That dense population in extreme distress inhabited an island where there was an established church which was not their church; and a territorial aristocracy, the richest of whom lived in distant capitals. Thus they had a starving population, an absentee aristocracy, and an alien Church, and, in addition, the weakest executive in the world. That was the Irish question.
Benjamin Disraeli, February 16, 1844
Disraeli should have said this. Still, he has plenty of immortals. Such as this dig at his less-talented rival:
“The difference between a misfortune and a calamity is this: If Gladstone fell into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him out again, that would be a calamity.”
I always rather liked his taunt of the Liberals of the Manchester School of Free Trade: “They proclaim ‘peace and plenty,’ amid a starving people and a world in arms.”