"I am delighted to see how many young boys and girls have come forward to obtain honourable marks of recognition on this occasion, β if any effectual good is to be done to them, it must be done by teaching and encouraging them and helping them to help themselves. All the people who pretend to take your own concerns out of your own hands and to do everything for you, I won't say they are imposters; I won't even say they are quacks; but I do say they are mistaken people. The only sound, healthy description of countenancing and assisting these institutions is that which teaches independence and self-exertion... When I say you should help yourselves β and I would encourage every man in every rank of life to rely upon self-help more than on assistance to be got from his neigbours β there is One who helps us all, and without whose help every effort of ours is in vain; and there is nothing that should tend more, and there is nothing that should tend more to make us see the beneficence of God Almighty than to see the beauty as well as the usefulness of these flowers, these plants, and these fruits which He causes the earth to bring forth for our comfort and advantage."
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Prime Ministers of the United KingdomPoliticians from EnglandTheologians from EnglandAcademics from the United KingdomNon-fiction authors from England
Original Language: English
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Speech to the Hawarden Amateur Horticultural Society (17 August 1876), as quoted in "Mr. Gladstone On Cottage Gardening", The Times (18 August 1876), p. 9
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Ewart_Gladstone
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William Ewart Gladstone
1868 β 1874
William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809 β 19 May 1898) was a British Liberal politician and Prime Minister (1868β1874, 1880β1885, 1886 and 1892β1894). He was a notable political reformer, known for his populist speeches, and was for many years the main political rival of Benjamin Disraeli.
298 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by William Ewart Gladstone β
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