
Source: Home Truths (1859), Ch. II: "Repent, or Perish", p. 73
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 99.
Source: Home Truths (1859), Ch. II: "Repent, or Perish", p. 73
“I have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be.”
Letter to Robert Morris (13 August 1782)
The Letters Of William Blake https://archive.org/details/lettersofwilliam002199mbp (1956), p. 90
1790s
Source: Journal, p. 29
Statement at his trial, rejecting the assertion he was a traitor to Edward I of England (23 August 1305), as quoted in Lives of Scottish Worthies (1831) by Patrick Fraser Tytler, p. 279
Variant: I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject.
Context: I can not be a traitor, for I owe him no allegiance. He is not my Sovereign; he never received my homage; and whilst life is in this persecuted body, he never shall receive it. To the other points whereof I am accused, I freely confess them all. As Governor of my country I have been an enemy to its enemies; I have slain the English; I have mortally opposed the English King; I have stormed and taken the towns and castles which he unjustly claimed as his own. If I or my soldiers have plundered or done injury to the houses or ministers of religion, I repent me of my sin; but it is not of Edward of England I shall ask pardon.
The Earthly Paradise (1868-70), The Lady of the Land
Often misquoted as I am not afraid; I was born to do this.
As given in The Life of Joan of Arc (1909) by Anatole France, tr. Winifred Stevens, vol. i, p. 97, referencing Trials, vol. i, p. 449.