Quotations from John L. Motley Works
Chapter 2
A pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences A country disinherited by nature of its rights Absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres Achieved the greatness to which they had not been born Advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures Affecting to discredit them All offices were sold to the highest bidder All denounced the image-breaking All his disciples and converts are to be punished with death All reading of the scriptures (forbidden) Altercation between Luther and Erasmus, upon predestination An hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor An inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) Announced his approaching marriage with the Virgin Mary Annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased Anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all Arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession As ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication Attacking the authority of the pope Attempting to swim in two waters Batavian legion was the imperial body guard Beating the Netherlanders into Christianity Before morning they had sacked thirty churches Bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age Bishop is a consecrated pirate Bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones Brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common Burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation Burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive (100,000) Charles the Fifth autocrat of half the world Condemning all heretics to death Consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (Papal letter) Courage of despair inflamed the French Craft meaning, simply, strength Criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron Criminals buying Paradise for money Crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs Decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive Democratic instincts of the ancient German savages Denies the utility of prayers for the dead Despot by birth and inclination (Charles V.) Difference between liberties and liberty Dispute between Luther and Zwingli concerning the real presence Dissimulation and delay Divine right Drank of the water in which, he had washed Endure every hardship but hunger English Puritans Enormous wealth (of the Church) which engendered the hatred Enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence Erasmus encourages the bold friar Erasmus of Rotterdam Even for the rape of God's mother, if that were possible Excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy Executions of Huss and Jerome of Prague Fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system Felix Mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at Zurich Few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope Fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose Fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) Fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers For myself I am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) For women to lament, for men to remember Forbids all private assemblies for devotion Force clerical--the power of clerks Furious fanaticism Gallant and ill-fated Lamoral Egmont Gaul derided the Roman soldiers as a band of pigmies German finds himself sober--he believes himself ill Govern under the appearance of obeying Great science of political equilibrium Great Privilege, the Magna Charta of Holland Guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin Habeas corpus Halcyon days of ban, book and candle He knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses He did his best to be friends with all the world Heresy was a plant of early growth in the Netherlands His imagination may have assisted his memory in the task History shows how feeble are barriers of paper Holland, England, and America, are all links of one chain I would carry the wood to burn my own son withal In Holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats Informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half Inquisition of the Netherlands is much more pitiless Inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise Insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence Invented such Christian formulas as these (a curse) Inventing long speeches for historical characters July 1st, two Augustine monks were burned at Brussels King of Zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs Labored under the disadvantage of never having existed Learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft Let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content Licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to America Little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast Long succession of so many illustrious obscure Look through the cloud of dissimulation Lutheran princes of Germany, detested the doctrines of Geneva Made to swing to and fro over a slow fire Maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving Christian Man had only natural wrongs (No natural rights) Many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers Monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries More accustomed to do well than to speak well No one can testify but a householder No calumny was too senseless to be invented No law but the law of the longest purse No qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him Not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (Erasmus) Notre Dame at Antwerp Nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless Obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned Often much tyranny in democracy One golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude Orator was, however, delighted with his own performance Others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war Panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century Pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper Pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed Paying their passage through, purgatory Perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles Persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death Petty passion for contemptible details Philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words Planted the inquisition in the Netherlands Poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats Pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic Power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth Premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause Procrastination was always his first refuge Promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak Purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven Rashness alternating with hesitation Readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause Rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel Repentant females to be buried alive Repentant males to be executed with the sword Revocable benefices or feuds Ruinous honors Sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests Same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind Scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack Schism which existed in the general Reformed Church Scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the Church Secret drowning was substituted for public burning Sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private Slavery was both voluntary and compulsory Soldier of the cross was free upon his return Sonnets of Petrarch Sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of God St. Peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds St. Bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer Storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in 7 days) Tanchelyn Taxation upon sin Ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned That vile and mischievous animal called the people The noblest and richest temple of the Netherlands was a wreck The Gaul was singularly unchaste The vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle The bad Duke of Burgundy, Philip surnamed "the Good," The egg had been laid by Erasmus, hatched by Luther These human victims, chained and burning at the stake They had at last burned one more preacher alive Thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert Thus Hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became Antwerp To think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all To prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade Torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) Tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom Two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack Tyrannical spirit of Calvinism Understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors Upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed Villagers, or villeins We believe our mothers to have been honest women When the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play William of Nassau, Prince of Orange Wiser simply to satisfy himself Would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand Netherlanders
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1566 by Motley[#12][jm12v10.txt]4812
1566, the last year of peace Dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox If he had little, he could live upon little Incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect Not to let the grass grow under their feet
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1567 by Motley[#13][jm13v10.txt]4813
God Save the King! It was the last time Having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously Indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang Insane cruelty, both in the cause of the Wrong and the Right Sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires Slender stock of platitudes The time for reasoning had passed Who loved their possessions better than their creed
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1567 by Motley[#14][jm14v10.txt]4814
Conde and Coligny Furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes He came as a conqueror not as a mediator Hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair Meantime the second civil war in France had broken out Spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood The greatest crime, however, was to be rich Time and myself are two
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1568 by Motley[#15][jm15v10.txt]4815
Deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties He had omitted to execute heretics Holy Office condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands Not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience Questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing The perpetual reproductions of history Wealth was an unpardonable sin
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1568 by Motley[#16][jm16v10.txt]4816
Age when toleration was a vice An age when to think was a crime Business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer Cruelties exercised upon monks and papists For faithful service, evil recompense Pathetic dying words of Anne Boleyn Seven Spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels The calf is fat and must be killed The illness was a convenient one The tragedy of Don Carlos
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1569-70 by Motley[#17][jm17v10.txt]4817
Constitutional governments, move in the daylight Consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all Financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous Great battles often leave the world where they found it Great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things The faithful servant is always a perpetual ass
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1570-72 by Motley[#18][jm18v10.txt]4818
Beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves Hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient Batavian custom Only healthy existence of the French was in a state of war
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1572 by Motley[#19][jm19v10.txt]4819
Hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon Friday Provided not one Huguenot be left alive in France Put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got Saint Bartholomew's day Science of reigning was the science of lying
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1572-73 by Motley[#20][jm20v10.txt]4820
Enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience Envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated Leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house Not strong enough to sustain many more such victories Oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious Sent them word by carrier pigeons Three hundred fighting women Tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself Wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1573 by Motley[#21][jm21v10.txt]4821
Advised his Majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon Lord Burleigh Angle with their dissimulation as with a hook Luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free Only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast Scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries So much responsibility and so little power Sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity We are beginning to be vexed
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1573-74 by Motley[#22][jm22v10.txt]4822
Crescents in their caps: Rather Turkish than Popish Ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors Weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers
ENTIRE 1566-74 THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, by Motley[#23][jm23v10.txt]4823
1566, the last year of peace Advised his Majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon Lord Burleigh Age when toleration was a vice An age when to think was a crime Angle with their dissimulation as with a hook Beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves Business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer Conde and Coligny Constitutional governments, move in the daylight Consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all Crescents in their caps: Rather Turkish than Popish Cruelties exercised upon monks and papists Deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties Dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox Enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience Envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated Ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors Financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous For faithful service, evil recompense Furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes God Save the King! It was the last time Great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things Great battles often leave the world where they found it Hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient Batavian custom Hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon Friday Having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously He had omitted to execute heretics He came as a conqueror not as a mediator Holy Office condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands Hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair If he had little, he could live upon little Incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect Indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang Insane cruelty, both in the cause of the Wrong and the Right Leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house Luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free Meantime the second civil war in France had broken out Not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience Not to let the grass grow under their feet Not strong enough to sustain many more such victories Oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious Only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast Only healthy existence of the French was in a state of war Pathetic dying words of Anne Boleyn Provided not one Huguenot be left alive in France Put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got Questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing Saint Bartholomew's day Scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries Science of reigning was the science of lying Sent them word by carrier pigeons Seven Spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels Sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires Slender stock of platitudes So much responsibility and so little power Sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity Spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood The time for reasoning had passed The calf is fat and must be killed The perpetual reproductions of history The greatest crime, however, was to be rich The faithful servant is always a perpetual ass The tragedy of Don Carlos The illness was a convenient one Three hundred fighting women Time and myself are two Tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself We are beginning to be vexed Wealth was an unpardonable sin Weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers Who loved their possessions better than their creed Wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1574-76 by Motley[#24][jm24v10.txt]4824
As the old woman had told the Emperor Adrian Beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors Breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained Care neither for words nor menaces in any matter Distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence He had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals Human ingenuity to inflict human misery Peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war Proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable Rebuked the bigotry which had already grown Reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors Result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend Philip Suppress the exercise of the Roman religion The more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1576 by Motley[#25][jm25v10.txt]4825
A common hatred united them, for a time at least A most fatal success All claimed the privilege of persecuting Blessing of God upon the Devil's work Daily widening schism between Lutherans and Calvinists Dying at so very inconvenient a moment Eight thousand human beings were murdered Everything was conceded, but nothing was secured Fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man Glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach He would have no Calvinist inquisition set up in its place He would have no persecution of the opposite creed In character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity Indecision did the work of indolence Insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood King set a price upon his head as a rebel No man could reveal secrets which he did not know Of high rank but of lamentably low capacity Pope excommunicated him as a heretic Preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy They could not invent or imagine toleration Uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1576-77 by Motley[#26][jm26v10.txt]4826
A terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman Agreements were valid only until he should repent All Protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive Arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them Attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion Barbara Blomberg, washerwoman of Ratisbon Believed in the blessed advent of peace Compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats Don John of Austria Don John was at liberty to be King of England and Scotland Ferocity which even Christians could not have surpassed Happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror His personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues Necessary to make a virtue of necessity One-half to Philip and one-half to the Pope and Venice (slaves) Quite mistaken: in supposing himself the Emperor's child Sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal She knew too well how women were treated in that country Those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets Worn crescents in their caps at Leyden
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1577 by Motley[#27][jm27v10.txt]4827
A good lawyer is a bad Christian Claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few Confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere Customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness Deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience I regard my country's profit, not my own Made no breach in royal and Roman infallibility Neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness Our pot had not gone to the fire as often Peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape Those who "sought to swim between two waters" Volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1577 by Motley[#28][jm28v10.txt]4828
Country would bear his loss with fortitude Its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical Not upon words but upon actions Perfection of insolence Was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity?
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1577-78 by Motley[#29][jm29v10.txt]4829
Absurd affectation of candor Always less apt to complain of irrevocable events Imagined, and did the work of truth Judas Maccabaeus Neither ambitious nor greedy Superfluous sarcasm
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1578 by Motley[#30][jm30v10.txt]4830
Difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters Establish not freedom for Calvinism, but freedom for conscience Taxes upon income and upon consumption Toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1578 by Motley[#31][jm31v10.txt]4831
Are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude Like a man holding a wolf by the ears Local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty No man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly Not so successful as he was picturesque Plundering the country which they came to protect Presumption in entitling themselves Christian Protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life Republic, which lasted two centuries Throw the cat against their legs Worship God according to the dictates of his conscience
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1579-80 by Motley[#32][jm32v10.txt]4832
All the majesty which decoration could impart Amuse them with this peace negotiation Conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience It is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust Logical and historical argument of unmerciful length Mankind were naturally inclined to calumny Men were loud in reproof, who had been silent More easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise Not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation Nothing was so powerful as religious difference On the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered Power grudged rather than given to the deputies The disunited provinces There is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own To hear the last solemn commonplaces Word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1580-82 by Motley[#33][jm33v10.txt]4833
Character of brave men to act, not to expect Colonel Ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" God has given absolute power to no mortal man Hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation Natural to judge only by the result No authority over an army which they did not pay Unduly dejected in adversity
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1582-84 by Motley[#34][jm34v10.txt]4834
Bribed the Deity Forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor Great error of despising their enemy Mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone Modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns Preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector Reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious Unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause Usual phraseology of enthusiasts Writing letters full of injured innocence
ENTIRE 1574-84 THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, by Motley[#35][jm35v10.txt]4835