Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery Quotes

14 Sourced Quotes

I used to dislike the Whigs but in my years of loneliness I have come to the conclusion that they governed England better than anybody else. They thought our their measures carefully and adapted them to their times and generation. They were not heroic but they were wise. In modern days we see much heroism but little wisdom.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
I have never known the sweets of place with power, but of place without power, of place with the minimum of power—that is a purgatory, and if not a purgatory it is a hell.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
All my life I've loved a womanly woman and admired a manly man, but I never could stand a boily boy.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
The Prime Minister [Ramsay MacDonald]... circulated pamphlets by the thousand in German against our contention. It is terrible to think that such a man should be in high office with the support of anybody in this country.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
There is no need for any nation, however great, leaving the Empire, because the Empire is a commonwealth of nations.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
[The British Empire is] the greatest secular agency for good now known to mankind.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Imperialism, sane Imperialism, as distinguished from what I may call wild-cat Imperialism, is nothing but this—a larger patriotism.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Few speeches which have produced an electrical effect on an audience can bear the colorless photography of a printed record.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
There are two supreme pleasures in life. One is ideal, the other real. The ideal is when a man receives the seals of office from the hands of his Sovereign. The real pleasure comes when he hands them back.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
It is always possible that that may happen here which has happened in Belgium—the elimination of Liberalism, leaving the two forces of Socialism and Reaction face to face. Whether that shall happen here depends on the Liberal Party.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
It is beginning to be hinted that we are a nation of amateurs.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
The old Liberal party is drawing to its end. These last two elections, particularly the last, are the Mene Mene Tekel Upharsen of the Liberal banquet. The socialist does not indeed get a majority but while the two old parties are cutting each other's throats, he slips in and will continue to slip in and the encouragement to his party is great. The Liberal party will lose their industrial seats, while the Conservative party, the natural refuge in time of trouble, creams off all who will accept protection.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
I have three ambitions in life: to win the Derby, marry an heiress, and become Prime Minister.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
This is not a Budget, but a revolution; a social and political revolution of the first magnitude.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery