Statesman · British · 1804 – 1881 · 156 quotes
Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time.
Benjamin Disraeli
Statesman · British · 1804 – 1881
Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man.
There is no index of character so sure as the voice.
Moderation is the center wherein all philosophies, both human and divine, meet.
I repeat... that all power is a trust; that we are accountable for its exercise; that from the people and for the people all springs, and all must exist.
No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition.
The choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation.
Nurture your minds with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes.
What we anticipate seldom occurs: but what we least expect generally happens.
The first magic of love is our ignorance that it can ever end.
Nature, like man, sometimes weeps from gladness.
The people of England are the most enthusiastic in the world.
The very phrase 'foreign affairs' makes an Englishman convinced that I am about to treat of subjects with which he has no concern.
It destroys one's nerves to be amiable every day to the same human being.
Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones.
Things must be done by parties, not by persons using parties as tools.
That fatal drollery called a representative government.
Finality is not the language of politics.
Mediocrity can talk, but it is for genius to observe.
The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy.
I have been ever of opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.
Colonies do not cease to be colonies because they are independent.
The Youth of a Nation are the trustees of posterity.
A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best.
The pursuit of science leads only to the insoluble.
Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.
I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?
War is never a solution; it is an aggravation.
Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.
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.
Nobody is forgotten when it is convenient to remember him.
Fame and power are the objects of all men. Even their partial fruition is gained by very few; and that, too, at the expense of social pleasure, health, conscience, life.
Man is only great when he acts from passion.
Nowadays, manners are easy and life is hard.
Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle, Old Age a regret.
How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.
The more you are talked about the less powerful you are.
Damn your principles! Stick to your party.
Almost everything that is great has been done by youth.
Change is inevitable. Change is constant.
Plagiarists, at least, have the merit of preservation.
Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principle, disavows Progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparation for the future.
Diligence is the mother of good fortune.
If you're not very clever you should be conciliatory.
Great countries are those that produce great people.
It is much easier to be critical than to be correct.
