“As long as he lived, he was the guiding-star of a whole brave nation, and when he died the little children cried in the street.”

—  John Lothrop Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic

The Rise of the Dutch Republic (1856; New York: Harper, 1861) vol. 3, part 6, ch. 7, p. 627.
Of William the Silent. In a footnote Motley cites the original of his last phrase in an official report made by the Greffier Corneille Aertsens: "dont par toute la ville l'on est en si grand duil tellement que les petits enfans en pleurent par les rues."

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "As long as he lived, he was the guiding-star of a whole brave nation, and when he died the little children cried in the…" by John Lothrop Motley?
John Lothrop Motley photo
John Lothrop Motley3
American historian and diplomat 1814–1877

Related quotes

W. H. Auden photo

“When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.”

W. H. Auden (1907–1973) Anglo-American poet

Epitaph on a Tyrant (1939), lines 5–6

Henry Wotton photo

“He first deceased; she for a little tried
To live without him, liked it not, and died.”

Henry Wotton (1568–1639) English ambassador

Upon the Death of Sir Albert Morton's Wife (1651).

“He had lived a very long time, and only since he gained Anna had he learned to fear. He’d discovered that he had never been brave before—just indifferent. She had taught him that to be brave, you have to fear losing something.”

Patricia Briggs book Fair Game

Source: Fair Game

“I was born when he kissed me, I died when he left me, I lived a few weeks while he loved me”

Dorothy B. Hughes book In a Lonely Place

Variant: I was born when you kissed me. I died when you left me. I lived a few weeks while you loved me.
Source: In a Lonely Place

Ludwig Wittgenstein photo

“A good guide will take you through the more important streets more often than he takes you down side streets; a bad guide will do the opposite. In philosophy I'm a rather bad guide.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-British philosopher

As quoted in Wittgenstein and the Philosophy of Information (2008) edited by Alois Pichler and Herbert Hrachovec, p. 140
Attributed from posthumous publications

David Sedaris photo

“He die one day, and then he go above of my head to live with your father."
He weared the long hair, and after he died, the first day he come back here for to say hello to the peoples."
He nice, the Jesus.”

David Sedaris book Me Talk Pretty One Day

Source: Me Talk Pretty One Day

Homér photo

“No man who fights with gods will live long or hear his children prattling about his knees when he returns from battle.”

Homér Iliad

V. 407–409 (tr. Samuel Butler).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

Yehudi Menuhin photo

“What guides us is children's response, their joy in learning to dance, to sing, to live together. It should be a guide to the whole world.”

Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999) American violinist and conductor

Source: Tessa Souter Anything I Can Do... You Can Do Better: How to unlock your creative dreams and change your life http://books.google.co.in/books?id=GJzWPzwI79kC&pg=PA156, Random House, 31 July 2011, p. 156

George Bird Evans photo

“The gunner tends to live with Death without giving thought to dying, the shot heard so deeply it is not heard at all. The gunner is the grouse while the grouse is living; he dies a little when the grouse is dead. They have that in common, the bird and he, and he had better know if he is worthy to terminate that glorious life. It is a responsibility not easy to face, yet he doesn't dare not face it.”

George Bird Evans (1906–1998) American writer

Grouse Along the Tramroad (1986)

Glen Cook photo

“Soldiers live. He dies and not you, and you feel guilty, because you're glad he died, and not you. Soldiers live, and wonder why.”

Glen Cook book Soldiers Live

Source: Soldiers Live (2000), Chapter 99, “By the Military Cemetery: Missing Persons” (p. 664)
Context: “It doesn’t make much sense, does it?” my darling whispered to me. “People go at the oddest times and from the oddest causes.”
“Soldiers live,” I muttered.
“You’re turning that into a mantra.”
“You feel guilty. You wonder why him and not me, then you’re glad it was him and not you, then you feel guilty. Soldiers live. And wonder why.”

Related topics