William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne

I wish I was as cocksure of anything as Tom Macaulay is of everything.

Things are coming to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade private life.

It is not much matter which we say, but mind, we must all say the same.

Once is orthodox, twice is puritanical.

A doctrinaire is a fool but an honest man.

It wounds a man less to confess that he has failed in any pursuit through idleness, neglect, the love of pleasure, etc., etc., which are his own faults, than through incapacity and unfitness, which are the faults of his nature.

The whole duty of government is to prevent crime and to preserve contracts.

That is no use at all. What I want is men who will support me when I am in the wrong.

Nobody ever did anything very foolish except from some strong principle.

My esoteric doctrine, is that if you entertain any doubt, it is safest to take the unpopular side in the first instance. Transit from the unpopular, is easy... but from the popular to the unpopular is so steep and rugged that it is impossible to maintain it.

It is safest to take the unpopular side in the first instance. Transit from the unpopular is easy... but from the popular to the unpopular is so steep and rugged that it is impossible to maintain it.

Neither man nor woman can be worth anything until they have discovered that they are fools.

What I want is men who will support me when I am in the wrong.