Famous Quotations of World History - Reformation and Renaissance

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- Famous Quotes Throughout World History -
The Protestant Reformation and Renaissance

Erasmus c.1469 - 1536

"In regione caecorum rex est luscus."

(In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king.)

Cesare Borgia 1476 - 1507

Motto inscribed on his sword:

"Aut Caesar, aut nihil"

(Caesar or nothing)

Leonardo da Vinci 1452 - 1519

"Life well spent is long."

"In her (Nature's) inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous."

"Every man at three years old is half his height."

Niccolò Machiavelli 1469 - 1527

1513 - From The Prince:

"Anyone who determines to act in all circumstances the part of a good man must come to ruin among so many who are not good. Hence, if a prince wishes to maintain himself, he must learn how not to be good, and to use that ability or not as is required."

"The experience of our times shows that the princes who have done great things are the ones who have taken little account of their promises and who have known how to addle the brains of men with their craft."

"If men were all good, this advice would not be good, but since men are wicked and do not keep their promises to you, you likewise do not have to keep your promises to them."

"So far as he is able, a prince should stick to the path of good but, if the necessity arises, he should know how to follow evil."

"Men should either be treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injures - for heavy ones they cannot."

"It is much safer for a prince to be feared than loved, if he is to fail in one of the two."

"The prince must be a fox, therefore, to recognize the traps and a lion to frighten the wolves."

Cardinal Wolsey c.1475 - 1530

"Had I but served God as diligently as I have served the King, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs."

Martin Luther 1483 - 1546

April 18, 1521 - Speech at the Diet of Worms
"Here stand I. I can do no other. God help me. Amen." (attributed)

1529
"Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott, Ein gute Wehr und Waffen." (A safe stronghold our God is still. A trusty shield and weapon.)

"Who loves not woman, wine, and song remains a fool his whole life long." (attributed)

1566
"For, where God built a church, there the devil would also build a chapel ... In such sort is the devil always God's ape."

Emperor Charles V
1500 - 1558

"To God I speak Spanish, to women Italian, to men French, and to my horse - German."

St. Ignatius Loyola 1491 - 1556

1548 - Prayer for Generosity:
"Teach us, good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou deservest:
To give and not to count the cost;
To fight and not to heed the wounds;
To toil and not to seek for rest;
To labor and not to ask for any reward
Save that of knowing that we do Thy will."

Henri IV 1553 - 1610

"I want there to be no peasant in my kingdom so poor that he is unable to have a chicken in his pot every Sunday."

- Famous Quotes Throughout World History -

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