The difference between a misfortune and a calamity is this: If Gladstone fell into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him out again, that would be a calamity.

The people of England are the most enthusiastic in the world.

The choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation.

What is earnest is not always true; on the contrary, error is often more earnest than truth.

What we anticipate seldom occurs: but what we least expect generally happens.

London is a roost for every bird.

My objection to Liberalism is this that it is the introduction into the practical business of life of the highest kind namely, politics of philosophical ideas instead of political principles.

The Youth of a Nation are the trustees of posterity.

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

Where knowledge ends, religion begins.

Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.

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.

To tax the community for the advantage of a class is not protection: it is plunder.

An author who speaks about their own books is almost as bad as a mother who speaks about her own children.

A majority is always better than the best repartee.

To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge.

The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy.

The secret of success is constancy to purpose.

I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best.

Man is only great when he acts from passion.

The services in wartime are fit only for desperadoes, but in peace are only fit for fools.

We should never lose an occasion. Opportunity is more powerful even than conquerors and prophets.

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

The view of Jerusalem is the history of the world; it is more, it is the history of earth and of heaven.

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own.

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.

Justice is truth in action.

Fear makes us feel our humanity.

Despair is the conclusion of fools.

Great countries are those that produce great people.

Things must be done by parties, not by persons using parties as tools.

One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.

Youth is the trustee of prosperity.

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.

Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.

Teach us that wealth is not elegance, that profusion is not magnificence, that splendor is not beauty.

Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning.

It destroys one's nerves to be amiable every day to the same human being.

Without publicity there can be no public support, and without public support every nation must decay.

In a progressive country change is constant; change is inevitable.

The more you are talked about the less powerful you are.

War is never a solution; it is an aggravation.

Genius, when young, is divine.

A precedent embalms a principle.

Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time.

No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition.

Colonies do not cease to be colonies because they are independent.

A Conservative Government is an organized hypocrisy.

As for our majority... one is enough.