THOMAS ARNOLD

As in the infirmity of human nature, no man's actions are always what he likes to look back upon, as there are points in which he would wish that he had acted otherwise; so every man who tells his own story is under a temptation more or less to disguise the truth; and the more in proportion as his actions have been upon a larger scale, and his faults or mistakes therefore have been more flagrant.

The … populace is at all times disposed to dislike the existing government, be it what it will: and as the popular party retained the government in its hands for many years, the habitual feeling against all governments happens to turn against them.

The most disastrous revolutions are produced by the extreme of physical want; the most happy, by wants of a moral kind, physical want being absent.

My object will be, if possible, to form Christian men, for Christian boys I can scarcely hope to make.

One's age should be tranquil, as childhood should be playful. Hard work at either extremity of life seems out of place. At midday the sun may burn, and men labor under it; but the morning and evening should be alike calm and cheerful.

Rather than have it the principal thing in my son's mind, I would gladly have him think that the sun went round the earth, and that the stars were so many spangles set in the bright blue firmament.

All societies of men, whether we call them states or churches, should make their bond to consist in a common object and a common practice, rather than in a common belief; in other words, their end should be good rather than truth. We may consent to act together, but - we cannot consent to believe together

Union of action appears historically to have been the original bond of the Christian church. Whoever was willing to receive Christ as his master, to join His people, and to walk according to their rules, he was admitted to the Christian society. We know that in the earliest church there existed the strangest varieties of belief, some Christians not even believing that there would be a resurrection of the dead.

The greater or less importance of a representative assembly is like the quicksilver in a barometer; it rises or falls according to causes external to itself; and is but an index exhibited in a palpable form, of the more or less powerful pressure of the popular atmosphere.

It was from an old friend who thought he was dying. Anyway, he said, 'Life and death issues don't come along that often, thank God, so don't treat everything like it's life or death. Go easier.'

The difference between one man and another is not mere ability it is energy.

My object will be, if possible, to form Christian men, for Christian boys I can scarcely hope to make.

Real knowledge, like everything else of value, is not to be obtained easily. It must be worked for, studied for, thought for, and, more that all, must be prayed for.

One's age should be tranquil, as childhood should be playful. Hard work at either extremity of life seems out of place. At midday the sun may burn, and men labor under it; but the morning and evening should be alike calm and cheerful.

Rather than have it the principal thing in my son's mind, I would gladly have him think that the sun went round the earth, and that the stars were so many spangles set in the bright blue firmament.

It was from an old friend who thought he was dying. Anyway, he said, 'Life and death issues don't come along that often, thank God, so don't treat everything like it's life or death. Go easier.'

All societies of men, whether we call them states or churches, should make their bond to consist in a common object and a common practice, rather than in a common belief; in other words, their end should be good rather than truth. We may consent to act together, but - we cannot consent to believe together

Union of action appears historically to have been the original bond of the Christian church. Whoever was willing to receive Christ as his master, to join His people, and to walk according to their rules, he was admitted to the Christian society. We know that in the earliest church there existed the strangest varieties of belief, some Christians not even believing that there would be a resurrection of the dead.

It was and is one of the evils of our state, that personal infamy is no bar to the exercise of political rights; that a man may walk out of jail and take his seat in the highest places even as a legislator.

As in the infirmity of human nature, no man's actions are always what he likes to look back upon, as there are points in which he would wish that he had acted otherwise; so every man who tells his own story is under a temptation more or less to disguise the truth; and the more in proportion as his actions have been upon a larger scale, and his faults or mistakes therefore have been more flagrant.

There is first the great question between direct taxation and loans. Shall we lay the whole burden of the contest upon the present generation, or divide it between ourselves and posterity ? By an almost universal law of our nature, money lightly gained is lightly spent: a revenue raised at the expense of posterity is sure to be squandered waste fully. Waste, as usual, begetting want, the sums raised by loans will commonly be large. Now these large sums are a mortgage on all the property, on all the industry, on all the skill and ability of a country for ever.

The good government of one man is the bad government of another

The most disastrous revolutions are produced by the extreme of physical want; the most happy, by wants of a moral kind, physical want being absent.

The greater or less importance of a representative assembly is like the quicksilver in a barometer; it rises or falls according to causes external to itself; and is but an index exhibited in a palpable form, of the more or less powerful pressure of the popular atmosphere.

Good government is the result of popular and anti-popular principles blended together, rather than of the mere ascendency of either; the aim, therefore, is to prevent either from going too far.

The … populace is at all times disposed to dislike the existing government, be it what it will: and as the popular party retained the government in its hands for many years, the habitual feeling against all governments happens to turn against them.

The general idea of history seems to be that it is the biography of a society…. History is to the common life of many what biography is to an individual.