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Quotes from The Federal Story — Alfred Deakin

1856–1919 Australia

← All quotes by Alfred Deakin

10 quotes

He sought rest only in perpetual physical motion.

The Federal Story (1944)

He possessed for a time practically despotic authority "On the one condition", as he shrewdly said, "that I did not exercise it."

The Federal Story (1944)

His nervous instability was painful, his poses perpetual and his vanity colossal.

The Federal Story (1944)

Knowledge was his forte and omniscience his foible.

The Federal Story (1944)

Sir Thomas was a man of business, stout, florid, choleric, curt and Cromwellian.

The Federal Story (1944)

In public life ... he had but one aim — his own aggrandisement.

The Federal Story (1944)

Reid was neither federal nor anti-federal but either at need and as far as possible both at once. It is difficult indeed to describe so extraordinary a man without appearing to caricature him ...

The Federal Story (1944)

He had apparently no illusions, no passions and no pre dominantly great ideals. He had the official manner, imperturbable and impenetrable, which would have made the fortune of an ambassador in Bismarck's eves.

The Federal Story (1944)

... his politics were a chaos and his career contemptible.

The Federal Story (1944)

Though a Tasmanian born he appealed at all times to the narrowest Sydney and New South Wales provincialism by the pettiest and meanest acts and proposals. He was an anti- Federalist from the first, except upon terms which should ensure the absolute supremacy of his own colony as a stepping- stone to his own elevation.

The Federal Story (1944)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Alfred Deakin (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.