Address on Latin American Policy before the Southern Commercial Congress http://books.google.com/books?id=_VYEIml1cAkC&q=%22I+would+rather+belong+to+a+poor+nation+that+was+free+than+to+a+rich+nation+that+had+ceased+to+be+in+love+with+liberty%22&pg=PA20#v=onepage Mobile, Alabama (27 October 1913)
1910s
“I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of books than a king who did not love reading.”
Letter to his Niece (15 September 1842)
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Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay 101
British historian and Whig politician 1800–1859Related quotes
“I would rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I'm not.”
“I would rather hire a man with enthusiasm, than a man who knows everything.”
As quoted in Classic Wisdom for the Professional Life (2010) by Bryan Curtis, p. 75
1860s, On The Choice Of Books (1866)
“I had rather live and love where death is king, than have eternal life where love is not.”
Paraphrased variant: I would rather live and love where death is king than have eternal life where love is not.
At A Child's Grave (1882)
Context: No man, standing where the horizon of a life has touched a grave, has any right to prophesy a future filled with pain and tears. It may be that death gives all there is of worth to life. If those we press and strain against our hearts could never die, perhaps that love would wither from the earth. Maybe this common fate treads from out the paths between our hearts the weeds of selfishness and hate, and I had rather live and love where death is king, than have eternal life where love is not.
“I would rather lose all my lands and a hundred lives than be king over heretics.”
David A. Pharies, A brief history of the Spanish language (2007), p. 147.