George Bancroft Quotes & Sayings

The exact measure of the progress of civilization is the degree in which the intelligence of the common mind has prevailed over wealth and brute force. — George Bancroft

The measure of progress of civilization is the progress of the people. — George Bancroft

The charities of life are scattered everywhere, enameling the vales of human beings as the flowers paint the meadows. They are not the fruit of study, nor the privilege of refinement, but a natural instinct. — George Bancroft

The best government rests on the people, and not on the few, on persons and not on property, on the free development of public opinion and not on authority. — George Bancroft

The friendship between me and you I will not compare to a chain; for that the rains might rust, or the falling tree might break. — George Bancroft

It [Calvinism] established a religion without a prelate, a government without a king. — George Bancroft

Beauty is but the sensible image of the Infinite. Like truth and justice it lives within us; like virtue and the moral law it is a companion of the soul. — George Bancroft

Institutions may crumble and governments fall, but it is only that they may renew a better youth, and mount upwards like the eagle. — George Bancroft

If hours did not hang heavy, what would become of scandal? — George Bancroft

Style is the gossamer on which the seeds of truth float through the world. — George Bancroft

In nine times out of ten, the slanderous tongue belongs to a disappointed person. — George Bancroft

The fears of one class of men are not the measure of the rights of another. — George Bancroft

Conscience is the mirror of our souls, which represents the errors of our lives in their full shape. — George Bancroft

Dishonesty is so grasping it would deceive God himself, were it possible. — George Bancroft

By common consent gray hairs are a crown of glory; the only object of respect that can never excite envy. — George Bancroft

Truth is not exciting enough to those who depend on the characters and lives of their neighbors for all their amusement. — George Bancroft

Ennui is the desire of activity without the fit means of gratifying the desire. — George Bancroft

Where the people possess no authority, their rights obtain no respect. — George Bancroft

The prejudices of ignorance are more easily removed than the prejudices of interest; the first are all blindly adopted, the second willfully preferred. — George Bancroft

Sedition is bred in the lap of luxury and its chosen emissaries are the beggared spendthrift and the impoverished libertine. — George Bancroft

Libraries collect the works of genius of every language and every age. — George Bancroft

I find the name of Jesus Christ written on the top of every page of modern history. — George Bancroft

Not in vain has Lincoln lived, for he has helped to make this republic an example of justice, with no caste but the caste of humanity. — George Bancroft

If reason is a universal faculty, the decision of the common mind is the nearest criterion of truth. — George Bancroft

The public is wiser than the wisest critic. — George Bancroft

In 1688 England contracted to the Netherlands the highest debt that one nation can owe to another. Herself not knowing how to recover her liberties, they were restored by men of the United Provinces. — George Bancroft

Avarice is the vice of declining years. — George Bancroft