Coningsby (novel)
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Coningsby , or The New Generation, is an 1844 English political novel by Benjamin Disraeli. The book is set against a background of the real political events of the 1830s in England that followed the enactment of the Reform Bill of 1832. In describing these events Disraeli sets out his own beliefs including his opposition to Robert Peel, his dislikes of both the British Whig Party and the ideals of Utilitarianism, and the need for social justice in a newly industrialized society. He portrays the self-serving politician in the character of Rigby (based on John Wilson Croker) and the malicious party insiders in the characters of Taper and Tadpole.
Contents |
[edit] Quotes
[edit] Book II
- No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition. It reduces their supporters to that tractable number which can be managed by the joint influences of fruition and hope. It offers vengeance to the discontented, and distinction to the ambitious; and employs the energies of aspiring spirits, who otherwise may prove traitors in a division or assassins in a debate.
- Ch. 1.
- A government of statesmen or of clerks? Of Humbug or Humdrum?
- Ch. 4.
- Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principle, disavows Progress; having rejected all respect for Antiquity, it offers no redress for the Present, and makes no preparation for the Future.
- Ch. 5.
- Hush!' said Mr. Tadpole. 'The time has gone by for Tory governments; what the country requires is a sound Conservative government.'
'A sound Conservative government,' said Taper, musingly. 'I understand: Tory men and Whig measures.'- Ch. 6.
- Fame and power are the objects of all men. Even their partial fruition is gained by very few; and that, too, at the expense of social pleasure, health, conscience, life.
- Ch. 7.
[edit] Book III
- Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle; Old Age a regret.
- Ch. 1.
- Genius, when young, is divine.
- Ch. 1.
- Almost everything that is great has been done by youth.
- Ch. 1.
- Nurture your mind with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes.
- Ch. 1.
- All of us encounter, at least once in our life, some individual who utters words that make us think forever. There are men whose phrases are oracles; who condense in one sentence the secrets of life; who blurt out an aphorism that forms a character or illustrates an existence.
- Ch. 2.
- Talk to a man about himself, and he is generally captivated.
- Ch. 2.
[edit] Book IV
- A great city, whose image dwells in the memory of man, is the type of some great idea. Rome represents conquest; Faith hovers over the towers of Jerusalem; and Athens embodies the pre-eminent quality of the antique world, Art.
- Ch. 1.
- I have been ever of opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.
- Ch. 11.
- It was not reason that besieged Troy; it was not reason that sent forth the Saracen from the desert to conquer the world; that inspired the crusades; that instituted the monastic orders; it was not reason that produced the Jesuits; above all, it was not reason that created the French Revolution. Man is only great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.
- Ch. 13.
- Man is made to adore and to obey: but if you will not command him, if you give him nothing to worship, he will fashion his own divinities, and find a chieftain in his own passions.
- Ch. 13.
- The world is governed by very different personages to what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes.
- Ch. 15.
[edit] Book VI
- We live in an age when to be young and to be indifferent can be no longer synonymous. We must prepare for the coming hour. The claims of the Future are represented by suffering millions; and the Youth of a Nation are the trustees of Posterity.
- Ch. 13.
[edit] Book VII
- Life is too short to be little. Man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly, and expresses himself with frankness and with fervour.
- Ch. 2.
- How very seldom do you encounter in the world a man of great abilities, acquirements, experience, who will unmask his mind, unbutton his brains, and pour forth in careless and picturesque phrase all the results of his studies and observation; his knowledge of men, books, and nature. On the contrary, if a man has by any chance an original idea, he hoards it as if it were old gold; and rather avoids the subject with which he is most conversant, from fear that you may appropriate his best thoughts.
- Ch. 2.
- Nature, like man, sometimes weeps from gladness.
- Ch. 5.
[edit] Book IX
- The frigid theories of a generalizing age.
- Bk. IX, Ch. 7.
