Quotes about king page 8
John Denham (1615–1669) English poet and courtier
On Mr. John Fletcher's Works. Compare: "Poets are sultans, if they had their will; For every author would his brother kill", Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, Prologues (republished in Dramatic Works, 1739); "Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne", Alexander Pope, Prologue to the Satires, line 197.
Paul Scofield (1922–2008) English actor
Quoted in Alan Strachan, "Paul Scofield: Oscar-winning actor whose phenomenal range was unmatched in his generation" http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/paul-scofield-oscarwinning-actor-whose-phenomenal-range-was-unmatched-in-his-generation-798984.html, The Independent (2008-03-21)
“Most kings and priests have been despotic, and all religions have been riddled with superstition.”
Aldous Huxley book Brave New World Revisited
Source: Brave New World Revisited (1958), Chapter 6 (pp. 52-53)
Clive James (1939–2019) Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist
'Georg Christoph Lichtenberg', p. 383
Essays and reviews, Cultural Amnesia: Notes in the Margin of My Time (2007)
Mark Riebling (1963) American writer
Jesus, Jews and the Shoah: A Moral Reckoning by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen (2003)
Lascelles Abercrombie (1881–1938) Poet, academic, literary critic
Emblems of Love (1912)
Maddox (1978) American internet writer
Whoever Sucks the Least is King: An Interview with Maddox http://www.poindexteronline.com/old/www/text/archives/00000078.html <br class="br">The Best Page in the Universe
John Mayer (1977) guitarist and singer/songwriter
No Such Thing, written by John Mayer and Clay Cook
Song lyrics, Room for Squares (2001)
“Steal a little and they throw you in jail; steal a lot and they make you king.”
Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist
Song lyrics, Infidels (1983), Sweetheart Like You
David Hume The History of England
Volume V, Chapter LIV (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1983), pp. 329-30; referring to the abolition of the Star Chamber
The History of England (1754-62)
Akira Ifukube (1914–2006) Japanese composer
As quoted by David Milner, "Akira Ifukube Interview III" http://www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/ifukub3.htm, Kaiju Conversations (December 1995)
Chris Hedges (1956) American journalist
21:20 <br class="br">“ Our Only Hope Will Come Through Rebellion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOlg_2qAbUA” (2014)
Anthony D. Smith (1939–2016) British academic
Source: Myths and Memories of the Nation (1999), Chapter: Greeks, Armenians and Jews.
Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879) British poet and hymn-writer
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 599.
Kunti character from Indian epic Mahabharata
Madri to Kunti
Madri then ascended the funeral pyre of her lord Pandu
The Mahabharata/Book 1: Adi Parva/Section CXXV
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Boston Hymn http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/1177/, st. 2 <br class="br">1860s, May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
Amitav Ghosh (1956) Indian writer
Amitav Ghosh, Interview with "The Week" http://web.archive.org/web/20030203070332/http://www.the-week.com/21sep02/life9.htm
Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Speech at Westminster Hall (4 July 1935); published in This Torch of Freedom: Speeches and Addresses (1935), p. 4
1935
Hasan Nizami Persian language poet and historian
About the conquest of Delhi. Hasan Nizami. Elliot and Dowson, Vol. II : Elliot and Dowson, History of India as told by its own Historians, 8 Volumes, Allahabad Reprint, 1964. pp. 216. Also quoted in Jain, Meenakshi (2011). The India they saw: Foreign accounts.
“These wretched kings,
Of whom all men speak ill, have oft some good in them.”
François Andrieux (1759–1833) French man of letters and playwright
Ces malheureux rois,
Dont on dit tant de mal, ont du bon quelquefois.
Le Meunier de Sans-Souci. (Ed. 1818, Vol. III., p. 205).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 26.
Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism
Source: 1840s, Two Ethical-Religious Minor Essays (1849), p. 95
“I am more afraid of King Alcohol than of all the bullets of the enemy.”
Thomas Jackson (1824–1863) Confederate general
As quoted in Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes, and Letters of Gen. Robert E. Lee (1874) by John William Jones, p. 171
“You are a king by your own fireside, as much as any monarch in his throne.”
Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright
...estás en tu casa, donde eres señor della, como el rey de sus alcabalas.
Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Prologue
Firishta (1560–1620) Indian historian
Sultãn Alãu’d-Dîn Mujãhid Shãh Bahmanî (AD 1375-1378) Vijayanagar (Karnataka)
Tãrîkh-i-Firishta
John R. Commons (1862–1945) United States institutional economist and labor historian
Source: Legal foundations of capitalism. 1924, p. 221
Luther Burbank (1849–1926) American botanist, horticulturist and pioneer in agricultural science
p, 125
The Training of the Human Plant (1907)
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet
Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711-1726)
George Grosz (1893–1959) German artist
Letter, September 1915, to Robert Bell; in Grosz, Briefe, p. 30 ff; as cited in 'Portfolios', Alexander Dückers; in German Expressionist Prints and Drawings - Essays Vol 1.; published by Museum Associates, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California & Prestel-Verlag, Germany, 1986, p. 112 - note 61
George William Russell (1867–1935) Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, and artistic painter
The Nuts of Knowledge (1903)
Robert Cormier book The Chocolate War
Obie didn't bother to answer. You couldn't ever win an argument with Archie.
Source: The Chocolate War (1974), p. 8
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919–1980) Shah of Iran
Oriana Fallaci (December 30, 1973), The Mystically Divine Shah of Iran (interview), Chicago Tribune
Interviews
“Tis the first art of kings, the power to suffer hate.”
ars prima regni est posse invidiam pati.
Seneca the Younger Hercules Furens
Hercules Furens (The Madness of Hercules), lines 353; (Lycus)
Alternate translation: To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power (translator unknown).
Tragedies
Mihira Bhoja I (836–885) Ruler of the Gurjara Pratihara dynasty
Words by Salaiman an arab invader who visited India during the emperor's reign.[History of Ancient India: Earliest Times to 1000 A. D., http://books.google.co.in/books?id=cWmsQQ2smXIC&pg=PA207&dq]
About
“Cunningham did more for integration in Alabama in 60 minutes than Martin Luther King Jr.”
Bear Bryant (1913–1983) American college football coach
African-American Sam "Bam" Cunningham led University of Southern California's integrated football team to a lopsided victory against Alabama's segregated team in 1970. Bryant integrated Alabama's team the next year. <br class="br">Source: He was a giant in the world of college football, Erik, Spanberg, September 13, 2005, The Christian Science Monitor, 2008-12-11 http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0913/p17s01-bogn.html,
Ahmed Shah Durrani (1722–1772) founder of the Durrani Empire, considered founder of the state of Afghanistan
Rajwade, i. 63.
Jadunath Sarkar, Fall of the Mughal Empire, Volume II, Fourth Edition, New Delhi, 1991, p.70-71
“There, I guess King George will be able to read that!”
John Hancock (1737–1793) American Patriot and statesman during the American Revolution (1737–1793)
Quoted in "John Hancock and Bull Story" at snopes.com http://www.snopes.com/history/american/hancock.asp as one variant of traditional anecdotes of Hancock's purported exclamation at signing the United States Declaration of Independence; there are actually no contemporary or credible accounts of any of the signers declaring anything at the signing. <br class="br">Variants: <br class="br">There! John Bull can read my name without spectacles and may now double his reward of £500 for my head. That is my defiance. <br class="br">The British ministry can read that name without spectacles; let them double their reward. <br class="br">King George can read that without spectacles! <br class="br">Misattributed
Alec Baldwin (1954) American actor, writer, producer, and comedian
After 1968, he was never the same again. All the air went out of him.
As quoted in "Smart Alec" by Alec Gross, in New York magazine, Vol. 30, No. 35 (24 November 1997), p. 43.
Bernard Groethuysen (1880–1946) French literary historian, translator and writer
Source: The Bourgeois: Catholicism vs. Capitalism in Eighteenth-Century France (1927), p. 89
Ralph Abernathy (1926–1990) American Civil Rights Movement leader
And this is God's world, this is God's All-benny, and God tells us that out of one blood He created all nations that dwell upon the face of this earth."
In a sermon he gave on 15 December 1961, during the Albany Movement; as quoted in Watters, Pat. 2012. Down to Now: Reflections on the Southern Civil Rights Movement. University of Georgia Press. pp. 202-203.
“It is very fortunate that kings cannot err. Hence their contradictions never perplex us.”
Victor Hugo book The Man Who Laughs
The Man Who Laughs (1869)
Orson Scott Card (1951) American science fiction novelist
Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Prentice Alvin (1989), Chapter 2.
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–1859) British historian and Whig politician
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/macaulay/txt_commons_indiagovt_1833.html#13 <br class="br">Attributed
Ted Cruz (1970) American politician
2010s, Speech at the Republican National Convention (July 20, 2016)
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist
“Poetry in War and Peace”, p. 129
Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)
Damian Pettigrew Canadian filmmaker
On Federico Fellini’s narcissism, in The Los Angeles Times (April 2003)
Prem Rawat (1957) controversial spiritual leader
Peace Bomb satsang, 11 October 1970, India Gate, New Delhi, India (translated from Hindi)
1970s
Richard Sherman (American football) (1988) American football player
Posted on a website under the alias "RSherman25", quoted in "Richard Sherman Blasts 'Black Lives Matter' Activist" https://web.archive.org/web/20150916235759/http://newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/dylan-gwinn/2015/09/14/richard-sherman-blasts-black-lives-matter-activist (14 September 2015), by Dylan Gwinn, NewsBusters (2015), Reston, Virginia: Media Research Center. Sherman has said that although he agreed with some of the sentiments expressed, he did not write or say this http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/video-richard-sherman-speaks-passionately-on-black-lives-matter/. <br class="br">Misattributed
Firishta (1560–1620) Indian historian
Sultãn Muhammad Qulî Qutb Shãh of Golconda (AD 1580-1612) Cuddapah (Andhra Pradesh)
Tãrîkh-i-Firishta
“No, Your Majesty, I do not like kings, but I do like a man behind a king when I find him.”
Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) American businessman and philanthropist
Source: Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, 1920, Chapter XXIX
Joseph Strutt (1749–1802) British engraver, artist, antiquary and writer
pg. 28
The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England (1801), Hunting
Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer
Lord William Pumphrey, p. 162
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Fury (2006)
Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941) German Emperor and King of Prussia
Marginal note written on a message from the Belgian government (9 August 1914), quoted in John Horne and Alan Kramer, German Atrocities, 1914: A History of Denial (London: Yale University Press, 2001), pp. 18-19
1910s
“In point of fact magicians appear to have often developed into chiefs and kings.”
James Frazer book The Golden Bough
Source: The Golden Bough (1890), Chapter 6, Magicians as Kings.
Patrick Henry (1736–1799) attorney, planter, politician and Founding Father of the United States
Speech on the Parson's Cause, in the Hanover County Courthouse (1763)
1760s, Speech on the Parson's Cause (1763)
Norodom Ranariddh (1944) Cambodian politician
[Claudi Arizzi, http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/royal-watchers-ponder-whats-deal, Royal watchers ponder 'what's the deal?', 21 November 1997, 20 September 2015, Phnom Penh Post]
Ron Paul (1935) American politician and physician
Hopes For the Future https://web.archive.org/web/20120119202026/http://www.ronpaularchive.com/2008/11/hopes-for-the-future/ (November 2008). <br class="br">2000s, 2006-2009
Margot Asquith (1864–1945) Anglo-Scottish socialite, author and wit
Quoted by Mark Bonham Carter in his Introduction to the 1962 edition of The Autobiography of Margot Asquith (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1962) p. xxxv.
Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989) Religious leader, politician
Tahrir al-Vasileh, 1970. http://politicalquotes.org/node/54102
Foreign policy
“This world is mine for the taking, make me king!”
Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor
"Lose Yourself".
2000s, 8 Mile (2002)
Guru Arjan (1563–1606) The fifth Guru of Sikhism
Maktûbãt-i-Imãm Rabbãnî translated into Urdu by Maulana Muhammad Sa’id Ahmad Naqshbandi, Deoband, 1988, Volume I. Quoted in Sita Ram Goel: Muslim Separatism - Causes and Consequences.
Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903) German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist and writer
On the Re-Establishment of the Monarchy
Vol. 4. pt. 2, Translated by W. P. Dickson
The History of Rome - Volume 4: Part 2
Anthony D. Smith (1939–2016) British academic
See Armstrong 1982, I74—8I cf. Baynes and Moss 1969, 119—27, and Carras 1983.
Source: The Nation in History (2000), p. 42-43.
“To a bad king a worse counsellor.”
Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) Italian poet
A re malvagio, consiglier peggiore.
Canto II, stanza 2 (tr. Max Wickert)
Gerusalemme Liberata (1581)
Dick Gregory (1932–2017) American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer, and entrepreneur
Source: Dick Gregory's Natural Diet For Folks Who Eat (1973), pp. 15-16
Brian Reynolds Myers (1963) American professor of international studies
2010s, Interview with Joshua Stanton (August 2017)
Vitruvius book De architectura
Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book II, Chapter VIII, Sec. 16
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) Polish-American Conservative Judaism Rabbi
"The idolatry of might," Volume 1, p. 159
The Prophets (1962)
Thomas Denison (1699–1765) British judge (1699–1765)
Memorial inscription, reported in Edward Foss, The Judges of England, With Sketches of Their Lives (1864), Volume 8, p. 266-268.
About
Will Cuppy (1884–1949) American writer
The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody (1950), Part IV: A Few Greats, Frederick the Great
Bradley Joseph (1965) Composer, pianist, keyboardist, arranger, producer, recording artist
Indie Journal Interview http://web.archive.org/web/20041101084648/http://www.indiejournal.com/indiejournal/interviews/bradleyjoseph.htm
Pierre Stephen Robert Payne (1911–1983) British lecturer, novelist, historian, poet and biographer
A Vision of the Uncorrupted Society, p. 292 ( See also: Social contract..)
The Corrupt Society - From Ancient Greece To Present-Day America (1975)
Sita Ram Goel (1921–2003) Indian activist
Muslim Separatism – Causes and Consequences (1987)
Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703–1762) Indian muslim scholar
S.A.A. Rizvi, Shah Wali-Allah and His Times, Canberra. 1980, p.218. Quoted from Goel, Sita Ram (1995). Muslim separatism: Causes and consequences. ISBN 9788185990262
Michelle Gomez (1966) Scottish actress
An interview with the Sunday Herald talking about when she went to see Kiss Me Kate when she was seven.
Montesquieu (1689–1755) French social commentator and political thinker
No. 60. (Usbek writing to Ibben)
Lettres Persanes (Persian Letters, 1721)
Cyrus H. Gordon (1908–2001) American linguist
Source: Adventures in the Nearest East (1957), Ch.1 Exploring Edom and Moab
K. S. Lal book Indian Muslims: Who Are They
Indian Muslims: Who Are They (1990)
Alfred the Great (849–899) King of Wessex
The Owl and the Nightingale, line 942; as translated by Brian Stone in The Owl and the Nightingale, Cleanness, St. Erkenwald (1971), p. 214.
Misattributed