The ancient nobility and gentry of the kingdom... have been thrust out of all public employment... a race of merchants, and manufacturers and bankers and loan-jobbers and contractors have usurped their place. William Cobbett More Quotes by William Cobbett More Quotes From William Cobbett You never know what you can do till you try. William Cobbett knowscan-dotrying It is by attempting to reach the top at a single leap that so much misery is caused in the world. William Cobbett life-and-lovetimepatience The truth is that the fall of Napoleon is the hardest blow that our taxing system ever felt. It is now impossible to make people believe that immense fleets and armies are necessary. William Cobbett militarybelievefall You may twist the word freedom as long as you please, but at last it comes to quiet enjoyment of your own property, or it comes to nothing. Why do men want any of those things that are called political rights and privileges? Why do they, for instance, want to vote at elections for members of parliament? Oh! Because they shall then have an influence over the conduct of those members. And of what use is that? Oh! Then they will prevent the members from doing wrong. William Cobbett rightsmenlong Sit down to write what you have thought, and not to think what you shall write. William Cobbett writingthinking Men fail much oftener from want of perseverance than from want of talent. William Cobbett perseverancewantmen Freedom is not an empty sound; it is not an abstract idea; it is not a thing that nobody can feel. It means, - and it means nothing else, - the full and quiet enjoyment of your own property. If you have not this, if this be not well secured to you, you may call yourself what you will, but you are a slave. William Cobbett wisdommeanideas I view tea drinking as a destroyer of health, an enfeebler of the frame, an en-genderer of effeminancy and laziness, a debaucher of youth and maker of misery for old age. Thus he makes that miserable progress towards that death which he finds ten or fifteen years sooner than he would have found it if he had made his wife brew beer instead of making tea. William Cobbett viewsdrinkingbeer Another great evil arising from this desire to be thought rich; or rather, from the desire not to be thought poor, is the destructive thing which has been honored by the name of "speculation"; but which ought to be called Gambling. William Cobbett gamblingevilnames Never esteem men on account of their riches or their station. Respect goodness, find it where you may. William Cobbett maymenwar It is no small mischief to a boy, that many of the best years of his life should be devoted to the learning of what can never be of any real use to any human being. His mind is necessarily rendered frivolous and superficial by the long habit of attaching importance to words instead of things; to sound instead of sense. William Cobbett realeducationboys Nothing is so well calculated to produce a death-like torpor in the country as an extended system of taxation and a great national debt. William Cobbett taxationcountrydeath All my plans in private life; all my pursuits; all my designs, wishes, and thoughts, have this one great object in view: the overthrow of the ruffian Boroughmongers. If I write grammars; if I write on agriculture; if I sow, plant, or deal in seeds; whatever I do has first in view the destruction of those infamous tyrants. William Cobbett tyrantsviewswriting The power which money gives is that of brute force; it is the power of the bludgeon and the bayonet. William Cobbett bayonetsforcegiving The Christian religion, then, is not an affair of preaching, or prating, or ranting, but of taking care of the bodies as well as the souls of people; not an affair of belief and of faith and of professions, but an affair of doing good, and especially to those who are in want; not an affair of fire and brimstone, but an affair of bacon and bread, beer and a bed. William Cobbett firechristianbeer Good government is known from bad government by this infallible test: that under the former the labouring people are well fed and well clothed, and under the latter, they are badly fed and badly clothed. William Cobbett testsgovernmentpeople If the people of Sheffield could only receive a tenth part of what their knives sell for by retail in America, Sheffield might pave its streets with silver. William Cobbett knivesamericapeople Dancing is at once rational & healthful: it gives animal spirits; it is the natural amusement of young people, & such it has been from the days of Moses. William Cobbett danceanimalpeople I defy you to agitate any fellow with a full stomach. William Cobbett agitationstomachfellows Be you in what line of life you may, it will be amongst your misfortunes if you have not time properly to attend to [money management]; for. ... want of attention to pecuniary matters ... has impeded the progress of science and of genius itself. William Cobbett progressattentionscience
