John Russell , 1er comte Russell, est un homme d'État libéral du Royaume-Uni.
“[A proverb is] one man's wit, and all men's wisdom.”
Remark to James Mackintosh on October 6, 1830, reported in his posthumous memoir, Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable Sir James Mackintosh, Vol. 2 (1836), p. 472 http://books.google.com/books?id=wHM4AAAAYAAJ&q=%22one+man's+wit+and+all+men's+wisdom%22&pg=PA472#v=onepage
Variante: [A proverb is] the wisdom of many and the wit of one.
“It is impossible that the whisper of a faction should prevail against the voice of a nation.”
Source: Letter to T. Attwood, October 1831, after the rejection in the House of Lords of the Reform Bill (7 October 1831).
From the introduction to Correspondence of John, Fourth Duke of Bedford, Vol. 3 (1847), p. lxii
1840s
Source: Quoted in George W. E. Russell in Prime Ministers and Some Others, 1918, p. 23
“I rejoice heartily at the prospect of the negro vote.”
Source: Letter to British Ambassador to the United States Sir Frederick Bruce, 17 June 1863, quote in Paul Scherer, Lord John Russell, A Biography (1999), p287
“I am in my politics for reform and nothing but reform.”
Source: Letter to Lady Holland, January 1822
“I have seemed cold to my friends, but it was not in my heart.”
Source: Comment during final illness, as recalled by his nephew George W. E. Russell in Prime Ministers and Some Others, 1918, p. 24
“Who the devil will coalesce with people that don't coalesce with themselves.”
Source: Reply to a suggestion by Thomas Moore that George Canning might join with the Whigs to pass Catholic emancipation, quoted in Paul Scherer, Lord John Russell: A Biography (1999), p. 24
Source: Essays and Sketches of Life and Character (1820), p. 136
“[H]is heart always beat for the honour of England.”
Source: Speaking of Viscount Palmerston at the Guildhall, London, 9 November 1865, as reported in The Times, 10 November 1865, p. 7
Source: Letter to Thomas Attwood, October 1831, after the rejection in the House of Lords of the Reform Bill, 7 October 1831
Source: 1806 journal entry on the acquittal of Lord Melville for misappropriation of public funds, as quoted in Stuart J. Reid, Lord John Russell (1895), p.9
1820s
Source: Speech to the House of Commons on Parliamentary reform, 25 April 1822
