King Quotes

500+ Sourced quotes

A dragon has just flown over the tree-tops and lighted on the beach. Yes, I am afraid it is between us and the ship. And arrows are no use against dragons. And they're not at all afraid of fire." "With your Majesty's leave-" began Reepicheep. "No, Reepicheep," said the King very firmly, "you are not to attempt a single combat with it.

You are in the same manner surrounded with a small circle of persons... full of desire. They demand of you the benefits of desire... You are therefore properly the king of desire.... equal in this to the greatest kings of the earth... It is desire that constitutes their power; that is, the possession of things that men covet.

There is scarce a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharoah - get first all the people's money, then all their lands, and then make them and their children servants forever.

Benjamin Franklin

We love to entertain kings and queens, but at Disneyland, everyone is a V.I.P.

When we were the political slaves of King George, and wanted to be free, we called the maxim that "all men are created equal" a self evident truth; but now when we have grown fat, and have lost all dread of being slaves ourselves, we have become so greedy to be masters that we call the same maxim "a self evident lie" The fourth of July has not quite dwindled away; it is still a great day-for burning fire-crackers!!!

Abraham Lincoln

The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds.

Heaven will one day open
The king's eyes, that so long have slept upon
This bold bad man.

William Shakespeare

A King should sacrifice the best affections of his heart for the good of his country; no sacrifice should be above his determination.

Napoleon I of France

Boundless intemperance In nature is a tyranny. It hath been Th' untimely emptying of the happy throne And fall of many kings.

William Shakespeare

A scavenger who works in His service shares equal distinction with a king who uses his gifts in His name and is a mere trustee.

Now you fear punishment and beg for your lives, so I will let you free, if not for any other reason so that you can see the difference between a Greek king and a barbarian tyrant, so do not expect to suffer any harm from me. A king does not kill messengers.

Alexander the Great

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.

A king is a mortal god on earth, unto whom the living God hath lent his own name as a great honour; but withal told him, he should die like a man, lest he should be proud, and flatter himself that God hath with his name imparted unto him his nature also.

I knew I had him in the first round. Almighty God was with me. I want everybody to bear witness. I am the greatest! I'm the greatest thing that ever lived. I don't have a mark on my face, and I upset Sonny Liston, and I just turned twenty-two years old. I must be the greatest. I showed the world. I talk to God everyday. I know the real God. I shook up the world. I'm the king of the world. You must listen to me. I am the greatest! I can't be beat!

After defeating Sonny Liston for the first time (25 February 1964)

1. Fidelity & Allegiance sworn to the King is only such a fidelity and obedience as is due to him by the law of the land; for were that faith and allegiance more than what the law requires, we would swear ourselves slaves, and the King absolute; whereas, by the law, we are free men, notwithstanding those Oaths.
2. When, therefore, the obligation by the law to fidelity and allegiance ceases, that by the Oath also ceases...

When private men shall act with original views, the lustre will be transferred from the actions of kings to those of gentlemen.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The problem for the King is just how strict
The lack of liberty, the squeeze of the law
And discipline should be in school and state....

It is for the sake of order that I seduced Clytemnestra, for the sake of order that I killed my king. I wanted for order to rule and that it rule through me. I have lived without desire, without love, without hope: I made order. Oh! terrible and divine passion!

Jean-Paul Sartre

A king that would not feel his crown too heavy for him, must wear it every day; but if he think it too light, he knoweth not of what metal it is made.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountain top and pointed the way to the Promised Land. Yes we can!

It is no bad thing to be a king-to see one's house enriched and one's authority enhanced.

LEONATO Neighbours, you are tedious. DOGBERRY It pleases your worship to say so, but we are the poor duke's officers; but truly, for mine own part, if I were as tedious as a king, I could find it in my heart to bestow it all of your worship.

William Shakespeare

I heard a bird so sing, Whose music, to my thinking, pleased the king.

William Shakespeare

Here was one with an air of high nobility such as Aragorn at times revealed, less high perhaps, yet also less incalculable and remote: one of the Kings of Men born into a later time, but touched with the wisdom and sadness of the Eldar Race. He knew now why Beregond spoke his name with love. He was a captain that men would follow, that he would follow, even under the shadow of the black wings.

J. R. R. Tolkien

It seems to us unwise to have insisted on teaching geometry to the younger Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, in order to make him a good king, but from Plato's point of view it was essential. He was sufficiently Pythagorean to think that without mathematics no true wisdom is possible.

Bertrand Russell