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John Robert Seeley Quotes

Sir John Robert Seeley, KCMG was an English Liberal historian and political essayist. He is most known for his book The Expansion of England , which has continued to influence historical discussions about the British Empire until the 21st century. Wikipedia  

✵ 10. September 1834 – 13. January 1895
John Robert Seeley photo
John Robert Seeley: 7 quotes0 likes

Famous John Robert Seeley Quotes

“… The chief forces which hold a community together and cause it to constitute one State are three, common nationality, common religion, and common interest.”

John Robert Seeley

p. 50 https://books.google.com/books?id=Zsm3TLe1cAUC&amp;pg=PA50 <br class="br">The Expansion of England (1883)

“It is a favourite maxim of mine that history, while it should be scientific in its method, should pursue a practical object. That is, it should not merely gratify the reader's curiosity about the past, but modify his view of the present and his forecast of the future”

John Robert Seeley

p. 1 https://books.google.com/books?id=Zsm3TLe1cAUC&amp;pg=PA1 <br class="br">The Expansion of England (1883)

“… Men in general take up scheme after scheme, as circumstances suggest one or another, and therefore most biographies are compelled to pass from one subject to another, and to enter into a multitude of minute questions, to divide the life carefully into periods by chronological landmarks accurately determined, to trace the gradual development of character and ripening or change of opinions.”

John Robert Seeley

p. 18 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433068235500;view=1up;seq=48 <br class="br">Ecce Homo (1866)

“… Property can exit only under the guardianship of the State.”

John Robert Seeley

p. 57 https://books.google.com/books?id=Zsm3TLe1cAUC&amp;pg=PA57 <br class="br">The Expansion of England (1883)

“… John the Baptist was like the Emperor Nerva. In his career it was given him to do two things—to inaugurate a new régime, and also to nominate a successor who was far greater than himself.”

John Robert Seeley

p. 4 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433068235500;view=1up;seq=34 <br class="br">Ecce Homo (1866)

“The difficulty of determining whether a man is or is not good has now become a commonplace of moralists and satirists. It is almost impossible to discover any test which is satisfactory, and the test which is actually applied by society is known to be unsatisfactory in the extreme.”

John Robert Seeley

pp. 57–58 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433068235500;view=1up;seq=87 <br class="br">Ecce Homo (1866)

“Commerce in itself may favour peace, but when commerce is artificially shut out by a decree of Government from some promising territory, then commerce just as naturally favours war.”

John Robert Seeley

p. 110 https://books.google.com/books?id=Zsm3TLe1cAUC&amp;pg=PA110 <br class="br">The Expansion of England (1883)

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