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Those who seem to load the public taste are, in general, merely outrunning it in the direction which it is spontaneously pursuing.

Thomas B. Macaulay

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Thomas B. Macaulay
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A Grecian history, perfectly written should be a complete record of the rise and progress of poetry, philosophy, and the arts.
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We do not think it necessary to prove that a quack medicine is poison let the vender prove it to be sanative.
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At present, the novels which we owe to English ladies form no small part of the literary glory of our country. No class of works is more honorably distinguished for fine observation, by grace, by delicate wit, by pure moral feeling.
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The great cause of revolutions is this, that while nations move onward, constitutions stand still.
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The opinion of the great body of the reading public is very materially influenced even by the unsupported assertions of those who assume a right to criticize.
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And to say that society ought to be governed by the opinion of the wisest and best, though true, is useless. Whose opinion is to decide who are the wisest and best?
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The highest eulogy which can be pronounced on the Revolution of 1688 is this that this was our last Revolution.
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A kind of semi-Solomon, half-knowing everything, from the cedar to the hyssop.
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A church is disaffected when it is persecuted, quiet when it is tolerated, and actively loyal when it is favored and cherished.
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To sum up the whole, we should say that the aim of the Platonic philosophy was to exalt man into a god.
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The temple of silence and reconciliation.
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What society wants is a new motive, not a new cant.
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We know no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality.
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Thus, then, stands the case. It is good, that authors should be remunerated and the least exceptionable way of remunerating them is by a monopoly. Yet monopoly is an evil. For the sake of the good we must submit to the evil but the evil ought not to last a day longer than is necessary for the purpose of securing the good.
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The upper current of society presents no pertain criterion by which we can judge of the direction in which the under current flows.
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No man who is correctly informed as to the past will be disposed to take a morose or desponding view of the present.
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Byron owed the vast influence which he exercised over his contemporaries at least as much to his gloomy egotism as to the real power of his poetry.
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Mere negation, mere Epicurean infidelity, as Lord Bacon most justly observes, has never disturbed the peace of the world. It furnishes no motive for action it inspires no enthusiasm it has no missionaries, no crusades, no martyrs.
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Then none was for a party Than all were for the state Then the great man helped the poor, And the poor man loved the great: Then lands were fairly portioned Then spoils were fairly sold: The Romans were like brothers In the brave days of old.
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The sweeter sound of woman's praise.
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