“And among his hearers were a few good men,
Many who were evil,
And most who were neither,
Like all men in all places.”
Choruses from The Rock (1934)
Context: There came one who spoke of the shame of Jerusalem
And the holy places defiled;
Peter the Hermit, scourging with words.
And among his hearers were a few good men,
Many who were evil,
And most who were neither,
Like all men in all places.
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T.S. Eliot 270
20th century English author 1888–1965Related quotes
Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Alvin Journeyman (1995), Chapter 11.
Guardian Angel, p. 220
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)
Source: Childhood's End
Theodoros Kolokotronis' memoirs (1846), quoted in: Jim Potts (2010) The Ionian Islands and Epirus: A Cultural History, p. 176
A Plea for Captain John Brown (1859)
Context: I hear many condemn these men because they were so few. When were the good and the brave ever in a majority? Would you have had him wait till that time came? — till you and I came over to him? The very fact that he had no rabble or troop of hirelings about him would alone distinguish him from ordinary heroes. His company was small indeed, because few could be found worthy to pass muster. Each one who there laid down his life for the poor and oppressed was a picked man, culled out of many thousands, if not millions; apparently a man of principle, of rare courage, and devoted humanity; ready to sacrifice his life at any moment for the benefit of his fellow-man.
“Were there no men of vision,
all who are blind would be dead.”
Rumi Daylight (1990)
1850s, The Present Aspect of the Slavery Question (1859)
Context: The principle of our Revolution, as defined by its leaders with sublime simplicity, was, that as Liberty is a natural right of man, every man has consequent equal rights in society, subject indeed to limitation, but not to annihilation. 'But', cries Mister Douglas, in his Memphis speech last November. I quote his words,. It would have been very easy to say this. Our fathers did not say it, because they did not mean it. They were men who meant what they said, and who said what they meant, and meaning all men, they said all men. They were patriots asserting a principle and ready to die for it, not politicians pettifogging for the presidency.
“They were brave and splendid, all the men. They died like brave men.”
Source: The Band That Played On (Thomas Nelson, 2011), p. 151
§ 5
From Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius