Title: Quotes and Images From Motley's History of the Netherlands
Author: John Lothrop Motley
Editor: David Widger
Release date: September 3, 2004 [eBook #7552]
Most recently updated: December 30, 2020
Language: English
Credits: Produced by David Widger
Motley's History of the Netherlands
Prince William of Orange-Nassau (William the Silent)
Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma
1566, the last year of peace A pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences A good lawyer is a bad Christian A terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman A common hatred united them, for a time at least A penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce A most fatal success A country disinherited by nature of its rights A free commonwealth—was thought an absurdity A hard bargain when both parties are losers A burnt cat fears the fire A despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so A sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty A pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period A man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear A truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction A great historian is almost a statesman Able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed About equal to that of England at the same period Absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres Abstinence from unproductive consumption Abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour Absurd affectation of candor Accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed Accustomed to the faded gallantries Achieved the greatness to which they had not been born Act of Uniformity required Papists to assist Acts of violence which under pretext of religion Admired or despised, as if he or she were our contemporary Adulation for inferiors whom they despise Advanced orthodox party-Puritans Advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures Advised his Majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon Lord Burleigh Affecting to discredit them Affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies Age when toleration was a vice Agreements were valid only until he should repent Alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains Alas! we must always have something to persecute Alas! one never knows when one becomes a bore Alexander's exuberant discretion All Italy was in his hands All fellow-worms together All business has been transacted with open doors All reading of the scriptures (forbidden) All the majesty which decoration could impart All denounced the image-breaking All claimed the privilege of persecuting All his disciples and converts are to be punished with death All Protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive All classes are conservative by necessity All the ministers and great functionaries received presents All offices were sold to the highest bidder Allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune Allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body Almost infinite power of the meanest of passions Already looking forward to the revolt of the slave States Altercation between Luther and Erasmus, upon predestination Always less apt to complain of irrevocable events American Unholy Inquisition Amuse them with this peace negotiation An inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) An hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor An age when to think was a crime An unjust God, himself the origin of sin An order of things in which mediocrity is at a premium Anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form Anatomical study of what has ceased to exist And give advice. Of that, although always a spendthrift And now the knife of another priest-led fanatic And thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight Angle with their dissimulation as with a hook 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 Are apt to discharge such obligations— (by) ingratitude Are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope Argument in a circle Argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins Aristocracy of God's elect Arminianism Arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession Arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them Artillery As logical as men in their cups are prone to be As the old woman had told the Emperor Adrian As if they were free will not make them free As lieve see the Spanish as the Calvinistic inquisition As ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication As with his own people, keeping no back-door open As neat a deception by telling the truth At a blow decapitated France At length the twig was becoming the tree Atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy Attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion Attacked by the poetic mania Attacking the authority of the pope Attempting to swim in two waters Auction sales of judicial ermine Baiting his hook a little to his appetite Barbara Blomberg, washerwoman of Ratisbon Batavian legion was the imperial body guard Beacons in the upward path of mankind Beating the Netherlanders into Christianity Beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors Because he had been successful (hated) Becoming more learned, and therefore more ignorant Been already crimination and recrimination more than enough Before morning they had sacked thirty churches Began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand Beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves Behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics Being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies Believed in the blessed advent of peace Beneficent and charitable purposes (War) best defence in this case is little better than an impeachment Bestowing upon others what was not his property Better to be governed by magistrates than mobs Better is the restlessness of a noble ambition Beware of a truce even more than of a peace Bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age Bishop is a consecrated pirate Blessed freedom from speech-making Blessing of God upon the Devil's work Bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones Bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century Breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained Brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common Bribed the Deity Bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards Burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive (100,000) Burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation Burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received Burning of Servetus at Geneva Business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer But the habit of dissimulation was inveterate But after all this isn't a war It is a revolution But not thoughtlessly indulgent to the boy Butchery in the name of Christ was suspended By turns, we all govern and are governed Calling a peace perpetual can never make it so Calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain Can never be repaired and never sufficiently regretted Canker of a long peace Care neither for words nor menaces in any matter Cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the James River Casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" Casual outbursts of eternal friendship Certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other Certainly it was worth an eighty years' war Changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day Character of brave men to act, not to expect Charles the Fifth autocrat of half the world Chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant Chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers Children who had never set foot on the shore Christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient Chronicle of events must not be anticipated Claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few Cold water of conventional and commonplace encouragement College of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all Colonel Ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" Compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats Conceding it subsequently, after much contestation Conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character Conciliation when war of extermination was intended Conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined Conde and Coligny Condemned first and inquired upon after Condemning all heretics to death Conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience Conformity of Governments to the principles of justice Confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere Considerable reason, even if there were but little justice Considerations of state have never yet failed the axe Considerations of state as a reason Considered it his special mission in the world to mediate Consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (Papal letter) Constant vigilance is the price of liberty Constitute themselves at once universal legatees Constitutional governments, move in the daylight Consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all Contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty Contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified Continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible Converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling Could handle an argument as well as a sword Could paint a character with the ruddy life-blood coloring Could not be both judge and party in the suit Could do a little more than what was possible Country would bear his loss with fortitude Courage of despair inflamed the French Courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart Court fatigue, to scorn pleasure Covered now with the satirical dust of centuries Craft meaning, simply, strength Created one child for damnation and another for salvation Crescents in their caps: Rather Turkish than Popish Crimes and cruelties such as Christians only could imagine Criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron Criminals buying Paradise for money Cruelties exercised upon monks and papists Crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs Culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence Customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness Daily widening schism between Lutherans and Calvinists Deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience Deadly hatred of Puritans in England and Holland Deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend Death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt Decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places Decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive Deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties Defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe Defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station Delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader Demanding peace and bread at any price Democratic instincts of the ancient German savages Denies the utility of prayers for the dead Denounced as an obstacle to peace Depths theological party spirit could descend Depths of credulity men in all ages can sink Despised those who were grateful Despot by birth and inclination (Charles V.) Determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt Devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife Difference between liberties and liberty Difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters Diplomacy of Spain and Rome—meant simply dissimulation Diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive Disciple of Simon Stevinus Dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies Disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping Disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the Gospel Dispute between Luther and Zwingli concerning the real presence Disputing the eternal damnation of young children Dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox Dissimulation and delay Distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence Divine right of kings Divine right Do you want peace or war? I am ready for either Doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense Don John of Austria Don John was at liberty to be King of England and Scotland Done nothing so long as aught remained to do Drank of the water in which, he had washed Draw a profit out of the necessities of this state During this, whole war, we have never seen the like Dying at so very inconvenient a moment Each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting Eat their own children than to forego one high mass Eight thousand human beings were murdered Elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute Elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom Eloquence of the biggest guns Emperor of Japan addressed him as his brother monarch Emulation is not capability Endure every hardship but hunger Enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience England hated the Netherlands English Puritans Englishmen and Hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats Enmity between Lutherans and Calvinists Enormous wealth (of the Church) which engendered the hatred Enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence Enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience Envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated Epernon, the true murderer of Henry Erasmus of Rotterdam Erasmus encourages the bold friar Establish not freedom for Calvinism, but freedom for conscience Estimating his character and judging his judges Even the virtues of James were his worst enemies Even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly Even for the rape of God's mother, if that were possible Ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile Ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors Every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are Everybody should mind his own business Everything else may happen This alone must happen Everything was conceded, but nothing was secured Evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better Evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes Excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy Excused by their admirers for their shortcomings Excuses to disarm the criticism he had some reason to fear Executions of Huss and Jerome of Prague Exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims Extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence Fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system Faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect Famous fowl in every pot Fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man Fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge Father Cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets Fear of the laugh of the world at its sincerity Fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death Felix Mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at Zurich Fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust Ferocity which even Christians could not have surpassed 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) Financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous Find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace Fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers Fitted "To warn, to comfort, and command" Fitter to obey than to command Five great rivers hold the Netherland territory in their coils Flattery is a sweet and intoxicating potion Fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty Fool who useth not wit because he hath it not For myself I am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) For faithful service, evil recompense For women to lament, for men to remember For us, looking back upon the Past, which was then the Future For his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) Forbidding the wearing of mourning at all Forbids all private assemblies for devotion Force clerical—the power of clerks Foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition Forget those who have done them good service Forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor Fortune's buffets and rewards can take with equal thanks Four weeks' holiday—the first in eleven years France was mourning Henry and waiting for Richelieu French seem madmen, and are wise Friendly advice still more intolerable Full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces Furious fanaticism Furious mob set upon the house of Rem Bischop Furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes Future world as laid down by rival priesthoods Gallant and ill-fated Lamoral Egmont Gaul derided the Roman soldiers as a band of pigmies German-Lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom German finds himself sober—he believes himself ill German Highland and the German Netherland Gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest Give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required Glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach God has given absolute power to no mortal man God, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather God alone can protect us against those whom we trust God of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever God of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice God Save the King! It was the last time Gold was the only passkey to justice Gomarites accused the Arminians of being more lax than Papists Govern under the appearance of obeying Great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things Great science of political equilibrium Great Privilege, the Magna Charta of Holland Great error of despising their enemy Great war of religion and politics was postponed Great battles often leave the world where they found it Guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin Guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the Catholic faith Habeas corpus Had industry been honoured instead of being despised Haereticis non servanda fides Hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient Batavian custom Halcyon days of ban, book and candle Hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon Friday Hanging of Mary Dyer at Boston Hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion Happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror Hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves Hardly a distinguished family in Spain not placed in mourning Hardly a sound Protestant policy anywhere but in Holland Hardly an inch of French soil that had not two possessors Having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously He had omitted to execute heretics He did his best to be friends with all the world He was a sincere bigot He that stands let him see that he does not fall He was not always careful in the construction of his sentences He would have no persecution of the opposite creed He came as a conqueror not as a mediator He who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself He who would have all may easily lose all He knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses He had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals He would have no Calvinist inquisition set up in its place He who confessed well was absolved well He did his work, but he had not his reward He sat a great while at a time. He had a genius for sitting He was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin He often spoke of popular rights with contempt He spent more time at table than the Bearnese in sleep Heidelberg Catechism were declared to be infallible Henry the Huguenot as the champion of the Council of Trent Her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (Eliz.) Heresy was a plant of early growth in the Netherlands Heretics to the English Church were persecuted Hibernian mode of expressing himself High officers were doing the work of private, soldiers Highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation Highest were not necessarily the least slimy His inordinate arrogance His own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies His imagination may have assisted his memory in the task His insolence intolerable His learning was a reproach to the ignorant His invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments His personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues His dogged, continuous capacity for work Historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence History is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments History is but made up of a few scattered fragments History never forgets and never forgives History has not too many really important and emblematic men History shows how feeble are barriers of paper Holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole Holland, England, and America, are all links of one chain Holy Office condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands Holy institution called the Inquisition Honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors Hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation Hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair How many more injured by becoming bad copies of a bad ideal Hugo Grotius Human nature in its meanness and shame Human ingenuity to inflict human misery Human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) Humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war Humble ignorance as the safest creed Humility which was but the cloak to his pride Hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree I did never see any man behave himself as he did I know how to console myself I am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but God I hope and I fear I would carry the wood to burn my own son withal I regard my country's profit, not my own I will never live, to see the end of my poverty Idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations Idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation Idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds If he had little, he could live upon little If to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do If he has deserved it, let them strike off his head Ignoble facts which strew the highways of political life Ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind Imagined, and did the work of truth Imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands Impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants Implication there was much, of assertion very little Imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things Impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains Impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross In revolutions the men who win are those who are in earnest In character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity In times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing In Holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats In this he was much behind his age or before it Incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect Indecision did the work of indolence Indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang Individuals walking in advance of their age Indoor home life imprisons them in the domestic circle Indulging them frequently with oracular advice Inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies Infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty Infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption Informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half Inhabited by the savage tribes called Samoyedes Innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers Inquisition of the Netherlands is much more pitiless Inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise Inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in The Armada Insane cruelty, both in the cause of the Wrong and the Right Insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff Insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood Insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence Intellectual dandyisms of Bulwer Intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading Intense bigotry of conviction Intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions International friendship, the self-interest of each Intolerable tendency to puns Invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority Invented such Christian formulas as these (a curse) Inventing long speeches for historical characters Invincible Armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated Irresistible force in collision with an insuperable resistance It was the true religion, and there was none other It is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust It had not yet occurred to him that he was married It is n't strategists that are wanted so much as believers It is certain that the English hate us (Sully) Its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical James of England, who admired, envied, and hated Henry Jealousy, that potent principle Jesuit Mariana—justifying the killing of excommunicated kings John Castel, who had stabbed Henry IV. John Wier, a physician of Grave John Robinson John Quincy Adams Judas Maccabaeus July 1st, two Augustine monks were burned at Brussels Justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time Kindly shadow of oblivion King who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy King had issued a general repudiation of his debts King set a price upon his head as a rebel King of Zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs King was often to be something much less or much worse King's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day Labored under the disadvantage of never having existed Labour was esteemed dishonourable Language which is ever living because it is dead Languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace Leading motive with all was supposed to be religion Learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft Leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house Let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content Licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to America Life of nations and which we call the Past Like a man holding a wolf by the ears Little army of Maurice was becoming the model for Europe Little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast Local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty Logic of the largest battalions Logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves Logical and historical argument of unmerciful length Long succession of so many illustrious obscure Longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it Look through the cloud of dissimulation Look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace Looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference Lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns Loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable Louis XIII. Loving only the persons who flattered him Ludicrous gravity Luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free Lutheran princes of Germany, detested the doctrines of Geneva Luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism Made peace—and had been at war ever since Made no breach in royal and Roman infallibility Made to swing to and fro over a slow fire Magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword Magnificent hopefulness Maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving Christian Make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you Make the very name of man a term of reproach Man is never so convinced of his own wisdom Man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign Man had only natural wrongs (No natural rights) Man had no rights at all He was property Mankind were naturally inclined to calumny Manner in which an insult shall be dealt with Many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers Maritime heretics Matter that men may rather pray for than hope for Matters little by what name a government is called Meantime the second civil war in France had broken out Mediocrity is at a premium Meet around a green table except as fencers in the field Men were loud in reproof, who had been silent Men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity Men who meant what they said and said what they meant Mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity Military virtue in the support of an infamous cause Misanthropical, sceptical philosopher Misery had come not from their being enemies Mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone Mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity Mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated Modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns Monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries Mondragon was now ninety-two years old Moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped More accustomed to do well than to speak well More easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise More catholic than the pope More fiercely opposed to each other than to Papists More apprehension of fraud than of force Most detestable verses that even he had ever composed Most entirely truthful child he had ever seen Motley was twice sacrificed to personal feelings Much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music Myself seeing of it methinketh that I dream Names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs National character, not the work of a few individuals Nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery Natural to judge only by the result Natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man Nearsighted liberalism Necessary to make a virtue of necessity Necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch Necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns Necessity of kingship Negotiated as if they were all immortal Neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own Neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic Neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness Neither ambitious nor greedy Never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war Never did statesmen know better how not to do Never lack of fishers in troubled waters New Years Day in England, 11th January by the New Style Night brings counsel Nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on No one can testify but a householder No man can be neutral in civil contentions No law but the law of the longest purse No two books, as he said, ever injured each other No retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings No great man can reach the highest position in our government No man is safe (from news reporters) No man could reveal secrets which he did not know No authority over an army which they did not pay No man pretended to think of the State No synod had a right to claim Netherlanders as slaves No qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him No generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest No man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly No calumny was too senseless to be invented None but God to compel me to say more than I choose to say Nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence Not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts Not distinguished for their docility Not to let the grass grow under their feet Not a single acquaintance in the place, and we glory in the fact Not safe for politicians to call each other hard names Not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed Not of the genus Reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch Not strong enough to sustain many more such victories Not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation Not many more than two hundred Catholics were executed Not upon words but upon actions Not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience Not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (Erasmus) Not so successful as he was picturesque Nothing could equal Alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy Nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons Nothing was so powerful as religious difference Notre Dame at Antwerp Nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless Nowhere were so few unproductive consumers O God! what does man come to! Obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths Obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned Octogenarian was past work and past mischief Of high rank but of lamentably low capacity Often much tyranny in democracy Often necessary to be blind and deaf Oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious On the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered One-half to Philip and one-half to the Pope and Venice (slaves) One-third of Philip's effective navy was thus destroyed One golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude One could neither cry nor laugh within the Spanish dominions One of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (James I) Only healthy existence of the French was in a state of war Only true religion Only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust Only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast Only foundation fit for history,— original contemporary document Opening an abyss between government and people Opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood Oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts Orator was, however, delighted with his own performance Others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks Others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war Our pot had not gone to the fire as often Our mortal life is but a string of guesses at the future Outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency Over excited, when his prejudices were roughly handled Panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century Pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed Pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper Partisans wanted not accommodation but victory Party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk Passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory Past was once the Present, and once the Future Pathetic dying words of Anne Boleyn Patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea Pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law Paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) Paying their passage through, purgatory Peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength Peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war Peace seemed only a process for arriving at war Peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate Peace-at-any-price party Peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape Peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable Peace would be destruction Perfection of insolence Perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles Persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death Petty passion for contemptible details Philip II. gave the world work enough Philip of Macedon, who considered no city impregnable Philip IV. Philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words Picturesqueness of crime Placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat Plain enough that he is telling his own story Planted the inquisition in the Netherlands Played so long with other men's characters and good name Plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous Plundering the country which they came to protect Poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats Pope excommunicated him as a heretic Pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic Portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail Possible to do, only because we see that it has been done Pot-valiant hero Power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist Power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth Power grudged rather than given to the deputies Practised successfully the talent of silence Pray here for satiety, (said Cecil) than ever think of variety Preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector Premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause Presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made Presumption in entitling themselves Christian Preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy Priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests Princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never Prisoners were immediately hanged Privileged to beg, because ashamed to work Proceeds of his permission to eat meat on Fridays Proclaiming the virginity of the Virgin's mother Procrastination was always his first refuge Progress should be by a spiral movement Promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak Proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable Protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life Provided not one Huguenot be left alive in France Public which must have a slain reputation to devour Purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven Puritanism in Holland was a very different thing from England Put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got Putting the cart before the oxen Queen is entirely in the hands of Spain and the priests Questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing Quite mistaken: in supposing himself the Emperor's child Radical, one who would uproot, is a man whose trade is dangerous Rarely able to command, having never learned to obey Rashness alternating with hesitation Rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic Readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause Readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties Rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel Reasonable to pay our debts rather than to repudiate them Rebuked him for his obedience Rebuked the bigotry which had already grown Recall of a foreign minister for alleged misconduct in office Reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious Reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors Religion was made the strumpet of Political Ambition Religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation Religion was not to be changed like a shirt Religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult Religious persecution of Protestants by Protestants Repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late Repentant males to be executed with the sword Repentant females to be buried alive Repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others Repose in the other world, "Repos ailleurs" Republic, which lasted two centuries Republics are said to be ungrateful Repudiation of national debts was never heard of before Requires less mention than Philip III himself Resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military Resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance Respect for differences in religious opinions Result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend Philip Revocable benefices or feuds Rich enough to be worth robbing Righteous to kill their own children Road to Paris lay through the gates of Rome Rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive Round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived Royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely Ruinous honors Rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns Sacked and drowned ten infant princes Sacrificed by the Queen for faithfully obeying her orders Safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust Sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll Saint Bartholomew's day 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 Scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries Schism in the Church had become a public fact Schism which existed in the general Reformed Church Science of reigning was the science of lying Scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the Church Secret drowning was substituted for public burning Secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers Security is dangerous Seeking protection for and against the people Seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous Seemed bent on self-destruction Seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology Sees the past in the pitiless light of the present Self-assertion—the healthful but not engaging attribute Self-educated man, as he had been a self-taught boy Selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days Senectus edam maorbus est Sent them word by carrier pigeons Sentiment of Christian self-complacency Sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal Served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees Seven Spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels Sewers which have ever run beneath decorous Christendom Shall Slavery die, or the great Republic? Sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private She relieth on a hope that will deceive her She declined to be his procuress She knew too well how women were treated in that country Shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other Shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen Sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged Sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires Simple truth was highest skill Sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed Slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand Slavery was both voluntary and compulsory Slender stock of platitudes Small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one Smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial So much responsibility and so little power So often degenerated into tyranny (Calvinism) So much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality So unconscious of her strength Soldier of the cross was free upon his return Soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad Solitary and morose, the necessary consequence of reckless study Some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth Sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity Sonnets of Petrarch Sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of God Spain was governed by an established terrorism Spaniards seem wise, and are madmen Sparing and war have no affinity together Spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood Spirit of a man who wishes to be proud of his country St. Peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds St. Bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer Stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation Stand between hope and fear State can best defend religion by letting it alone States were justified in their almost unlimited distrust Steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride Storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in 7 days) Strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession Strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand String of homely proverbs worthy of Sancho Panza Stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel Studied according to his inclinations rather than by rule Style above all other qualities seems to embalm for posterity Subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend Succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill Successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones Such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) Such an excuse was as bad as the accusation Suicide is confession Superfluous sarcasm Suppress the exercise of the Roman religion Sure bind, sure find Sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace Take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths Talked impatiently of the value of my time Tanchelyn Taxation upon sin Taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent Taxes upon income and upon consumption Tempest of passion and prejudice Ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned Tension now gave place to exhaustion That vile and mischievous animal called the people That crowned criminal, Philip the Second That unholy trinity—Force; Dogma, and Ignorance That cynical commerce in human lives That he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice The tragedy of Don Carlos The worst were encouraged with their good success The history of the Netherlands is history of liberty The great ocean was but a Spanish lake The divine speciality of a few transitory mortals The sapling was to become the tree The nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces The expenses of James's household The Catholic League and the Protestant Union The blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels The magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness The defence of the civil authority against the priesthood The assassin, tortured and torn by four horses The Gaul was singularly unchaste The vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle The bad Duke of Burgundy, Philip surnamed "the Good," The greatest crime, however, was to be rich The more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder The disunited provinces The noblest and richest temple of the Netherlands was a wreck The voice of slanderers The calf is fat and must be killed The illness was a convenient one The egg had been laid by Erasmus, hatched by Luther The perpetual reproductions of history The very word toleration was to sound like an insult The most thriving branch of national industry (Smuggler) The pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him The slightest theft was punished with the gallows The art of ruling the world by doing nothing The wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war The Alcoran was less cruel than the Inquisition The People had not been invented The small children diminished rapidly in numbers The busy devil of petty economy The record of our race is essentially unwritten The truth in shortest about matters of importance The time for reasoning had passed 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 faithful servant is always a perpetual ass The dead men of the place are my intimate friends 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 fellow mixes blood with his colors! Their existence depended on war 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 is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own There was but one king in Europe, Henry the Bearnese There are few inventions in morals There was no use in holding language of authority to him There was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm There is no man fitter for that purpose than myself Therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured These human victims, chained and burning at the stake They had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft They chose to compel no man's conscience They could not invent or imagine toleration They knew very little of us, and that little wrong They have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried Concini They were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion They liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness They had at last burned one more preacher alive Things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful Thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul Thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) Thirty Years' War tread on the heels of the forty years This Somebody may have been one whom we should call Nobody This, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the State This obstinate little republic This wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination Those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets Those who "sought to swim between two waters" Those who argue against a foregone conclusion Thought that all was too little for him Thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert Three hundred fighting women Three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in London Three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of Germany) Throw the cat against their legs Thus Hand-weapen, hand-throwing, became Antwerp Time and myself are two Tis pity he is not an Englishman To think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all To stifle for ever the right of free enquiry To attack England it was necessary to take the road of Ireland To hear the last solemn commonplaces To prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade To shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars To doubt the infallibility of Calvin was as heinous a crime To negotiate with Government in England was to bribe To milk, the cow as long as she would give milk To work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature To negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step To look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures Toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us Tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated Tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind Toleration—that intolerable term of insult Toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all Torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) Torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children Tranquil insolence Tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health Tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom Triple marriages between the respective nurseries Trust her sword, not her enemy's word Twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics Twenty assaults upon fame and had forty books killed under him Two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack Tyrannical spirit of Calvinism Tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself Uncouple the dogs and let them run Under the name of religion (so many crimes) Understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors Undue anxiety for impartiality Unduly dejected in adversity Unequivocal policy of slave emancipation Unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry Universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day Unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle Unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious Unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing Unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause Unwise impatience for peace Upon their knees, served the queen with wine Upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed Upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency Use of the spade Usual phraseology of enthusiasts Usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered Utter disproportions between the king's means and aims Utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends Uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case Uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity Vain belief that they were men at eighteen or twenty Valour on the one side and discretion on the other Villagers, or villeins Visible atmosphere of power the poison of which Volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter Vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration Waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman Walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures War was the normal and natural condition of mankind War was the normal condition of Christians War to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest Was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? Wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself We were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us We believe our mothers to have been honest women We are beginning to be vexed We must all die once We have been talking a little bit of truth to each other We have the reputation of being a good housewife We mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh Wealth was an unpardonable sin Wealthy Papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine Weapons Weary of place without power Weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers Weight of a thousand years of error What exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy What could save the House of Austria, the cause of Papacy What was to be done in this world and believed as to the next When persons of merit suffer without cause When all was gone, they began to eat each other When the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play Whether dead infants were hopelessly damned Whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue Whether repentance could effect salvation While one's friends urge moderation Who the "people" exactly were Who loved their possessions better than their creed Whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts Whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans William of Nassau, Prince of Orange William Brewster Wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome Wiser simply to satisfy himself Wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear Wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant With something of feline and feminine duplicity Wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery Wonders whether it has found its harbor or only lost its anchor Word peace in Spanish mouths simply meant the Holy Inquisition Word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought Words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak Work of the aforesaid Puritans and a few Jesuits World has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin Worn crescents in their caps at Leyden Worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf Worship God according to the dictates of his conscience Would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand Netherlanders Wrath of the Jesuits at this exercise of legal authority Wrath of bigots on both sides Wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths Wringing a dry cloth for drops of evidence Write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly Writing letters full of injured innocence Yes, there are wicked men about Yesterday is the preceptor of To-morrow You must show your teeth to the Spaniard
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These quotations were collected from John Lothrop Motley's nine volumes of The History of the Netherlands by David Widger while preparing etexts for Project Gutenberg. Comments and suggestions will be most welcome.
