You May Also Like / View all maxioms
Ah, if I were not king, I should lose my temper.
Ah, if I were not king, I should lose my temper.
I shall be an autocrat: that's my trade. And the good Lord will
forgive me: that's his.
[Fr., read more
I shall be an autocrat: that's my trade. And the good Lord will
forgive me: that's his.
[Fr., Moi, je serai autocrate: c'est mon metier. Et le bon Dieu
me pardonnnera: c'est son metier.]
The first king was a successful soldier;
He who serves well his country has no need of ancestors.
read more
The first king was a successful soldier;
He who serves well his country has no need of ancestors.
[Fr., Le premier qui fut roi, fut un soldat heureux;
Qui sert bien son pays, n'a pas besoin d'aleux.]
Princes that would their people should do well
Must at themselves begin, as at the head;
For read more
Princes that would their people should do well
Must at themselves begin, as at the head;
For men, by their example, pattern out
Their limitations, and regard of laws:
A virtuous court a world to virtue draws.
That man is deceived who thinks it slavery to live under an
excellent prince. Never does liberty appear in read more
That man is deceived who thinks it slavery to live under an
excellent prince. Never does liberty appear in a more gracious
form than under a pious king.
[Lat., Fallitur egregio quisquis sub principe credet
Servitutem. Nunquam libertas gratior extat
Quam sub rege pio.]
For God's sake let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings!
read more
For God's sake let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings!
How some have been deposed, some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed,
Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed--
All murdered; for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court; and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp;
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be feared, and kill with looks;
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life
Were brass impregnable; and humored thus,
Comes at the last, and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!
Cover your heads, and mock not flesh and blood
With solemn reverence, Throw away respect,
Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty;
For you have but mistook me all this while.
I live with bread like you, feel want, taste grief,
Need friends. Subjected thus,
For monarchs seldom sigh in vain.
For monarchs seldom sigh in vain.
A substitute shines brightly as a king
Until a king be by, and then his state
Empties read more
A substitute shines brightly as a king
Until a king be by, and then his state
Empties itself, as dot an inland brook
Into the main of waters.
