“I have sometimes thought that a squire and a vestry were a king and republic in miniature. The vestry is as tyrannic, in its way, as the squire in his.”

— Horace Walpole, Walpoliana (1799; 1825 printing), 'King and Republic', p. 74

About Horace Walpole

1717 – 1797

English writer and politician, author of "The Castle of Otranto" and a prolific correspondent.

“The world is a comedy to those that think; a tragedy to those that feel.”

“It always amazes me, when I reflect on the women, who are the first to propagate scandal of one another.”

“It appears to me as odd to write to you of St. Peter's, as it would do to you to write of Westminster-abbey.”

“It would be thought a hard Government that should tax its People one-tenth Part of their Time, to be employed in its Service.”

“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”

“I used to sit, think, think, thinking, till I felt as lonesome as a kitten in a wash-house copper with the lid on.”

“Science is not the truth. Science is finding the truth. When science changes its opinion, it didn't lie to you.”

“It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”

“Ambition raises a secret tumult in the soul, it inflames the mind, and puts it into a violent hurry of thought.”