To his friend Nicholas Ridley, as they were both about to be burned as heretics for their teachings and beliefs outside Balliol College, Oxford (16 October 1555); as quoted in History of the British Empire (1870) by William Francis Collier, p. 124; also in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, p. 36; and in The Concise Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (1989) by Robert Andrews, p. 190.
Variants:
Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.
As quoted in the Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, touching Matters of the Church (Foxe's Book of Martyrs) (1563) by John Foxe; also in The London Encyclopaedia, or, Universal Dictionary of Science, Art, Literature, and Practical Mechanics (1829) by Thomas Tegg, p. 455
Be of good cheer, master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle in England, as I hope, by God's grace, shall never be put out.
As quoted in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction (1831) by Reuben Percy and John Timbs, p. 419
Be of good comfort, brother and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out.
As quoted in Historical Collections Relating to Remarkable Periods of the Success of the Gospel (1845) by John Gillies and Horatius Bonar, p. 57
Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, play the man; We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.
As quoted in An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1847) by Charles Bridges, p. 126, but he cites Foxe as source, so this is clearly a slight misquotation of Foxe's version.
Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man, for we shall this day light such a candle in England as I trust by God's grace shall never be put out.
As quoted in The Conscience of Culture (1953) by Everett Tilson, p. 116
“Then brought they a fagot kindled with fire, and layd the same downe at D. Ridleys feete. To whome Maister Latymer spake in this maner: Be of good comfort maister Ridley, and play the man: wee shall this day light such a candle by Gods grace in England, as (I trust) shall neuer be put out.”
Bk. 11, p. 1770
Acts and Monuments (1563)
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John Foxe 5
British historian 1516–1587Related quotes
“Than farewell riches, the fat is in the fire,
And neuer shall I to like riches aspire.”
Then farewell riches, the fat is in the fire,
And never shall I to like riches aspire.
Part I, chapter 3.
Proverbs (1546)
The King's Tragedy, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“Man, like a light in the night, is kindled and put out.”
Fragment 26
Numbered fragments
II, 17
The Persian Bayán
“676. A little wind kindles, much puts out the fire.”
Jacula Prudentum (1651)
Summations, Chapter 63
Context: I understood none higher stature in this life than Childhood, in feebleness and failing of might and of wit, unto the time that our Gracious Mother hath brought us up to our Father’s Bliss. And then shall it verily be known to us His meaning in those sweet words where He saith: All shall be well: and thou shalt see, thyself, that all manner of things shall be well. And then shall the Bliss of our Mother, in Christ, be new to begin in the Joys of our God: which new beginning shall last without end, new beginning.
Thus I understood that all His blessed children which be come out of Him by Nature shall be brought again into Him by Grace.
“If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.”
Section 196 of the Code of Hammurabi (translated by Leonard William King, 1910).
Alternately translated as: If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye.
“319. Little sticks kindle the fire, great ones put it out.”
Jacula Prudentum (1651)