George Savile

“Popularity is a Crime from the Moment it is sought ; it is only a Virtue where Men have it whether they will or no.”

“There is Reason to think the most celebrated Philosophers would have been Bunglers at Business ; but the Reason is because they despised it.”

“Anger is never without an Argument, but seldom with a good one.”

“The best way to suppose what may come, is to remember what is past.”

“Malice is of a low Stature, but it hath very long Arms.”

“Men are not hang'd for stealing Horses, but that Horses may not be stolen.”

“The best Party is but a kind of Conspiracy against the rest of the Nation. They put every body else out of their Protection. Like the Jews to the Gentiles, all others are the Offscowrings of the World.”

“If the Laws could speak for themselves, they would complain of the Lawyers in the first Place.”

“Laws are generally not understood by three sorts of persons, viz. by those who make them, by those who execute them, and by those who suffer, if they break them.”

“When the People contend for their Liberty, they seldom get any thing by their Victory but new Masters.”

“Most Mens' Anger about Religion is as if two Men should quarrel for a Lady they neither of them care for.”

“Men are so unwilling to displease a Prince, that it is as dangerous to inform him right, as to serve him wrong.”

“Nothing is less forgiven than setting Patterns Men have no mind to follow.”

“A Prince who will not undergo the Difficulty of Understanding, must undergo the Danger of Trusting.”

“The People are never so perfectly backed, but that they will kick and fling if not stroked at seasonable times.”

“A very great Memory often forgetteth how much Time is lost by repeating things of no Use.”

“The sight of a drunkard is a better sermon against that vice than the best that was ever preached on that subject.”

“The Triumph of Wit is to make your good Nature subdue your Censure; to be quick in seeing Faults, and slow in exposing them. You are to consider, that the invisible thing called a Good Name, is made up of the Breath of Numbers that speak well of you; so that if by a disobliging Word you silence the meanest, the Gale will be less strong which is to bear up your Esteem.”

“Love is a Passion that hath Friends in the Garrison.”

“A Princely Mind will undo a private Family.”