"Books are fatal: they are the curse of the human race. Nine-tenths of existing books are nonsense, and the clever books are the refutation of that nonsense. The greatest misfortune that ever befell man was the invention of printing."

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More quotes from: Benjamin Disraeli

• "A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy. "
• "A consistent soul believes in destiny, a capricious one in chance. "
• "A great city, whose image dwells in the memory of man, is the type of ..."
• "A majority is always better than the best repartee. "
• "A man may speak very well in the House of Commons, and fail very completely ..."
• "A precedent embalms a principle. "
• "A sophistical rhetorician, inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity. "
• "Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action. "
• "An author who speaks about his own books is almost as bad as a mother ..."
• "An author who speaks about their own books is almost as bad as a mother ..."
• "An insular country, subject to fogs, and with a powerful middle class, requires grave statesmen. "
• "As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has ..."
• "As for our majority... one is enough. "
• "Assassination has never changed the history of the world. "
• "Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones. "
• "Beware of endeavoring to become a great man in a hurry. One such attempt in ..."
• "But what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is ..."
• "Change is inevitable. Change is constant. "
• "Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed. "
• "Colonies do not cease to be colonies because they are independent. "
• "Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principle, disavows Progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it ..."
• "Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke. "
• "Damn your principles! Stick to your party. "
• "Despair is the conclusion of fools. "
• "Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius. "
• "Diligence is the mother of good fortune. "
• "Duty cannot exist without faith. "
• "Every man has a right to be conceited until he is successful. "
• "Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm. "
• "Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty you should lay it on with ..."
• "Fame and power are the objects of all men. Even their partial fruition is gained ..."
• "Fear makes us feel our humanity. "
• "Finality is not the language of politics. "
• "Frank and explicit - that is the right line to take when you wish to ..."
• "Great countries are those that produce great people. "
• "Grief is the agony of an instant. The indulgence of grief the blunder of a ..."
• "Had it not been for you, I should have remained what I was when we ..."
• "He traces the steam engine all the way back to the tea kettle. "
• "He was distinguished for ignorance; for he had only one idea, and that was wrong. "
• "His shortcoming is his long staying. "
• "How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct. "
• "I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best. "
• "I feel a very unusual sensation - if it is not indigestion, I think it ..."
• "I have brought myself, by long meditation, to the conviction that a human being with ..."
• "I never deny. I never contradict. I sometimes forget. "
• "I repeat... that all power is a trust; that we are accountable for its exercise; ..."
• "I say that justice is truth in action. "
• "If a man be gloomy let him keep to himself. No one has the right ..."
• "If Gladstone fell into the Thames, that would be a misfortune; and if anybody pulled ..."
• "If you're not very clever you should be conciliatory. "
• "In a progressive country change is constant; change is inevitable. "

• "In politics nothing is contemptible. "
• "Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man. "
• "It destroys one's nerves to be amiable every day to the same human being. "
• "It is much easier to be critical than to be correct. "
• "Justice is truth in action. "
• "King Louis Philippe once said to me that he attributed the great success of the ..."
• "Let the fear of a danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears ..."
• "Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than ..."
• "Little things affect little minds. "
• "London is a roost for every bird. "
• "Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of men. We are ..."
• "Man is only great when he acts from passion. "
• "Mediocrity can talk, but it is for genius to observe. "
• "Moderation has been called a virtue to limit the ambition of great men, and to ..."
• "Moderation is the center wherein all philosophies, both human and divine, meet. "
• "Nationality is the miracle of political independence; race is the principle of physical analogy. "
• "Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth. "
• "Never complain and never explain. "
• "Never take anything for granted. "
• "Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is ..."
• "Nine-tenths of the existing books are nonsense and the clever books are the refutation of ..."
• "No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition. "
• "No man is regular in his attendance at the House of Commons until he is ..."
• "Nobody is forgotten when it is convenient to remember him. "
• "Nowadays, manners are easy and life is hard. "
• "Nurture your minds with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes. "
• "On the education of the people of this country the fate of the country depends. "
• "Once at a social gathering, Gladstone said to Disraeli, "I predict, Sir, that you will ..."
• "One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his ..."
• "Plagiarists, at least, have the merit of preservation. "
• "Power has only one duty - to secure the social welfare of the People. "
• "Protection is not a principle but an expedient. "
• "Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory. "
• "Real politics are the possession and distribution of power. "
• "Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning. "
• "Silence is the mother of truth. "
• "Something unpleasant is coming when men are anxious to tell the truth. "
• "Success is the child of audacity. "
• "Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most. "
• "Talk to a man about himself and he will listen for hours. "
• "Teach us that wealth is not elegance, that profusion is not magnificence, that splendor is ..."
• "The art of governing mankind by deceiving them. "
• "The best security for civilization is the dwelling, and upon properly appointed and becoming dwellings ..."
• "The choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation. "
• "The difference between a misfortune and a calamity is this: If Gladstone fell into the ..."
• "The Duke of Wellington brought to the post of first minister immortal fame, -a quality ..."
• "The first magic of love is our ignorance that it can ever end. "
• "The fool wonders, the wise man asks. "
• "The governments of the present day have to deal not merely with other governments, with ..."
• "The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches ..."

• "The health of the people is really the foundation upon which all their happiness and ..."
• "The more you are talked about the less powerful you are. "
• "The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy. "
• "The people of England are the most enthusiastic in the world. "
• "The pursuit of science leads only to the insoluble. "
• "The question is this - Is man an ape or an angel? My Lord, I ..."
• "The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his ..."
• "The secret of success is constancy to purpose. "
• "The secret of success is to be ready when your opportunity comes. "
• "The services in wartime are fit only for desperadoes, but in peace are only fit ..."
• "The very phrase 'foreign affairs' makes an Englishman convinced that I am about to treat ..."
• "The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated by quotations. "
• "The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who ..."
• "The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians. "
• "The Youth of a Nation are the trustees of posterity. "
• "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. "
• "There can be economy only where there is efficiency. "
• "There is moderation even in excess. "
• "There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not ..."
• "There is no education like adversity. "
• "There is no gambling like politics. "
• "There is no greater index of character so sure as the voice. "
• "There is no index of character so sure as the voice. "
• "They that touch pitch will be defiled. "
• "Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure. "
• "To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to ..."
• "To supervise people, you must either surpass them in their accomplishments or despise them. "
• "To tax the community for the advantage of a class is not protection: it is ..."
• "Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant ..."
• "Upon the education of the people of this country the fate of this country depends. "
• "War is never a solution; it is an aggravation. "
• "We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only ..."
• "We cannot learn men from books. "
• "We live in an age when to be young and to be indifferent can be ..."
• "We moralize among ruins. "
• "We should never lose an occasion. Opportunity is more powerful even than conquerors and prophets. "
• "What is earnest is not always true; on the contrary, error is often more earnest ..."
• "What usually comes first is the contract. "
• "What we anticipate seldom occurs: but what we least expect generally happens. "
• "When little is done, little is said; silence is the mother of truth. "
• "Where knowledge ends, religion begins. "
• "William Gladstone has not a single redeeming defect. "
• "Without publicity there can be no public support, and without public support every nation must ..."
• "Without tact you can learn nothing. "
• "Worry - a God, invisible but omnipotent. It steals the bloom from the cheek and ..."
• "You will find as you grow older that courage is the rarest of all qualities ..."
• "Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle, Old Age a regret. "
• "Youth is the trustee of prosperity. "