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What a singular destiny has been that of this remarkable man! To be regarded in his own age as a classic, and in ours as a companion! To receive from his contemporaries that full homage which men of genius have in general received only from posterity! To be more intimately known to posterity than other men are known to their contemporaries!

— Thomas Babington Macaulay

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

History of England (1849)

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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.