Isaac D'Israeli
Overview
 
Isaac D'Israeli was a British writer, scholar and man of letters. He is best known for his essays, his associations with other men of letters, and for being the father of British Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

 Benjamin Disraeli.
Isaac was born in Enfield, Middlesex
Enfield Town
Enfield Town is the historic town centre of Enfield, formerly in the county of Middlesex and now in the London Borough of Enfield. It is north north-east of Charing Cross...

, England, the only child of Benjamin D'Israeli
Benjamin D'Israeli
Benjamin D'Israeli was an English merchant and financier, grandfather of the British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield....

 (1730–1816), a Jewish merchant who had emigrated from Cento
Cento
Cento is a city and comune in the province of Ferrara, part of the region Emilia-Romagna . In Italian "cento" means 100.-History:The name Cento is a reference to the centuriation of the Po Valley...

 in Italy in 1748, and his second wife, Sarah Syprut de Gabay Villa Real (1742/3–1825).
Quotations

The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be perpetuated by quotation.

Quotation

Whenever we would prepare the mind by a forcible appeal, an opening quotation is a symphony preluding on the chords those tones we are about to harmonize.

Quotation

If the golden gate of preferment is not usually opened to men of real merit, persons of no worth have entered it in a most extraordinary manner.

Royal Promotions

To bend and prostrate oneself to express sentiments of respect, appears to be a natural motion

Modes of Salutation, and Amicable Ceremonies, Observed in Various Nations

The negroes are lovers of ludicrous actions, and hence all their ceremonies seem farcical.

Modes of Salutation, and Amicable Ceremonies, Observed in Various Nations

Plagiarists, at least, have the merit of preservation.

Of Suppressors and Dilapidators of Manuscripts

Mediocrity can talk, but it is for genius to observe.

Men of Genius Deficient in Conversation

There is such a thing as Literary Fashion, and prose and verse have been regulated by the same caprice that cuts our coats and cocks our hats.

Literary Fashions

Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.

Solitude Originally published as An Essay on the Manners and Genius of the Literary Character

A work, however, should be judged by its design and its execution, and not by any preconceived notion of what it ought to be according to the critic, rather than the author.

Introduction

 
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