Quotations from John L. Motley Works

Chapter 9

Chapter 92,861 wordsPublic domain

Abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour Acts of violence which under pretext of religion Adulation for inferiors whom they despise Advanced orthodox party-Puritans Affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies Allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body Almost infinite power of the meanest of passions And give advice. Of that, although always a spendthrift And now the knife of another priest-led fanatic Argument in a circle Aristocracy of God's elect As with his own people, keeping no back-door open At a blow decapitated France Atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy Behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics Better to be governed by magistrates than mobs Burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received Calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain Casual outbursts of eternal friendship Changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day Christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient Conciliation when war of extermination was intended Conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined Considered it his special mission in the world to mediate Contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty Could not be both judge and party in the suit Covered now with the satirical dust of centuries Created one child for damnation and another for salvation Deadly hatred of Puritans in England and Holland Death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt Denoungced as an obstacle to peace Depths of credulity men in all ages can sink Depths theological party spirit could descend Determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt Devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife Disputing the eternal damnation of young children Doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense Emperor of Japan addressed him as his brother monarch Enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience Epernon, the true murderer of Henry Estimating his character and judging his judges Everybody should mind his own business Extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence Fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge Father Cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets France was mourning Henry and waiting for Richelieu Furious mob set upon the house of Rem Bischop Give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required Great war of religion and politics was postponed Hardly a sound Protestant policy anywhere but in Holland He was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin He who would have all may easily lose all He who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself He was a sincere bigot He that stands let him see that he does not fall Heidelberg Catechism were declared to be infallible Highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation History has not too many really important and emblematic men Human nature in its meanness and shame I know how to console myself I hope and I fear If he has deserved it, let them strike off his head Impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants Implication there was much, of assertion very little In this he was much behind his age or before it Intense bigotry of conviction International friendship, the self-interest of each It had not yet occurred to him that he was married It was the true religion, and there was none other James of England, who admired, envied, and hated Henry Jealousy, that potent principle Jesuit Mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings John Robinson King who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy King's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day Language which is ever living because it is dead Logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves Louis XIII. Ludicrous gravity Magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword Make the very name of man a term of reproach Misery had come not from their being enemies Mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated More apprehension of fraud than of force More fiercely opposed to each other than to Papists Most detestable verses that even he had ever composed Necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns Neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic Never lack of fishers in troubled waters No man pretended to think of the State No man can be neutral in civil contentions No synod had a right to claim Netherlanders as slaves None but God to compel me to say more than I choose to say Not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed O God! what does man come to! Only true religion Opening an abyss between government and people Opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood Outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency Partisans wanted not accommodation but victory Party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk Philip IV. Pot-valiant hero Power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist Practised successfully the talent of silence Presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made Priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests Princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never Puritanism in Holland was a very different thing from England Putting the cart before the oxen Queen is entirely in the hands of Spain and the priests Rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic Religion was made the strumpet of Political Ambition Religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult Resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military Rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive Safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust Schism in the Church had become a public fact Secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers Seemed bent on self-destruction Senectus edam maorbus est She declined to be his procuress Small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one Smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial So much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality Stand between hope and fear Stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel Successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones Tempest of passion and prejudice That he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice That cynical commerce in human lives The effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny The evils resulting from a confederate system of government The vehicle is often prized more than the freight The voice of slanderers The truth in shortest about matters of importance The assassin, tortured and torn by four horses The defence of the civil authority against the priesthood The magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness The Catholic League and the Protestant Union Their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze Theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country Theology and politics were one There was no use in holding language of authority to him There was but one king in Europe, Henry the Bearnese Therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured They have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried Concini Things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful Thirty Years' War tread on the heels of the forty years This wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination This, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the State To milk, the cow as long as she would give milk To stifle for ever the right of free enquiry To look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures Uncouple the dogs and let them run Unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry Vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration What could save the House of Austria, the cause of Papacy Whether repentance could effect salvation Whether dead infants were hopelessly damned Whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans William Brewster Wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome Wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant Work of the aforesaid Puritans and a few Jesuits Wrath of the Jesuits at this exercise of legal authority Yes, there are wicked men about Yesterday is the preceptor of To-morrow

MEMOIR OF JOHN L. MOTLEY, V1, O.W. HOLMES [OWH#11][oh11v10.txt]4725

All classes are conservative by necessity Already looking forward to the revolt of the slave States Attacked by the poetic mania Becoming more learned, and therefore more ignorant But not thoughtlessly indulgent to the boy Cold water of conventional and commonplace encouragement Could paint a character with the ruddy life-blood coloring Emulation is not capability Excused by their admirers for their shortcomings Excuses to disarm the criticism he had some reason to fear Fear of the laugh of the world at its sincerity Fitted "To warn, to comfort, and command" How many more injured by becoming bad copies of a bad ideal Ignoble facts which strew the highways of political life Indoor home life imprisons them in the domestic circle Intellectual dandyisms of Bulwer Kindly shadow of oblivion Misanthropical, sceptical philosopher Most entirely truthful child whe had ever seen Nearsighted liberalism No two books, as he said, ever injured each other Not a single acquaintance in the place, and we glory in the fact Only foundation fit for history,--original contemporary document Radical, one who would uproot, is a man whose trade is dangerous Sees the past in the pitiless light of the present Self-educated man, as he had been a self-taught boy Solitary and morose, the necessary consequence of reckless study Spirit of a man who wishes to be proud of his country Studied according to his inclinations rather than by rule Style above all other qualities seems to embalm for posterity Talked impatiently of the value of my time The dead men of the place are my intimate friends The fellow mixes blood with his colors! The loss of hair, which brings on premature decay The personal gifts which are nature's passport everywhere Twenty assaults upon fame and had forty books killed under him Vain belief that they were men at eighteen or twenty Weight of a thousand years of error

MEMOIR OF JOHN L. MOTLEY, V2, O.W. HOLMES [OWH#12][oh12v10.txt]4726

A great historian is almost a statesman Admired or despised, as if he or she were our contemporary Alas! one never knows when one becomes a bore American Unholy Inquisition best defence in this case is little better than an impeachment But after all this isn't a war It is a revolution Can never be repaired and never sufficiently regretted Considerations of state as a reason Considerations of state have never yet failed the axe Everything else may happen This alone must happen Fortune's buffets and rewards can take with equal thanks He was not always careful in the construction of his sentences In revolutions the men who win are those who are in earnest Irresistible force in collision with an insuperable resistance It is n't strategists that are wanted so much as believers John Quincy Adams Manner in which an insult shall be dealt with Motley was twice sacrificed to personal feelings No man is safe (from news reporters) Our mortal life is but a string of guesses at the future Played so long with other men's characters and good name Progress should be by a spiral movement Public which must have a slain reputation to devour Reasonable to pay our debts rather than to repudiate them Recall of a foreign minister for alleged misconduct in office Shall Slavery die, or the great Republic? Suicide is confession The nation is as much bound to be honest as is the individual This Somebody may have been one whom we should call Nobody Unequivocal policy of slave emancipation Wringing a dry cloth for drops of evidence

MEMOIR OF JOHN L. MOTLEY, V3, O.W. HOLMES [OWH#13][oh13v10.txt]4727

An order of things in which mediocrity is at a premium Better is the restlessness of a noble ambition Blessed freedom from speech-making Flattery is a sweet and intoxicating potion Forget those who have done them good service His dogged, continuous capacity for work His learning was a reproach to the ignorant History never forgets and never forgives Mediocrity is at a premium No great man can reach the highest position in our government Over excited, when his prejudices were roughly handled Plain enough that he is telling his own story Republics are said to be ungrateful They knew very little of us, and that little wrong Visible atmosphere of power the poison of which Wonders whether it has found its harbor or only lost its anchor

MEMOIR OF JOHN L. MOTLEY, ALL, O.W. HOLMES [OWH#14][oh14v10.txt]4728

A great historian is almost a statesman Admired or despised, as if he or she were our contemporary Alas! one never knows when one becomes a bore All classes are conservative by necessity Already looking forward to the revolt of the slave States American Unholy Inquisition An order of things in which mediocrity is at a premium Attacked by the poetic mania Becoming more learned, and therefore more ignorant best defence in this case is little better than an impeachment Better is the restlessness of a noble ambition Blessed freedom from speech-making But not thoughtlessly indulgent to the boy But after all this isn't a war It is a revolution Can never be repaired and never sufficiently regretted Cold water of conventional and commonplace encouragement Considerations of state have never yet failed the axe Considerations of state as a reason Could paint a character with the ruddy life-blood coloring Emulation is not capability Everything else may happen This alone must happen Excused by their admirers for their shortcomings Excuses to disarm the criticism he had some reason to fear Fear of the laugh of the world at its sincerity Fitted "To warn, to comfort, and command" Flattery is a sweet and intoxicating potion Forget those who have done them good service Fortune's buffets and rewards can take with equal thanks He was not always careful in the construction of his sentences His learning was a reproach to the ignorant His dogged, continuous capacity for work History never forgets and never forgives How many more injured by becoming bad copies of a bad ideal Ignoble facts which strew the highways of political life In revolutions the men who win are those who are in earnest Indoor home life imprisons them in the domestic circle Intellectual dandyisms of Bulwer Irresistible force in collision with an insuperable resistance It is n't strategists that are wanted so much as believers John Quincy Adams Kindly shadow of oblivion Manner in which an insult shall be dealt with Mediocrity is at a premium Misanthropical, sceptical philosopher Most entirely truthful child whe had ever seen Motley was twice sacrificed to personal feelings Nearsighted liberalism No great man can reach the highest position in our government No two books, as he said, ever injured each other No man is safe (from news reporters) Not a single acquaintance in the place, and we glory in the fact Only foundation fit for history,--original contemporary document Our mortal life is but a string of guesses at the future Over excited, when his prejudices were roughly handled Plain enough that he is telling his own story Played so long with other men's characters and good name Progress should be by a spiral movement Public which must have a slain reputation to devour Radical, one who would uproot, is a man whose trade is dangerous Reasonable to pay our debts rather than to repudiate them Recall of a foreign minister for alleged misconduct in office Republics are said to be ungrateful Sees the past in the pitiless light of the present Self-educated man, as he had been a self-taught boy Shall Slavery die, or the great Republic? Solitary and morose, the necessary consequence of reckless study Spirit of a man who wishes to be proud of his country Studied according to his inclinations rather than by rule Style above all other qualities seems to embalm for posterity Suicide is confession Talked impatiently of the value of my time The fellow mixes blood with his colors! The loss of hair, which brings on premature decay The personal gifts which are nature's passport everywhere The nation is as much bound to be honest as is the individual The dead men of the place are my intimate friends They knew very little of us, and that little wrong This Somebody may have been one whom we should call Nobody Twenty assaults upon fame and had forty books killed under him Unequivocal policy of slave emancipation Vain belief that they were men at eighteen or twenty Visible atmosphere of power the poison of which Weight of a thousand years of error Wonders whether it has found its harbor or only lost its anchor Wringing a dry cloth for drops of evidence

ENTIRE PG EDITION THE NETHERLANDS, BY MOTLEY[#100][jm00v10.txt]4900 (WHICH INCLUDES THE MEMOIR OF MOTLEY BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES)