Quotes about king (2095 quotes, page 21)

“His chapters inspire me with more enthusiasm than even poetry itself. And the noble canon, with what true chivalrous feeling he confines his beautiful expressions of sorrow to the death of the gallant and high-bred knight, of whom it was a pity to see the fall, such was his loyalty to his king, pure faith to his religion, hardihood towards his enemy, and fidelity to his lady-love!”

Jean Froissart (1337–1405) French writer

Ah, benedicite! how he will mourn over the fall of such a pearl of knighthood, be it on the side he happens to favour, or on the other. But, truly, for sweeping from the face of the earth some few hundreds of villain churls, who are born but to plough it, the high-born and inquisitive historian has marvellous little sympathy.
Claverhouse, in Walter Scott's Old Mortality (1816), ch. 35.
Criticism

Faith , Religion , Making love , Beauty

“The king, the master, my idol.”

Sugar Ray Robinson (1921–1989) American boxer

Muhammad Ali holds Sugar in high regardhttp://wsb.wharton.upenn.edu/Publications_ray.htm
About Sugar Ray sourced

“How you niggas want it? have it yo way burger king.”

Lil Wayne (1982) American rapper, singer, record executive and businessman

MegaMan
2010s, Tha Carter IV (2011)

Way

“Neither punk nor prom king, Mayer was a tall kid from Connecticut, driving on the freeways, chasing slippery techno women, inhabiting a world of parents and slipcovers and holidays and gracious Southeastern metropolises; he was smart, inquisitive, articulate, a touch off in places.”

John Mayer (1977) guitarist and singer/songwriter

Hunter, James (2003-10-02), "Corduroy Boy" http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/300650/johnmayer?pageid=rs.ArtistDiscography&pageregion=triple1. Rolling Stone. (932):116 Retrieved October 2, 2003

World , Holiday , Parent , Women

“If I were king, I would not allow people to go about burning the American flag. However, we have a First Amendment which says that the right of free speech shall not be abridged.”

Antonin Scalia (1936–2016) former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

And it is addressed, in particular, to speech critical of the government.
New York Times (July 19, 2012)
2010s

People

“The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail—its roof may shake—the wind may blow through it—the storm may enter—the rain may enter—but the King of England cannot enter—all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.”

Alfred Denning, Baron Denning (1899–1999) British judge

So be it—unless he has justification by law.
Southam v Smout [1964] 1 QB 308 at 320.
Denning was quoting William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham
Judgments

“Together, we join two distinguished South Africans, the late Chief Albert Lutuli and His Grace Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to whose seminal contributions to the peaceful struggle against the evil system of apartheid you paid well-deserved tribute by awarding them the Nobel Peace Prize. It will not be presumptuous of us if we also add, among our predecessors, the name of another outstanding Nobel Peace Prize winner, the late Rev Martin Luther King Jr.”

Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist

He, too, grappled with and died in the effort to make a contribution to the just solution of the same great issues of the day which we have had to face as South Africans.We speak here of the challenge of the dichotomies of war and peace, violence and non-violence, racism and human dignity, oppression and repression and liberty and human rights, poverty and freedom from want.
1990s, Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1993)

Peace , Evil

“England, and the Eternal Voices, summon them; poor England never so needed them as now. Up, be doing everywhere: the hour of crisis has verily come! In all sections of English life, the god-made king is needed; is pressingly demanded in most; in some, cannot longer, without peril as of conflagration, be dispensed with.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1850s, Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850), The Present Time (February 1, 1850)

God , Life

“Although styles of leadership change with the times, one constant remains: people are always ambivalent about those in power. They want to be led but also to feel free; they want to be protected and enjoy prosperity without making sacrifices; they both worship the king and want to kill him. When you are the leader of a group, people are continually prepared to turn on you the moment you seem weak or experience a setback. Do not succumb to the prejudices of the times, imagining that what you need to do to gain their loyalty is to seem to be their equal or their friend; people will doubt your strength, become suspicious of your motives, and respond with hidden contempt. Authority is the delicate art of creating the appearance of power, legitimacy, and fairness while getting people to identify with you as a leader who is in their service. If you want to lead, you must master this art from early on in your life. Once you have gained people’s trust, they will stand by you as their leader, no matter the bad circumstances.”

Robert Greene (1959) American author

Chap. 15 : Make Them Want to Follow You
The Laws of Human Nature (2018)

Imagination , Time , Loyalty , Bad luck

“To all Christian governments Christianity was not a rule of means but a means of rule; Christ was for the people, Machiavelli was preferred by the kings. The state in some measure had civilized man, but who would civilize the state?”

Will Durant book The Story of Civilization

Source: The Story of Civilization (1935–1975), VI - The Reformation (1957), Chapter 6, p. 229

Christ , People

“Let's talk about democratic socialism. We are living in many ways in a socialist society right now. The problem is, as Dr. Martin Luther King reminded us, "We have socialism for the very rich, rugged individualism for the poor."”

Bernie Sanders (1941) American politician, senator for Vermont

When Donald Trump gets $800 million in tax breaks and subsidies to build luxury condominiums, that's socialism for the rich. We have to subsidize Walmart’s workers on Medicaid and food stamps because the wealthiest family in America pays starvation wages. That's socialism for the rich. I believe in democratic socialism for working people. Not billionaires. Health care for all. Educational opportunity for all.

2020-02-19

Bloomberg takes a beating, Sanders defends socialism in fiery debate

Politico

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/19/democratic-debate-2020-best-moments-116169
2020

Way , Problem

“1500 metre, I am the king.”

Sun Yang (1991) Chinese swimmer

August 8, 2016. Sun Yang says he is 'king' of 1500m at Rio Olympics, and no friend of Mack Horton https://www.smh.com.au/sport/sun-yang-says-he-is-king-of-1500m-at-rio-olympics-and-no-friend-of-mack-horton-20160808-gqn8ob.html
Quote

“Weep for me, my eyes! Spill your tears
And mourn for me the vanished kings
Hujr ibn 'Amru's princely sons
Led away to slaughter at eventide;
If only they had died in combat
Not in the lands of Banu Marina!
No water was there to wash their fallen heads,
And their skulls lie spattered with blood
Pecked over by birds
Who tear out first the eyebrows, then the eyes.”

Imru' al-Qais (501–544) Arabic Poet

Diwan of Imru' al-Qays, Poem 2, quoted in Dictionary of Literary Biography, p. 213
The Poem of Imru' al-Qais

Water , Bird , Lie , Tear

“Hardly anyone expected the American uprising to succeed. Thousands of colonists emigrated to Canada or hid in the woods, certain that the king's armies would tear the colonial regiments to shreds. Nor did a majority of the people support the struggle for independence, even in theory. Historians estimate that one-third favored independence, one-third favored retaining British ties, and one-third were indifferent.”

Marilyn Ferguson (1938–2008) American writer

The Aquarian Conspiracy (1980), Chapter Five, The American Matrix for Transformation

Indifference , Support , People , Tear

“As historian James MacGregor Burns noted, they also formulated their protests as official appeals to the king "shipped across the Atlantic after suitable hometown publicity."”

Marilyn Ferguson (1938–2008) American writer

The Aquarian Conspiracy (1980), Chapter Five, The American Matrix for Transformation

Relation ships

“[We condemn those principles whose] necessary effect [is] to destroy the Catholic religion, and with it, the obedience due to kings. It is with this end in view that they establish, as a right of man in society, this absolute liberty, which not only assures the right of not being disturbed in regard to his religious opinions, but which also grants that license of thought, of writing and even shamelessly publishing on the subject of religion whatever the most unruly imagination might suggest. This monstrous right nevertheless appears to the Assembly to result from the equality and liberty which are natural to all men. But what could there be more outrageous than to establish among men this equality and this unbridled liberty which will snuff out reason, the most precious gift that nature has given to man, and the only one which distinguishes him from the animals?”

Pope Pius VI (1717–1799) pope and sovereign of the Papal States

Quod aliquantum (10 March 1791), quoted in André Latreille and Joseph E. Cunneen, 'The Catholic Church and the Secular State: The Church and the Secularization of Modern Societies', CrossCurrents Vol. 13, No. 2 (Spring 1963), pp. 220–221

Religion , Imagination , Nature , Animals

“I wear the cap and he the crown;—
What of that?
I sleep on straw and he on down;—
What of that?
And he's the king and I'm the clown;—
What of that?
If happy I, — and wretched he, —
Perhaps the king would change with me!”

Charles Mackay (1814–1889) British writer

"Differences", V
The Collected Songs of Charles Mackay (1859)

Sleep , Happiness , Change

“If I was a junkman selling you cars,
Washing your windows and shining your stars,
Thinking your mind was my own in a dream
What would you wonder and how would it seem?
Living in castles a bit at a time
The King started laughing and talking in rhyme.
Singing words, words between the lines of age.
Words, words between the lines of age.”

Neil Young (1945) Canadian singer-songwriter

Words (between the lines of age)
Song lyrics, Harvest (1972)

Singing , Time , Star , Dreams

“...we benignly wish that all and each of the natives of the kingdom who will subject themselves willingly to us, as the true King of France according to wise counsel, before next Easter, offering due fidelity etc. to us, as King of France, performing their duties...should be admitted to our peace and grace and to our special protection and defence.”

Edward III of England (1312–1377) King of England

Assuming the title King of France (8 February 1340), quoted in A. R. Myers (ed.), English Historical Documents, 1327–1485 (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1969), p. 65

Peace

“...our progenitors, the kings of England, have before these times been lords of the English sea on every side...and it would very much grieve us if in this kind of defence our royal honour should be lost.”

Edward III of England (1312–1377) King of England

Letter to his admirals (18 August 1336), quoted in Ian Mortimer, The Perfect King: The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation (Vintage, 2008), p. 130

Sea , Time

“We can do the innuendo,
We can dance and sing
And when it's said and done
We haven't told you a thing,
We all know that crap is king, give us dirty laundry.”

Don Henley (1947) American singer, lyricist, producer and drummer

"Dirty Laundry"
Song lyrics, I Can't Stand Still, 1982

Singing , Dance

“We need a major shift in the U.S. approach toward Russia...The lives -- and even existence -- of future generations are at stake in the relationship between Washington and Moscow... The incessant drumbeat is in sync with what Martin Luther King Jr. called “the madness of militarism.”

Norman Solomon (1951) American journalist, media critic, antiwar activist

Hostile Propaganda: Contempt for diplomacy with Russia is now extreme (16 July 2018)

Future , Madness

“I ask you what right had I to close the way to the throne against these people? The kings of Prussia have never been by preference kings of the rich. Frederick the Great said when Crown Prince: “Quand je serai rot, je serai tin vrai rot des gueux.””

Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898) German statesman, Chancellor of Germany

He undertook to be the protector of the poor, and this principle has been followed by our later kings. At their throne suffering has always found a refuge and a hearing. ... Our kings have secured the emancipation of the serfs, they have created a thriving peasantry, and they may possibly be successful—the earnest endeavour exists, at any rate—in improving the condition of the working classes somewhat. To have refused access to the throne to the complaints of these operatives would not have been the right course to pursue, and it was, moreover, not my business to do it. The question would afterwards have been asked: “How rich must a deputation be in order to its reception by the King?”

Speech to the Prussian United Diet in answer to the petition of Wüstegiersdorf weavers (1865), quoted in W. H. Dawson, Bismarck and State Socialism: An Exposition of the Social and Economic Legislation of Germany since 1870 (London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1891), p. 31
1860s

Way , People

“In a Constitutional Monarchy, the Government governs and the King reigns.”

Georgios Papandreou (1888–1968) Greek politician - former prime minister of Greece

During the political crisis of 1965.

“I see not then how the children of Adam, or of any man else, can be free from subjection to their parents. And this subjection of children being the fountain of all regal authority, by the ordination of God himself. From whence it follows, that civil power, not only in general is by Divine institution, but even the assigning of it specifically to the eldest parent. Which quite takes away that new and common distinction which refers only power universal and absolute to God, but power respective in regard of the special form of government to the choice of the people. Nor leaves it any place for such imaginary pactions between Kings and their people as many dream of. This lordship which Adam by creation had over the whole world, and by right descending from him the Patriarchs did enjoy, was as large and ample as the absolutest dominion of any monarch which hath been since the creation.”

Robert Filmer book Patriarcha

Source: Patriarcha, pp. 57–58

God , Children , People , Dreams

“That if the best of Kings—the most virtuous of Queens—and the most perfect Constitution, could make any nation happy, the people of this country had every reason to think themselves so.”

John Wesley (1703–1791) Christian theologian

Speech in the West Riding of Yorkshire, reported in the Leeds Intelligencer (4 May 1790), quoted in Robert F. Wearmouth, Methodism and the Common People of the Eighteenth Century (Epworth Press, 1945), p. 257
1790s

Country , Happiness , People , Perfection

“Let us put away our sins; the real ground of all our calamities! Which never will or can be thoroughly removed, till we fear God and honour the King.”

John Wesley (1703–1791) Christian theologian

A Calm Address to our American Colonies (1775), pp. 17–18.
1770s

God , Fear

“I'd thought it would be something like King's Road [London], only more. Somehow I expected them all to own their own little shops. I expected them to all be nice and clean and friendly and happy … (on the contrary, I discovered them to be) hideous, spotty little teenagers.”

George Harrison (1943–2001) British musician, former member of the Beatles

Expressing disenchantment with the "Summer of Love" hippies of San Francisco's famous “hippie haven” i.e., the Haight-Ashbury district, which he visited on 7 August 1967, as quoted in Dark Horse: The Life and Art of George Harrison, Geoffrey Giuliano, Da Capo Press, ISBN 0306807475 ISBN 9780306807473, p. 80. http://books.google.com/books?id=0PLygywwfL8C&pg=PA80&dq=%22hideous,+spotty+little+teenagers%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2Z6NT6-RM6Wr2AW8maGMDA&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22hideous%2C%20spotty%20little%20teenagers%22&f=false

Happiness

“In view of this grave and unprecedented outrage, the House may be assured that his Majesty's Government will take without delay appropriate steps to vindicate the authority of the law and to protect officers and servants of the King and his Majesty's subjects in the exercise of their duties and in the enjoyment of their legal rights.”

H. H. Asquith (1852–1928) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech in the House of Commons on the gun-running at Larne, Ireland (27 April 1914), quoted in The Times (28 April 1914), p. 8
Prime Minister

Housing , Law , Exercises

“I don't want to see children asking me how many monsters girlfriends does the Monkey King have anymore!”

Liu Xiao Ling Tong (1959) Chinese actor

(zh-CN) 我不希望下一次再有小朋友问我，孙悟空到底交了几个妖精女朋友。

Source: 六小龄童：不希望再被问孙悟空有几个妖精女友, 羊城晚报, 搜狐新闻, 2016-01-04, 2019-01-30 http://news.sohu.com/20160104/n433369454.shtml,

Children

“His wiles were witty and his fame far known,
Every king's daughter sought him for her own,
Yet he was nothing to be won or lost.
All lands to him were Ithaca: love-tossed
He loathed the fraud, yet would not bed alone.”

Robert Graves (1895–1985) English poet and novelist

"Ulysses" from Poems 1930-1933 (1933)
Poems

Fraud , Love , Daughters , Making love

“Woe to him who has not begged!
There is nothing more exalted than to beg.
God begs. The Angels beg. Kings, Prophets, and Saints beg.”

Léon Bloy (1846–1917) French writer, poet and essayist

Source: Pilgrim of the Absolute (1947), p. 1

God , Angels

“In a free-market economy, the consumer is king: labor unions don't run things, business people don't run things, bankers don't run things, politicians don't run things, but the success of a business depends on how people spend their money.”

Ron Paul (1935) American politician and physician

In response to the question "What is your opinion on direct democracy, where the citizens themselves make law, rather than elected representatives?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-nfaTZNWcI (May 14, 2015)
2015

Money , Dependency , Success , Business

“Kings have to deal with their neighbors, their wives, their children, their prelates or clergy, their nobles, their second-nobles or gentlemen, their merchants, their commons, and their men of war; and from all these arise dangers, if care and circumspection be not used.”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author

The Essays Or Counsels, Civil And Moral, Of Francis Ld. Verulam Viscount St. Albans (1857), Of Empire

War , Children , Men

“Growing up as a young boy in Wakanda, I would see King T’Challa flying over our village, and he would remind me of a great Xhosa phrase: Abelungu abazi ubu ndiyaxoka, which means: ‘In times like these, we are stronger when we fight together than when we try to fight apart.’”

Trevor Noah (1984) South African comedian

The Xhosa phrase used by Trevor Noah in this quote was a purposeful mistranslation with the correct translation being: "White people don't know that I'm lying."
The Oscars February 24th, 2019
Source: Can be found under "Trevor Noah's fake translation" https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47356329

Fight , Time , Boy , Flying

“Waft, gentle gale, oh waft to Samercand,
When next thou visitest that blissful land,
The plaint of Khorassania plung'd in woe:
Bear to Turania's King our piteous scroll,
Whose opening breathes forth all the anguish'd soul,
And close denotes whate'er the tortur'd know.”

Anvari (1126–1190) Persian poet

Ghazal, The Tears of Khorassan
Source: The Tears of Khorassan, translated by William Kirkpatrick, quoted in A Literary History of Persia, 1908

Soul

“Turn where we may,—within,—around,—the voice of great events is proclaiming to us, Reform, that you may preserve. Now, therefore, while every thing at home and abroad forebodes ruin to those who persist in a hopeless struggle against the spirit of the age,—now, while the crash of the proudest throne of the continent is still resounding in our ears,—now, while the roof of a British palace affords an ignominious shelter to the exiled heir of forty kings,—now, while we see on every side ancient institutions subverted, and great societies dissolved,—now, while the heart of England is still sound,—now, while the old feelings and the old associations retain a power and a charm which may too soon pass away,—now, in this your accepted time,—now in this your day of salvation,—take counsel, not of prejudice,—not of party spirit,—not of the ignominious pride of a fatal consistency,—but of history,—of reason,—of the ages which are past,—of the signs of this most portentous time. Pronounce in a manner worthy of the expectation with which this great Debate has been anticipated, and of the long remembrance which it will leave behind. Renew the youth of the State. Save property divided against itself. Save the multitude, endangered by their own ungovernable passions. Save the aristocracy, endangered by its own unpopular power. Save the greatest, and fairest, and most highly civilized community that ever existed, from calamities which may in a few days sweep away all the rich heritage of many ages of wisdom and glory. The danger is terrible. The time is short. If this Bill should be rejected, I pray to God that none of those who concur in rejecting it may ever remember their votes with unavailing regret, amidst the wreck of laws, the confusion of ranks, the spoliation of property, and the dissolution of social order.”

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–1859) British historian and Whig politician

Speech in the House of Commons (2 March 1831) https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1831/mar/02/ministerial-plan-of-parliamentary-reform#column_1204 in favour of the Reform Bill
1830s

Home , God , Time , Law

“I think the destiny of all men is to be kings, the destiny of all women is to be queens. In some fashion or another, that’s the destiny that we call it family but it’s supposed to be that.”

Don Bluth (1937) American animator

DRAGON’S LAIR: An interview with Don Bluth and Gary Goldman https://www.indiewire.com/2015/12/dragons-lair-an-interview-with-don-bluth-and-gary-goldman-122447/ (December 18, 2015)

Family , Thinking , Fashion , Women

“But — if you cannot give us ease —
Last of the race of them who grieve
Here leave us to die out with these
Last of the people who believe!
Silent, while years engrave the brow;
Silent — the best are silent now. Achilles ponders in his tent,
The kings of modern thought are dumb,
Silent they are though not content,
And wait to see the future come.
They have the grief men had of yore,
But they contend and cry no more.”

Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools

Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse (1855)

Waiting , Future , People , Cry

“Life is not lost by dying! Life is lost
Minute by minute, day by dragging day,
In all the thousand, small, uncaring ways,
The smooth appeasing compromises of time,
Which are King Herod and King Herod's men,
Always and always. Life can be
Lost without vision but not lost by death,
Lost by not caring, willing, going on
Beyond the ragged edge of fortitude
To something more — something no man has ever seen.
You who love money, you who love yourself,
You who love bitterness, and I who loved
and lost and thought I could not love again,
And all the people of this little town,
Rise up! The loves we had were not enough.
Something is loosed to change the shaken world,
And with it we must change!”

Stephen Vincent Benét (1898–1943) poet, short story writer, novelist

Innkeeper's wife
Source: A Child is Born (1942)

Money , Time , Death , People

“I'm your narrator. It's my task to say
Just where and how things happen in our play,
Set the bare stage with words instead of props
And keep on talking till the curtain drops. …
It's an old task — old as the human heart,
Old as those bygone players and their art
Who, in old days when faith was nearer earth,
Played out the mystery of Jesus' birth
In hall or village green or market square
For all who chose to come and see them there,
And, if they knew that King Herod, in his crown,
Was really Wat, the cobbler of the town,
And Tom, the fool, played Abraham the Wise,
They did not care. They saw with other eyes.
The story was their own — not far away,
As real as if it happened yesterday,
Full of all awe and wonder yet so near,
A marvelous thing that could have happened here
In their own town — a star that could have blazed
On their own shepherds, leaving them amazed,
Frightened and questioning and following still
To the bare stable — and the miracle.”

Stephen Vincent Benét (1898–1943) poet, short story writer, novelist

Narrator
Source: A Child is Born (1942)

Faith , Question , Star , Heart

“Now, what is meant by the union between Church and State? ... I understand by it that authority is to be not merely political; that Government is to be not merely an affair of force, but is to recognize its responsibility to the Divine Power. Sir, we have discarded the divine right of Kings, and properly discarded it, because the divine right of Kings led to the abuse of supernatural power by individuals; but an intelligent age will never discard the divine right of Government. If Government is not divine, it is nothing. It is a mere affair of the police-office, of the tax-gatherer, of the guard-room.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1868/apr/03/adjourned-debate#column_917 in the House of Commons (3 April 1868)

Intelligence , Age , Understanding

“Our nation is founded on the principle that we do not have kings. We have presidents. And the Constitution is our compass. When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something. To do something. Our children and their children will ask us, ‘What did you do? What did you say?'”

John Lewis (civil rights leader) (1940) American politician and civil rights leader

For some, he concluded, this vote may be hard. But we have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history.
Source: Quoted in Impeachment is Over, But Don’t Despair by Diallo Brooks, CounterPunch https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/02/07/impeachment-is-over-but-dont-despair/, (7 Feb 2020)

Children

“I dare be bold to affirm that, had the King of France beaten us, as we have done him, he would have been so modest as to have given us better terms than we have gained after all our glorious victories.”

Robert Walpole (1676–1745) British statesman

Source: Address https://historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/walpole-robert-ii-1676-1745 to the electors of Kings Lynn for the general election of 1713 against the Treaty of Utrecht

Victory

“I am at a loss to discover where they will find this divine right in our government, or at least where they do find it in the reign of the late King [William III], whose title to be rightful and lawful king they have all sworn, or where they will find it in the next Protestant successor, for whom they profess an equal zeal, is not very obvious to me.”

Robert Walpole (1676–1745) British statesman

Source: Draft speech https://historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/walpole-robert-ii-1676-1745 for the trial of Dr Henry Sacheverell

Loss , Law

“I am very proud now that we have a museum on the National Mall where people can learn about Reverend King, so many other things, Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more, I notice. Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and millions more black Americans who made [[America] what it is today. Big impact”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

2010s, 2017, February
Source: Donald Trump's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/frederick-douglass-trump/515292/ February 1, 2017

People , Learning

“The Bible as a whole is not written systematically, however, but is a collection of books of history, historical metaphor, biography, law and poetry, all leading into one another without an apparent plan. The Books of the Prophets include both historical narrative and an anthology of Divine revelations. Those of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings tell the history of the Jewish people from Joshua’s conquest of the Holy Land to the destruction of the first temple by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 586 B.C. These Hebrew prophets were the conscience of the people; for in the face of powerful priests and raving multitudes they spoke up with one chief purpose in mind—to teach man “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.””

Geoffrey Hodson (1886–1983) New Zealand occultist

(Micah 6: 8). Isaiah writes with dignity and power, condemning social systems which forget the needs of the poor. Amos, a “herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit” (Amos, 7: 14), declared God’s judgment upon the nations and upon Israel, also foretelling Israel’s restoration. Jeremiah dedicated himself to God, but was despised and persecuted by the people. He called for peace when nations prepared for war, and demanded an inward religion of sincerity at a time when priests were enforcing their orthodox codes.
The Hidden Wisdom In The Holy Bible (1963), Volume II

God , History , Law , People

“The king who seeks company of the ascetics is superior to that ascetic who seeks nearness of the king.”

Sufyan al-Thawri (716–778) Muslim Scholar and founder of Thawri Madhhab

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 29

“When the Jews were prisoners of the King of Babylon, they sent a message to the Jews of Jerusalem, saying,
Pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and for the life of Belshazzar his son, that their days may be like the days of heaven upon the earth. And the Lord, will give us strength, … and we will live under the shadow of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and under the shadow of Belshazzar his son, and we will serve them for a long time and find favor in their sight.
This prayer was offered by prisoners – and they prayed for the king their jailer. He was their enemy, and yet they prayed for him…”

Petr Chelčický book The Net of Faith

Source: The Net of Faith (c. 1443), Chapter 92, Interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:1-3 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%202:1-3&version=NIV There Can Be No Christian Sovereignty

Life , Time

“Do I still need to tell you that I am not guided by selfish motives? No gentlemen, although Belgium is small, it is happy and content with its fate. I have no ambition other than to serve it. In this century, our civilized society imparts unprecedented values to barbarian communities in other parts of the world.
Leopold II, King of the Belgians in a speech at the Brussels Geographic Conference on September 12, 1876. Quoted from the book "Zaïre, Ketens van Koper (translated: Zaire, Chains of Copper)" Chapter 2: From Leopold II to Bwana Kitoko, page 16. Leuven, Kritak Fonds, 1978. ISBN 9063030185”

Leopold II of Belgium (1835–1909) King of the Belgians

Selfishness , Fate , Happiness , Communication

“I am the King.”

Arthur C. Clarke book The Fountains of Paradise

Ah, but which king? The monarch who had stood on these granite flagstones — scarcely worn then, eighteen hundred years ago — was probably an able and intelligent man; but he failed to conceive that the time could ever come when he would fade into an anonymity as deep as that of his humblest subjects.
Source: 1970s, The Fountains of Paradise (1979), Ch. 11 “The Silent Princess”, p. 65

“What business is it of ours to ask whether the French nation thinks proper to be governed by a king, an emperor, a president, or a consul? Our object and our duty is to cement the closest ties of friendship between ourselves and our nearest neighbour... There is nothing, I am convinced, in the real interests of England and France which can stand in the way of the most cordial friendship between the two nations.”

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) British politician

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1849/feb/02/the-address-in-answer-to-the-speech#column_206 in the House of Commons (2 February 1849)
1840s

Business , Thinking , Way , Friendship

“The moral ideal would embrace the whole of life. In its sight nothing is petty or indifferent. It touches the veriest trifles and turns them into shining gold. We are royal by virtue of it, and like the kings in the fairy tale, we may never lay aside our crowns.
The moral order never is, but is ever becoming. It grows with our growth.”

Felix Adler (1851–1933) German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, and lecturer

Section 4 : Moral Ideals
Life and Destiny (1913)

Indifference , Life

“I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.”

Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman

Friendship , World

“Fear of God is king that dwells only in the heart of a pious one.”

Bishr the Barefoot (769–841) Muslim saint

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2002), p. 37

God , Fear , Heart

“Heir sall Wantones ga spy them and cum agane to the king. (in Scottish)”

David Lindsay (1490–1554) Scottish noble and poet

Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis, Stage direction, line 326

“Hark how all the welkin rings,
"Glory to the Kings of kings;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"”

Charles Wesley (1707–1788) English Methodist and hymn writer

Joyful, all ye nations, rise.
Join the triumph of the skies.
Universal nature say
"Christ is born today!"
"Hymn for Christmas-Day"; these opening lines were revised by Wesley's co-worker George Whitefield in 1754, along with lesser alterations to subsequent lines, to produce the more familiar "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (alternate versions at Wikisource):
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations, rise.
Join the triumph of the skies.
With th'angelic hosts proclaim
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the new-born King!
Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739)

God , Peace

“Most kings should be entertained because they lack talent except killing and scolding others.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“The beauty of the kingdom appears only to those in higher positions. To the king who has a high view over the whole city.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Beauty , Appearance

“The king’s commands cannot be challenged without the rebel paying the price for it.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“The wife of a king is well known as the queen. But the queen's husband is mostly scorned to the title of prince.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“You may have your own wisdom but that wisdom is nothing compared to the wisdom of God who appointed you as the King over his people therefore you need to call on him before you take any decision that affect the people”

Joseph Edra Ukpo (1937) Nigerian priest (1937–2023)

Corruption impeding fight against Boko Haram – Arch Bishop https://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/05/corruption-impeding-fight-boko-haran-arch-bishop/ (May 19, 2014)

God , People , Decision , Wisdom

“We require the king for his favours to us
At Yellow Gold Tower,
Clutching our Dragons of Jade
We die for our lord.”

Li He (790–816) Chinese writer

(zh-TW) 報君黃金臺上意，提攜玉龍為君死。
Closing lines
"Ballad of the Grand Warden of Goose Gate" (《雁門太守行》)

“When a warrior learns to "see" he "sees" that a man is a luminous egg whether he's a beggar or a king and there's no way to change anything; or rather, what could be changed in that luminous egg? What?”

Carlos Castaneda book The Wheel of Time

Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from A Separate Reality (Chapter 6)

Learning , Way , Change

“If the King can do no wrong, it is akin to looking down upon him, because the King is not being treated as a human being. The King can do wrong.”

Bhumibol Adulyadej (1927–2016) King of Thailand

Source: As quoted in 2005, "Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej: One of the world’s longest-reigning monarchs" in CNN https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/13/asia/thai-king-bhumibol-adulyadej-obituary/index.html (14 October 2016)

“The King is no longer the same; the change of character and spirit observed in him for two or three years is accentuated and makes fear of a catastrophe, at a time when he had only to let it go to be a remarkable King, perhaps to become a large figure.”

Émile Banning (1836–1898) academic, civil servant

Source: All the King's Men' A search for the colonial ideas of some advisers and "accomplices" of Leopold II (1853-1892). (Hannes Vanhauwaert), Emile Banning (1836-1898): The Don Quichotte of the ‘liberal civilization’ in Congo, A romantic associate of Leopold II. http://www.ethesis.net/leopold_II/leopold_II.htm#_ftn194 WILLEQUET, J. Le baron Lambermont, 103.

Fear , Time , Change

“If I do not promise Belgium a splendid government like that which founded its independence, nor a great King like him whom we mourn, then at least i believe to be a Belgian King in heart and soul, whose whole life belongs to the country.”

Leopold II of Belgium (1835–1909) King of the Belgians

Source: Bulletin Officiel de Congo Belge - Années 1908 et 1909, page 174. https://archive.org/details/bulletin-officiel-de-congo-belge-annees-1908-et-1909/page/n373/mode/2up King Leopold II in a speech on 17 december 1865.

Soul , Country , Heart , Life

“You cannot have a greater desire to conform Ireland to the Church of England, than I (and this with as seeming great a desire of the King) to conform Scotland to the Church of England.”

William Laud (1573–1645) Archbishop of Canterbury

Source: Letter to Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (8 October 1638), quoted in The Works of the Most Reverend Father in God, William Laud, sometime Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. Volume VII—Letters (1860), p. 489

“Behind of a great queen is always a great king.”

José Hermano Saraiva (1919–2012) Historian, Jurist, Politician

Original: (pt) Por trás de uma grande rainha está sempre um grande rei.
Source: "A Alma e a Gente - D. Maria II, A Rainha da Regeneração"

“A weak king weakens a strong people.”

José Hermano Saraiva (1919–2012) Historian, Jurist, Politician

Original: (pt) Camões tinha razão. Um fraco rei faz fraca a forte gente.
Source: "A Alma e a Gente - D. Fernando, Fraco Rei, Forte Gente (D. Fernando, Weak King, Strong People)"

Strong , People

“[T]he King is God's immediate lieutenant upon earth; and therefore one and the same action is God's by ordinance, and the King's by execution. And the power which resides in the King is not any assuming to himself, nor any gift from the people, but God's power, as well in, as over, him.”

William Laud (1573–1645) Archbishop of Canterbury

Source: Sermon at Whitehall (19 June 1625), quoted in The Works of the Most Reverend Father in God, William Laud, sometime Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. Volume I: Sermons (1847), p. 94

God , People

“May God have mercy on you! May God bless you! Lord, Thou knowest that I am innocent! With all my heart I forgive my enemies! Long live Christ the King!”

Miguel Pro (1891–1927) Mexican Jesuit priest and martyr

Source: Blessed Miguel Pro Juarez https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/blessed-miguel-pro-juarez-397 (November 23, 1927)

Forgiveness , God , Heart , Christ

“Of Fronto, to how much envy and fraud and hypocrisy the state of a tyrannous king is subject unto, and how they who are commonly called [Eupatridas Gk.], i.e. nobly born, are in some sort incapable, or void of natural affection.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations (c. AD 121–180), Book I, 8

Fraud , Nature , Envy

“If you wish that God should dwell in your heart, purify your heart from all save Him for the king will not enter a house filled with stores and furniture. He will only enter a heart which is empty of all save Himself.”

Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr (967–1049) poet

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 96

God , Housing , Heart

“O poor-fellow! Do you know what is renunciation and what is piety? It is that you don't go to the places of the king, nor roam about in quest of livelihood nor base yourself for sake of worldly wealth, nor sit in the company of the world lings.”

Bu Ali Shah Qalandar (1209–1324) Indian Sufi saint

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 271

Wealth , World

“Thrones and crowns of worldly kings carry worth less than shows of donkey for us.”

Bu Ali Shah Qalandar (1209–1324) Indian Sufi saint

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 270

“I will never allow a Prince, who should only be there to hold the stirrup for Bonaparte's family, to become King of a neighboring realm.”

Louis Philippe I (1773–1850) King of the French

Source: Belgium since the Revolution of 1830, Page 226. https://be1830.be/onewebmedia/Belgi%C3%AB_sedert_de_omwenteling_in_1830%20I.pdf The French King Rejects 'Duke August van Leuchtenberg' as possible canidate for the Belgian throne.

Family

“The obstacle has been Mackenzie King, the Canadian, who is both obstinate, tiresome and stupid.”

George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston (1859–1925) British politician

Source: Letter to his wife during the 1923 Imperial Conference (8 November 1923), quoted in Terry Reardon, Winston Churchill and Mackenzie King: So Similar, So Different (2012), pp. 52-53

Stupidity

“Dear Mr. President:
It appears proper that I should bring to your notice the fact that the record shows that I shall attain the age of 64 years on November 23rd next- one month from today.
I am as always at your service.
Most sincerely yours,
Ernest J. King
Admiral, U.S. Navy”

Ernest King (1878–1956) United States Navy admiral, Chief of Naval Operations

Source: Letter from King to Franklin D. Roosevelt on 23 October 1942, notifying the President that King was about to reach mandatory retirement age, at which time he could only be kept in the Navy at the desire of the President. Roosevelt hand-wrote on the same letter "So what, old top? I may even send you a birthday present!" and had it sent back to King. As quoted in Fleet Admiral King: A Naval Record (1952), by Ernest King and Walter M. Whitehill, p. 412

Appearance , Sincerity , Age

“Do you see a man diligent and skillful in his business? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”

book Bible

Source: Proverbs 22:29

Business , Men

“You know that my ancestors were the most christian emperors of the great nation of Germany, the catholic kings of Spain, the archdukes of Austria, and the dukes of Burgundy, who all were, until death, faithful sons of the Roman Church...I am therefore resolved to maintain everything which these my forebears have established to the present…and to settle this matter I will use all my dominions and possessions, my friends, my body, my blood, my life, and my soul. It would be a disgrace for you and me, the illustrious and renowned nation of Germany, privileged and pre-eminent as protector and defender of the Catholic faith, if heresy, or even just the suspicion of heresy, and the degradation of the Christian religion were to return to the hearts of men in our time to our perpetual dishonour.”

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) Holy Roman Emperor

Diet of Worms (1521)
Source: *Detlef Ploese and Guenther Vogler, eds., Buch der Reformation. Eine Auswahl zeitgenössischer Zeugnisse (1476-1555). Berlin: Union Verlag, 1989, pp. 245-53

Soul , Life , Death , Men

“For religion all men are equal, as all pennies are equal, because the only value in any of them is that they bear the image of the King.... It has often been said, very truly, that religion is the thing that makes the ordinary man feel extraordinary; it is an equally important truth that religion is the thing that makes the extraordinary man feel ordinary.”

G. K. Chesterton Charles Dickens

Ch 1 : "The Dickens Period"
Charles Dickens (1906)

Truth , Religion , Feeling , Men

“Most precious are the people; next come the spirits of land and grain; and last, the kings.”

Mencius (-372–-289 BC) Chinese philosopher

(zh-TW) 民為貴，社稷次之，君為輕。
7B:14. Variant translations:
Of the first importance are the people, next comes the good of land and grains, and of the least importance is the ruler.
The people are the most important ... and the ruler is the least important.
The Mencius
Variant: The people are the most important element in a nation; the spirits of the land and grain come next; the sovereign counts for the least.

People

“I fancy I hear them talking there
In an open boat, and the speech is fair.
And the boy is learning the ways of men
From the finest man in his youthful ken.
Kings, to the youngster, cannot compare
With the gentle father who's with him there.
And the greatest mind of the human race
Not for one minute could take his place.”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

Source: All That Matters (1922), p.36 - A Boy And His Dad, stanza 2.

Boy , Learning , Youth , Way

“A time came when the Catholics, having long relied on force, were compelled to appeal to opinion. That which had been defiantly acknowledged and defended required to be ingeniously explained away. The same motive which had justified the murder now prompted the lie. Men shrank from the conviction that the rulers and restorers of their Church had been murderers and abetters of murder, and that so much infamy had been coupled with so much zeal. They feared to say that the most monstrous of crimes had been solemnly approved at Rome, lest they should devote the Papacy to the execration of mankind. A swarm of facts were invented to meet the difficulty: The victims were insignificant in number; they were slain for no reason connected with religion; the Pope believed in the existence of the plot; the plot was a reality; the medal is fictitious; the massacre was a feint concerted with the Protestants themselves; the Pope rejoiced only when he heard that it was over. These things were repeated so often that they have been sometimes believed; and men have fallen into this way of speaking whose sincerity was unimpeachable, and who were not shaken in their religion by the errors or the vices of Popes. Möhler was pre-eminently such a man. In his lectures on the history of the Church, which were published only last year, he said that the Catholics, as such, took no part in the massacre; that no cardinal, bishop, or priest shared in the councils that prepared it; that Charles informed the Pope that a conspiracy had been discovered; and that Gregory made his thanksgiving only because the King's life was saved. Such things will cease to be written when men perceive that truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.”

John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (1834–1902) British politician and historian

Source: 1860s, The Massacre Of St. Bartholomew (1869)

Sincerity , Life , Men , Truth

“Pray for all the saints. Pray also for kings, and potentates, and princes, and for those that persecute and hate you, and for the enemies of the cross, that your fruit may be manifest to all, and that ye may be perfect in Him.”

Polycarp Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians

Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians

Hate , Perfection

“Your king is entirely too neutral to suit us. Anyway, there is no place for kings in the new European order.”

Boris III of Bulgaria (1894–1943) Tsar of Bulgaria

Hermann Göring, Third Reich politician, to a Bulgarian correspondent, World War: Lowlands of 1941 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772601-4,00.html, The Time, Monday, 20 January 1941