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Home
Authors
Benjamin Disraeli
British
Statesman
About the author
Great countries are those that produce great people.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#People
#Countries
Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Life
#Opportunity
London is a roost for every bird.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#London
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.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Life
#Ideas
#Business
#Principles
#Politics
#Liberalism
Never complain and never explain.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Feeling
#Truth
Nature, like man, sometimes weeps from gladness.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Man
#Nature
Nationality is the miracle of political independence; race is the principle of physical analogy.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Independence
#Race
#Nationality
Never take anything for granted.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
Moderation is the center wherein all philosophies, both human and divine, meet.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Moderation
Moderation has been called a virtue to limit the ambition of great men, and to console undistinguished people for their want of fortune and their lack of merit.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Want
#People
#Men
#Virtue
#Ambition
#Fortune
#Merit
#Moderation
Mediocrity can talk, but it is for genius to observe.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Talk
#Genius
#Mediocrity
Man is only great when he acts from passion.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Man
#Passion
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,
British
Statesman
#Will
#Nothing
#Man
#Fashion
#Worship
Nine-tenths of the existing books are nonsense and the clever books are the refutation of that nonsense.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Books
#Nonsense
Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#People
#Fear
#Word
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,
British
Statesman
#Man
#Men
#Circumstances
Real politics are the possession and distribution of power.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Power
#Politics
#Possession
That fatal drollery called a representative government.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Government
Teach us that wealth is not elegance, that profusion is not magnificence, that splendor is not beauty.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Beauty
#Wealth
#Elegance
#Magnificence
Talk to a man about himself and he will listen for hours.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Talk
#Will
#Man
In a progressive country change is constant; change is inevitable.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Country
#Change
Success is the child of audacity.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Success
London is a modern Babylon.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#London
Something unpleasant is coming when men are anxious to tell the truth.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Men
#Truth
Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Learning
#Suffering
No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Government
#Opposition
Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Life
#Nothing
#Theory
#Biography
Power has only one duty - to secure the social welfare of the People.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#People
#Power
#Welfare
#Duty
One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Life
#Success
#Man
#Opportunity
Nowadays, manners are easy and life is hard.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Life
#Manners
Nobody is forgotten when it is convenient to remember him.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
No man is regular in his attendance at the House of Commons until he is married.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Man
Silence is the mother of truth.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Truth
#Mother
#Silence
Genius, when young, is divine.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Genius
I have brought myself, by long meditation, to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will which will stake even existence upon its fulfillment.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Will
#Nothing
#Being
#Purpose
#Conviction
#Existence
#Meditation
#Fulfillment
I have been ever of opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Opinion
I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Hope
How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
He was distinguished for ignorance; for he had only one idea, and that was wrong.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Ignorance
#Idea
#Wrong
Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Man
#Leisure
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,
British
Statesman
#People
#Power
#Trust
#Exercise
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,
British
Statesman
#Right
#Mind
Finality is not the language of politics.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Language
#Politics
Fear makes us feel our humanity.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Fear
#Humanity
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,
British
Statesman
#Life
#Power
#Men
#Pleasure
#Fame
#Conscience
#Health
Experience is the child of thought, and thought is the child of action.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Action
#Thought
#Experience
Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty you should lay it on with a trowel.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Royalty
#Flattery
Grief is the agony of an instant. The indulgence of grief the blunder of a life.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Life
#Grief
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,
British
Statesman
#Security
#Civilization
#Mankind
#Improvement
Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
Life is too short to be little. Man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly, and expresses himself with frankness and with fervor.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Life
#Man
#Frankness
Let the fear of a danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears not, gives advantage to the danger.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Fear
#Danger
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,
British
Statesman
#Life
#Success
#Talking
#Nation
#Politics
Justice is truth in action.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Action
#Truth
#Justice
It is much easier to be critical than to be correct.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#People
#Leader
It destroys one's nerves to be amiable every day to the same human being.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Day
#Being
#Nerves
I never deny. I never contradict. I sometimes forget.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Forget
In politics nothing is contemptible.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Nothing
#Politics
Plagiarists, at least, have the merit of preservation.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Merit
If you're not very clever you should be conciliatory.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
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,
British
Statesman
#Right
#Man
#Society
#Grief
I say that justice is truth in action.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Action
#Truth
#Justice
Little things affect little minds.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
It is easier to be critical than correct.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
We moralize among ruins.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
There is no index of character so sure as the voice.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Character
#Voice
There is no waste of time in life like that of making explanations.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Time
#Life
#Waste
#Explanations
Things must be done by parties, not by persons using parties as tools.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Tools
Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#People
#Success
#Failure
#Perseverance
Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Time
#Truth
To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Knowledge
#Facts
To supervise people, you must either surpass them in their accomplishments or despise them.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#People
#Accomplishments
To tax the community for the advantage of a class is not protection: it is plunder.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Tax
#Community
#Class
Travel teaches toleration.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Travel
Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets. The rich and the poor.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Poor
#Nations
#Thoughts
#Feelings
#Sympathy
#Habits
Upon the education of the people of this country the fate of this country depends.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#People
#Country
#Education
#Fate
War is never a solution; it is an aggravation.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#War
#Solution
We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Love
#End
#Existence
There is no greater index of character so sure as the voice.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Character
#Voice
William Gladstone has not a single redeeming defect.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
Youth is the trustee of prosperity.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Youth
#Prosperity
Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle, Old Age a regret.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Youth
#Old
#Age
#Regret
#Struggle
Nurture your minds with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Heroes
#Thoughts
You can tell the strength of a nation by the women behind its men.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Strength
#Men
#Nation
#Women
The choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Life
#Lie
#Moderation
We cannot learn men from books.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Men
#Books
Without publicity there can be no public support, and without public support every nation must decay.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Public
#Support
#Nation
#Publicity
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,
British
Statesman
#Youth
#Age
#Future
#Nation
#Suffering
#Posterity
Where knowledge ends, religion begins.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Religion
#Knowledge
When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#World
#Man
What we anticipate seldom occurs: but what we least expect generally happens.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
What is earnest is not always true; on the contrary, error is often more earnest than truth.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Truth
#Error
We should never lose an occasion. Opportunity is more powerful even than conquerors and prophets.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Opportunity
Worry - a God, invisible but omnipotent. It steals the bloom from the cheek and lightness from the pulse; it takes away the appetite, and turns the hair gray.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#God
#Worry
#Hair
#Appetite
Without tact you can learn nothing.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Nothing
#Tact
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,
British
Statesman
#Will
#Man
#Power
#Knowledge
You will find as you grow older that courage is the rarest of all qualities to be found in public life.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Life
#Public
#Will
#Courage
There is no gambling like politics.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Politics
#Gambling
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,
British
Statesman
#Difference
#Misfortune
#Calamity
The first magic of love is our ignorance that it can ever end.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Love
#End
#Ignorance
#First
#Magic
The fool wonders, the wise man asks.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Man
#Fool
#Wonders
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,
British
Statesman
#Day
#Present
#Kings
The health of the people is really the foundation upon which all their happiness and all their powers as a state depend.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#People
#State
#Happiness
#Health
The more you are talked about the less powerful you are.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
The people of England are the most enthusiastic in the world.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#People
#World
#England
The practice of politics in the East may be defined by one word: dissimulation.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Practice
#May
#Politics
The pursuit of science leads only to the insoluble.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Science
#Pursuit
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,
British
Statesman
#Right
#Conservative
#Clothes
#Enjoyment
#Gentleman
#Liberal
The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Life
#Success
#Man
#Opportunity
The Youth of a Nation are the trustees of posterity.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Youth
#Nation
#Posterity
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,
British
Statesman
#Act
#Politics
#Party
#Treachery
The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
There is no education like adversity.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Education
#Adversity
The secret of success is constancy to purpose.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Success
#Purpose
#Constancy
There is moderation even in excess.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Excess
#Moderation
There can be economy only where there is efficiency.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Economy
#Efficiency
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Lies
#Statistics
The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#World
#Democracy
#Politicians
The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#World
The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated by quotations.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Experience
#Wisdom
#Quotations
The view of Jerusalem is the history of the world; it is more, it is the history of earth and of heaven.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#World
#Earth
#History
#Heaven
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,
British
Statesman
#Concern
The services in wartime are fit only for desperadoes, but in peace are only fit for fools.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Peace
#Fools
The secret of success is to be ready when your opportunity comes.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Success
#Opportunity
A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Conservative
#Government
#Hypocrisy
Almost everything that is great has been done by youth.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Youth
Adventures are to the adventurous.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
A University should be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Liberty
#Light
#Learning
#University
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 Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Time
#Career
#May
#Man
A majority is always better than the best repartee.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Majority
An author who speaks about their own books is almost as bad as a mother who speaks about her own children.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Children
#Books
#Mother
A consistent soul believes in destiny, a capricious one in chance.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Chance
#Soul
#Destiny
Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Action
#May
#Happiness
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 Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Art
#World
#Man
#Idea
#Faith
#Quality
#Memory
#Conquest
#Rome
#Athens
Despair is the conclusion of fools.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Fools
#Despair
Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Production
#Genius
#Enthusiasm
Every man has a right to be conceited until he is successful.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Right
#Successful
#Man
Duty cannot exist without faith.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Faith
#Duty
A precedent embalms a principle.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Genius
#Desperation
As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Life
#Successful
#Man
#Information
Damn your principles! Stick to your party.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Party
Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Fire
#Courage
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 Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Respect
#Present
#Future
#Progress
#Preparation
#Conservatism
Assassination has never changed the history of the world.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#World
#History
#Assassination
Diligence is the mother of good fortune.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Mother
#Diligence
#Fortune
Colonies do not cease to be colonies because they are independent.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
As for our majority... one is enough.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Majority
Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
Beware of endeavoring to become a great man in a hurry. One such attempt in ten thousand may succeed. These are fearful odds.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#May
#Man
#Succeed
Change is inevitable. Change is constant.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Change
Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Change
#Opinions
Circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our own power.
Benjamin Disraeli,
British
Statesman
#Power
#Circumstances
#Control