Oliver Cromwell - Wikiquote Oliver Cromwell Jump to: navigation , search I had rather have a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that you call a Gentleman and is nothing else. Oliver Cromwell ( 25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658 ) was an English statesman, soldier, and revolutionary responsible for the overthrow of the monarchy, temporarily turning England into a republican Commonwealth, and assuming rule as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland . Contents Quotes[ edit ] A few honest men are better than numbers. We declared our intentions to preserve monarchy, and they still are so, unless necessity enforce an alteration… Do not trust to that; for these very persons would shout as much if you and I were going to be hanged. I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ , think it possible you may be mistaken . No one rises so high as he who knows not whither he is going. You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God , go!

Though peace be made, yet it's interest that keep peace. Necessity hath no law . Feigned necessities, imagined necessities... are the greatest cozenage that men can put upon the Providence of God , and make pretenses to break known rules by. Use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me, and not flatter me at all; but remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me... My work is done Now I see there is a people risen that I cannot win with gifts or honours, offices or places; but all other sects and people I can. If the remonstrance had been rejected I would have sold all I had the next morning and never have seen England more, and I know there are many other modest men of the same resolution. On the passing of the revolutionary Grand Remonstrance of November 1641 listing Parliament's grievances against King Charles I , as quoted in A History of the Rebellion (first published 1702 – 1704) by Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon (1609 - 1674).

I had rather have a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that you call a Gentleman and is nothing else. Letter to Sir William Spring (September 1643). A few honest men are better than numbers. Letter to Sir William Spring (September 1643). The State, in choosing men to serve it, takes no notice of their opinions . If they be willing faithfully to serve it, that satisfies. Statement before the battle of Marston Moor (2 July 1644). God made them as stubble to our swords . Letter to Colonel Valentine Walton (5 July 1644). Truly England and the church of God hath had a great favour from the Lord, in this great victory given us. Letter to Colonel Valentine Walton (5 July 1644). We study the glory of God , and the honour and liberty of parliament, for which we unanimously fight, without seeking our own interests... I profess I could never satisfy myself on the justness of this war, but from the authority of the parliament to maintain itself in its rights; and in this cause I hope to prove myself an honest man and single-hearted.

Statement to Colonel Valentine Walton (5 or 6 September 1644). I could not riding out alone about my business , but smile out to God in praises, in assurance of victory because God would, by things that are not, bring to naught things that are. Before the Battle of Naseby (14 June 1645). It's a blessed thing to die daily . For what is there in this world to be accounted of! The best men according to the flesh, and things, are lighter than vanity . I find this only good, to love the Lord and his poor despised people, to do for them and to be ready to suffer with them....and he that is found worthy of this hath obtained great favour from the Lord; and he that is established in this shall ( being conformed to Christ and the rest of the Body) participate in the glory of a resurrection which will answer all . Letter to Sir Thomas Fairfax (7 March 1646). This is our comfort, God is in heaven , and He doth what pleaseth Him; His, and only His counsel shall stand, whatsoever the designs of men, and the fury of the people be.

Letter to Sir Thomas Fairfax (21 December 1646). We declared our intentions to preserve monarchy , and they still are so, unless necessity enforce an alteration. It’s granted the king has broken his trust, yet you are fearful to declare you will make no further addresses... look on the people you represent, and break not your trust, and expose not the honest party of your kingdom, who have bled for you, and suffer not misery to fall upon them for want of courage and resolution in you, else the honest people may take such courses as nature dictates to them. Speech in the Commons during the debate which preceded the "Vote of No Addresses" (January 1648) as recorded in the diary of John Boys of Kent. Since providence and necessity has cast them upon it, he should pray God to bless their counsels. On the trial of Charles I (December 1648). I tell you we will cut off his head with the crown upon it. To Algernon Sidney , one of the judges at the trial of Charles I (December 1648). Cruel necessity.

Reported remarks over the body of Charles I after his execution (January 1649), as quoted in Oliver Cromwell : A History (1895) by Samuel Harden Church, p. 321. If we do not depart from God, and disunite by that departure, and fall into disunion among ourselves, I am confident, we doing our duty and waiting upon the Lord, we shall find He will be as a wall of brass round about us till we have finished that work which he has for us to do. Speech to his army officers (23 March 1649). This is a righteous judgement of God upon these barbarous wretches, who have imbrued their hands in so much innocent blood. After the Siege of Drogheda , where Cromwell had forbid his soldiers "to spare any that were in arms in the town". (1649). Do not trust to that; for these very persons would shout as much if you and I were going to be hanged.

Response to John Lambert 's remarks that he "was glad to see we had the nation on our side" as they were cheered by a crowd in June 1650; as quoted by Gilbert Burnet in History of My Own Time (1683); also in in God's Englishman by Christopher Hill (1970), Ch. VII, p. 188. I need pity . I know what I feel. Great place and business in the world is not worth looking after. Letter to Richard Mayor (July 1650). I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ , think it possible you may be mistaken . Letter to the general assembly of the Church of Scotland (3 August 1650). Your pretended fear lest error should step in, is like the man that would keep all the wine out of the country lest men should be drunk. It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy, to deny a man the liberty he hath by nature upon a supposition that he may abuse it. Letter to Walter Dundas (12 September 1650). No one rises so high as he who knows not whither he is going.

Statement to Pomponne de Bellievre, as told to Cardinal de Retz in 1651; Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz (1717) Variant: One never rises so high as when one does not know where one is going. I am neither heir nor executor to Charles Stuart. Repudiating a royal debt (August 1651). The dimensions of this mercy are above my thoughts. It is for aught I know, a crowning mercy. Letter to William Lenthall , Speaker of the House of Commons (4 September 1651). Shall we seek for the root of our comforts within us; what God hath done, what he is to us in Christ, is the root of our comfort. In this is stability; in us is weakness. Acts of obedience are not perfect, and therefore yield not perfect peace. Faith, as an act, yields it not, but as it carries us into him, who is our perfect rest and peace; in whom we are accounted of, and received by, the Father, even as Christ himself. This is our high calling. Rest we here, and here only. Letter to Charles Fleetwood (1652).

Take away that fool’s bauble, the mace. Speech dismissing the " Rump Parliament " (20 April 1653). You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go! Address to the Rump Parliament (20 April 1653). When I went there, I did not think to have done this. But perceiving the spirit of God so strong upon me, I would not consult flesh and blood. On his forcible dissolution of parliament (April 1653) quoted in Flagellum: or the Life and Death Birth and Burial of Oliver Cromwell the Late Usurper (1663) by James Heath. You are as like the forming of God as ever people were... you are at the edge of promises and prophecies. Speech to the " Barebones Parliament " (July 1653). God has brought us where we are, to consider the work we may do in the world, as well as at home. Speech to the Army Council (1654). Though peace be made, yet it's interest that keep peace.

Quoted in a statement to Parliament as as "a maxim not to be despised" (4 September 1654). There are some things in this establishment that are fundamental... about which I shall deal plainly with you... the government by a single person and a parliament is a fundamental... and... though I may seem to plead for myself, yet I do not: no, nor can any reasonable man say it... I plead for this nation, and all the honest men therein. To the First Protectorate Parliament (12 September 1654). In every government there must be somewhat fundamental, somewhat like a Magna Charta , that should be standing and unalterable... that parliaments should not make themselves perpetual is a fundamental. Speech to the First Protectorate Parliament (12 September 1654). Necessity hath no law. Feigned necessities, imagined necessities... are the greatest cozenage that men can put upon the Providence of God, and make pretenses to break known rules by. Speech to the First Protectorate Parliament (12 September 1654). I was by birth a gentleman, living neither in any considerable height, nor yet in obscurity.

I have been called to several employments in the nation — to serve in parliaments, — and ( because I would not be over tedious ) I did endeavour to discharge the duty of an honest man in those services, to God, and his people’s interest, and of the commonwealth; having, when time was, a competent acceptation in the hearts of men, and some evidence thereof. Speech to the First Protectorate Parliament (12 September 1654). I desire not to keep my place in this government an hour longer than I may preserve England in its just rights, and may protect the people of God in such a just liberty of their consciences... Speech dissolving the First Protectorate Parliament (22 January 1655). Weeds and nettles, briars and thorns, have thriven under your shadow, dissettlement and division, discontentment and dissatisfaction, together with real dangers to the whole. Speech dissolving the First Protectorate Parliament (22 January 1655). We are Englishmen; that is one good fact. Speech to Parliament (1655).

Truly, though kingship be not a title but a name of office that runs through the law, yet it is not so ratione nominis, but from what is signified. It is a name of office, plainly implying a Supreme Authority. Is it more, or can it be stretched to more? I say, it is a name of office, plainly implying the Supreme Authority, and if it be so, why then I would suppose, (I am not peremptory in any thing that is matter of deduction or inference of my own,) why then I should suppose that whatsoever name hath been or shall be the name, in which the Supreme Authority shall act; why, (I say) if it had been those four or five letters, or whatsoever else it had been, that signification goes to the thing. Certainly it does, and not to the name. Why then, there can be no more said, but this, why this hath been fixt, so it may have been unfixt.

Answer to the Conference at the Committee at Whitehall, Second Protectorate Parliament (13 April 1657), quoted in The Diary of Thomas Burton, esq., volume 2: April 1657 - February 1658 (1828), pp. 496-497. Men have been led in dark paths, through the providence and dispensation of God. Why, surely it is not to be objected to a man, for who can love to walk in the dark? But providence doth often so dispose. Answer to the Conference at the Committee at Whitehall, Second Protectorate Parliament (13 April 1657), quoted in The Diary of Thomas Burton, esq., volume 2: April 1657 - February 1658 (1828), p. 504. You have accounted yourselves happy on being environed with a great ditch from all the world beside. Speech to Parliament (25 January 1658), quoted in The Diary of Thomas Burton, esq., volume 2: April 1657 - February 1658 (1828), p. 361.

That which brought me into the capacity I now stand in, was the Petition and Advice given me by you, who, in reference to the ancient Constitution, did draw me here to accept the place of Protector. There is not a man living can say I sought it, no not a man, nor woman, treading upon English ground. Speech to Parliament (4 February 1658), quoted in The Diary of Thomas Burton, esq., volume 2: April 1657 - February 1658 (1828), p. 465-466. I would have been glad to have lived under my wood side, to have kept a flock of sheep, rather than undertook such a Government as this is. Statement to Parliament (4 February 1658) quoted in The Diary of Thomas Burton, esq., volume 2: April 1657 - February 1658 (1828), p. 466. I would be willing to live and be farther serviceable to God and his people; but my work is done. Yet God will be with his people.

As quoted from "Dying Sayings" of Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches by Thomas Carlyle It is not my design to drink or to sleep , but my design is to make what haste I can to be gone. Words that Cromwell spoke as he was dying and was offered a drink (3 September 1658). Now I see there is a people risen that I cannot win with gifts or honours , offices or places; but all other sects and people I can. On the Quakers , after meeting with George Fox , as quoted in Autobiography of George Fox (1694). Mr. Lely , I desire you would use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me, and not flatter me at all; but remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me, otherwise I will never pay a farthing for it. As quoted in Anecdotes of Painting in England (1762-1771) by Horace Walpole often credited as being the origin of the phrase "warts and all". Variant: Paint me as I am. If you leave out the scars and wrinkles, I will not pay you a shilling.

Attributed[ edit ] Put your trust in God, but keep your powder dry. Attributed by William Blacker (not to be confused with Valentine Blacker ), who popularized the quote with his poem "Oliver's Advice" , published under the pseudonym Fitz Stewart in The Dublin University Magazine, December 1834, p. 700; where the attribution to Cromwell appears in a footnote describing a "well-authenticated anecdote" that explains the poem's title. The repeated line in Blacker's poem is "Put your trust in God, my boys, but keep your powder dry". Quotes about Cromwell[ edit ] Alphabetized by author His fame seems as secure as human reputation is likely to be in a changing world . ~ W.C. Abbott The commonest charge against Cromwell is hypocrisy — and the commonest basis for that is defective chronology. ~ W.C. Abbott He obtain’d a great victory ; but the action was said to be contrary to human prudence ... ~ John Aubrey I confess I have an interest in this Mr. Cromwell; and indeed, if truth must be said, in him alone. The rest are historical , dead to me; but he is epic, still living .

~ Thomas Carlyle A complex character such as that of Cromwell, is incapable of creation, except in times of great civil and religious excitement, and one cannot judge of the man without at the same time considering the contending elements by which he was surrounded. ~ F. A. Inderwick No less renowned than war : new foes arise, Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains: Help us to save free conscience from the paw Of hireling wolves whose gospel is their maw. ~ John Milton He was a practical mystic , the most formidable and terrible of all combinations, uniting an aspiration derived from the celestial and supernatural with the energy of a mighty man of action … ~ Lord Rosebery The man who persisted in calling himself the " son of God " — he later acknowledged that he had many brothers — was demanding nothing less than that the military ruler of all England should forthwith disavow all violence and all coercion , make Christ 's law of love the supreme law of the land, and substitute the mild dictates of the Sermon on the Mount for the Instrument of Government by which he ruled. … It is not recorded that Cromwell took his advice. ~ Frederick B.

Tolles Every beast hath some evil properties; but Cromwell hath the properties of all evil beasts. ~ Archbishop John Williams During a great part of the eighteenth century most Tories hated him because he overthrew the monarchy , most Whigs because he overthrew Parliament . Since Carlyle wrote, all liberals have seen in him their champion, and all revolutionists have apotheosized the first great representatives of their school; while, on the other side, their opponents have hailed the dictator who put down anarchy . Unless the socialists or the anarchists finally prevail — and perhaps even then — his fame seems as secure as human reputation is likely to be in a changing world . W.C. Abbott in Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell. The commonest charge against Cromwell is hypocrisy — and the commonest basis for that is defective chronology. W.C Abbott in Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell. Oliver Cromwell had certainly this afflatus. One that I knew was at the battle of Dunbar, told me that Oliver was carried on with a Divine impulse; he did laugh so excessively as if he had been drunk; his eyes sparkled with spirits.

He obtain’d a great victory; but the action was said to be contrary to human prudence. The same fit of laughter seized Oliver Cromwell just before the battle of Naseby; as a kinsman of mine, and a great favourite of his, Colonel J. P. then present, testified. Cardinal Mazerine said, that he was a lucky fool. John Aubrey in Miscellanies. A perfect master of all the arts of dissimulation: who, turning up the whites of his eyes, and seeking the Lord with pious gestures, will weep and pray, and cant most devoutly, till an opportunity offers of dealing his dupe a knock-down blow under the short ribs. George Bate (1608-1669), Cromwell's physician. To give the devil his due, he restored justice, as well distributive as commutative, almost to it’s ancient dignity and splendour; the judges without covetousness discharging their duties according to law and equity... His own court also was regulated according to a severe discipline; here no drunkard, nor whoremonger, nor any guilty of bribery, was to be found, without severe punishment.

Trade began again to prosper; and in a word, gentle peace to flourish all over England. George Bate. He thought secrecy a virtue, and dissimulation no vice, and simulation, that is in plain English, a lie, or perfideousness to be a tolerable fault in case of necessity. Richard Baxter in Reliquiae Baxterianae. He was of a sanguine complexion, naturally of such a vivacity, hilarity and alacrity as another man is when he hath drunken a cup too much. Richard Baxter in Reliquiae Baxterianae. The next morning I sent Colonel Cook to Cromwell, to let him know that I had letters and instructions to him from the King. He sent me word by the same messenger, that he dared not see me, it being very dangerous to us both, and bid me be assured that he would serve his Majesty as long as he could do it without his own ruin; but desired that I should not expect that he should perish for his sake. Sir John Berkeley in Memoirs of Sir John Berkeley (29 November 1647).

When he quitted the Parliament, his chief dependence was on the Army, which he endeavoured by all means to keep in unity, and if he could not bring it to his sense, he, rather than suffer any division in it, went over himself and carried his friends with him into that way which the army did choose, and that faster than any other person in it. Sir John Berkeley in Memoirs of Sir John Berkeley. A devotee of law, he was forced to be often lawless; a civilian to the core, he had to maintain himself by the sword; with a passion to construct, his task was chiefly to destroy; the most scrupulous of men, he had to ride roughshod over his own scruples and those of others; the tenderest, he had continually to harden his heart; the most English of our greater figures, he spent his life in opposition to the majority of Englishmen; a realist, he was condemned to build that which could not last. John Buchan in Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell was a man in whom ambition had not wholly suppressed, but only suspended, the sentiments of religion. Edmund Burke in Letters (1791).

Sylla was the first of victors; but our own The sagest of usurpers, Cromwell; he Too swept off the senates while he hewed the throne Down to a block — immortal rebel! See What crimes it costs to be a moment free And famous through all ages. Lord Byron in Child Harold's Pilgrimage Canto IV. I confess I have an interest in this Mr. Cromwell; and indeed, if truth must be said, in him alone. The rest are historical, dead to me; but he is epic, still living. Hail to thee, thou strong one; hail across the longdrawn funeral-aisle and night of time!... Thomas Carlyle in Historical Sketches. His grandeur he deriv’d from heaven alone, For he was great e’er fortune made him so And wars like mists that rise against the sun Made him but greater seem, not greater grow. No borrow’d bays his temple did adorn, But to our Crown he did fresh jewels bring; Nor was his virtue poison’d soon as born, With the too early thoughts of being King.

John Dryden , Heroic Stanzas on the death of Oliver Cromwell, written after his funeral (1658), VI–VII. His ashes in a peaceful urn shall rest, His name a great example stands to show How strangely high endeavours may be blest, Where piety and valour jointly go. John Dryden , Heroic Stanzas on the death of Oliver Cromwell, written after his funeral (1658), XXXVII. Things will shortly happen which have been unheard of, and above all would open the eyes of those who live under Kings and other Sovereigns, and lead to great changes. Cromwell alone holds the direction of political and military affairs in his hands. He is one who is worth all the others put together, and, in effect, King. John Dury as reported by Hermann Mylius (27 September 1651). Saw the superb funeral of the Protector:...but it was the joyfullest funeral that I ever saw, for there were none that cried, but dogs, which the souldiers hooted away with a barbarous noise; drinking and taking tobacco in the streets as they went.

John Evelyn in his Diary (22 November 1658). This day (to the stupendous and inscrutable Judgements of God) were the Carcasses of that arch-rebell Cromwell and Bradshaw the judge who condemned his Majestie & Ireton, son-in-law to the Usurper, dragged out of their superbe tombs (in Westminster among the Kings), to Tyburn & hanged on the Gallows there from 9 in the morning til 6 at night, and then buried under that fatal and ignominious monument, in a deepe pitt: Thousands of people who (who had seen them in all their pride and pompous insults) being spectators: look back at November 22, 1658, & be astonish’d - And fear God & honour the King, but meddle not with those who are given to change. John Evelyn in his Diary (30 January 1661). He lived a hypocrite and died a traitor. John Foster.

When I came in I was moved to say, " Peace be in this house"; and I exhorted him to keep in the fear of God , that he might receive wisdom from Him, that by it he might be directed, and order all things under his hand to God's glory. l spoke much to him of Truth, and much discourse I had with him about religion; wherein he carried himself very moderately. But he said we quarrelled with priests, whom he called ministers. I told him I did not quarrel with them, but that they quarrelled with me and my friends.

"But," said I, "if we own the prophets, Christ, and the apostles, we cannot hold up such teachers, prophets, and shepherds, as the prophets, Christ, and the apostles declared against; but we must declare against them by the same power and Spirit." Then I showed him that the prophets, Christ, and the apostles declared freely, and against them that did not declare freely; such as preached for filthy lucre, and divined for money, and preached for hire, and were covetous and greedy, that could never have enough; and that they that have the same spirit that Christ, and the prophets, and the apostles had, could not but declare against all such now, as they did then. As I spoke, he several times said, it was very good, and it was truth. I told him that all Christendom (so called) had the Scriptures, but they wanted the power and Spirit that those had who gave forth the Scriptures; and that was the reason they were not in fellowship with the Son, nor with the Father, nor with the Scriptures, nor one with another. Many more words I had with him; but people coming in, I drew a little back.

As I was turning, he caught me by the hand, and with tears in his eyes said, "Come again to my house; for if thou and I were but an hour of a day together, we should be nearer one to the other"; adding that he wished me no more ill than he did to his own soul. I told him if he did he wronged his own soul; and admonished him to hearken to God's voice, that he might stand in his counsel, and obey it; and if he did so, that would keep him from hardness of heart; but if he did not hear God's voice, his heart would be hardened. He said it was true. Then I went out; and when Captain Drury came out after me he told me the Lord Protector had said I was at liberty, and might go whither I would. Then I was brought into a great hall, where the Protector's gentlemen were to dine. I asked them what they brought me thither for. They said it was by the Protector's order, that I might dine with them. I bid them let the Protector know that I would not eat of his bread, nor drink of his drink.

When he heard this he said, " Now I see there is a people risen that I cannot win with gifts or honours, offices or places; but all other sects and people I can." It was told him again that we had forsaken our own possessions; and were not like to look for such things from him. George Fox , on his meeting with Cromwell, in Autobiography of George Fox (1694). That slovenly fellow which you see before us, who hath no ornament in his speech; I say that sloven, if we should ever come to have a breech with the King (which God forbid) in such case will be one of the greatest men of England. John Hampden , speaking to Lord Digby in the House of Commons, as reported by Sir Richard Bulstrode. Generally he respected, or at least pretended a love to, all ingenious persons in any arts, whom he arranged to be sent or brought to him. But the niggardliness and incompetence of his reward shewed that this man was a personated act of greatness, and that Private Cromwell yet governed Prince Oliver. James Heath.

His character does not appear more extraordinary and unusual by the mixture of so much absurdity with so much penetration, than by his tempering such violent ambition, and such enraged fanaticism with so much regard to justice and humanity. David Hume in History of England. In a word, as he was guilty of many crimes against which Damnation is denounced, and for which hell-fire is prepared, so he had some good qualities which have caused the memory of some men in all Ages to be celebrated; and he will be look’d upon by posterity as a brave bad man. Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon in A History of the Rebellion. A complex character such as that of Cromwell, is incapable of creation, except in times of great civil and religious excitement, and one cannot judge of the man without at the same time considering the contending elements by which he was surrounded. It is possible to take his character to pieces, and, selecting one or other of his qualities as a corner-stone, to build around it a monument which will show him as a patriot or a plotter, a Christian man or a hypocrite, a demon or a demi-god as the sculptor may choose.

F.A Inderwick in The Interregnum, 1648-60. "I am," said he, "as much for a government by consent as any man; but where shall we find that consent? Amongst the Prelatical, Presbyterian, Independent, Anabaptist, or Leveling Parties?"… then he fell into the commendation of his own government, boasting of the protection and quiet which the people enjoyed under it, saying, that he was resolved to keep the nation from being imbrued in blood. I said that I was of the opinion too much blood had already been shed, unless there were a better account of it. "You do well," said he, "to charge us with the guilt of blood; but we think there is a good return for what hath been shed." Edmund Ludlow Interview with Cromwell (August 1656). His body was wel compact and strong, his stature under 6 foote ( I beleeve about two inches) his head so shaped, as you might see it a storehouse and shop both of vast tresury of natural parts.

His temper exceeding fyery as I have known, but the flame of it kept downe, for the most part, or soon allayed with those moral endowments he had. He was naturally compassionate towards objects in distresse, even to an effeminate measure; though God had made him a heart, wherein was left little roume for any feare, but what was due to himselfe, of which there was a large proportion, yet did he exceed in tenderness towards suffrerers. A larger soule, I thinke, hath seldom dwelt in a house of clay than his was. John Maidston in a letter to John Winthrop (24 March 1659). Of late I have not given so free and full a power unto (Cromwell) as formerly I did, because I heard that he used his power so as in honour I could not avow him in it....for his expressions were sometimes against the nobility, that he hoped to live to see never a nobleman in England, and he loved such (and such) better than others because they did not love Lords.

And he further expressed himself with contempt of the Assemberly of Divines...these he termed persecutors, and that they persecuted honester men than themselves. Edward Montagu, Earl of Manchester , Letter to the House of Lord’s (December 1644). So restless Cromwell could not cease In the inglorious Arts of Peace, But through adventrous war, To ruine the great work of time, And cast the kingdom old Into another Mold... Andrew Marvell in An Horation Ode upon Cromwell’s return from Ireland. Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud, Not of war only, but detractions rude, Guided by faith and matchless fortitude, To peace and truth thy glorious way has ploughed And on the neck of crowned fortune proud Has reared God’s trophies, and his work pursued, While Darwen stream with blood of Scots imbrued, And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud, And Worcester’s laureate wreath.

Yet much remains To conquer still; peace hath her victories No less renowned than war: new foes arise, Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains: Help us to save free conscience from the paw Of hireling wolves whose gospel is their maw. John Milton , Sonnet XVI, "To the Lord General Cromwell". I've been dreaming of a time when the English are sick to death of Labour and Tories and spit upon the name Oliver Cromwell and denounce this royal line that still salutes him and will salute him forever. Morrissey in the song "Irish Blood, English Heart". He has arrogated to himself despotic authority and the actual sovereignty of these realms under the mask of humility and the public service....Obedience and submission were never so manifest in England as at present,...their spirits are so crushed..yet...they dare not rebel and only murmur under their breath, though all live in hope of the fulfilment one day of the prophecies foretelling a change of rule ere long. Lorenzo Paulucci, Venetian Secretary in England, to Giovanni Sagredo, Venetian Ambassador in France, (21 February 1654).

At dinner we talked much of Cromwell, all saying he was a brave fellow and did owe his crown he got to himself, as much as any man that ever got one. Samuel Pepys , Diary, (8 February 1667). He was a practical mystic , the most formidable and terrible of all combinations, uniting an aspiration derived from the celestial and supernatural with the energy of a mighty man of action; a great captain, but off the field seeming, like a thunderbolt, the agent of greater forces than himself; no hypocrite, but a defender of the faith; the raiser and maintainer of the Empire of England. Lord Rosebery as quoted in The Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell (1937) by Wilbur Cortez Abbott . The Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and of the Dominions thereunto belonging, shall be and reside in one person, and the people assembled in parliament; the style of which person shall be "The Lord Protector of the Commonwealth"… That Oliver Cromwell, Captain General of the forces of England, Scotland and Ireland, shall be, and is hereby declared to be, Lord Protector...for his life.

Decree by the Instrument of Government (16 December 1653). Lieutenant-General Cromwell...a member of the House of Commons, long famous for godliness and zeal to his country, of great note for his service in the House, accepted of a commission at the very beginning of this war, wherein he served his country faithfully, and it was observed God was with him, and he began to be renowned. Joshua Sprigge in Anglia Rediviva (1647). It was three hundred years ago, in October 1656, that George Fox had a memorable interview with Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England . It was one of the great moments of a great century, for here, face to face, were two of the most powerful personalities of the age, the one the military dictator of the British Isles at the pinnacle of his worldly power, the other a crude, rustic preacher who had just spent eight months in one of England's foulest prisons. They met in Whitehall, at the very heart of the British government. Fox bluntly took the Protector to task for persecuting Friends when he should have protected them.

Then characteristically he set about trying to make a Quaker out of Cromwell, to turn him to "the light of Christ who had enlightened every man that cometh into the world." Cromwell was in an argumentative mood and took issue with Fox's theology, but Fox had no patience with his objections. "The power of God riz in me," he wrote, "and I was moved to bid him lay down his crown at the feet of Jesus ." Cromwell knew what Fox meant, for two years earlier he had received a strange and disturbing missive in which he had read these words: God is my witness, by whom I am moved to give this forth for the Truth's sake, from him whom the world calls George Fox; who is the son of God who is sent to stand a witness against all violence and against all the works of darkness, and to turn people from the darkness to the light, and to bring them from the occasion of the war and from the occasion of the magistrate's sword ...

The man who persisted in calling himself the "son of God"— he later acknowledged that he had many brothers — was demanding nothing less than that the military ruler of all England should forthwith disavow all violence and all coercion, make Christ's law of love the supreme law of the land, and substitute the mild dictates of the Sermon on the Mount for the Instrument of Government by which he ruled. In a word, Fox would have him make England a kind of pilot project for the Kingdom of Heaven . Fox was a revolutionary. He had no patience with the relativities and compromises of political life. His testimony was an uncompromising testimony for the radical Christian ethic of love and non-violence, and he would apply it in the arena of politics as in every other sphere of life. It is not recorded that Cromwell took his advice. Sir William Waller in Recollections.

As for that famous and magnanimous commander, Lieutenant-General Cromwell, whose prowess and prudence, as they have rendered him most renowned for many former successful deeds of chivalry, so in this fight they have crowned him with the never withering laurels of fame and honour, who with so lion-like courage and impregnable animosity, charged his proudest adversaries again and again, like a Roman Marcellus indeed....and at last came off, as with some wounds, so with honour and triumph inferior to none. John Vicars, Magnalia Dei Anglicana Or England’s Parliamentary-Chronicle (1646). I...

had occasion to converse with Mr Cromwell’s physician, Dr Simcott, who assured me that for many years his patient was a most splenetick man and had phansies about the cross in that town; and that he had been called up to him at midnight, and such unseasonable hours very many times, upon a strong phansy, which made him belive he was then dying; and there went a story of him, that in the day-time, lying melancholy in his bed, he belived the spirit appeared to him, and told him he should be the greatest man, (not mentioning the word King) in this Kingdom. Which his uncle, Sir Thomas Steward, who left him all the little estate Cromwell had, told him was traiterous to relate. Sir Philip Warwick in Memoirs of Sir Philip Warwick. As to your own person the title of King would be of no advantage, because you have the full Kingly power in you already... I apprehend indeed, less envy and danger, and pomp, but not less power, and real opportunities of doing good in your being General than would be if you had assumed the title of King.

Bulstrode Whitelocke to Cromwell as reported in Whitelocke's Memorialls of English Affairs. He would sometimes be very cheerful with us, and laying aside his greatness he would be exceeding familiar with us, and by way of diversion would make verses with us, and everyone must try his fancy. He commonly called for tobacco, pipes, and a candle, and would now and then take tobacco himself; then he would fall again to his serious and great business. Bulstrode Whitelocke in Memorialls of English Affairs. In short, every beast hath some evil properties; but Cromwell hath the properties of all evil beasts. Archbishop John Williams to King Charles at Oxford, as quoted in Life of Archbishop Williams by Hackett. The English monster, the center of mischief, a shame to the British Chronicle, a pattern for tyranny, murder and hypocrisie, whose bloody Tyranny will quite drown the name of Nero , Caligula , Domitian , having at last attained the height of his Ambition, for Five years space he wallowed in the blood of many Gallant and Heroick Persons.

William Winstanley , Loyal Martyrology as quoted in Conflicts with Oblivion (1935) by Wilbur Cortez Abbott, p. 159. War Quotes, Famous War Quotes, Sayings about Wars & Warfare Topic: War Quotes - Famous War Quotes, Sayings about Wars and Warefare A country cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war. Albert Einstein A lot of wonderful people love their country and hate the military. Bill Clinton A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon. Napoleon Bonaparte All men are brothers, like the seas throughout the world; So why do winds and waves clash so fiercely everywhere? Emperor Hirohito All they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword. The Bible All war represents a failure of diplomacy. Tony Benn All warfare is based on deception. Sun Tzu An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind. Mahatma Gandhi An unjust peace is better than a just war. Cicero Are bombs the only way of setting fire to the spirit of a people? Is the human will as inert as the past two world-wide wars would indicate? Gregory Clark As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure.

Jacques Chirac As soon as war is looked upon as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular. Oscar Wilde Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor. They will have war. Winston Churchill Come you masters of war You that build all the guns You that build the death planes You that build the big bombs You that hide behind walls You that hide behind desks I just want you to know I can see through your masks. Bob Dylan Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King, Jr. Either war is obsolete or men are. R. Buckminster Fuller England has been offered a choice between war and shame. She has chosen shame and will get war. Winston Churchill Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. Dwight D. Eisenhower God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.

Voltaire History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap. Ronald Reagan History teaches us that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap. Ronald Reagan I ain't got no quarrel with the Vietcong. Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves. John Wayne I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another. Thomas Jefferson I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. Albert Einstein I love the smell of Napalm in the morning. Apocalypse Now, movie I venture to say no war can be long carried on against the will of the people. Edmund Burke If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. Mother Teresa I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.

George McGovern In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, what did they produce? The cuckoo clock. Orson Welles In war there is no prize for the runner-up. General Omar Bradley In war, resolution; in defeat, defiance; in victory, magnanimity. Winston Churchill It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it. General Douglas MacArthur It is only the dead who have seen the end of war. Plato It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it. Robert E. Lee Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object.

Abraham Lincoln "Let someone else get killed!" "Suppose everyone on our side felt that way?" "Well then I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn't I?" "Englishmen are dying for England, American's are dying for America, Germans are dying for Germany, Russians are dying for Russia. There are now fifty or sixty countries fighting in this war. Surely so many countries can all be worth dying for?" "Anything worth living for," said Nately, "is worth dying for." "And anything worth dying for," answered the old man, "is certainly worth living for." Joseph Heller Catch 22 Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.' Winston Churchill Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel . .

. And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for "the universal brotherhood of man" - with his mouth. Mark Twain Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind. John F. Kennedy Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. Winston Churchill Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. Ask the infantry and ask the dead. Ernest Hemingway No one ever goes into battle thinking God is on the other side. Terry Goodkind Of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship . . .

Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. (at the Nuremberg Trials, shortly before being sentenced to death) Hermann Goering Older men declare war. But it's the youth who must fight and die! Herbert Hoover Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our English dead! In peace there's nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility; But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger: Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood. William Shakespeare Only the dead have seen the end of war. Plato Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed. Mao Zedong Put your trust in God; but be sure to keep your powder dry. Oliver Cromwell Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima . . . The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.

(First announcement of the atomic bomb, August 6, 1945) Harry S Truman The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving. Ulysses S Grant The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic. Josef Stalin The Lord is a man of war. Bible, Exodus The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his. George S. Patton, Jr. The only winner in the War of 1812 was Tchaikovsky. Solomon Short The purple testament of bleeding war. William Shakespeare The victor will never be asked if he told the truth. Adolf Hitler The War That Will End War. H. G. Wells The whole art of war consists of guessing at what is on the other side of the hill.

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. Bible, Psalms Their sword will become our plow, and from the tears of war the daily bread of future generations will grow. Adolf Hitler There never was a good war or a bad peace. Benjamin Franklin They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason. Ernest Hemmingway To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace. George Washington To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war. Winston Churchill Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They were wrong. Ronald Reagan Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival. Winston Churchill Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Isaac Asimov War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun. Mao Zedong War does not determine who is right - only who is left. Bertrand Russell War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Rip them up the belly. Shoot them in the guts. George S. Patton, Jr. "War is Peace" "Freedom is Slavery" "Ignorance is Strength." George Orwell War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men. Georges Clemenceau War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children. Jimmy Carter War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. John F. Kennedy We have the finest food, the finest equipment, the best spirit, and the best men in the world. Why, by God, I actually pity those poor sons-of-bitches we're going up against. By God, I do.

George S. Patton, Jr. We have to face the fact that either all of us are going to die together or we are going to learn to live together and if we are to live together we have to talk. Eleanor Roosevelt We live in a time where fictitious election results give us a fictitious president. We are now fighting a war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fiction of duct tape or the fictitious 'Orange Alerts,' we are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you. And, whenever you've got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up. Michael Moore We make war that we may live in peace. Aristotle We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight, with growing confidence and strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.

Winston Churchill What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy? Gandhi When engaged in combat, the vanquishing of thine enemy can be the warrior's only concern... This is the first and cardinal rule of combat... Suppress all human emotion and compassion... Kill whoever stands in thy way, even if that be Lord God, or Buddha himself... This truth lies at the heart of the art of combat. Once it is mastered... Thou shall fear no one... Though the devil himself may bar thy way... Kill Bill, Vol. 1, movie When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war. War settles nothing. Dwight D. Eisenhower When the enemy advances, withdraw; when he stops, harass; when he tires, strike; when he retreats, pursue. Mao Zedong When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die. Jean-Paul Sartre When war is declared, Truth is the first casualty.

Arthur Ponsonby When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite. Winston Churchill You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake. Jeannette Rankin You can't say that civilization don't advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way. Will Rogers

Question: The phrase ‘Trust in God and keep your powder dry’ is attributed to which historical English figure?
Answer: Oliver Cromwell