“In our judgment of men, we are to beware of giving any great importance to occasional acts. By acts of occasional virtue weak men endeavour to redeem themselves in their own estimation, vain men to exalt themselves in that of mankind.”

1900s, The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses (1900), The Strenuous Life
Context: Let us, as we value our own self-respect, face the responsibilities with proper seriousness, courage, and high resolve. We must demand the highest order of integrity and ability in our public men who are to grapple with these new problems. We must hold to a rigid accountability those public servants who show unfaithfulness to the interests of the nation or inability to rise to the high level of the new demands upon our strength and our resources. Of course we must remember not to judge any public servant by any one act, and especially should we beware of attacking the men who are merely the occasions and not the causes of disaster.

Fischerisms (1944)

Source: On Liberty (1859)

Letter to John Adams (4 October 1790) http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext00/4sdms10.txt

Spectrum: From Right to Left in the World of Ideas (2005), Ch. 13. "The Vanquished Left, Eric Hobsbawm" (2002)

Source: Across the Plains (1892), Ch. XII, A Christmas Sermon.

Source: Travels in the North of Germany (1820), p. 292, Vol. 1

Speech at Midland International Arbitration Union, Birmingham, United Kingdom (1877).
1870s