English Politician Quotes

Oliver Cromwell
Charles II of England
Francis Drake
Mary I of England
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Samuel Pepys
William Wilberforce

And it is a wonder what will be the fashion after the plagueisdoneastoperiwigs, fornobody will daretobuy any haire for fear of the infectionthat it had been cut off the heads of people dead of the plague.

Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
The dominion of the sea, as it is an ancient and undoubted right of the crown of England, so it is the best security of the land…The wooden walls are the best walls of this kingdom.
Wooden walls = ships

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
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
Maistryefull merveylous and Archimastrye Is the tincture of holy Alkimy; A wonderful Science, secrete Philosophie, A singular grace and gifte of th' Almightie: Which never was found by labour of Mann, But it by Teaching, or by Revalacion begann.

The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the holy scriptures.. are found upon comparison to be really part of the original law of nature. Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these.

William Blackstone
William Blackstone
They may the better fish in the water when it is troubled.

The carrion crow, that loathsome beast,
Which cries against the rain.

George Gascoigne
George Gascoigne
Give me a grain of truth and I will mix it up with a great mass of falsehood so that no chemist will ever be able to separate them.

John Wilkes
John Wilkes
Rest content, and give heed to one that hath sorrowed in the bright lustre of a court, and gone heavily even on the best-seeming fair ground…I know it bringeth little comfort on earth; and he is, I reckon, no wise man that looketh this way to Heaven.

Sir Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Sir Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Ten years the world upon him falsely smiled,
Sheathing in fawning looks the deadly knife
Long aimed at his head; that so beguiled
It more securely might bereave his life:
Then threw him to a scaffold from a throne.
Much doctrine lies under this little stone.

When stars are in the quiet skies, Then most I pine for thee; Bend on me then thy tender eyes, As stars look on the sea.

Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton
Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton
Eloquence, transcendent eloquence, formed the foundation and the key-stone of Pitt's Ministerial greatness. Every other quality in him was accessory.
Of William Pitt the Younger

If I am given the privilege of becoming the first democratically elected Lord Mayor I'll never write another book.

No man is bound to be rich or great, - no, nor to be wise; but every man is bound to be honest.

A lover forsaken
A new love may get,
But a neck when once broken
Can never be set.

It was a very proper answer to him who asked why any map should be delighted with beauty, that it was a question that none but a blind man could ask; since any beautiful object doth so much attract the sight of all men, that it is in no man's power not to be pleased with it.

Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon
When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.

Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland
Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland
Thus your Lordship sees that we Papists want not Charity towards you Protestants, whatsoever the less understanding Part of the World think of us.

Love thy country, wish it well,
Not with too intense a care,
'Tis enough, that when it fell,
Thou its ruin didst not share.

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

The vices and the virtues are written in a language the world cannot construe; it reads them in a vile translation, and the translators are Failure and Success.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Hence it is that old men do plant young trees, the fruit whereof another age shall take.

Love, always love. Perhaps that's what we're all looking for.

P. D. James
P. D. James
Bountiful as is the hand of Providence, its gifts are not so bestowed as to seduce us into indolence, but to rouse us to exertion.

William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce
A good corroborating chain, if they fail in the last link, the whole will fall to the ground.

Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden
Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden