Prince Rupert to the Parliamentary army--his valour did not always serve his own cause.

Beauty can inspire miracles.

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!

Nature is stronger than education.

What are the most brilliant of our chymical discoveries compared with the invention of fire and the metals?

London; a nation, not a city.

There can be no economy where there is no efficiency.

The right hon. Gentleman [Sir Robert Peel] caught the Whigs bathing, and walked away with their clothes.

You have proved it is a very moral habit.

England does not love coalitions.

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.

What Art was to the ancient world, Science is to the modern: the distinctive faculty. In the minds of men the useful has succeeded to the beautiful. Instead of the city of the Violet Crown, a Lancashire village has expanded into a mighty region of factories and warehouses. Yet, rightly understood, Manchester is as great a human exploit; as Athens.

You cannot choose between party government and Parliamentary government. I say, you can have no Parliamentary government if you have no party government; and, therefore, when gentlemen denounce party government, they strike at the scheme of government which, in my opinion, has made this country great, and which I hope will keep it great.

Nobody should ever look anxious except those who have no anxiety.

The characteristic of the present age is craving credulity.

The British people, being subject to fogs, require grave statesmen.

Every moment is travel - if understood.

Modern science has vindicated the natural equality of man.

I have always thought that every woman should marry, and no man.

A nation has a fixed quantity of invention, and it will make itself felt.

Lady Lytton rules her husband, but that I suppose is always the case where marriages are what is called 'happy'.

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.

Nine-tenths of all existing books are nonsense.

The divine right of kings may have been a plea for feeble tyrants, but the divine right of government is the keystone of human progress, and without it governments sink into police, and a nation is degraded into a mob.

Why should one say that the machine does not live? It breathes, for its breath forms the atmosphere of some towns.

I have a great confidence in the revelations which holidays bring forth.