Richard Francis Burton Quotes (78 quotes, page 2)

Richard Francis Burton Quotes

page 2

Sir Richard Francis Burton was a British explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian and African languages.Burton's best-known achievements include: a well-documented journey to Mecca in disguise, at a time when Europeans were forbidden access on pain of death; an unexpurgated translation of One Thousand and One Nights ; the publication of the Kama Sutra in English; a translation of The Perfumed Garden, the Arab Kama Sutra; and a journey with John Hanning Speke as the first Europeans to visit the Great Lakes of Africa in search of the source of the Nile.

His works and letters extensively criticised colonial policies of the British Empire, even to the detriment of his career. Although he aborted his university studies, he became a prolific and erudite author and wrote numerous books and scholarly articles about subjects including human behaviour, travel, falconry, fencing, sexual practices and ethnography. A characteristic feature of his books is the copious footnotes and appendices containing remarkable observations and information. William Henry Wilkins wrote: "So far as I can gather from all I have learned, the chief value of Burton’s version of The Scented Garden lay not so much in his translation of the text, though that of course was admirably done, as in the copious notes and explanations which he had gathered together for the purpose of annotating the book. He had made this subject a study of years. For the notes of the book alone he had been collecting material for thirty years, though his actual translation of it only took him eighteen months."Burton was a captain in the army of the East India Company, serving in India, and later briefly in the Crimean War. Following this, he was engaged by the Royal Geographical Society to explore the east coast of Africa, where he led an expedition guided by locals and was the first European known to have seen Lake Tanganyika. In later life, he served as British consul in Fernando Pó , Santos in Brazil, Damascus and finally in Trieste. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was awarded a knighthood in 1886. Wikipedia

✵ 19. March 1821 – 20. October 1890

Richard Francis Burton: 78 quotes 2 likes

Richard Francis Burton Quotes

“Man worships self: his God is Man; the struggling of the mortal mind
To form its model as 'twould be, the perfect of itself to find.”

Richard Francis Burton

The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

God , Perfection

“"Who drinks one bowl hath scant delight; to poorest passion he was born;
"Who drains the score must e'er expect to rue the headache of the morn."
Safely he jogs along the way which "Golden Mean" the sages call;
Who scales the brow of frowning Alp must face full many a slip and fall.”

Richard Francis Burton

The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

Way , Drink , Passion

“"Reason and Instinct!" How we love to play with words that please our pride;
Our noble race's mean descent by false forged titles seek to hide! For "gift divine" I bid you read the better work of higher brain,
From Instinct diff'ering in degree as golden mine from leaden vein.”

Richard Francis Burton

The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

Love , Reading , Falseness

“Ah! where shall weary man take sanctuary,
where live his little span of life secure?
and 'scape of Heav'n serene th' indignant storms
that launch their thunders at us earthen worms?”

Richard Francis Burton

Translation of The Lusiads, Canto I, st. 106, p. 40

Life

“A man that hoards up riches and enjoys them not, is like an ass that carries gold and eats thistles.”

Richard Francis Burton

17th century proverb
Misattributed

“Fools rush where Angels fear to tread!”

Richard Francis Burton

Angels and Fools have equal claim
To do what Nature bids them do, sans hope of praise, sans fear of blame!
The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

Fear , Fools , Angels

“Reason and Instinct!”

Richard Francis Burton

How we love to play with words that please our pride;
Our noble race's mean descent by false forged titles seek to hide! <p> For "gift divine" I bid you read the better work of higher brain,
From Instinct diff'ering in degree as golden mine from leaden vein.
The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

“Who drinks one bowl hath scant delight; to poorest passion he was born;
"Who drains the score must e'er expect to rue the headache of the morn.”

Richard Francis Burton

Safely he jogs along the way which "Golden Mean" the sages call;
Who scales the brow of frowning Alp must face full many a slip and fall.
The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)

Passion , Drink

“Starting in a hollowed log of wood — some thousand miles up a river, with an infinitesimal prospect of returning! I ask myself 'Why?”

Richard Francis Burton

and the only echo is 'damned fool!... the Devil drives'.
Burton to Lord Houghton as quoted in The Devil Drives: A life of Sir Richard Burton (1984) by Fawn Brodie.