"They are not your friends, but they are your enemies in fact, though not in intention, who teach you to look to the Legislature for the radical removal of the evils that afflict human life... It is the individual mind and conscience, it is the individual character, on which mainly human happiness or misery depends. (Cheers.) The social problems that confront us are many and formidable. Let the Government labour to its utmost, let the Legislature labour days and nights in your service; but, after the very best has been attained and achieved, the question whether the English father is to be the father of a happy family and the centre of a united home is a question which must depend mainly upon himself. (Cheers.) And those who...promise to the dwellers in towns that every one of them shall have a house and garden in free air, with ample space; those who tell you that there shall be markets for selling at wholesale prices retail quantities—I won't say are imposters, because I have no doubt they are sincere; but I will say they are quacks (cheers); they are deluded and beguiled by a spurious philanthropy, and when they ought to give you substantial, even if they are humble and modest boons, they are endeavouring, perhaps without their own consciousness, to delude you with fanaticism, and offering to you a fruit which, when you attempt to taste it, will prove to be but ashes in your mouths. (Cheers.)"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Prime Ministers of the United KingdomPoliticians from EnglandTheologians from EnglandAcademics from the United KingdomNon-fiction authors from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Speech in Blackheath (28 October 1871), quoted in The Times (30 October 1871), p. 3
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Ewart_Gladstone
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
William Ewart Gladstone
1868 – 1874
William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British Liberal politician and Prime Minister (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886 and 1892–1894). 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 →
Related Quotes
"Now is the time for the true friend of his country to remind the masses that their present political elevation is owi…"
"I am a Free Trader on moral no less than on economic grounds: for I think human greed and selfishness are interwoven …"
"George III in his private character shows to advantage when compared with Charles II or George II. But, if George III…"
"I am thankful to have borne a part in the emancipating labours of the last sixty years; but entirely uncertain how, h…"
"[W]hat I call the ‘mad and drunk’ scheme of my colleagues on the naval estimates. ... [T]hat scheme (the most wanton …"
"In 1880, Midlothian leading the way, the nation nobly answered to the call of justice and [br]oadly recognised the br…"
"I am vexed to see portions of the labouring class beginning to be corrupted by the semblance of power as the other cl…"
"I cannot help regretting that the hon. and gallant Gentleman has felt it his duty to put the question. It is put unde…"
"I agree with you that a grave calamity overhangs the Liberal party in connection with the plan which I described to y…"
"This means war!"