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

Faith hovers over the towers of Jerusalem; and Athens embodies the pre-eminent quality of the antique world, Art.

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.

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.

Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.

The fool wonders, the wise man asks.

Assassination has never changed the history of the world.

Power has only one duty – to secure the social welfare of the People.

As for our majority… one is enough.

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

No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition.

Damn your principles! Stick to your party.

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.

A man may speak very well in the House of Commons, and fail very completely in the House of Lords.

The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes.

Nine-tenths of the existing books are nonsense and the clever books are the refutation of that nonsense.

Frank and explicit – that is the right line to take when you wish to conceal your own mind and confuse the minds of others.

His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.

Destiny is something not be to desired and not to be avoided. a mystery not contrary to reason, for it implies that the world, and the course of human history, have meaning.

Contrary to popular opinion, the hustle is not a new dance step – it is an old business procedure.

To the contrary, I’ve found that the happiest people have found some cause and they stride through life propelled by a commitment.

On the contrary, there is a considerable body of evidence that these fossil traces, known as ‘dino-fuzz’, have nothing to do with bird feathers…

Quite the contrary; it is the vehicle of savage, destructive nihilism.

It must on the contrary be named.

Every science in a certain degree starts from faith, and, on the contrary, faith, which does not lead to science, is mistaken faith or superstition, but real, genuine faith it is not.