Thomas B. Macaulay Quotes

Quotes about:

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

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Integrity

  80 Copy quote

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

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Kings, Book, Desire

  28 Copy quote

• People who take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Pride, People, Achievement

  10 Copy quote

• Thus our democracy was from an early period the most aristocratic, and our aristocracy the most democratic.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Democracy, Aristocracy, Periods

  5 Copy quote

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

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Freedom, Democracies Have, Civilization

  Letter to Henry Stephens Randall, May 23, 1857.

  7 Copy quote

• More sinners are cursed at not because we despise their sins but because we envy their success at sinning.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Envy, Sin, Despise

  7 Copy quote

• Half-knowledge is worse than ignorance.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Learning, Ignorance, Half

  4 Copy quote

• People crushed by law have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Law, People, Enemy

  32 Copy quote

• The real object of the drama is the exhibition of human character.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Real, Drama, Character

  6 Copy quote

• A page digested is better than a volume hurriedly read.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Pages, Volume

  11 Copy quote

• History, is made up of the bad actions of extraordinary men and woman. All the most noted destroyers and deceivers of our species, all the founders of arbitrary governments and false religions have been extraordinary people; and nine tenths of the calamities that have befallen the human race had no other origin than the union of high intelligence with low desires.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Men, Race, People

  15 Copy quote

• A government cannot be wrong in punishing fraud or force, but it is almost certain to be wrong if, abandoning its legitimate function, it tells private individuals that it knows their business better than they know it themselves.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Government, Individual, Force

  16 Copy quote

• With the dead there is no rivalry, with the dead there is no change.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Learning, Personality, Aging

  4 Copy quote

• Our rulers will best promote the improvement of the nation by strictly confining themselves to their own legitimate duties, by leaving capital to find its most lucrative course, commodities their fair price, industry and intelligence their natural reward, idleness and folly their natural punishment, by maintaining peace, by defending property, by diminishing the price of law, and by observing strict economy in every department of the state. Let the Government do this: the People will assuredly do the rest.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Peace, Government, Law

  12 Copy quote

• The hearts of men are their books; events are their tutors; great actions are their eloquence.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Book, Heart, Men

  "Critical and historical essays. Biographies. Indian penal code. Contributions to Knight's quarterly magazine". Book by Thomas Babington Macaulay Baron Macaulay, "A Conversation between Mr. Abraham Cowley and Mr. John Milton, Touching The Great Civil War" (August 1824), p. 654, 1873.

  8 Copy quote

• The highest intellects, like the tops of mountains, are the first to catch and to reflect the dawn.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Mountain, Dawn, Firsts

  8 Copy quote

• I don't mind your thinking slowly; I mind your publishing faster than you think.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Funny, Stupid, Thinking

  8 Copy quote

• No war ought ever to be undertaken but under circumstances which render all intercourse of courtesy between the combatants impossible. It is a bad thing that men should hate each other; but it is far worse that they should contract the habit of cutting one another's throats without hatred. War is never lenient but where it is wanton; when men are compelled to fight in self-defence, they must hate and avenge: this may be bad; but it is human nature.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Peace, War, Hate

  4 Copy quote

• Our judgment ripens; our imagination decays. We cannot at once enjoy the flowers of the Spring of life and the fruits of its Autumn.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Life, Spring, Flower

  10 Copy quote

• Even the law of gravitation would be brought into dispute were there a pecuniary interest involved.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Money, Law, Would Be

  5 Copy quote

• In every age the vilest specimens of human nature are to be found among demagogues.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Age, Human Nature, Found

  5 Copy quote

• The most beautiful object in the world, it will be allowed, is a beautiful woman.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Beauty, Beautiful, World

  10 Copy quote

• Our estimate of a character always depends much on the manner in which that character affects our own interests and passions.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Passion, Character, Prejudice

  4 Copy quote

• Men naturally sympathize with the calamities of individuals; but they are inclined to look on a fallen party with contempt rather than with pity.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Party, Men, Looks

  5 Copy quote

• Finesse is the best adaptation of means to circumstances.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Mean, Adaptation, Finesse

  38 Copy quote

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