Quotes by Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay
1800 – 1859
Lord Macaulay, born Thomas Babington (1800-1859), was an English historian, peer, politician, and poet. He was an active opponent of slavery, a supporter of education and equality in India, and instrumental to parliamentary reform to increase representation of cities that had become unrepresented relative to rural areas during the rapid industrial growth. He authored a five-volume work on the History of England, and wrote numerous clear-minded, critical essays.
Economics
Lord Macaulay writes a devastating review of Southey’s Colloquies in which the Poet Laureate’s ignorance of the real condition of the working class in England is exposed (1830)
Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots
Macaulay argues that politicians are less interested in the economic value of public works to the citizens than they are in their own reputation, embezzlement and"jobs for the boys" (1830)
Sport and Liberty
Macaulay and Bunyan on the evils of swearing and playing hockey on Sunday (1830)
The State
Macaulay argues that “the main end” of government is the protection of persons and property (1839)
Rhetoric of Liberty
Macaulay wittily denounces a tyrannical priest as being an intermediate grub between sycophant and oppressor (1837)