William Harcourt (1827–1904) British politician
Speech in Oxford town hall (30 December 1872), quoted in The Times (31 December 1872), p. 5
Speech in the House of Commons (10 December 1766), quoted in Basil Williams, The Life of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. Volume II (London: Longmans, 1914), pp. 228-229
1760s
William Harcourt (1827–1904) British politician
Speech in Oxford town hall (30 December 1872), quoted in The Times (31 December 1872), p. 5
Emile Zola (1840–1902) French writer (1840-1902)
Appeal for Dreyfus delivered at his trial for libel (22 February 1898).
Context: Dreyfus is innocent. I swear it! I stake my life on it — my honor! At this solemn moment, in the presence of this tribunal which is the representative of human justice, before you, gentlemen of the jury, who are the very incarnation of the country, before the whole of France, before the whole world, I swear that Dreyfus is innocent. By my forty years of work, by the authority that this toil may have given me, I swear that Dreyfus is innocent. By all I have now, by the name I have made for myself, by my works which have helped for the expansion of French literature, I swear that Dreyfus is innocent. May all that melt away, may my works perish if Dreyfus be not innocent! He is innocent. All seems against me — the two Chambers, the civil authority, the military authority, the most widely-circulated journals, the public opinion which they have poisoned. And I have for me only an ideal of truth and justice. But I am quite calm; I shall conquer. I was determined that my country should not remain the victim of lies and injustice. I may be condemned here. The day will come when France will thank me for having helped to save her honor.
Buck Owens (1929–2006) American country singer-songwriter
"Pledge To Country Music" in Music City News (March 1965)
“Shall I come, sweet Love, to thee,
When the ev'ning beams are set?”
Thomas Campion (1567–1620) English composer, poet and physician
Shall I Come, Sweet Love, to Thee?
Alexander the Great (-356–-323 BC) King of Macedon
Pausing and addressing to a fallen statue of Xerxes the Great <br class="br">Plutarch. The age of Alexander: nine Greek lives. Penguin, 1977. p. 294 http://books.google.com/books?ei=0bC3T9ejHcPQsgarjcHWBw&id=eFAJAQAAIAAJ&q=%22set+you+up+again+because+of+your+magnanimity+and+your+virtues+in+other+respects%22#search_anchor
Victoria of the United Kingdom (1819–1901) British monarch who reigned 1837–1901
Extract from the Queen's Journal, Tuesday, 20th June 1837.
Context: Since it has pleased Providence to place me in this station, I shall do my utmost to fulfil my duty towards my country; I am very young and perhaps in many, though not in all things, inexperienced, but I am sure that very few have more real good will and more real desire to do what is fit and right than I have.