Great minds do indeed react on the society which has made them what they are; but they only pay with interest what they have received.
Thomas B. MacaulayThe Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.
Thomas B. MacaulayHistory, is made up of the bad actions of extraordinary men and woman. All the most noted destroyers and deceivers of our species, all the founders of arbitrary governments and false religions have been extraordinary people; and nine tenths of the calamities that have befallen the human race had no other origin than the union of high intelligence with low desires.
Thomas B. Macaulay