Benjamin Disraeli Quotes
Benjamin Disraeli Quotes
- 1
A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 2
A great city, whose image dwells in the memory of man, is the type of some great idea. Rome represents conquest; Faith hovers over the towers of Jerusalem; and Athens embodies the pre-eminent quality of the antique world, Art.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 3
A man may speak very well in the House of Commons, and fail very completely in the House of Lords. There are two distinct styles requisite: I intend, in the course of my career, if I have time, to give a specimen of both.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 4
A precedent embalms a principle.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 5
A University should be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 6
Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 7
Adventures are to the adventurous.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 8
Almost everything that is great has been done by youth.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 9
An author who speaks about their own books is almost as bad as a mother who speaks about her own children.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 10
As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 11
Assassination has never changed the history of the world.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 12
Change is inevitable. Change is constant.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 13
Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 14
Colonies do not cease to be colonies because they are independent.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 15
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.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 16
Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 17
Damn your principles! Stick to your party.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 18
Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 19
Every man has a right to be conceited until he is successful.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 20
Experience is the child of thought, and thought is the child of action.
Benjamin-DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli
- 21
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.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 22
Fear makes us feel our humanity.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 23
Finality is not the language of politics.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 24
Frank and explicit - that is the right line to take when you wish to conceal your own mind and confuse the minds of others.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 25
Genius, when young, is divine.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 26
Great countries are those that produce great people.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 27
Grief is the agony of an instant. The indulgence of grief the blunder of a life.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 28
He was distinguished for ignorance; for he had only one idea, and that was wrong.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 29
How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 30
I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 31
I have been ever of opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 32
I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 33
I never deny. I never contradict. I sometimes forget.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 34
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.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 35
I say that justice is truth in action.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 36
If a man be gloomy let him keep to himself. No one has the right to go croaking about society, or what is worse, looking as if he stifled grief.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 37
If you're not very clever you should be conciliatory.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 38
In a progressive country change is constant; change is inevitable.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 39
In politics nothing is contemptible.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 40
Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man.
Benjamin-Disraeli/">Benjamin Disraeli
- 41
It destroys one's nerves to be amiable every day to the same human being.
Benjamin-Disraeli/41.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 42
It is easier to be critical than correct.
Benjamin-Disraeli/42.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 43
It is much easier to be critical than to be correct.
Benjamin-Disraeli/43.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 44
Justice is truth in action.
Benjamin-Disraeli/44.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 45
King Louis Philippe once said to me that he attributed the great success of the British nation in political life to their talking politics after dinner.
Benjamin-Disraeli/45.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 46
Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.
Benjamin-Disraeli/46.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 47
Little things affect little minds.
Benjamin-Disraeli/47.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 48
London is a modern Babylon.
Benjamin-Disraeli/48.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 49
London is a roost for every bird.
Benjamin-Disraeli/49.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 50
Man is made to adore and to obey: but if you will not command him, if you give him nothing to worship, he will fashion his own divinities, and find a chieftain in his own passions.
Benjamin-Disraeli/50.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 51
Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of men. We are free agents, and man is more powerful than matter.
Benjamin-Disraeli/51.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 52
Man is only great when he acts from passion.
Benjamin-Disraeli/52.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 53
Mediocrity can talk, but it is for genius to observe.
Benjamin-Disraeli/53.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 54
Moderation is the center wherein all philosophies, both human and divine, meet.
Benjamin-Disraeli/54.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 55
Nature, like man, sometimes weeps from gladness.
Benjamin-Disraeli/55.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 56
Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.
Benjamin-Disraeli/56.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 57
Never complain and never explain.
Benjamin-Disraeli/57.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 58
Never take anything for granted.
Benjamin-Disraeli/58.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 59
Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.
Benjamin-Disraeli/59.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 60
Nine-tenths of the existing books are nonsense and the clever books are the refutation of that nonsense.
Benjamin-Disraeli/60.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 61
No man is regular in his attendance at the House of Commons until he is married.
Benjamin-Disraeli/61.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 62
Nobody is forgotten when it is convenient to remember him.
Benjamin-Disraeli/62.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 63
Nurture your minds with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes.
Benjamin-Disraeli/63.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 64
Plagiarists, at least, have the merit of preservation.
Benjamin-Disraeli/64.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 65
Power has only one duty - to secure the social welfare of the People.
Benjamin-Disraeli/65.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 66
Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.
Benjamin-Disraeli/66.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 67
Real politics are the possession and distribution of power.
Benjamin-Disraeli/67.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 68
Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning.
Benjamin-Disraeli/68.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 69
Silence is the mother of truth.
Benjamin-Disraeli/69.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 70
Success is the child of audacity.
Benjamin-Disraeli/70.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 71
Talk to a man about himself and he will listen for hours.
Benjamin-Disraeli/71.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 72
Teach us that wealth is not elegance, that profusion is not magnificence, that splendor is not beauty.
Benjamin-Disraeli/72.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 73
The best security for civilization is the dwelling, and upon properly appointed and becoming dwellings depends, more than anything else, the improvement of mankind.
Benjamin-Disraeli/73.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 74
The choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation.
Benjamin-Disraeli/74.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 75
The difference between a misfortune and a calamity is this: If Gladstone fell into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him out again, that would be a calamity.
Benjamin-Disraeli/75.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 76
The first magic of love is our ignorance that it can ever end.
Benjamin-Disraeli/76.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 77
The fool wonders, the wise man asks.
Benjamin-Disraeli/77.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 78
The governments of the present day have to deal not merely with other governments, with emperors, kings and ministers, but also with the secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents, and can at the last moment upset all the governments' plans.
Benjamin-Disraeli/78.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 79
The health of the people is really the foundation upon which all their happiness and all their powers as a state depend.
Benjamin-Disraeli/79.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 80
The more extensive a man's knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do.
Benjamin-Disraeli/80.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 81
The more you are talked about the less powerful you are.
Benjamin-Disraeli/81.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 82
The practice of politics in the East may be defined by one word: dissimulation.
Benjamin-Disraeli/82.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 83
The pursuit of science leads only to the insoluble.
Benjamin-Disraeli/83.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 84
The question is this, "Is man an ape or an angel?" My Lord, I am on the side of the angels. I repudiate with indignation and abhorrence the contrary view, which is I believe, foreign to the conscience of humanity.
Benjamin-Disraeli/84.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 85
The right honourable gentleman caught the Whigs bathing, and walked away with their clothes. He has left them in the full enjoyment of their liberal positions, and he is himself a strict conservative of their garments.
Benjamin-Disraeli/85.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 86
The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.
Benjamin-Disraeli/86.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 87
The secret of success is constancy to purpose.
Benjamin-Disraeli/87.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 88
The secret of success is to be ready when your opportunity comes.
Benjamin-Disraeli/88.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 89
The services in wartime are fit only for desperadoes, but in peace are only fit for fools.
Benjamin-Disraeli/89.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 90
The very phrase 'foreign affairs' makes an Englishman convinced that I am about to treat of subjects with which he has no concern.
Benjamin-Disraeli/90.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 91
The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated by quotations.
Benjamin-Disraeli/91.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 92
The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes.
Benjamin-Disraeli/92.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 93
The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians.
Benjamin-Disraeli/93.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 94
The Youth of a Nation are the trustees of posterity.
Benjamin-Disraeli/94.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 95
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Benjamin-Disraeli/95.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 96
There can be economy only where there is efficiency.
Benjamin-Disraeli/96.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 97
There is moderation even in excess.
Benjamin-Disraeli/97.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 98
There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour.
Benjamin-Disraeli/98.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 99
There is no education like adversity.
Benjamin-Disraeli/99.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 100
There is no greater index of character so sure as the voice.
Benjamin-Disraeli/100.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 101
There is no index of character so sure as the voice.
Benjamin-Disraeli/101.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 102
Things must be done by parties, not by persons using parties as tools.
Benjamin-Disraeli/102.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 103
Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.
Benjamin-Disraeli/103.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 104
Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time.
Benjamin-Disraeli/104.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 105
To tax the community for the advantage of a class is not protection: it is plunder.
Benjamin-Disraeli/105.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 106
Travel teaches toleration.
Benjamin-Disraeli/106.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 107
Upon the education of the people of this country the fate of this country depends.
Benjamin-Disraeli/107.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 108
War is never a solution; it is an aggravation.
Benjamin-Disraeli/108.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 109
We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.
Benjamin-Disraeli/109.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 110
We live in an age when to be young and to be indifferent can be no longer synonymous. We must prepare for the coming hour. The claims of the Future are represented by suffering millions; and the Youth of a Nation are the trustees of Posterity.
Benjamin-Disraeli/110.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 111
We should never lose an occasion. Opportunity is more powerful even than conquerors and prophets.
Benjamin-Disraeli/111.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 112
What is earnest is not always true; on the contrary, error is often more earnest than truth.
Benjamin-Disraeli/112.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 113
What we anticipate seldom occurs, what we least expected generally happens.
Benjamin-Disraeli/113.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 114
When little is done, little is said; silence is the mother of truth.
Benjamin-Disraeli/114.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 115
Where knowledge ends, religion begins.
Benjamin-Disraeli/115.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 116
William Gladstone has not a single redeeming defect.
Benjamin-Disraeli/116.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 117
Without publicity there can be no public support, and without public support every nation must decay.
Benjamin-Disraeli/117.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 118
Without tact you can learn nothing.
Benjamin-Disraeli/118.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 119
You will find as you grow older that courage is the rarest of all qualities to be found in public life.
Benjamin-Disraeli/119.php">Benjamin Disraeli
- 120
Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle, Old Age a regret.
Benjamin-Disraeli/120.php">Benjamin Disraeli
