Benjamin Disraeli Men Quotations

You can tell the strength of a nation by the women behind its men.

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.

Every man has a right to be conceited until he is successful.

The more extensive a man's knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do.

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.

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.

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.

Beware of endeavoring to become a great man in a hurry. One such attempt in ten thousand may succeed. These are fearful odds.

Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man.

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.

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.

Something unpleasant is coming when men are anxious to tell the truth.

When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world.

We cannot learn men from books.

Some will read only old books, as if there were no valuable truths to be discovered in modern publications: others will only read new books, as if some valuable truths are not among the old. Some will not read a book because they know the author: others . . . would also read the man.

Friendship is the gift of the gods, and the most precious boon to man.

It is the lot of man to suffer; it is also his fortune to forget. Oblivion and sorrow share our being, as darkness and light divide the course of time.

Generally speaking, among sensible persons, it would seem that a rich man deems that friend a sincere one who does not want to borrow his money; while, among the less favored with fortune's gifts, the sincere friend is generally esteemed to be the individual who is ready to lend it.

A female friend, amiable, clever, and devoted, is a possession more valuable than parks and palaces; and without such a muse, few men can succeed in life, none be contented.

Fame has eagle wings, and yet she mounts not so high as man's desires.

No man will treat with indifference the principle of race. It is the key to history, and why history is often so confused is that it has been written by men who are ignorant of this principle and all the knowledge it involves. . . Language and religion do not make a race--there is only one thing which makes a race, and that is blood.

What is wanted in architecture, as in so many things, is a man. ... One suggestion might be made-no profession in England has done its duty until it has furnished a victim. ... Even our boasted navy never achieved a great victory until we shot an admiral. Suppose an architect were hanged? Terror has its inspiration, as well as competition.

Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own.

More pernicious nonsense was never devised by man than treaties of commerce.

No conjunction can possibly occur, however fearful, however tremendous it may appear, from which a man by his own energy may not extricate himself, as a mariner by the rattling of his cannon can dissipate the impending waterspout.

Those authors who appear sometimes to forget they are writers, and remember they are men, will be our favorites.

Of all unfortunate men one of the unhappiest is a middling author endowed with too lively a sensibility for criticism.

A man's fate is his own temper.

Every man should marry - and no woman

Man is more powerful than matter.

A great thing is a great book; but a greater thing than all is the talk of a great man.

Is man an ape or an angel? Now I am on the side of the angels.

Man is only truly great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.

No enemy is so terrible as a man of genius.

He was one of these men who think that the world can be saved by writing a pamphlet.

It is well-known what a middleman is: he is a man who bamboozles one party and plunders the other.

"As for that," said Waldenshare, "sensible men are all of the same religion." "Pray, what is that?" inquired the Prince. "Sensible men never tell."

Here's to the man who rode the race, who took the time, who kept the time, and who did the trick.

In great cities men are brought together by the desire of gain. They are not in a state of co-operation, but of isolation, as to the making of fortunes; and for all the rest they are careless of neighbors.

Scientific, like spiritual truth, has ever from the beginning been descending from heaven to man.

It is knowledge that influences and equalizes the social condition of man; that gives to all, however different their political position, passions which are in common, and enjoyments which are universal.

What art was to the ancient world, Science is to the modern; the distinctive faculty. In the minds of men, the useful has succeeded to the beautiful.

The question is this - Is man an ape or an angel? My Lord, I am on the side of the angels. I repudiate with indignation and abhorrence these new fanged theories.

Man is made to create, from the poet to the potter.

It is the lot of man to suffer.

And it is a singular truth that, though a man may shake off national habits, accent, manner of thinking, style of dress,--though he may become perfectly identified with another nation, and speak its language well, perhaps better than his own,--yet never can he succeed in changing his handwriting to a foreign style.

The age does not believe in great men, because it does not possess any.

One should conquer the world, not to enthrone a man, but an idea; for ideas exist forever.

Gentl, I am a party man. I believe that, without party, Parliamentary government is impossible. I look upon Parliamentary government as the noblest government in the world, and certainly the one most suited to England.

Turtle makes all men equal.

Is it what you call civilization that makes England flourish? Is it the universal development of the faculties of man that has rendered an island, almost unknown to the ancients, the arbiter of the world? Clearly not. It is the inhabitants that have done this. It is an affair of race.... All is race, there is no other truth.

When I left the dining room after sitting next to Mr. Gladstone, I thought he was the cleverest man in England. But after sitting next to Mr. Disraeli, I thought I was the cleverest woman in England.

The most powerful men are not public men: a public man is responsible, and a responsible man is a slave. It is private life that governs the world.

A realist is a man who insists on making the same mistakes his grandfather did.

With words we govern men.

A good eater must be a good man; for a good eater must have a good digestion, and a good digestion depends upon a good conscience.

Modern science has vindicated the natural equality of man.

'A sound Conservative government,' said Taper, musingly. 'I understand: Tory men and Whig measures.'

It was not reason that besieged Troy; it was not reason that sent forth the Saracen from the desert to conquer the world; that inspired the crusades; that instituted the monastic orders; it was not reason that produced the Jesuits; above all, it was not reason that created the French Revolution. Man is only great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.

Luck is what a capricious man believes in.

I have always thought that every woman should marry, and no man.

The conduct of men depends upon the temperament, not upon a bunch of musty maxims.

Literature is an avenue to glory, ever open for those ingenious men who are deprived of honors or of wealth.

A practical man is a man who practices the errors of his forefathers.

When men are young, they want experience and when they have gained experience, they want energy.

All of us encounter, at least once in our life, some individual who utters words that make us think forever. There are men whose phrases are oracles; who condense in one sentence the secrets of life; who blurt out an aphorism that forms a character or illustrates an existence.

The Athanasian Creed is the most splendid ecclesiastical lyric ever poured forth by the genius of man.

The press is not only free, it is powerful. That power is ours. It is the proudest that man can enjoy. It was not granted by monarchs, it was not gained for us by aristocracies ; but it sprang from the people, and, with an immortal instinct, it has always worked for the people.

Everything comes if a man will only wait.

Whenever you see a man who is successful in society, try to discover what makes him pleasing, and if possible adopt his system.

How very seldom do you encounter in the world a man of great abilities, acquirements, experience, who will unmask his mind, unbutton his brains, and pour forth in careless and picturesque phrase all the results of his studies and observation; his knowledge of men, books, and nature. On the contrary, if a man has by any chance an original idea, he hoards it as if it were old gold; and rather avoids the subject with which he is most conversant, from fear that you may appropriate his best thoughts.

Nature, like man, sometimes weeps from gladness.

Great men never require experience.

Great men should think of opportunity and not of time. That is the excuse of feeble and puzzled spirits.

When a man is going to try and borrow money, it is wise to look prosperous

Perseverance and tact are the two great qualities most valuable for all men who would mount, but especially for those who have to step out of the crowd

As a rule, man is a fool. When it's hot, he wants it cool; When its cool, he wants it hot. Always wanting, what is not.