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Benjamin Disraeli

303 quotes

“But this principle of race is unfortunately one of the reasons why I fear war may always exist; because race implies difference, difference implies superiority, and superiority leads to predominance.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1849 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (1 February 1849)
“But he has left us the legacy of heroes—the memory of his great name, and the inspiration of his great example.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1849 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (1 February 1849)
“Manners are easy," said Coningsby, "and life is hard.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.. There are great truths to tell, if we had either the courage to announce them or the temper to receive them.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So you see, my dear Coningsby, that the world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes." (Sidonia speaking)”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I rather like bad wine," said Mr. Mountchesney; "one gets so bored with good wine.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Is it what you call civilization that makes England flourish? Is it the universal development of the faculties of man that has rendered an island, almost unknown to the ancients, the arbiter of the world? Clearly not. It is the inhabitants that have done this. It is an affair of race.... All is race, there is no other truth.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Duty cannot exist without faith.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A majority is always the best repartee.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no index of character so sure as the voice.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That fatal drollery called a representative government.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The view of Jerusalem is the history of the world; it is more, it is the history of earth and of heaven.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He was fresh and full of faith that "something would turn up.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When little is done, little is said; silence is the mother of truth.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everything comes if a man will only wait.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Benjamin Disraeli (earl Beaconsfield)
“We moralise among ruins.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“London is a modern Babylon.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We should never lose an occasion. Opportunity is more powerful even than conquerors and prophets.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our morals differ in different counties, in different towns, in different streets, even in different Acts of Parliament. What is moral in London is immoral in Montacute; what is crime among the multitude is only vice among the few.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why, I say, that to tax the community for the advantage of a class is not protection; it is plunder, and I entirely disclaim it; but I ask you to protect the rights and interests of labour generally in the first place, by allowing no free imports from countries which meet you with countervailing duties; and, in the second place, with respect to agricultural produce, to compensate the soil for the burdens from which other classes are free by an equivalent duty. This is my view of what is called "protection.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1850 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (14 May 1850)
“I remember—the interruption of the hon. Gentleman reminds me of the words of a great writer, who said that "Grace was beauty in action." Sir, I say that justice is truth in action. Truth should animate an opposition, and I hope it does animate this opposition.;”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1851 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (2 February 1851)
“Yes! I know what I have to face. I have to face a coalition. The combination may be successful. A coalition has before this been successful. But coalitions, although successful, have always found this, that their triumph has been brief. This too I know, that England does not love coalitions.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1852 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (16 December 1852)
“The movement of the middle classes for the abolition of slavery was virtuous, but it was not wise. It was an ignorant movement. It showed a want of knowledge both of the laws of commerce and the stipulations of treaties; and it has alike ruined the colonies and aggravated the slave trade...The history of the abolition of slavery by the English and its consequences, would be a narrative of ignorance, injustice, blundering, waste, and havoc, not easily paralleled in the history of mankind.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1852 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lord George Bentinck: A Political Biography (1852), pp. 324-325
“He [Lord George Bentinck] dwelt much on the vicissitudes which must attend all merely foreign trade, which, though it should be encouraged, ought not to be solely relied on, as was the fashion of this day. Looking upon war as occasionally inevitable, he thought a commercial system based upon the presumption of perpetual peace to be full of ruin. His policy was essentially imperial and not cosmopolitan.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1852 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lord George Bentinck: A Political Biography (1852), p. 579
“In the great contention between the patriotic and the cosmopolitan principle which has hardly begun and on the issue of which the fate of this island as a powerful community depends, Lord George Bentinck appeared to be produced to represent the traditionary influences of our country in their most captivating form.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1852 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lord George Bentinck: A Political Biography (1852), p. 583
“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.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1852 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Lady Londonderry (22 February 1854), in Benjamin Disraeli, Letters: 1852-1856 (1997), p. 405
“It is the initial letters of the four points of the compass that make the word "news," and he must understand that news is that which collies from the North, East, West and South, and if it comes from only one point of the compass, then it is a class publication, and not news.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1855 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (26 March 1855)
“Finality, Sir, is not the language of politics.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1859 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (28 February 1859)
“This shows how much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1812 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (24 January 1860); see also Lord Byron, "Notes to Canto II" (1812), Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: "How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct".
“It is fourteen years ago since yourself, then the leader of the country gentlemen...appealed to me to assist you at a moment of apparently overwhelming disaster. I ultimately agreed to do so...because, from my earliest years, my sympathies had been with the landed interest of England.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Sir William Miles (11 June 1860), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (1929), pp. 23–24
“He seems to think that posterity is a pack-horse, always ready to be loaded.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1862 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (3 June 1862)
“The English people are, without exception, the most enthusiastic people in the world. There are more excitable races. The French, the Italians, are much more excitable; but for deep and fervid feeling, there is no race in the world at all equal to the English. And what is the subject, of all others, upon which the English people have been most enthusiastic? Religion. The notes on the gamut of their feeling are few, but they are deep. Industry, Liberty, Religion, form the solemn scale. Industry, Liberty, Religion — that is the history of England.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Wycombe (30 October 1862), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (1929), p. 98
“Before the civil war commenced, the United States of America were colonies, and we should not forget that such communities do not cease to be colonies because they are independent.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1863 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (5 February 1863)
“Professors and rhetoricians find a system for every contingency and a principle for every chance; but you are not going, I hope, to leave the destinies of the British empire to prigs and pedants. The statesmen who construct, and the warriors who achieve, are only influenced by the instinct of power, and animated by the love of country. Those are the feelings and those the methods which form empires.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1863 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (5 February 1863)
“The Tory party is only in its proper position when it represents popular principles. Then it is truly irresistible. Then it can uphold the throne and the altar, the majesty of the empire, the liberty of the nation, and the rights of the multitude. There is nothing mean, petty, or exclusive, about the real character of Toryism. It necessarily depends upon enlarged sympathies and noble aspirations, because it is essentially national.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to a Conservative dinner (26 June 1863), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (1929), p. 114
“At present the peace of the world has been preserved, not by statesmen, but by capitalists.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Mrs. Sarah Brydges Willyams (17 October 1863), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (1929), p. 73
“Never take anything for granted.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1864 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at Salthill (5 October 1864)
“The characteristic of the present age is a craving credulity.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Oxford Diocesan Conference (25 November 1864), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (1929), p. 105
“[T]he French Revolution, which has not yet ended, and which is certainly the greatest event that has happened in the history of man. Only the fall of the Roman Empire can be compared to it... Look at the Europe of the present day and the Europe of a century ago. It is not the same Europe. Its very form is changed.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Oxford Diocesan Conference (25 November 1864), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (1929), p. 107
“What is the question now placed before society with the glib assurance the most astounding? That question is this—Is man an ape or an angel? My lord, I am on the side of the angels.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Oxford Diocesan Conference (25 November 1864), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (1929), p. 108
“The democracy of America must not be confounded with the democracies of old Europe. It is not the scum of turbulent cities, nor is it a mere section of an excited middle class speculating in shares and calling it progress. It is a territorial democracy, if I may use that epithet without offending hon. Gentlemen opposite. Aristotle, who has taught us most of the wise things we know, never said a wiser thing than that the cultivators of the soil are the class least inclined to sedition and to violent courses.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1865 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (13 March 1865)
“Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1865 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at Aylesbury, Royal and Central Bucks Agricultural Association (21 September 1865), cited in Wit and Wisdom of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, Collected from his Writings and Speeches (1881), p. 356
“Ignorance never settles a question.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1866 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (14 May 1866)
“Individuals may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1866 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the Guildhall, London (9 November 1866), quoted in The Times (10 November 1866), p. 9
“For what is the Tory party unless it represents national feeling? If it does not represent national feeling, Toryism is nothing. It does not depend upon hereditary coteries of exclusive nobles. It does not attempt power by attracting to itself the spurious force which may accidentally arise from advocating cosmopolitan principles or talking cosmopolitan jargon. The Tory party is nothing unless it represent and uphold the institutions of the country.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at Mansion House (7 August 1867), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (1929), p. 287
“I had to prepare the mind of the country, and to educate...our party... I had to prepare the mind of Parliament and the country on this question of Reform.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech on Reform Bill of 1867, Edinburgh, Scotland (29 October 1867), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (1929), p. 289
“In a progressive country change is constant; and the great question is, not whether you should resist change which is inevitable, but whether that change should be carried out in deference to the manners, the customs, the laws, the traditions of the people, or in deference to abstract principles and arbitrary and general doctrines. The one is a national system; the other...is a philosophic system.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1860 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech on Reform Bill of 1867, Edinburgh, Scotland (29 October 1867); quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (1929), p. 291
“I have always looked upon the interests of the labouring classes as essentially the most conservative interests of the country. The rights of labour have been to me always as sacred as the rights of property, and I have always thought that those who were most interested in the stability and even in the glory of a State are the great mass of the population, happy to enjoy the privileges of freemen under good laws, and proud at the same time of the country which confers on its inhabitants a name of honour and of glorious reputation in every quarter of the globe.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1867 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Edinburgh (30 October 1867), quoted in The Chancellor of the Exchequer in Scotland; Being Two Speeches Delivered by Him in the City of Edinburgh on 29th and 30th October, 1867 (1867), pp. 36-37
“I see before me the statue of a celebrated minister, who said that confidence was a plant of slow growth. But I believe, however gradual may be the growth of confidence, that of credit requires still more time to arrive at maturity.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1867 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech of 9 November 1867
Also quoted by: Benjamin Disraeli (earl Beaconsfield)