The unweary, unostentatious, and inglorious crusade of England against slavery may probably be regarded as among the three or four perfectly virtuous…

- William Edward Hartpole Lecky

One of the most important lessons that experience teaches is that, on the whole, success depends more upon character than upon either intellect or fo…

- William Edward Hartpole Lecky

Anxiety and Ennui are the Scylla and Charybdis on which the bark of human happiness is most often wrecked.

- William Edward Hartpole Lecky

The simple record of these three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and soften mankind than all the discourses of philosophers an…

- William Edward Hartpole Lecky

When the Church obtained the direction of the civil power, she soon modified or abandoned the tolerant maxims she had formerly inculcated; and, in th…

- William Edward Hartpole Lecky

Routine shortens and variety lengthens time, and it is therefore in the power of men to do something to regulate its pace. A life with many landmarks…

- William Edward Hartpole Lecky

The morals of men are more governed by their pursuits than by their opinions. A type of virtue is first formed by circumstances, and men afterwards m…

- William Edward Hartpole Lecky

Passions weaken, but habits strengthen, with age, and it is the great task of youth to set the current of habit and to form the tastes which are most…

- William Edward Hartpole Lecky

In proportion to its power, Protestantism has been as persecuting as Catholicism.

- William Edward Hartpole Lecky