Benjamin Disraeli citations (307 citations, Page 3)

Speech to Wynyard Horticultural Show (1848), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (London: John Murray, 1929), p. 709.
1840s

“He has not a single redeeming defect.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

On William Ewart Gladstone; attributed in William S. Walsh, Handy-Book of Literary Curiosities (1892), p. 357.
Sourced but undated

“Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

The Infernal Marriage, part 3 (1834).
Books

“I receive letters every day asking me to write a manifesto and make a speech; that I am the only man who could do so with effect; and all that. Why should I? I warned the country about Ireland before the General Election and told them to be vigilant, or there would be something happen there, "worse even than famine or pestilence". It has happened. And there have been elections since the Irish Revolution in England, Wales and Scotland, and they have supported the policy of imbecility and treason that has brought about all this disaster.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Letter to Lady Chesterfield (22 December 1880), quoted in the Marquis of Zetland (ed.), The Letters of Disraeli to Lady Bradford and Lady Chesterfield. Vol. II, 1876 to 1881 (London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1929), p. 305.
1880s

“There can be no economy where there is no efficiency.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Source: Letter to Constituents (3 October 1868), cited in Wit and Wisdom of Benjamin Disraeli, Collected from his Writings and Speeches (1881), p. 110.

“Never take anything for granted.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Speech at Salthill (5 October 1864).
1860s

“Nothing is going on, but everybody is afraid of something.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Source: Books, Coningsby (1844), Endymion (1880), Ch. 2.

“For nearly five years the present Ministers have harassed every trade, worried every profession, and assailed or menaced every class, institution, and species of property in the country. Occasionally they have varied this state of civil warfare by perpetrating some job which outraged public opinion, or by stumbling into mistakes which have been always discreditable, and sometimes ruinous. All this they call a policy, and seem quite proud of it; but the country has, I think, made up its mind to close this career of plundering and blundering.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Source: Letter to Lord Grey de Wilton (3 October 1873), cited in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, Vol. 5 (1920), p. 262.

“They that touch pitch will be defiled.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Actually spoken by Dogberry in William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (III.3). The KJV Bible (Ecclesiasticus 13:1) has "He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith".
Misattributed

“The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be preserved by quotation.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Isaac D'Israeli, Curiosities of Literature, "Quotation".
Misattributed, Isaac D'Israeli
Variante: The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated by quotations.

“I repeat that all power is a trust; that we are accountable for its exercise; that from the people, and for the people all springs, and all must exist.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Book VI, Chapter 7.
Books, Coningsby (1844), Vivian Grey (1826)

“It is unnecessary for me to state that I shall support all those measures, the object of which is to elevate the moral and social condition of the Working Classes, by lessening their hours of toil—by improving their means of health—and by cultivating their intelligence. These are objects which, it is not unpleasing for me to remember, I endeavoured, in common with some of my friends, to advance, before they engaged the attention of Governments, or were supported by triumphant Parliamentary majorities.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Address to the electors of Buckinghamshire (25 May 1847), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume I. 1804–1859 (London: John Murray, 1929), p. 838.
1840s

“Grief is the agony of an instant; the indulgence of Grief the blunder of a life.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Book VI, Chapter 7.
Books, Coningsby (1844), Vivian Grey (1826)

“Under this roof are the heads of the family of Rothschild a name famous in every capital of Europe and every division of the globe. If you like, we shall divide the United States into two parts, one for you, James, and one for you, Lionel. Napoleon will do exactly and all that I shall advise him to do; and to Bismark will be suggested such an intoxicating programme as to make him our abject slave.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Reported as a misattribution in Bernard Glassman, Benjamin Disraeli: The Fabricated Jew in Myth and Memory (2003), p. 185.
Misattributed

“Here everything is dark. A series of storms has destroyed all our hopes which were full of promise. A plentiful hay harvest drowned and the finest wheat the farmers have had for years all laid. It is a scene of ravage, of havoc like a conquered country. It is the last drop in the bitter cup which the landed interest will have to swallow. … As for politics, Gladstone will be as fatal to the aristocracy as the weather; and if he were younger the Crown would not be safe.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Source: Letter to Lady Chesterfield (19 July 1880), quoted in the Marquis of Zetland (ed.), The Letters of Disraeli to Lady Bradford and Lady Chesterfield. Vol. II, 1876 to 1881 (London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1929), p. 282.

“Mediocrity can talk; but it is for genius to observe.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Isaac D'Israeli, The Curiosities of Literature, "Men of Genius Deficient in Conversation".
Misattributed, Isaac D'Israeli

“Nature has given us two ears but only one mouth.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Book 6, chapter 24.
Books, Coningsby (1844), Henrietta Temple (1837)

“The health of the people is really the foundation upon which all their happiness and all their powers as a state depend.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Speech of 1877-06-24
1870s

“So you see, my dear Coningsby, that the world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Sidonia speaking
Book 4, Chap. 15.
Books, Coningsby (1844)

“All is race, there is no other truth.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Lord George Bentinck: A Political Biography (1852), p. 331.
1850s

“To build up a community, not upon Liberal opinions, which any man may fashion to his fancy, but upon popular principles, which assert equal rights, civil and religious; to uphold the institutions of the country because they are the embodiment of the wants and wishes of the nation, and protect us alike from individual tyranny and popular outrage; equally to resist democracy and oligarchy; and favour that principle of free aristocracy which is the only basis and security for constitutional government; to be vigilant to guard and prompt to vindicate the honour of the country, but to hold aloof from that turbulent diplomacy which only distracts the mind of a people from internal improvement; to lighten taxation; frugally but wisely to administer the public treasure; to favour popular education, because it is the best guarantee for public order; to defend local government; and to be as jealous of the rights of the working man as of the prerogatives of the Crown and the privileges of the Senate—these were once the principles which regulated Tory statesmen, and I for one have no wish that the Tory party should ever be in power unless they practise them.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Source: Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1862/aug/01/the-administration-of-viscount in the House of Commons (1 August 1862).

“I had to prepare the mind of the country, and to educate…our party. … I had to prepare the mind of Parliament and the country on this question of Reform.”

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Benjamin Disraeli

Source: Speech on Reform Bill of 1867, Edinburgh, Scotland (29 October 1867), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (London: John Murray, 1929), p. 289.