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The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

— Thomas Babington Macaulay History of England (1849)

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More quotes by Thomas Babington Macaulay

Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely.

Southey's Colloquies on Society', The Edinburgh Review (1830)

The highest proof of virtue is to possess boundless power without abusing it.

I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of books than a king who did not love reading.

Perhaps no person can be a poet, or even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind.

Milton', The Edinburgh Review (1825)

The object of oratory alone is not truth, but persuasion.

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The key to self-generated happiness (the only reliable kind) is the refusal to take oneself too seriously.

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It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back.

Cary Grant Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About (1964)

Shared pain is lessened; shared joy, increased — thus do we refute entropy.

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Tolerant people are the happiest, so why not get rid of prejudices that hold you back?

William Moulton Marston Your Life What are your prejudices? (1939)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Thomas Babington Macaulay (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.