Let us remember that the government and the society act and react on each other. Sometimes the government is in advance of the society, and hurries t… - Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay

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Let us remember that the government and the society act and react on each other. Sometimes the government is in advance of the society, and hurries the society forward. So urged, the society gains on the government, comes up with the government, outstrips the government, and begins to insist that the government shall make more speed. If the government is wise, it will yield to that just and natural demand. The great cause of revolutions is this, that, while nations move onward, constitutions stand still. The peculiar happiness of England is that here, through many generations, the constitution has moved onward with the nation.

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About Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a nineteenth century British poet, historian and Whig politician.

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Also Known As

Native Name: Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1. Baron Macaulay of Rothley
Alternative Names: Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay Thomas Babington Macaulay Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay
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Additional quotes by Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay

Many politicians of our time are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition, that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story, who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim. If men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and good in slavery, they may indeed have to wait forever.

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