History distinguishes what is accidental and transitory in human nature from what is essential and immutable. Thomas B. Macaulay More Quotes by Thomas B. Macaulay More Quotes From Thomas B. Macaulay When the great Kepler bad at length discovered the harmonic laws that regulate the motions of the heavenly bodies, he exclaimed: "Whether my discoveries will be read by posterity or by my contemporaries is a matter that concerns them more than me. I may well be contented to wait one century for a reader, when God Himself, during so many thousand years, has waited for an observer like myself. Thomas B. Macaulay lawdiscoveryyears Genius is subject to the same laws which regulate the production of cotton and molasses. Thomas B. Macaulay cottongeniuslaw No particular man is necessary to the state. We may depend on it that, if we provide the country with popular institutions, those institutions will provide it with great men. Thomas B. Macaulay maymencountry A perfect historian must possess an imagination sufficiently powerful to make his narrative affecting and picturesque; yet he must control it so absolutely as to content himself with the materials which he finds, and to refrain from supplying deficiencies by additions of his own. He must be a profound and ingenious reasoner; yet he must possess sufficient self-command to abstain from casting his facts in the mould of his hypothesis. Thomas B. Macaulay powerfulselfprofound A Grecian history, perfectly written should be a complete record of the rise and progress of poetry, philosophy, and the arts. Thomas B. Macaulay philosophyhistoryart The study of the properties of numbers, Plato tells us, habituates the mind to the contemplation of pure truth, and raises us above the material universe. He would have his disciples apply themselves to this study, not that they may be able to buy or sell, not that they may qualify themselves to be shopkeepers or travelling merchants, but that they may learn to withdraw their minds from the ever-shifting spectacle of this visible and tangible world, and to fix them on the immutable essences of things. Thomas B. Macaulay essenceplatonumbers We must succumb to the general influence of the times. No man can be of the tenth century, if he would; be must be a man of the nineteenth century. Thomas B. Macaulay influencewould-bemen Only imagine a man acting for one single day on the supposition that all his neighbors believe all that they profess, and act up to all that they believe! Thomas B. Macaulay actingmenbelieve I have not the smallest doubt that, if we had a purely democratic government here, the effect would be the same. Either the poor would plunder the rich, and civilisation would perish; or order and property would be saved by a strong military government, and liberty would perish. Thomas B. Macaulay strongmilitaryorder To be a really good historian is perhaps the rarest of intellectual distinctions. Thomas B. Macaulay historiandistinctionintellectual Facts are the mere dross of history. It is from the abstract truth which interpenetrates them, and lies latent among them, like gold in the ore, that the mass derives its whole value; and the precious particles are generally combined with the baser in such a manner that the separation is a task of the utmost difficulty. Thomas B. Macaulay goldlyinghistory The hearts of men are their books; events are their tutors; great actions are their eloquence. Thomas B. Macaulay heartmenbook Both in individuals and in masses violent excitement is always followed by remission, and often by reaction. We are all inclined to depreciate whatever we have overpraised, and, on the other hand, to show undue indulgence where we have shown undue rigor. Thomas B. Macaulay excitementindividualhands He who, in an enlightened and literary society, aspires to be a great poet, must first become a little child. He must take to pieces the whole web of his mind. He must unlearn much of that knowledge which has perhaps constituted hitherto his chief title to superiority. His very talents will be a hindrance to him. Thomas B. Macaulay poetrymindchildren It is possible to be below flattery as well as above it. One who trusts nobody will not trust sycophants. One who does not value real glory will not value its counterfeit. Thomas B. Macaulay sycophantsrealdoe The business of the dramatist is to keep himself out of sight, and to let nothing appear but his characters. As soon as he attracts notice to his personal feelings, the illusion is broken. Thomas B. Macaulay sightcharacterdrama Byron owed the vast influence which he exercised over his contemporaries at least as much to his gloomy egotism as to the real power of his poetry. Thomas B. Macaulay byroninfluencereal The passages in which Milton has alluded to his own circumstances are perhaps read more frequently, and with more interest, than any other lines in his poems. Thomas B. Macaulay miltonlinescircumstances We never could clearly understand how it is that egotism, so unpopular in conversation, should be so popular in writing. Thomas B. Macaulay shouldwritingconversation The ascendency of the sacerdotal order was long the ascendency which naturally and properly belonged to intellectual superiority. Thomas B. Macaulay intellectualorderlong
