26 quotes
He never went very far astray in his official business, because he always obeyed the clerks and followed precedents.
The Prime Minister (1876)
I always thought there was very little wit wanted to make a fortune in the City.
The Prime Minister (1876)
You can never teach them, except by the slow lesson of habit.
The Prime Minister (1876)
Things to be done offer themselves, I suppose, because they are in themselves desirable; not because it is desirable to have something to do.
The Prime Minister (1876)
People seen by the mind are exactly different to things seen by the eye. They grow smaller and smaller as you come nearer down to them, whereas things become bigger.
The Prime Minister (1876)
"I am ready to obey as a child; — but, not being a child, I think I ought to have a reason."
The Prime Minister (1876)
Power is so pleasant that men quickly learn to be greedy in the enjoyment of it, and to flatter themselves that patriotism requires them to be imperious.
The Prime Minister (1876)
The girl can look forward to little else than the chance of having a good man for her husband; — a good man, or if her tastes lie in that direction, a rich man.
The Prime Minister (1876)
Your man with a thin skin, a vehement ambition, a scrupulous conscience, and a sanguine desire for rapid improvement is never a happy, and seldom a fortunate politician.
The Prime Minister (1876)
You Ministers go on shuffling the old cards till they are so worn out and dirty that one can hardly tell the pips on them.
The Prime Minister (1876)
She had married a vulgar man; and, though she had not become like the man, she had become vulgar.
The Prime Minister (1876)
Their support was not needed, therefore they were not courted.
The Prime Minister (1876)
He don't look the sort of fellow I like; but he's got money and he comes here, and he's good looking, — and therefore he'll be a success.
The Prime Minister (1876)
The town horse, used to gaudy trappings, no doubt despises the work of his country brother; but yet, now and again, there comes upon him a sudden desire to plough.
The Prime Minister (1876)
One doesn't have an agreement to that effect written down on parchment and sealed; but it is as well understood and ought to be as faithfully kept as any legal contract.
The Prime Minister (1876)
But as we do not light up our houses with our brightest lamps for all comers, so neither did she emit from her eyes their brightest sparks till special occasions for such shining had arisen.
The Prime Minister (1876)
He had so accustomed himself to wield the constitutional cat-of-nine-tails, that heaven will hardly be happy to him unless he be allowed to flog the cherubim.
The Prime Minister (1876)
But how shall I excuse it? There are things done which are as holy as the heavens, — which are clear before God as the light of the sun, which leave no stain on the conscience, and which yet the malignity of man can invest with the very blackness of hell!
The Prime Minister (1876)
...he's got money ... and he's good looking, — and therefore he'll be a success.
The Prime Minister (1876)
The Duke, always right in his purpose but generally wrong in his practice, had stayed at home working all the morning, thereby scandalising the strict, and had gone to church alone in the afternoon, thereby offending the social.
The Prime Minister (1876)