Francis Parkman Quotes

• Spanish civilization crushed the Indian. English civilization scorned and neglected him. French civilization embraced and cherished him.

  Francis Parkman

  Civilization, Neglected, Crushed

  Francis Parkman (1868). “France and England in North America”, p.44

  14 Copy quote

• Faithfulness to the truth of history involves far more than a research, however patient and scrupulous, into special facts. Such facts may be detailed with the most minute exactness, and yet the narrative, taken as a whole, may be unmeaning or untrue. The narrator must seek to imbue himself with the life and spirit of the time. He must study events in their bearings near and remote; in the character, habits, and manners of those who took part in them. He must himself be, as it were, a sharer or a spectator of the action he describes.

  Francis Parkman

  Taken, Character, History

  Francis Parkman, David Levin (1983). “France and England in North America: Pioneers of France in the New World. The Jesuits of North America in the seventeenth century. La Salle and the discovery of the Great West. The old régime in Canada”, p.16, Library of America

  10 Copy quote

• Here society is reduced to its original elements, the whole fabric of art and conventionality is struck rudely to pieces, and men find themselves suddenly brought back to the wants and resources of their original natures.

  Francis Parkman

  Art, Men, Rude

  Francis Parkman (1991). “The Oregon Trail ; The Conspiracy of Pontiac”, p.63, Library of America

  24 Copy quote

• America was still a land of wonder. The ancient spell still hung unbroken over the wild, vast world of mystery beyond the sea,-a land of romance, adventure, and gold.

  Francis Parkman

  Adventure, Sea, Land

  Francis Parkman, David Levin (1983). “France and England in North America: Pioneers of France in the New World. The Jesuits of North America in the seventeenth century. La Salle and the discovery of the Great West. The old régime in Canada”, p.43, Library of America

  10 Copy quote

• Not a breath of air stirred over the free and open prairie; the clouds were like light piles of cotton; and where the blue sky was visible, it wore a hazy and languid aspect.

  Francis Parkman

  Clouds, Light, Air

  Francis Parkman (2016). “The Oregon Trail: Juvenile History - - American”, p.29, VM eBooks

  27 Copy quote

• Versailles was a gulf into which the labor of France poured its earnings; and it was never full.

  Francis Parkman

  Versailles, Earning, France

  Francis Parkman, David Levin (1983). “France and England in North America: Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV. A half-century of conflict. Montcalm and Wolfe”, p.853, Library of America

  27 Copy quote

• It was a rich and gorgeous sunset - an American sunset; and the ruddy glow of the sky was reflected from some extensive pools of water among the shadowy copses in the meadow below.

  Francis Parkman

  Sunset, Glowing, Sky

  Francis Parkman (1991). “The Oregon Trail ; The Conspiracy of Pontiac”, p.40, Library of America

  21 Copy quote

• In one point the plan was fatally defective, since it involved the deadly enmity of a race whose character and whose power were as yet but ill understood,--the fiercest, boldest, most politic, and most ambitious savages to whom the American forest has ever given birth.

  Francis Parkman

  Character, Race, Ambitious

  Francis Parkman, David Levin (1983). “France and England in North America: Pioneers of France in the New World. The Jesuits of North America in the seventeenth century. La Salle and the discovery of the Great West. The old régime in Canada”, p.286, Library of America

  11 Copy quote

• If any pale student, glued to his desk, here seek an apology for a way of life whose natural fruits is that pallid and emasculate scholarship of which New England has had too many examples, it will be far better that this sketch had not been written. For the student there is, in its season, no better place than the saddle, and no better companion than the rifle or the oar.

  Francis Parkman

  Apology, Way, Fruit

  Francis Parkman (1960). “Letters of Francis Parkman”

  6 Copy quote

• Humanity, morality, decency, might be forgotten, but codfish must still be had for the use of the faithful in Lent and on fast days.

  Francis Parkman

  Humanity, Faithful, Use

  Francis Parkman (1871). “Pioneers of France in the New World”, p.208

  7 Copy quote

• Art, industry, and commerce, so long crushed and overborne, were stirring into renewed life, and a crowd of adventurous men, nurtured in war and incapable of repose, must seek employment for their restless energies in fields of peaceful enterprise.

  Francis Parkman

  Art, War, Men

  Francis Parkman (1865). “Pioneers of France in the New World”, p.214

  9 Copy quote

• The growth of New England was a result of the aggregate efforts of a busy multitude, each in his narrow circle toiling for himself, to gather competence or wealth. The expansion of New France was the achievement of a gigantic ambition striving to grasp a continent. It was a vain attempt.

  Francis Parkman

  Ambition, Circles, Achievement

  Francis Parkman (1871). “Pioneers of France in the New World”, p.10

  4 Copy quote

• America, when it became known to Europeans, was, as it had long been, a scene of wide-spread revolution.

  Francis Parkman

  America, Long, Revolution

  Francis Parkman (1868). “France and England in North America”, p.19

  7 Copy quote

• Early on the next morning we reached Kansas, about five hundred miles from the mouth of the Missouri.

  Francis Parkman

  Morning, Kansas, Mouths

  Francis Parkman (2016). “The Oregon Trail: Juvenile History - - American”, p.3, VM eBooks

  7 Copy quote

• The most momentous and far-reaching question ever brought to issue on this continent was: Shall France remain here, or shall she not?

  Francis Parkman

  Issues, France, Reaching

  Francis Parkman, David Levin (1983). “France and England in North America: Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV. A half-century of conflict. Montcalm and Wolfe”, p.844, Library of America

  7 Copy quote

• The monk, the inquisitor, and the Jesuit were lords of Spain,- sovereigns of her sovereign, for they had formed the dark and narrow mind of that tyrannical recluse. They had formed the minds of her people, quenched in blood every spark of rising heresy, and given over a noble nation to a bigotry blind and inexorable as the doom of fate. Linked with pride, ambition, avarice, every passion of a rich, strong nature, potent for good and ill, it made the Spaniard of that day a scourge as dire as ever fell on man.

  Francis Parkman

  Strong, Ambition, Passion

  Francis Parkman (1927). “The Works of Francis Parkman”

  7 Copy quote

• Four men are missing; R., Sorel and two emigrants. They set out this morning after buffalo, and have not yet made their appearance; whether killed or lost, we cannot tell.

  Francis Parkman

  Missing You, Morning, Men

  Francis Parkman (2016). “The Oregon Trail: Juvenile History - - American”, p.57, VM eBooks

  11 Copy quote

• We were in all four men with eight animals; for besides the spare horses led by Shaw and myself, an additional mule was driven along with us as a reserve in case of accident.

  Francis Parkman

  Horse, Animal, Men

  Francis Parkman (2016). “The Oregon Trail: Juvenile History - - American”, p.8, VM eBooks

  8 Copy quote

• Our New England climate is mild and equable compared with that of the Platte.

  Francis Parkman

  Climate, England, New England

  Francis Parkman (2016). “The Oregon Trail: Juvenile History - - American”, p.47, VM eBooks

  6 Copy quote

• The Spanish voyager, as his caravel ploughed the adjacent seas, might give full scope to his imagination, and dream that beyond the long, low margin of forest which bounded his horizon lay hid a rich harvest for some future conqueror; perhaps a second Mexico with its royal palace and sacred pyramids, or another Cuzco with its temple of the Sun, encircled with a frieze of gold. Haunted by such visions, the ocean chivalry of Spain could not long stand idle.

  Francis Parkman

  Dream, Ocean, Sea

  Francis Parkman, David Levin (1983). “France and England in North America: Pioneers of France in the New World. The Jesuits of North America in the seventeenth century. La Salle and the discovery of the Great West. The old régime in Canada”, p.27, Library of America

  4 Copy quote

• When America was first made known to Europe, the part assumed by France on the borders of that new world was peculiar, and is little recognized. While the Spaniard roamed sea and land, burning for achievement, red-hot with bigotry and avarice, and while England, with soberer steps and a less dazzling result, followed in the path of discovery and gold-hunting, it was from France that those barbarous shores first learned to serve the ends of peaceful commercial industry.

  Francis Parkman

  Hunting, Discovery, Europe

  Francis Parkman, David Levin (1983). “France and England in North America: Pioneers of France in the New World. The Jesuits of North America in the seventeenth century. La Salle and the discovery of the Great West. The old régime in Canada”, p.145, Library of America

  4 Copy quote

• We were now, as I before mentioned, upon this St. Joseph's trail. It was evident, by the traces, that large parties were a few days in advance of us; and as we too supposed them to be Mormons, we had some apprehension of interruption.

  Francis Parkman

  Party, Trails, Interruptions

  Francis Parkman (2016). “The Oregon Trail: Juvenile History - - American”, p.25, VM eBooks

  8 Copy quote

• We were now arrived at the close of our solitary journeyings along the St. Joseph's trail.

  Francis Parkman

  Trails, Solitary, Walking

  Francis Parkman (2016). “The Oregon Trail: Juvenile History - - American”, p.38, VM eBooks

  4 Copy quote

• France built its best colony on a principle of exclusion, and failed; England reversed the system, and succeeded.

  Francis Parkman

  Exclusion, England, Principles

  Francis Parkman (2004). “Montcalm and Wolfe”, p.26, Digital Antiquaria

  6 Copy quote

• The young nobles, of whom there were many, were volunteers, who had paid their own expenses in expectation of a golden harvest, and they chafed in impatience and disgust. The religious element in the colony-unlike the former Huguenot emigration to Brazil--was evidently subordinate. The adventurers thought more of their fortunes than of their faith.

  Francis Parkman

  Religious, Expectations, Volunteer

  Francis Parkman (1871). “Pioneers of France in the New World”, p.60

  4 Copy quote

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