About King Charles II of England, as quoted in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Vol. XLIV (January - June 1857) p. 592; It is said to that this was written on the door of Charles II’s bedchamber, and that on seeing it, the king replied, “This is very true: for my words are my own, and my actions are my ministers’....”
Other
“Here lies our sovereign lord the king,
Whose word no man relies on;
He never says a foolish thing,
Nor ever does a wise one.”
Written on the Bedchamber Door of Charles II, as quoted in The Book of Days : A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities (1832) by Robert Chambers, Viol. II, July 26, p. 126.
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John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester 34
English poet, and peer of the realm 1647–1680Related quotes
"1901", p. 76. Sometimes misquoted as "If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing". Sometimes misattributed to Bertrand Russell or Anatole France
A Writer's Notebook (1946)
W. Somerset Maugham, A Writer's Notebook (1949), entry for 1901
Sometimes misquoted as "If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
Sometimes misattributed to Anatole France
Note that Russell does say something similar in Marriage and Morals (1929): "The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible."
Misattributed
Nus ne puet estre trop parliers
Qui sovent tel chose ne die
Qui torné li est affolie,
Car li sages dit et retrait:
Qui trop parole, il se mesfait.
Source: Perceval or Le Conte du Graal, Line 1650.
"Of Founders and the Political Constitution," p. 72
Against Rousseau (1795)
“No man's land. There ain't no asylum here.
King Solomon he never lived 'round here.”
The Clash, "Straight to Hell", Combat Rock (1982).
Lyrics
“There is no king nor sovereign state
That can fix a hero's rate.”
Astræa
1840s, Poems (1847)
Context: Each the herald is who wrote
His rank, and quartered his own coat.
There is no king nor sovereign state
That can fix a hero's rate.
“When a wise man does not understand, he says: "I do not understand."”
The fool and the uncultured are ashamed of their ignorance. They remain silent when a question could bring them wisdom.
The Godmakers (1972)
“Here lies the peerless paper lord, Lord Peter,
Who broke the laws of God and man, and metre.”
Epitaph on Patrick ("Peter"), Lord Robertson (1845); cited from Mary Gordon "Christopher North": A Memoir of John Wilson (New York: W. J. Widdleton, 1863) p. 286.
"My Father"
Lyrics, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (2003)