
“Theology, sir, is a fortress; no crack in a fortress may be accounted small.”
John Hale
The Crucible (1953)
About the fortress Igi-hursaja.
Correspondence of the Kings of Ur, Letter from Shulgi to Puzur-Shulgi about work on the fortress Igi-hursanga http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section3/tr3108.htm
“Theology, sir, is a fortress; no crack in a fortress may be accounted small.”
John Hale
The Crucible (1953)
“There are no fortresses that Bolsheviks cannot storm.”
Clive Foss, The Tyrants: 2500 Years of Absolute Power and Corruption, London: Quercus Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1905204965 , p. 131
Contemporary witnesses
“The best possible fortress is—not to be hated by the people.”
Variant: Variant translation: The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people.
Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 20: 'Are fortresses, and many other things to which princes often resort advantageous or hurtful?'
Vol. I, Ch. 14: Of the Mahuzzims, honoured by the King who doth according to his will
Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733)
Context: In scripture we are told of some trusting in God and others trusting in idols, and that God is our refuge, our strength, our defense. In this sense God is the rock of his people, and false Gods are called the rock of those that trust in them, Deut. xxxii. 4, 15, 18, 30, 31, 37. In the same sense the Gods of the King who shall do according to his will are called Mahuzzims, munitions, fortresses, protectors, guardians, or defenders.
"The circle game"
Selected Poems 1965-1975 (1976)
Context: The weapons
that were once outside
sharpening themselves on war
are now indoors
there, in the fortress,
fragile
in glass cases; Why is it
(I’m thinking
of the careful moulding
round the stonework archways)
that in this time, such
elaborate defences keep
things that are no longer
(much)
worth defending?
“A weak enemy in the fortress is more fearsome than the strongest outside.”
Ein schwacher Feind in der Festung ist fürchterlicher als der stärkste von außen.
Ardinghell and the Blessed Islands (1787).
“I built the fortress of my character with all the bricks that pulled me.”
From the Aphorisms http://www.prevale.net/aphorisms.html page of the official website of Prevale
Original: (it) Ho costruito la fortezza del mio carattere con tutti i mattoni che mi hanno tirato addosso.
“He learned the arts of riding, fencing, gunnery,
And how to scale a fortress - or a nunnery.”