William Cobbett Quotes and Sayings - Page 1
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“Another great evil arising from this desire to be thought rich; or rather, from the desire not to be thought poor, is the destructive thing which has been honored by the name of 'speculation'; but which ought to be called Gambling.”
-- William CobbettSource : "Advice to Young Men, and (Incidentally) to Young Women, in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life (Letter 2)". Book by William Cobbett, 1829.
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“It is by attempting to reach the top at a single leap that so much misery is caused in the world.”
-- William CobbettSource : William Cobbett (1850). “Cottage Economy: Containing Information Relative to the Brewing of Beer, Making of Bread, Keeping of Cows, Pigs, Bees, Ewes, Goats, Poultry, and Rabbits, and Relative to Other Matters Deemed Useful in the Conducting of the Affairs of a Labourer's Family : to which are Added, Instructions Relative to the Selecting, the Cutting and the Bleaching of the Plants of English Grass and Grain, for the Purpose of Making Hats and Bonnets : and Also Instructions for Erecting and Using Ice-houses, After the Virginian Manner”, p.11
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“Sit down to write what you have thought, and not to think what you shall write.”
-- William CobbettSource : William Cobbett (1847). “A grammar of the English language, etc”, p.192
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“Nothing is so well calculated to produce a death-like torpor in the country as an extended system of taxation and a great national debt.”
-- William CobbettSource : William Cobbett's letter, February 10, 1804.
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“Men fail much oftener from want of perseverance than from want of talent.”
-- William CobbettSource : William Cobbett (1829). “Advice to Young Men, and, incidentally, to Young Women, in the middle and higher ranks of life. In a series of letters, etc”, p.36
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“You never know what you can do till you try.”
-- William Cobbett -
“Learning consists of ideas, and not of the noise that is made by the mouth.”
-- William Cobbett -
“Praise the child, and you make love to the mother.”
-- William Cobbett -
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“The Christian religion, then, is not an affair of preaching, or prating, or ranting, but of taking care of the bodies as well as the souls of people; not an affair of belief and of faith and of professions, but an affair of doing good, and especially to those who are in want; not an affair of fire and brimstone, but an affair of bacon and bread, beer and a bed.”
-- William Cobbett -
“The very hirelings of the press, whose trade it is to buoy up the spirits of the people. have uttered falsehoods so long, they have played off so many tricks, that their budget seems, at last, to be quite empty.”
-- William Cobbett -
“It is no small mischief to a boy, that many of the best years of his life should be devoted to the learning of what can never be of any real use to any human being. His mind is necessarily rendered frivolous and superficial by the long habit of attaching importance to words instead of things; to sound instead of sense.”
-- William CobbettSource : William Cobbett (1817). “Cobbett's Weekly Political Register”
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“The tendency of taxation is to create a class of persons who do not labor, to take from those who do labor the produce of that labor, and to give it to those who do not labor.”
-- William Cobbett -
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“I defy you to agitate any fellow with a full stomach.”
-- William Cobbett -
“From a very early age I had imbibed the opinion that it was every man's duty to do all that lay in his power to leave his country as good as he had found it.”
-- William CobbettSource : 'Political Register' 22 December 1832
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“Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada are the horns, the head, the neck, the shins, and the hoof of the ox, and the United States are the ribs, the sirloin, the kidneys, and the rest of the body.”
-- William Cobbett -
“I was a countryman and a father before I was a writer on political subjects.... Born and bred up in the sweet air myself, I was resolved that [my children] should be bred up in it too.”
-- William Cobbett -
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“A full belly to the labourer was, in my opinion, the foundation of public morals and the only source of real public peace.”
-- William Cobbett -
“I set out as a sort of self-dependent politician. My opinions were my own. I dashed at all prejudices. I scorned to follow anybodyin matter of opinion.... All were, therefore, offended at my presumption, as they deemed it.”
-- William Cobbett -
“To be poor and independent is very nearly an impossibility.”
-- William CobbettSource : William Cobbett (1829). “Advice to Young Men, and, incidentally, to Young Women, in the middle and higher ranks of life. In a series of letters, etc”, p.47
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“The power which money gives is that of brute force; it is the power of the bludgeon and the bayonet.”
-- William CobbettSource : William Cobbett (1829). “Advice to young men, and, incidentally, to young women, in the middle and higher ranks of life, in a series of letters”, p.51
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“It is not the greatness of a man's means that makes him independent, so much as the smallness of his wants.”
-- William Cobbett -
“Patience is the most necessary quality for business, many a man would rather you heard his story than grant his request. It is by attempting to reach the top in a single leap that so much misery is produced in the world.”
-- William Cobbett -
“Never esteem men on account of their riches or their station. Respect goodness, find it where you may.”
-- William CobbettSource : William Cobbett (1820). “Cobbett's Political Register”, p.497
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“Dancing is at once rational & healthful: it gives animal spirits; it is the natural amusement of young people, & such it has been from the days of Moses.”
-- William CobbettSource : William Cobbett (2006). “Advice to Young Men”, p.33, Cosimo, Inc.
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“Women are a sisterhood. They make common cause in behalf of the sex; and, indeed, this is natural enough, when we consider the vast power that the law gives us over them.”
-- William Cobbett -
“To suppose such a thing possible as a society, in which men, who are able and willing to work, cannot support their families, and ought, with a great part of the women, to be compelled to lead a life of celibacy, for fear of having children to be starved; to suppose such a thing possible is monstrous.”
-- William Cobbett -
“The truth is that the fall of Napoleon is the hardest blow that our taxing system ever felt. It is now impossible to make people believe that immense fleets and armies are necessary.”
-- William Cobbett -
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“Be you in what line of life you may, it will be amongst your misfortunes if you have not time properly to attend to [money management]; for. ... want of attention to pecuniary matters ... has impeded the progress of science and of genius itself.”
-- William CobbettSource : William Cobbett (2012). “Advice to Young Men And (Incidentally) to Young Women in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life. In a Series of Letters, Addressed to a Youth, a Bachelor, a Lover, a Husband, a Father, a Citizen, or a Subject.”, p.62, tredition
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“However roguish a man may be, he always loves to deal with an honest man.”
-- William Cobbett
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