“Peel delivered the best speech I ever heard in Parliament. It was truly a magnificent speech, sustained throughout, thoroughly with us, and offering even to pass the immediate [repeal of the Corn Laws], if the House are willing. Villiers, Gibson, and myself cheered continually, and I never listened to any human being speaking in public with so much delight.”

—  John Bright

Letter to his sister Priscilla (16 February 1846), quoted in G. M. Trevelyan, The Life of John Bright (London: Constable, 1913), p. 147.
1840s

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Peel delivered the best speech I ever heard in Parliament. It was truly a magnificent speech, sustained throughout, tho…" by John Bright?
John Bright photo
John Bright 55
British Radical and Liberal statesman 1811–1889

Related quotes

Albert Jay Nock photo

“When we speak freely, let us speak plainly, for plain speech is wholesome; especially, plain speech about public affairs and public men.”

Albert Jay Nock (1870–1945) American journalist

Free Speech and Plain Language (1936)

Rafidah Aziz photo

“It was the most disgusting speech I ever heard in my life.”

Rafidah Aziz (1943) Malaysian politician

comment on a controversial speech given by Al Gore at the same APEC summit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh0BO906vyI, in which he praised demonstrations in Malaysia protesting the arrest of Anwar Ibrahim as champions of democracy.
Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things

Ayn Rand photo
Ambrose Bierce photo

“Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.”

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist
John Bright photo

“You say the right hon. baronet [Peel] is a traitor. It would ill become me to attempt his defence after the speech which he delivered last night—a speech, I will venture to say, more powerful and more to be admired than any speech which has been delivered within the memory of any man in this House. I watched the right hon. baronet as he went home last night, and for the first time I envied him his feelings. That speech was circulated by scores of thousands throughout the kingdom and throughout the world; and wherever a man is to be found who loves justice, and wherever there is a labourer whom you have trampled under foot, that speech will bring joy to the heart of the one, and hope to the breast of the other. You chose the right hon. baronet—why? Because he was the ablest man of your party. You always said so, and you will not deny it now. Why was he the ablest? Because he had great experience, profound attainments, and an honest regard for the good of the country. You placed him in office. When a man is in office he is not the same man as when in opposition. The present generation, or posterity, does not deal as mildly with men in government as with those in opposition. There are such things as the responsibilities of office. Look at the population of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and there is not a man among you who would have the valour to take office and raise the standard of Protection, and cry, "Down with the Anti-Corn Law League, and Protection for ever!" There is not a man in your ranks who would dare to sit on that bench as the Prime Minister of England pledged to maintain the existing law. The right hon. baronet took the only, the truest course—he resigned. He told you by that act: "I will no longer do your work. I will not defend your cause. The experience I have had since I came into office renders it impossible for me at once to maintain office and the Corn Laws."”

John Bright (1811–1889) British Radical and Liberal statesman

The right hon. baronet resigned—he was then no longer your Minister. He came back to office as the Minister of his Sovereign and of the people.
Speech in the House of Commons (17 February 1846), quoted in G. M. Trevelyan, The Life of John Bright (London: Constable, 1913), p. 148.
1840s

Allen C. Guelzo photo

“The real crime of white supremacy was not that it put up statues, or even that it made speeches, but that it attacked citizens and passed laws.”

Allen C. Guelzo (1953) American historian

2010s, Free Speech and Its Present Crisis (2018)

Lucy Stone photo
Frederick Douglass photo

“An old speech of mine delivered fourteen years ago was read to show — I know not what. Perhaps it was to show that I am not infallible. If so, I have to say in defense, that I never pretended to be”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

1860s, The Constitution of the United States: Is It Pro-Slavery or Anti-Slavery? (1860)
Context: The American people in the Northern States have helped to enslave the black people. Their duty will not have been done till they give them back their plundered rights. Reference was made at the City Hall to my having once held other opinions, and very different opinions to those I have now expressed. An old speech of mine delivered fourteen years ago was read to show — I know not what. Perhaps it was to show that I am not infallible. If so, I have to say in defense, that I never pretended to be.

George Orwell photo

Related topics