Benjamin Disraeli citations
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Benjamin Disraeli, né le 21 décembre 1804 et mort le 19 avril 1881 à Londres, est un homme d'État et écrivain britannique, Premier ministre du Royaume-Uni à deux reprises. Il joue un rôle central dans la création du Parti conservateur moderne dont il formalise la doctrine. Par sa grande influence sur la politique étrangère, il a associé les conservateurs à la gloire et à la puissance de l'Empire britannique.

Né dans une famille juive, Benjamin Disraeli est élevé dans la foi anglicane car son père est en conflit avec sa synagogue. Il entame une carrière d'avocat mais se tourne vers la politique dans les années 1830 et est élu à la Chambre des communes comme député de Maidstone en 1837. Lorsque les conservateurs prennent le pouvoir en 1841, Disraeli n’intègre pas le gouvernement du Premier ministre Robert Peel. Cinq ans plus tard, Peel divise le parti en demandant l'abrogation des Corn Laws qui limitaient les importations de céréales : il est violemment attaqué par Disraeli. Peu de notables conservateurs rompent avec Peel, et Disraeli devient alors une figure importante du parti même si beaucoup se méfient de lui. Il est trois fois chancelier de l'Échiquier et chef de la Chambre des communes au sein des cabinets de Lord Derby dans les années 1850 et 1860. Il développe à cette période une forte rivalité avec le libéral William Ewart Gladstone.

Lorsque Derby démissionne pour des raisons de santé en février 1868, Disraeli devient Premier ministre mais perd les élections à la fin de l'année. Il représente alors l'Opposition avant de mener son parti à la victoire en 1874. Il développe une forte amitié avec la reine Victoria qui le fait comte de Beaconsfield en 1876. Le second mandat de Disraeli est dominé par la question d'Orient, désignant le déclin de l'Empire ottoman et les actions des autres pays européens, notamment la Russie, pour en profiter. Il pousse ainsi les intérêts britanniques à prendre des parts dans la compagnie du canal de Suez en Égypte ottomane. En 1878, devant les victoires russes contre les Ottomans, Disraeli mène la délégation britannique au congrès de Berlin et négocie des termes favorables au Royaume-Uni.

Même si Disraeli est félicité pour ses actions à Berlin, d'autres événements affectent le soutien à son gouvernement : les guerres en Afghanistan et en Afrique du Sud sont critiquées, et il irrite les agriculteurs britanniques en refusant de rétablir les Corn Laws. Gladstone mène une campagne efficace et le parti libéral remporte les élections de 1880.

Auteur de plusieurs romans depuis 1826, Benjamin Disraeli publie sa dernière œuvre, Endymion, peu avant sa mort à l'âge de 76 ans. Wikipedia  

✵ 21. décembre 1804 – 19. avril 1881
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Benjamin Disraeli: 307   citations 0   J'aime

Benjamin Disraeli Citations

Benjamin Disraeli: Citations en anglais

“The right hon. Gentleman caught the Whigs bathing, and walked away with their clothes. He has left them in the full enjoyment of their liberal position, and he is himself a strict conservative of their garments.”

Source: Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1845/feb/28/opening-letters-at-the-post-office in the House of Commons (28 February 1845), referring to Sir Robert Peel.

“I suppose, to use our national motto, something will turn up.”

Popanilla http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7816 (1827) Ch. 7 referring to the Motto of "Vraibleusia".
Books

“In assuming that peace will be maintained, I assume also that no Great Power would shrink from its responsibilities. If there be a country, for example, one of the most extensive and wealthiest of empires in the world—if that country, from a perverse interpretation of its insular geographical position, turns an indifferent ear to the feelings and the fortunes of Continental Europe, such a course would, I believe, only end in its becoming an object of general plunder. So long as the power and advice of England are felt in the councils of Europe, peace, I believe, will be maintained, and maintained for a long period. Without their presence, war, as has happened before, and too frequently of late, seems to me to be inevitable. I speak on this subject with confidence to the citizens of London, because I know that they are men who are not ashamed of the Empire which their ancestors created; because I know that they are not ashamed of the noblest of human sentiments, now decried by philosophers—the sentiment of patriotism; because I know they will not be beguiled into believing that in maintaining their Empire they may forfeit their liberties. One of the greatest of Romans, when asked what were his politics, replied, Imperium et Libertas.”

That would not make a bad programme for a British Ministry. It is one from which Her Majesty's advisers do not shrink.
Source: Speech at the Guildhall, London (9 November 1879), cited in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, Vol. 2 (1929), pp. 1366-7.

“Upon the education of the people of this country the fate of this country depends.”

Source: Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1874/jun/15/motion-for-a-select-committee in the House of Commons (15 June 1874).

“Though I sit down now, the time will come when you will hear me.”

Maiden speech https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191843730.001.0001/q-oro-ed5-00003685 in the House of Commons (7 December 1837). Disraeli was being shouted down by other MPs. Compare: "I will be heard", William Lloyd Garrison, Salutatory of the Liberator
1830s

“The more extensive an author's knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do.”

Isaac D'Israeli, Curiosities of Literature.
Misattributed, Isaac D'Israeli

“A consistent man believes in Destiny — a capricious man in Chance.”

Book VI, Chapter 22.
Books, Coningsby (1844), Vivian Grey (1826)

“It is knowledge that influences and equalises the social condition of man; that gives to all, however different their political position, passions which are in common, and enjoyments which are universal.”

"The Value of Literature to Men of Business," speech at the Manchester Athenaeum (23 October 1844), cited in Selected Speeches of the Late Right Honourable the Earl of Beaconsfield, Vol. 2 (1882), p. 625.
1840s

“…reciprocity is barter. I always understood that barter was the last effort of civilization that it was exactly that state of human exchange that separated civilization from savagery; and if reciprocity is only barter, I fear that would hardly help us out of our difficulty. My noble friend read some extracts from the speeches of those who had the misfortune to be in Parliament at that time, and he honoured me by reading an extract from the speech I then made in the other House of Parliament. That was a speech in favour of reciprocity, and indicated the means by which reciprocity could be obtained. That is to say…by the negotiation of a treaty of commerce, by reciprocal exchange and the lowering of duties, the products of the two negotiating countries would find a freer access and consumption in the two countries than they formerly possessed. But when he taunts me with his quotation of some musty phrases of mine 40 years ago, I must remind him that we had elements then on which treaties of reciprocity could be negotiated. At that time, although the great changes of Sir Robert Peel had taken place, there were 168 articles in the tariff which were materials by which you could have negotiated, if that was a wise and desirable policy, commercial treaties of reciprocity. What is the number you now have in the tariff? Twenty-two. Those who talk of negotiating treaties of reciprocity…have they the materials for negotiating treaties of reciprocity? You have lost the opportunity. I do not want to enter into the argument at the present moment; but England cannot pursue that policy.”

Speech in the House of Lords (29 April 1879), reported in The Times (30 April 1879), p. 8.
1870s

“A University should be a place of light, of liberty, and of learning.”

Source: Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1873/mar/11/second-reading-adjourned-debate in the House of Commons (11 March 1873).

“Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man.”

Source: Speech to the Conservatives of Manchester (3 April 1872), cited in The World's Best Orations from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Vol. 1 (eds. David Josiah Brewer, Edward Archibald Allen, William Schuyler), pp. 309-338.

“Gentlemen, the Tory party, unless it is a national party, is nothing.”

Source: Speech at banquet of the National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations, Crystal Palace, London (24 June 1872), cited in "Mr. Disraeli at Sydenham," The Times (25 June 1872), p. 7.

“There is no education like adversity.”

Source: Books, Coningsby (1844), Endymion (1880), Ch. 61.

“Something unpleasant is coming when men are anxious to tell the truth.”

Book IV, Chapter 6.
Books, Coningsby (1844), The Young Duke (1831)

“The fool wonders, the wise man asks.”

Count Alarcos: A Tragedy Act IV, sc. i.
Books

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