“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”

Source: The Portrait of a Lady (1881), Ch. XXXVIII

Sempre il miglior non è il parer primiero.
Don Garzia, III, 1; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 787.

Book V, Chapter 1.
Books, Coningsby (1844), Vivian Grey (1826)

Source: Jayber Crow

Source: Social Problems (1883), Ch. 21 : Conclusion
Context: I ask no one who may read this book to accept my views. I ask him to think for himself.
Whoever, laying aside prejudice and self-interest, will honestly and carefully make up his own mind as to the causes and the cure of the social evils that are so apparent, does, in that, the most important thing in his power toward their removal. This primary obligation devolves upon us individually, as citizens and as men. Whatever else we may be able to do, this must come first. For "if the blind lead the blind, they both shall fall into the ditch."
Social reform is not to be secured by noise and shouting; by complaints and denunciation; by the formation of parties, or the making of revolutions; but by the awakening of thought and the progress of ideas. Until there be correct thought, there cannot be right action; and when there is correct thought, right action will follow. Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.

C'est une plaisante chose que la pensée dépende absolument de l'estomac, et malgré cela les meilleurs estomacs ne soient pas les meilleurs penseurs.
Letter to Jean le Rond d'Alembert (20 August 1770)
Citas

Lightsong the Bold
Warbreaker (2009)

Source: After Dark