Alfred the Great Quotes (11 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

Alfred the Great: 11 quotes 3 likes

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Famous Alfred the Great Quotes

“He that is shut out
Is soon forgot within.”

Alfred the Great

The Proverbs of Alfred, st. 19, as published in The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus (1848) http://archive.org/stream/dialogueofsalomo00kembuoft#page/226/mode/2up/search/Alfred, edited by John Mitchell Kemble, p. 242.
Misattributed

“He seems to me a very foolish man, and very wretched, who will not increase his understanding while he is in the world, and ever wish and long to reach that endless life where all shall be made clear.”

Alfred the Great

Last words in Blostman [Blooms] (c. 895 AD) an anthology, based largely on the Soliloquies of Augustine of Hippo.

“Geðenc hwelc witu us ða becomon for ðisse worulde, ða ða we hit nohwæðer ne selfe ne lufodon ne eac oðrum monnum ne lefdon!”

Alfred the Great

Remember what punishments befell us in this world when we ourselves did not cherish learning nor transmit it to other men.
Source: Preface to his translation of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, p. 125.

“Ne ches þe neuere to fere
littele mon ne long ne red…

Þe luttele mon he his so rei,
ne mai non him wonin nei…

Þe lonke mon is leþe bei,
selde comid is herte rei…

Þe rede mon he is a quet,
for he wole þe þin iwil red
he is cocker, þef and horeling,
scolde, of wrechedome he is king…”

Alfred the Great

Choose never for thy mate
a little man, or long, or red...

The little man is so conceited,
no one can dwell near him...

The long man is ill to be with,
seldom is his heart brave...

The red man is a rogue,
for he will advise thee ill;
he is quarrelsome, a thief and whoreling,
a scold, of mischief he is king.
The Proverbs of Alfred, st. 19, as published in The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus (1848) http://archive.org/stream/dialogueofsalomo00kembuoft#page/226/mode/2up/search/Alfred, edited by John Mitchell Kemble, p. 247
Misattributed

“Never believe the speech of all men, nor all the things that you hear sung.”

Alfred the Great

“Þæt is nu hraðost to secganne, þæt ic wilnode weorðfullice to libbanne þa hwile þe ic lifede, and æfter minum life þæm monnum to læfanne þe æfter me wæren min gemyndig on godum weorcum.”

Alfred the Great

I desired to live worthily as long as I lived, and to leave after my life, to the men who should come after me, the memory of me in good works.
In his translation of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, ch. 17, p. 133.

Alfred the Great Quotes

“Ða ic ða gemunde hu sio Lar Lædengeðiodes ær ðissum afeallen wæs giond Angelcynn, ond ðeah monige cuðon Englisc gewrit arædan, ða ongan ic on gemang oðrum mislicum ond manigfealdum bisgum ðisses kynerices ða boc on Englisc ðe is genemned on Læden Pastoralis, ond on Englisc "Hierdeboc", hwilum word be worde, hwilum andgit of andgite.”

Alfred the Great

When I recalled how knowledge of Latin had previously decayed throughout England, and yet many could still read things written in English, I then began, amidst the various and multifarious afflictions of this kingdom, to translate into English the book which in Latin is called Pastoralis, in English "Shepherd-book", sometimes word for word, sometimes sense for sense.
Source: Preface to his translation of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, p. 126

“As Alfred says, that learned king:
"The hated man can't intercede;
The angry man's not fit to plead."”

Alfred the Great

The Owl and the Nightingale, line 942; as translated by Brian Stone in The Owl and the Nightingale, Cleanness, St. Erkenwald (1971), p. 214.
Misattributed

Hate , Learning

“For Alfred seide a wis word,
euch mon hit schulde legge on hord:
"3ef thu isihst er he beo icume,
his strencþe is him wel neh binume."”

Alfred the Great

On this, hear Alfred's weighty word<br/>Which man should treasure once it's heard:<br/>"Foresee your trouble in its course:<br/>You thereby take away its force."
The Owl and the Nightingale, line 1223; as translated by Brian Stone in The Owl and the Nightingale, Cleanness, St. Erkenwald (1971), p. 224.
Misattributed

“Me com swiðe oft on gemynd, hwelce wiotan iu wæron giond Angelcynn, ægðer ge godcundra hada ge woruldcundra; ond hu gesæliglica tida ða wæron giond Angelcynn; ond hu ða kyningas ðe ðone onwald hæfdon ðæs folces Gode ond his ærendwrecum hiersumedon; ond hie ægðer ge hiora sibbe ge hiora siodu ge hiora onweald innanbordes gehioldon, ond eac ut hiora eðel rymdon; ond hu him ða speow ægðer ge mid wige ge mid wisdome; ond eac ða godcundan hadas, hu giorne hie wæron ægðer ge ymb lare ge ymb liornunga, ge ymb ealle ða ðiowotdomas ðe hie Gode don scoldon; ond hu man utanbordes wisdom ond lare hieder on lond sohte; ond hu we hie nu sceoldon ute begietan, gif we hie habban sceoldon.”

Alfred the Great

Very often it has come to my mind what men of learning there were formerly throughout England, both in religious and secular orders; and how there were happy times then throughout England; and how the kings, who had authority over this people, obeyed God and his messengers; and how they not only maintained their peace, morality and authority at home but also extended their territory outside; and how they succeeded both in warfare and in wisdom; and also how eager were the religious orders both in teaching and in learning as well as in all the holy services which it was their duty to perform for God; and how people from abroad sought wisdom and instruction in this country; and how nowadays, if we wished to acquire these things, we would have to seek them outside.
Source: Preface to his translation of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care, p. 124.

Wisdom

“Doom very evenly! Do not doom one doom to the rich; another to the poor! Nor doom one doom to your friend; another to your foe!”

Alfred the Great

The Doom Book (c. 893 AD).