No man has come so near our definition of a constitutional statesman - the powers of a first-rate man and the creed of a second-rate man.

What we opprobriously call stupidity, though not an enlivening quality in common society, is nature's favorite resource for preserving steadiness of conduct and consistency of opinion.

No real English gentleman, in his secret soul, was ever sorry for the death of a political economist.

Capital must be propelled by self-interest; it cannot be enticed by benevolence.

One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.

The Sovereign has, under a constitutional monarchy such as ours, three rights - the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn. And a king of great sense and sagacity would want no others.

The business of banking ought to be simple. If it is hard it is wrong. The only securities which a banker, using money that he may be asked at short notice to repay, ought to touch, are those which are easily saleable and easily intelligible.