Empires Quotes - Page 31

• My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires, and more slow.

  Andrew Marvell

  Vegetables, Sexuality, Should

  "To His Coy Mistress" l. 7 (1681)

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• If farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire...if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores...if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote...if a generation could defeat a depression, and define greatness for all time...if a young preacher could lift us to the mountaintop with his righteous dream...and if proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love...then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American Dream.

  Michelle Obama

  Dream, Country, Badass

  Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, www.npr.org. September 4, 2012.

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• Our great Pattern hath showed us what our deportment ought to be in all suggestions and temptations. When the devil showed Him "all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them," to tempt Him withal, He did not stand and look upon them, viewing their glory, and pondering their empire.... but instantly, without stay, He cries, "Get thee hence, Satan." Meet thy temptation in its entrance with thoughts of faith concerning Christ on the cross; this will make it sink before thee. Entertain no parley, no dispute with it, if thou wouldst not enter into it.

  John Owen

  Prayer, Christ On The Cross, Temptation

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• Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free, and life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fall, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age... 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

  War, Moving, Fall

  Hansard 18 June 1940, col. 60

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• Even the most Bush-happy, flag suckling jack-arse knows deep-down inside that something is wrong. America is over and everyone knows it. The New World Order has a dying empire odor and changing the channel ain't going to make this go away.

  Jello Biafra

  Order, America, Going Away

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• The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealth, the germs of empires.

  Joseph Conrad

  Dream, Men, Darkness

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• Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was seen sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar because a higher moral law was involved. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks, before submitting to certain unjust laws of the Roman empire.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Christian, Pain, Block

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.93, Beacon Press

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• The Poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire of human society.

  William Wordsworth

  Passion, Together, Poet

  William Wordsworth (1837). “The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth: Together with a Description of the Country of the Lakes in the North of England, Now First Published with His Works ...”, p.502

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• Homosexuality, like androgyny, might be an instinctive racial response to overpopulation, crowding, and stress. Both flourish when empire reaches its apogee.

  Edward Abbey

  Stress, Might, Homosexuality

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• The real work of men was hunting meat. The invention of agriculture was a giant step in the wrong direction, leading to serfdom, cities, and empire. From a race of hunters, artists, warriors, and tamers of horses, we degraded ourselves to what we are now: clerks, functionaries, laborers, entertainers, processors of information.

  Edward Abbey

  Horse, Real, Warrior

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• We shall divert through our own Country a branch of commerce which the European States have thought worthy of the most important struggles and sacrifices, and in the event of peace on terms which have been contemplated by some powers we shall form to the American union a barrier against the dangerous extension of the British Province of Canada and add to the Empire of liberty an extensive and fertile Country thereby converting dangerous Enemies into valuable friends.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Struggle, Sacrifice

  Thomas Jefferson's letter to George Rogers Clark, founders.archives.gov. December 25, 1780.

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• I do not conceive that power is given to the President and Senate to dismember the empire, or to alienate any great, essential right. I do not think the whole legislative authority have this power. The exercise of the power must be consistent with the object of the delegation.

  James Madison

  Exercise, Thinking, President

  James Madison (1836). “The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: As Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. Together with the Journal of the Federal Convention, Luther Martin's Letter, Yates's Minutes, Congressional Opinions, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of '98-'99, and Other Illustrations of the Constitution”, p.514

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• It is a bitter thought, how different a thing the Christianity of the world might have been, if the Christian faith had been adopted as the religion of the empire under the auspices of Marcus Aurelius instead of those of Constantine.

  John Stuart Mill

  Christian, Different, World

  John Stuart Mill (1859). “On Liberty”, p.50

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• Nations and empires flourish and decay, By turns command, and in their turns obey.

  Ovid

  Decay, Command, Turns

  Ovid, Banier (M. l'abbé, Antoine), Bernard Picart (1717). “Ovid's Metamorphoses: In Latin and English, Translated by the Most Eminent Hands. With Historical Explications of the Fables, Written in French by the Abbot Banier, ... Translated Into English. Adorned with Sculptures by B. Picart, and Other Able Masters”, p.529

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• I am not carrying on a war of extermination against the Romans. I am contending for honor and empire. My ancestors yielded to Roman valour. I am endeavouring that others, in their turn, will be obliged to yield to my good fortune, and my valour.

  Hannibal

  War, Yield, Honor

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• I am leading a war against the British Empire. I'm not worried about what Democratic Party hacks say or do.

  Kesha

  War, Party, Worried

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• Let's save the human race, let's finish off the U.S. empire.

  Hugo Chavez

  Race, Humans, Human Race

  Hugo Chavez's remarks duting the Islamic Republic Medal ceremony at Tehran University in Iran, July 30, 2006.

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• Down with the U.S. empire! It must be said, in the entire world: Down with the empire!

  Hugo Chavez

  World, Said

  "The Morning Grind" by Washington Bureau, www.cnn.com. January 30, 1006.

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• Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Breakup, Regret, War

  "The CIA's Intervention in Afghanistan". Le Nouvel Observateur Interview, www.globalresearch.ca. January, 1998.

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• What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  War, Europe, Important

  "The CIA's Intervention in Afghanistan". Le Nouvel Observateur Interview, www.globalresearch.ca. January, 1998.

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• Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard, is a geopolitical pivot because its very existence as an independent country helps to transform Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Country, Independent, Russia

  Zbigniew Brzezinski (2007). “The Grand Chessboard”, p.48, Basic Books

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• To put it in a terminology that hearkens back to the more brutal age of ancient empires, the three grand imperatives of imperial geo-strategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Together, Age, Barbarians

  Zbigniew Brzezinski (2007). “The Grand Chessboard”, p.43, Basic Books

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• Mind, even more deadly to empires than to individuals, erodes them, compromises their solidity.

  Emile M. Cioran

  Mind, Erode, Compromise

  "History and Utopia". Book by Emile M. Cioran, 1960.

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• It would be some time before I fully realized that the United States sees little need for diplomacy; power is enough. Only the weak rely on diplomacy. The Roman Empire had no need for diplomacy. Nor does the United States.

  Boutros Boutros-Ghali

  War, Power, Usa

  "Unvanquished: A U.S. - U.N. Saga". Book by Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 1999.

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• Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the attack being made. And we cannot fix the exact point at which our empire shall stop; we have reached a position in which we must not be content with retaining but must scheme to extend it, for, if we cease to rule others, we are in danger of being ruled ourselves. Nor can you look at inaction from the same point of view as others, unless you are prepared to change your habits and make them like theirs.

  Alcibiades

  Blow, Men, Views

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