17th-century Politician Quotes

Anne of Great Britain

James II of England

Oliver Cromwell

William III

Charles II of England

Joseph Addison

Samuel Pepys

What matters this or that reason? What we want is more of the trade which the Dutch now have.

If we beat the King ninety-nine times, yet he is king still and so will his posterity be after him; but if the king beat us once we shall all be hanged, and our posterity made slaves.

Lord have mercy on my poor country that is so barbarously oppressed.

Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun

I think I see our ancient Mother Caledonia, like Caesar, sitting in the midst of our senate, ruefully looking round her, covering herself with her royal garment; attending the fatal blow.

Opposing the Union with England

John Hamilton, Lord Belhaven

Nothing is of greater importance than the right early instruction of youth.

Peter Stuyvesant

I will not by myself, or any other, directly or indirectly trouble, molest or discountenance any person professing to believe in Jesus Christ for or in respect of religion. I will make no difference of persons in conferring offices, favors or rewards for or in respect of religion, but merely as they shall be found faithful and well deserving and endued with moral virtue and abilities. My aim shall be public unity and that if any person or official shall molest any person professing to believe in Jesus Christ on account of his religion I will protect the person molested and punish the offender.

An oath he wrote in 1636 for future Maryland governors

Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore

The world is made up, for the most part, of fools and knaves, both irreconcilable foes to truth.

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham

Earthquakes are too evident Demonstrations of the Hollowness of the Earth, being the dreadful Effects or Consequences of it; for if the Body of the Earth was sound and compact, there would be no such thing in Nature as an Earthquake.

Sir Thomas Blount, 1st Baronet

Let not one look of Fortune cast you down; she were not Fortune if she did not frown.

Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

When I asked him [Newton] how this earth could have been repeopled if ever it had undergone the same it was threatened with hereafter by the comet of 1680? He answered, that required the power of a Creator.

To Henry Fox, Lord Holland, when encountering him in the Library:

You can read. It is a great happiness. I totally neglected it while I was in business, which has been the whole of my life, and to such a degree that I cannot now read a page—a warning to all Ministers.

All these threatening storms, which, like impregnate Clouds, hover o'er our heads, will (when they once are grasp'd but by the eye of reason) melt into fruitful showers of blessings on the people.

George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham

Ara! but why does King James stay behind?
Lilli burlero bullen a la
Ho! by my shoul 'tis a Protestant wind.

Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton

I storm and I roar, and I fall in a rage,
And missing my whore, I bugger my page.

Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset

... above all, I must recommend to you the Care of the Navy, the Strength and Glory of this Nation, that you will put it into such a Condition, as may make us considered and respected Abroad. I cannot express My Concern upon this Occasion more suitable to My own Thoughts of it, than by assuring you I have a true English Heart, as jealous of the Honour of the Nation as you can be. And I please Myself with the Hopes, that, by GOD'S Blessing and your Assistance, I may carry the Reputation of it yet higher in the World, than ever it has been in the Time of any of My Ancestors.

James II of England

It is extremely natural for us to see... our Thoughts put into the Dress of Words, without which indeed we can scarce have a clear and distinct Idea of them our selves.

Eustace Budgell

As to my body and burial, I do leave it to the disposition and discretion of my executor, hereafter named, but with this special charge, that it be done as privately as may be, without any state, acknowledging myself to be unworthy of the least outward regard in this world, and unworthy of any remembrance, that hath been so great a sinner, and I do further charge and desire that no monument be made for me, but at the utmost a plain stone with this inscription only — Vermis sum. [I am a worm.]

William Lenthall

The authority of a King is the keystone which closeth up the arch of order and government which, once shaken, all the frame falls together in a confused heap of foundation and battlement.

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford

It is a general rule of Judgment, that a mischief should rather be admitted than an inconvenience.

William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper

Infernal Gods, who rule the Shades below,
Chaos and Phlegethon, ye Realms of Woe,
Grant what I've heard I may to light expose,
Secrets which Earth, and Night, and Hell inclose.

Richard Maitland, 4th Earl of Lauderdale

I must needs say my judgement was for the Parliament, as the King's, and Kingdom's, great and safest Council.

When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.

Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland

Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.

William Lowndes

Let all people be at liberty to know what I found my judgment upon; that, so when I have given it in any cause, others might be at liberty to judge of me.

It is simply, and solely, the abundance of money within a state [which] makes the difference in its grandeur and power.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert