Rufus Choate Quotes

October 1, 1799 – July 13, 1859

Rufus Choate (October 1, 1799 – July 13, 1859) was an American lawyer, Whig politician, and orator.

Read Rufus Choate biography

We have built no national temples but the Capitol; we consult no common oracle but the Constitution.

"The Importance of Illustrating New-England History by a Series of Romances like the Waverley Novels", a lecture delivered at Salem, Massachusetts (1833).

Share

More Rufus Choate Quotes

The courage of New England was the "courage of conscience." It did not rise to that insane and awful passion, the love of war for itself.

Rufus Choate
— Address at Ipswich Centennial (1834).

Tags: courage, New, England, conscience, rise, insane, awful, passion, love

Share
twitter

The final end of government is not to exert restraint but to do good.

Rufus Choate
— Speech in the Senate (2 July 1841).

Tags: final, end, government, exert, restraint, good

Share
twitter

There was a state without king or nobles; there was a church without a bishop; there was a people governed by grave magistrates which it had selected, and by equal laws which it had framed.

Rufus Choate
— Speech before the New England Society (22 December 1843)
— Possibly related to :

Tags: There, state, without, king, nobles, church, bishop, people, governed

Share
twitter

All that happens in the world of Nature or Man, — every war; every peace; every hour of prosperity; every hour of adversity; every election; every death ; every life; every success and every failure, — all change, — all permanence, — the perished leaf; the unutterable glory of stars, — all things speak truth to the thoughtful spirit.

Rufus Choate
— "The Power of a State Developed by Mental Culture", an address to the Mercantile Library Association (18 November 1844), published in The Works of Rufus Choate : Memoir, Lectures and Addresses (1862), edited by Samuel Gilman Brown.

Tags: world, Nature, Man, war, peace, hour, prosperity, adversity, election

Share
twitter

Happy is he who has laid up in his youth, and held fast in all fortune, a genuine and passionate love of reading.

Rufus Choate
— Speech at the dedication of the Peabody Institute (29 September 1854).

Tags: Happy, who, laid, youth, fast, fortune, genuine, passionate, love

Share
twitter

We join ourselves to no party that does not carry the flag, and keep step to the music of the Union.

Rufus Choate
— Letter to the Whig Convention, Worcester (1 October 1855).

Tags: We, join, ourselves, party, carry, flag, keep, step, music

Share
twitter

Its constitution the glittering and sounding generalities of natural right which make up the Declaration of Independence.

Rufus Choate
— Letter to the Maine Whig Committee (1856). Six years earlier, Choate gave a lecture in Providence which was reviewed by Franklin J. Dickman in the Journal of December 14, 1849. Unless Choate used the words "glittering generalities", and Dickman made reference to them, it would seem as if Dickman must have the credit of originating the catchword. Dickman wrote: "We fear that the glittering generalities of the speaker have left an impression more delightful than permanent". Reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

Tags: constitution, glittering, sounding, generalities, natural, right, Declaration, Independence

Share
twitter

A book is the only immortality.

Rufus Choate
— As quoted in Part of a Man's Life (1905) by Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

Tags: book, immortality

Share
twitter

Neither irony nor sarcasm is argument.

Rufus Choate
— As quoted in Dictionary of American Maxims? (1955) by David George Plotkin
— Variant: Neither irony or sarcasm is argument.As quoted in Lifetime Speaker's Encyclopedia (1962) edited by Jacob Morton Braude, p. 50.

Tags: irony, sarcasm, argument

Share
twitter
  • Dictionary
  • Thesaurus
  • Examples
    • See in a sentence
    • Example articles
  • Quotes
    • Famous Quotes
    • Quote Articles
  • Spanish
    • Spanish-English Translation
    • Reference
  • Reference
    • Education
    • ESL
    • Grammar
    • Abbreviations
    • Biography
    • Books & Literature
    • Examples
    • Foreign Languages
    • Resources
    • Slideshows
  • Word Finder
    • Word Finder
    • 4 Pics 1 Word Answers
    • Anagram Solver
    • Unscramble
    • Word Cookies Cheat
    • Word Game Dictionary
    • Word Unscrambler
    • Words With Friends Cheat
Share
  • Dictionary
  • Thesaurus
  • Examples
    • See in a sentence
    • Example articles
  • Quotes
    • Famous Quotes
    • Quote Articles
  • Spanish
    • Spanish-English Translation
    • Reference
  • Reference
    • Education
    • ESL
    • Grammar
    • Abbreviations
    • Biography
    • Books & Literature
    • Examples
    • Foreign Languages
    • Resources
    • Slideshows
  • Word Finder
    • Word Finder
    • 4 Pics 1 Word Answers
    • Anagram Solver
    • Unscramble
    • Word Cookies Cheat
    • Word Game Dictionary
    • Word Unscrambler
    • Words With Friends Cheat
Share
  • Home
  • Quotes
  • Authors
  • rufus choate
Share
Word Finder Scrabble® points: 19 More on Word Finder →

Follow YourDictionary

Get our free Amazon Alexa Skills!

Join YourDictionary today

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Please set a username for yourself.
People will see it as Author Name with your public flash cards.