Phineas Redux

"They were always together, but I dare say it was Platonic. I believe these kind of things generally are Platonic."

"With her broad face, and her double chin, and her heavy jowl, and the beard that was growing around he lips, she did not look like a romantic woman; but, in spite of appearances, romance and a duck-like waddle may go together."

"Men will love to the last, but they love what is fresh and new. A woman’s love can live on the recollection of the past, and cling to what is old and ugly."

"And, after a fashion, she herself believed what she was saying. Nevertheless, her nature was much nobler than his; and she know that no man should dare to live idly as the Duke had lived."

"Fame is a skittish jade, more fickle even than Fortune, and apt to shy, and bolt, and plunge away on very trifling causes."

"An editor is bound to avoid the meshes of the law, which are always infinitely more costly to companies, or things, or institutions, than they are to individuals."

"No doubt he had acted in direct opposition to the spirit of the injunction, but legal orders are read by the letter, and not by the spirit."

"But Mr. Slide did not know that he was lying, and did not know that he was malicious. The weapon which he used was one to which his hand was accustomed, and he had been lead by practice to believe that the use of such weapons by one in his position was not only fair, but also beneficial to the public."

"Then Lady Chiltern argued the matter on views directly opposite to those which she had put forward when discussing the matter with her husband."

"I don’t know about that. — A poet doesn't want to marry a poetess, nor a philosopher a philosopheress."

"Audacity in wooing is a great virtue, but a man must measure even his virtues."

"The grace and beauty of life will be clean gone when we all become useful men."

"The double pleasure of pulling down an opponent, and of raising oneself, is the charm of a politician’s life."

"Men and not measures are, no doubt, the very life of politics. But then it is not the fashion to say so in public places."

"A man who is supposed to have caused a disturbance between two married people, in a certain rank of life, does generally receive a certain meed of admiration."

"We can generally read a man’s purpose towards us in his manner, if his purposes are of much moment to us."

"“Do you mean to say that the morals of your party will be offended?” said Madame Goesler, almost laughing."

"Upon the present occasion London was full of clergymen. The specially clerical clubs, — the Oxford and Cambridge, the Old University, and the Athenaeum, — were black with them."

"It is out of nature that any man should think it good that his own order should be repressed, curtailed, and deprived of its power. If we go among cab-drivers or letter-carriers, among butlers or gamekeepers, among tailors or butchers, among farmers or grazers, among doctors or attorneys, we shall find in each set of men a conviction that the welfare of the community depends upon the firmness with which they, — especially they, — hold their own."

"But as the clerical pretensions are more exacting than all others, being put forward with an assertion that no answer is possible without breach of duty and sin, so are they more galling."

"We do believe, — the majority among us does so, — that if we live and die in sin we shall after some fashion come to great punishment, and we believe also that by having pastors among us who shall be men of God, we may best aid ourselves and our children in avoiding this bitter end. But then the pastors and men of God can only be human, — cannot be altogether men of God; and so they have oppressed us, and burned us, and tortured us, and hence come to love palaces, and fine linen, and purple, and alas, sometimes, mere luxury and idleness. The torturing and the burning, as also to speak truth the luxury and the idleness, have, among us, been already conquered, but the idea of ascendancy remains."

"Gentlemen lacking substantial sympathy with their leader found it to be comfortable to deceive themselves, and raise their hearts at the same time by the easy enthusiasm of noise."

"He made his point well; but he made it too often. And an attack of that kind, personal and savage in its nature, loses its effect when it is evident that the words have been prepared. A good deal may be done in dispute by calling a man an ass or a knave, — but the resolve to use the words should have been made only at the moment, and they should come hot from the heart."

"A man destined to sit conspicuously on our Treasury Bench, or on the seat opposite to it, should ask the gods for a thick skin as a first gift. The need of this in our national assembly is greater than elsewhere, because the differences between men opposed to each other are smaller."

"When two foes meet together in the same Chamber, one of whom advocates the personal government of an individual ruler, and the other that from of State, which has come to be called a Red Republic, they deal, no doubt, weighty blows of oratory at each other, but blows which never hurt at the moment. They may cut each other’s throats if they can find an opportunity; but they do not bite each other like dogs over a bone. But when opponents are almost in accord, as is always the case with our parliamentary gladiators, they are ever striving to give maddening little wounds through the joints of the harness."

"The apostle of Christianity and the infidel can meet without a chance of a quarrel; but it is never safe to bring together two men who differ about a saint or a surplice."

"“See what we Conservatives can do. In fact we will conserve nothing when we find that you do not desire to have it conserved any longer. ‘Quod minime reris Graiâ pandetur ab urbe.’”"

"There would be a blaze and a confusion, in which timid men would doubt whether the constitution would be burned to tinder or only illuminated; but that blaze and that confusion would be dear to Mr. Daubney if he could stand as the centre figure, — the great pyrotechnist who did it all, red from head to foot with the glare of the squibs with which his own hands were filling all the spaces."

"Rights and rules, which are bonds of iron to a little man, are packthread to a giant."

"But the prospect of an explanation, — or otherwise of a flight, — between two leading politicians will fill the House; and any allusion to our Eastern Empire will certainly empty it."

"The vehemence with which his insolence was abused by one after another of those who spoke later from the other side was ample evidence of its success."

"Some few sublime and hot-headed gentleman muttered the word “impeachment.” Others, who were more practical and less dignified, suggested that the Prime Minister “ought to have his head punched.”"

"But mad people never die. That’s a well-known fact. They’ve nothing to trouble them, and they live for ever."

"Most of the young men rise now by making themselves thoroughly disagreeable. Abuse a Minister every night for half a session, and you may be sure to be in office the other half, — if you care about it."

"He had a prophecy to make, and prophets have ever been energetic men."

"Now a conjuror is I think a very pleasant fellow to have among us, if we know that he is a conjuror; — but a conjuror who is believed to do his tricks without sleight of hand is a dangerous man."

"The secrets of the world are very marvellous, but they are not themselves half so wonderful as the way in which they become known to the world."

"To oblige a friend by inflicting an injury on his enemy is often more easy than to confer a benefit on the friend himself."

"When the little dog snarls, the big dog does not connect the snarl with himself, simply fancying that the little dog must be uncomfortable."

"It had been known to all the world, — that at every election Mr. Browborough had bought his seat. How should a Browborough get a seat without buying it, — a man who could not say ten words, of no family, with no natural following in any constituency, distinguished by no zeal in politics, entertaining no special convictions of his own? How should such a one recommend himself to any borough unless he went there with money in his hand? Of course, he had gone to Tankerville with money in his hand, with plenty of money, and had spent it like a gentleman."

"The idea of putting old Browborough into prison for conduct which habit had made second nature to a large proportion of the House was distressing to Members of Parliament generally."

"Any one prominent in affairs can always see when a man may steal a horse and when a man may not look over a hedge."

"In political matters it is very hard for a man in office to be purer than his neighbours, — and, when he is so, he becomes troublesome."

"“I know that you have indented to serve your country, and have wished to work for it. But you cannot expect that it should all be roses.” “Roses! The nosegays which are worn down at Westminister are made of garlick and dandelions!”"

"The sober devil can hide his cloven hoof; but when the devil drinks he loses his cunning and grows honest."

"In these days, — when no palpable and immediate punishment is at hand for personal insolence from man to man, — personal insolence to one man in a company seems almost to constitute an insult to every one present."

"But facts always convince, and another man‘s opinion rarely convinces."

"All history, all romance, all poetry and all prose, taught him that perseverance in love was generally crowned with success, — that true love rarely was crowned with success except by perseverance."

"Making love to a sweet, soft, blushing, willing, though silent girl is a pleasant employment; but the task of declaring love to a stony-hearted, obdurate, ill-conditions Diana is very disagreeable for any gentleman. And it is the more so when the gentleman really loves, — or thinks that he loves, — his Diana."

"I know very well that if you get men who are really, — really swells, for that is what it is, Mr. Low, — and pay them well enough, and so make it really an important thing, they can browbeat any judge and hoodwink any jury."