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Quote by Alexander Smith

“A bottomless pit of violence, a Tower of Babel where all are speakers and no hearers.”

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Alexander Smith was a 19th-century British poet known for his lyrical and narrative poems. His works are celebrated for their deep emotion and unique style, and have had a profound influence on later poets. more

“Compare the scale and magnifcence of Versailles with St James's - the brick-built hovel in which the 18th-century kings of England lived. What was then the most powerful monarchy in the world housed its sovereigns in a converted leper hospital, yet, at the same time, parliament provided the magnificent palaces of Chelsea and Greenwich as hospitals for retired soldiers and sailors.”

“The unweary, unostentatious, and inglorious crusade of England against slavery may probably be regarded as among the three or four perfectly virtuous pages comprised in the history of nations.”

May Three Nations History Four Pages England Slavery Virtuous Crusades British History

Book:History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne

Source: History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne

“We, while noting many things amiss about Victorian society, more often sense them judging us.”

History Judging Victorian British History

Author:A. N. Wilson

“Those Victorians: endlessly fascinating, broad in their learning, heroic in their achievements, in parts completely mad.”

History Achievement Mad Fascinating Broads Heroic British History

Author:Simon Heffer

“The Victorians pioneered numbers of commercial rackets about which their descendants complain (the manufacturers of Bovril, it appears, were virtually official sponsors of the Boer War).”

War Numbers History Complaining Officials Descendants Sponsors British History Racket Boers

Author:D. J. Taylor

“Of the 664 men who rode into the Valley of Death about 540 eventually got out of it again. By far the highest casualty rate was among the horses. Compared with the Somme or an evening in the Blitz, the Valley of Death was a piece of cake.”

Men History Pieces Highest Horse Rate Evening Cake Valleys Casualties British History Blitz Valley Of Death

Author:Simon Heffer

“The most stirring battle-poem in English is about a brigade of cavalry which charged in the wrong direction.”

History Battle Stirring British History Wrong Direction Cavalry

Book:Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays

Source: Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays

“Nine English traditions out of ten date from the latter half of the nineteenth century.”

Half History Century Ten Tradition Nine Latter 19th Century British History

Author:C.P. Snow

“Disraeli was now at the height of his fame and popularity. He still had his enemies... But the people as a whole now admired and respected him deeply... His unscrupulous past and cynical opportunism were being largely forgotten or forgiven. He was gradually becoming recognized not only as the prophet of a new Conservatism, at once compassionate at home and positive abroad, but as a great statesmen whom the Queen did well to honour. Power had brought responsibility. By 1878 the transformation in public attitudes towards Disraeli was complete.”

Quote by Alexander Smith

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