John Bright Quotes

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• Be the measure great or small, let it be honest in every part.

  John Bright

  Honest, Being Honest

  John Bright, H. J. Leech (1885). “The Public Letters of John Bright”, London : S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington

  9 Copy quote

• There is no nation on the continent of Europe that is less able to do harm to England, and there isno nation on the continent of Europe to whom we are less able to do harm, than Russia.We are so separate that it seems impossible that the two nations, by the use of reason or common sense at all, could possibly be brought into conflict with each other.

  John Bright

  Two, Russia, Europe

  1878 Speech, Birmingham, 13 Jan.

  4 Copy quote

• The knowledge of the ancient languages is mainly a luxury.

  John Bright

  Luxury, Language, Ancient

  Letter in 'Pall Mall Gazette', 30 November 1886

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• This old aristocracy and Church-ridden, and tradition-ridden country will never grow wiser. Whilst we are fighting for supremacy in Europe, the [United] States are working, and not fighting for it, but winning it all over the world.

  John Bright

  Country, Fighting, Winning

  Letter to Cobden on December 30, 1853. "The Life Of John Bright". Book by G. M. Trevelyan, p. 230, 1913.

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• I am for peace, retrenchment and reform, the watchword of the great Liberal Party thirty years ago.

  John Bright

  Party, Years, Reform

  Speech on April 28, 1859. The Times, p. 6, April 29, 1859.

  7 Copy quote

• I would prefer to have one comfortable room well stocked with books to all you could give me in the way of decoration which the highest art could supply.

  John Bright

  Art, Book, Giving

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• In the houses of the humble a little library in my opinion is a most precious possession.

  John Bright

  Humble, House, Library

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• Training and development: The best development programmes change the way people see themselves

  John Bright

  Business, People, Training

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• England is the Mother of Parliaments

  John Bright

  Mother, England, Parliament

  Speech, Birmingham, England, 18 Jan. 1865

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• The Aristocratic Institutions of England [had] acted much like the Slavery Institutions of America... [in] demoralis[ing] large classes outside their own special boundaries... [in producing] a long habit of submission... [and in] enfeebl[ing] by corrupting those who should assail them.

  John Bright

  Class, America, Long

  Letter to Richard Congrieve on November 24, 1866. "1867 Disraeli, Gladstone and Revolution". Book by Maurice Cowling, p. 25, 1967.

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• We may be proud that England is the ancient country of Parliaments. With scarcely any intervening period, Parliaments have met constantly for 600 years, and there was something of a Parliament before the Conquest. England is the mother of Parliaments.

  John Bright

  Country, Mother, Years

  Speech, Birmingham, England, 18 Jan. 1865

  7 Copy quote

• Rich and great people can take care of themselves; but the poor and defenceless - the men with small cottages and large families - the men who must work six days every week if they are to live in anything like comfort for a week, - these men want defenders; they want men to maintain their position in Parliament; they want men who will protest against any infringement of their rights.

  John Bright

  Men, Rights, People

  Speech at his Durham election in July 1843. "The Life Of John Bright". Book by G. M. Trevelyan, p. 100, 1913.

  4 Copy quote

• The angel of death has been abroad throughout the land; you may almost hear the beating of his wings.

  John Bright

  Angel, Land, Wings

  Referring to the effects of the war in the Crimea, in 'Hansard', 23 February 1855, col. 1761

  11 Copy quote

• The beasts (Conservatives) had committed suicide to save themselves from slaughter.

  John Bright

  Suicide, Beast, Slaughter

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• What is a great love of books? It is something like a personal introduction to the great and good men of all past times. Books, it is true, are silent as you see them on their shelves; but, silent as they are, when I enter a library I feel as if almost the dead were present, and I know if I put questions to these books they will answer me with all the faithfulness and fulness which has been left in them by the great men who have left the books with us.

  John Bright

  Book, Men, Past

  6 Copy quote

• Well, will anybody deny now that the Government at Washington, as regards its own people, is the strongest government in the world at this hour? And for this simple reason, that it is based on the will, and the good will, of an instructed people.

  John Bright

  Simple, Government, People

  John Bright (1865). “Speeches of John Bright, M.P., on the American Question”, p.257

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• Demand the ballot as the undeniable right of every man who is called to the poll, and take special care that the old constitutional rule and principle, by which majorities alone shall decide in Parliamentary elections, shall not be violated.

  John Bright

  Men, Special, Majority

  John Bright, H. J. Leech (1885). “The Public Letters of John Bright”, London : S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington

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• We have had a great depression in agriculture, caused mainly by several seasons of bad harvests, and some of our traders have suffered much from a too rapid extension in prosperous years.

  John Bright

  Years, Agriculture, Great Depression

  5 Copy quote

• The corn law was intended to keep wheat at the price of 80s. the quarter; it is now under 40s. the quarter.

  John Bright

  Law, Corn, Wheat

  John Bright, H. J. Leech (1885). “The Public Letters of John Bright”, London : S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington

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• To have two Legislative Assemblies in the United Kingdom would, in my opinion, be an intolerable mischief; and I think no sensible man can wish for two within the limits of the present United Kingdom who does not wish the United Kingdom to become two or more nations, entirely separate from each other.

  John Bright

  Men, Thinking, Two

  John Bright, H. J. Leech (1885). “The Public Letters of John Bright”, London : S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington

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• The franchise itself gives no real power, unless accompanied by the right on the part of all the possessors of it to elect something like an equal number of representatives.

  John Bright

  Real, Numbers, Giving

  John Bright, H. J. Leech (1885). “The Public Letters of John Bright”, London : S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington

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• Had they [the Tories] been in the wilderness they would have complained of the Ten Commandments. Remark.

  John Bright

  Wilderness, Complaints, Ten Commandments

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• I. cannot stoop to reply to the folly and the slander of every poor Tory partisan who assails me, and I should not have noticed you but for the fact that you are a member of the House of Commons.

  John Bright

  House, Facts, Poor

  John Bright, H. J. Leech (1885). “The Public Letters of John Bright”, London : S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington

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• As to the Income Tax, my opinion is that the needful revenue would be fairly and most fairly raised if paid by property, and by individuals in proportion to their property. A Property Tax should be an assessment upon all land and buildings, and canals and railroads, but not on property such as machinery, stock in trade, etc. The aristocracy have squeezed all they can out of the mass of the consumers, and now they lay their daring hands on those not wholly impoverished.

  John Bright

  Assessment, Hands, Land

  Letter to his sister Margaret, 1842. "The Life Of John Bright". Book by G. M. Trevelyan, pp. 72-73, 1913.

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• With regard to the ballot, it is worthy of remark that no meeting has been held in favour of Reform at which the ballot has not been strongly insisted upon.

  John Bright

  Reform, Favour, Worthy

  John Bright, H. J. Leech (1885). “The Public Letters of John Bright”, London : S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington

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