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Monthly Archives: November 2007

On the propriety of monarchical rule:

“Since God hath made kings, let them not unmake their authority and let brooks and small rivers acknowledge their springs and flow no further than their banks.”

On opposing parties:

“Where minds differ and opinions swerve
there is scant a friend in that company.”

On doing what is best for the people:

“Of myself I must say this: I never was any greedy, scraping grasper, nor a strait, fast-holding prince, nor yet a waster. My heart was never set on worldly goods, but only for my subjects’ good.”

On how to deal with wrongdoing by superiors:

“[I]f superiors begin to do that which is unfitting, they will have another superior by whom they are ruled, who both ought and is willing to punish them.”

On being flattered by writers:

“What king would shame to cherish/
A poet who, from demigods, makes us gods?”

On a leader’s concern for her nation:

“There is nothing about which I am more anxious than my country, and for its sake I am willing to die ten deaths, if that be possible.”

On money versus virtue:

“Never think you fortune can bear the sway
Where virtue’s force can cause her to obey.”