“The subject being unusual, I fear that I shall not make myself intelligible, but I will do my endeavour, that the reasons of our judgment may be apprehended.”

B. v. Knight and Burton (1699), 1 Raym. 527.

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 "The subject being unusual, I fear that I shall not make myself intelligible, but I will do my endeavour, that the reaso…" by John Holt (Lord Chief Justice)?
John Holt (Lord Chief Justice) photo
John Holt (Lord Chief Justice) 36
English lawyer and Lord Chief Justice of England 1642–1710

Related quotes

Jean Paul Sartre photo
Thomas Nagel photo

“I speak from experience, being strongly subject to this fear myself: I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers.”

The Last Word, Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 130-131.
Context: In speaking of the fear of religion, I don’t mean to refer to the entirely reasonable hostility toward certain established religions and religious institutions, in virtue of their objectionable moral doctrines, social policies, and political influence. Nor am I referring to the association of many religious beliefs with superstition and the acceptance of evident empirical falsehoods. I am talking about something much deeper—namely, the fear of religion itself. I speak from experience, being strongly subject to this fear myself: I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.

Nathanael Greene photo
Constance Wu photo

“I don't fear being outspoken. The only thing I fear is losing my sense of integrity or losing sight of the values on which I guide my life. So I don't think it's particularly brave or unusual for me to speak out.”

Constance Wu (1982) American actress

As quoted in "Constance Wu Opens Up About Activism and Speaking Up For What’s Right" in Teen Vogue (27 February 2017) https://www.teenvogue.com/story/constance-wu-activism-speaking-up-whats-right-big-hundred-mirys-list

Carl Sandburg photo
James Anthony Froude photo
Miguel de Unamuno photo

“In a word, be it with reason or without reason or against reason, I am resolved not to die. And if, when at last I die out, I die altogether, then I shall not have died out of myself — that is, I shall not have yielded myself to death, but my human destiny shall have killed me. Unless I come to lose my head, or rather my heart, I will not abdicate from life — life will be wrested from me.”

Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) 19th-20th century Spanish writer and philosopher

The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), VI : In the Depths of the Abyss
Context: I will not say that the more or less poetical and unphilosophical doctrines that I am about to set forth are those which make me live; but I will venture to say that it is my longing to live and to live for ever that inspires these doctrines within me. And if by means of them I succeed in strengthening and sustaining this same longing in another, perhaps when it is all but dead, then I shall have performed a man's work, and above all, I shall have lived. In a word, be it with reason or without reason or against reason, I am resolved not to die. And if, when at last I die out, I die altogether, then I shall not have died out of myself — that is, I shall not have yielded myself to death, but my human destiny shall have killed me. Unless I come to lose my head, or rather my heart, I will not abdicate from life — life will be wrested from me.

William Empson photo

“Shall I make it clear, boys, for all to apprehend,
Those that will not hear, boys, waiting for the end,
Knowing it is near, boys, trying to pretend,
Sitting in cold fear, boys, waiting for the end?”

William Empson (1906–1984) English literary critic and poet

"Just a Smack at Auden" (1937), line 15; cited from John Haffenden (ed.) The Complete Poems (London: Allen Lane, 2000) p. 81.
The Complete Poems

Jane Austen photo

“When so many hours have been spent convincing myself I am right, is there not some reason to fear I may be wrong?”

Variant: Where so many hours have been spent in convincing myself that I am right, is there not some reason to fear I may be wrong?
Source: Sense and Sensibility

Geronimo photo

“I will protect my people if I live. For myself I do not fear for I have the word of Usen.”

Geronimo (1829–1909) leader of the Bedonkohe Apache

On being informed that there were authorizations to kill him while he was a prisoner in San Antonio, prior to news of further instructions to transport him to Florida, as quoted in Geronimo and the End of the Apache Wars (1990), by Charles Leland Sonnichsen, p. 102; "Usen" is the Apache word for God, and "Nantan" their word for a leader, spokesman, or "chief".
Context: I will protect my people if I live. For myself I do not fear for I have the word of Usen. Who is the White Nantan to think he can pit his power against that of Usen?

Related topics