Gladstone Quotes

• When I left the dining room after sitting next to Mr. Gladstone, I thought he was the cleverest man in England. But after sitting next to Mr. Disraeli, I thought I was the cleverest woman in England.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Men, Dining, Sitting

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• The difference between a misfortune and a calamity is this: If Gladstone fell into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him out again, that would be a calamity.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Differences, Would Be, Politics

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• William Gladstone has not a single redeeming defect.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Political, Politics, Defects

  "Are Britain's politicians losing the power of speech?" by Peter Hoskin, www.telegraph.co.uk. March 20, 2012.

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• Posterity will do justice to that unprincipled maniac Gladstone - extraordinary mixture of envy, vindictiveness, hypocrisy and superstition; and with one commanding characteristic - whether Prime Minister or Leader of the Opposition, whether preaching, praying, speechifying or scribbling - never a gentleman.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Justice, Hypocrisy, Envy

  c.1874 Letter.

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• British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone spent his declining years trying to guess the answer to the Irish Question; unfortunately, whenever he was getting warm, the Irish secretly changed the Question.

  W. C. Sellar

  Years, History, Trying

  1066 and All That ch. 57 (1930). Coauthored with R. J. Yeatman.

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• There must be what Mr. Gladstone many years ago called a blessed act of oblivion. We must all turn our backs upon the horrors of the past. We must look to the future. We cannot afford to drag forward across the years that are to come the hatreds and revenges which have sprung from the injuries of the past.

  Winston Churchill

  Revenge, Blessed, Past

  Address on Unified Cooperation in Europe, delivered 19 September 1946, Zurich, Switzerland

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• Mr. Gladstone read Homer for fun, which I thought served him right.

  Winston Churchill

  Fun, Political, Politics

  My Early Life (1930) ch. 2

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• The Queen has done all she could on the dreadful subject of vivisection, and hopes that Mr. Gladstone will speak strongly against such a practice which is a disgrace to humanity.

  Queen Victoria

  Queens, Animal, Practice

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• Disraeli was my favourite Tory. He was an adventurer pure and simple, or impure and complex. I'm glad to say Gladstone got the better of him.

  Michael Foot

  Simple, Favourite, Disraeli

  "Michael Foot: key quotes" by Richard Nelsson, www.theguardian.com. March 3, 2010.

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• Why, sir, there is every probability that you will soon be able to tax it!
  Said to William Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he asked about the practical worth of electricity.

  Michael Faraday

  Science, Discovery, Able

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• Besides, I'd heard too many Karen Carpenter tales at Gladstone PTA meetings, and they often took the form of boasts. The prestigious diagnosis of anorexia seemed much coveted not only by the students but by their mothers, who would compete over whose daughter ate less. No wonder the poor girls were a mess.

  Lionel Shriver

  Girl, Daughter, Mother

  Lionel Shriver (2011). “We Need to Talk about Kevin”, p.301, Counterpoint Press

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• That is Gladstone, the greatest statesman that ever lived. I intend to be a statesman, too.

  Woodrow Wilson

  Ambition, Statesmen

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