Quote #67
The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.
More from Thomas Babington Macaulay
- There were gentlemen and there were seamen in the navy of Charles II. But the seamen were not gentlemen, and the gentlemen were not seamen.
- The ambassador [of Russia] and the grandees who accompanied him were so gorgeous that all London crowded to stare at them, and so filthy th…
- I shall cheerfully bear the reproach of having descended below the dignity of history if I can succeed in placing before the English of the…
- People crushed by law have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws.
- Those who compare the age in which their lot has fallen with a golden age which exists only in imagination, may talk of degeneracy and deca…
- The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.
- No sound of joy or sorrow Was heard from either bank; But friends and foes in dumb surprise, With parted lips and straining eyes, Stood gaz…
- 'Oh, Tiber! Father Tiber! To whom the Romans pray, A Roman's life, a Roman's arms, Take thou in charge this day!' So he spake, and speaking…