Inspirational Quotations by Isaac D’Israeli (English Writer, Scholar)

Isaac D’Israeli (1766–1848) was an English writer, scholar, and man of letters. He is best known for his literary essays, and as the father of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.

Born in Enfield, Middlesex, D’Israeli, descended from a Jewish merchant family from the Levant who had settled in Italy. He obtained a freethinking education in Amsterdam before returning to Britain. He had wished to become a creative writer, but instead turned to literary history.

D’Israeli’s prominent publication is the six-volume Curiosities of Literature (1791–1834.) His most notable and original work is The Literary Character (1795,) in which he identified the qualities of temperament shared by creative writers. He also wrote Calamities of Authors (1813) and Quarrels of Authors (1814.)

D’Israeli was also celebrated for his associations with such literary celebrities as Lord Byron, Walter Scott, Robert Southey, and Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

D’Israeli withdrew from the London congregation of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews in 1817 after a clash over a fine of £40 levied on him by the Sephardi elders of the Synagogue. He had his children baptized as members of the Anglican Church. Yet, he anonymously published The Genius of Judaism (1833,) which celebrated Jewish history while criticizing its religious institutions. His pro-royalist Commentaries on the Life and Reign of Charles I (1828–30) was noteworthy for its diligent use of documentary records for historical research.

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