Thomas Babington Macaulay

“A single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia.”

“Nothing is so useless as a general maxim.”

“The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.”

“The Puritans hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.”

“The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm.”

“Reform, that you may preserve.”

“The public mind is educated quickly by events—slowly by arguments.”

“Nothing is so useless as a general maxim.”

“We must know where we have been if we are to know where we are going.”

“As civilization advances, poetry almost necessarily declines.”

“Politeness has been well defined as benevolence in small things.”

“A good constitution is infinitely better than the best despot.”

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

“The highest proof of virtue is to possess boundless power without abusing it.”

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

“As civilization advances, poetry almost necessarily declines.”

“The object of oratory is not truth, but persuasion.”

“Every schoolboy knows who imprisoned Montezuma, and who strangled Atahualpa.”

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

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