Thomas B. Macaulay Quotes About Human Nature
-
How it chanced that a man who reasoned on his premises so ably, should assume his premises so foolishly, is one of the great mysteries of human nature.
→ -
In every age the vilest specimens of human nature are to be found among demagogues.
→ -
History distinguishes what is accidental and transitory in human nature from what is essential and immutable.
→ -
No war ought ever to be undertaken but under circumstances which render all intercourse of courtesy between the combatants impossible. It is a bad thing that men should hate each other; but it is far worse that they should contract the habit of cutting one another's throats without hatred. War is never lenient but where it is wanton; when men are compelled to fight in self-defence, they must hate and avenge: this may be bad; but it is human nature.
→ -
What proposition is there respecting human nature which is absolutely and universally true? We know of only one,--and that is not only true, but identical,--that men always act from self-interest.
→ -
It is good to be often reminded of the inconsistency of human nature, and to learn to look without wonder or disgust on the weaknesses which are found in the strongest minds.
→ -
We hardly know an instance of the strength and weakness of human nature so striking and so grotesque as the character of this haughty, vigilant, resolute, sagacious blue-stocking, half Mithridates and half Trissotin, bearing up against a world in arms, with an ounce of poison in one pocket and a quire of bad verses in the other.
→ -
Highest among those who have exhibited human nature by means of dialogue stands Shakespeare. His variety is like the variety of nature,--endless diversity, scarcely any monstrosity.
→ -
War is never lenient but where it is wanton; where men are compelled to fight in self-defence, they must hate and avenge. This may be bad, but it is human nature; it is the clay as it came from the hands of the Potter.
→
Thomas B. Macaulay
- Born: October 25, 1800
- Died: December 28, 1859
- Occupation: Former Secretary at War
Related Authors
-
Gretchen Rubin Author -
Edmund Burke Statesman -
Thomas Carlyle Philosopher -
William Wilberforce British Politician -
Richard Brinsley Sheridan Playwright -
Robert Peel Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom -
Edward Gibbon Historian -
William Jones Philologist -
William E. Gladstone Former Chancellor of the Exchequer -
Samuel Johnson Writer -
Matthew Arnold Poet -
-
G. M. Trevelyan Historian -
James Boswell Lawyer -
Joseph Addison Essayist -
William Makepeace Thackeray Novelist -
James Mill Economist -
Hannah More Writer -
Walter Scott Baronet Scott