text:
Big Fish

Big Fish is a 2003 film about a man who goes home to be with his family as his ailing father passes away. During his time there, he recalls the outlandish tales that his father told about his own life, always swearing they were true.

 * Directed by Tim Burton. Written by John August (screenplay). Based on Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace

An adventure as big as life itself. taglines

Edward Bloom

 * Kept in a small bowl, they will remain small. With more space, the fish can double, triple or quadruple its size.
 * There are some fish that cannot be caught. It's not that they're faster or stronger than other fish. They're just touched by something extra. Call it luck. Call it grace. One such fish was "The Beast".
 * Sometimes, the only way to catch an uncatchable woman is to offer her a wedding ring.
 * I was trying to find a cure to my gigantificationism...
 * Now, it's common knowledge that most towns of a certain size have a witch, if only to eat misbehaving children and the occasional puppy who wanders into her yard. Witches use those bones to cast spells and curses that make the land infertile... yet of all the witches in Alabama, there was one who was the most feared. For she had one glass eye, which was said to contain mystical powers.
 * I was thinking about death and all. About seeing how you're going to die. I mean, on one hand, if dying was all you thought about, it could kind of screw you up. But it could kind of help you, couldn't it? Because you'd know that everything else you can survive.
 * I was never much for being at home, Will. It's too confining. And this, here... being stuck in bed. Dying is the worst thing that ever happened to me.
 * Armed with the foreknowledge of my own death, I knew the giant couldn't kill me. All the same, I preferred to keep my bones unbroken.
 * Oh, come on. I can't go back, I'm a human sacrifice. If I go back they'll think I'm a coward. I'd rather be dinner than a coward.
 * The biggest fish in the river gets that way by never being caught.
 * There were two roads out of Ashton, a new one which was paved, and an older one that wasn't. People didn't use the old road anymore, and it had developed the reputation of being haunted. Well, Since I had no intention of ever returning to Ashton, this seemed as good a time as any to find out what lay down that old road.
 * Now, there comes a point where a reasonable man will swallow his pride and admit that he's made a terrible mistake. The truth is, I was never a reasonable man.
 * What I recalled of Sunday School was that the more difficult something became, the more rewarding it was in the end.
 * I agreed to spend the afternoon, if only to understand the mystery of how a place could feel so strange, and yet so familiar.
 * This town is more than any man could ask for. And if I were to end up here, I'd consider myself lucky. But the truth is, I'm not ready to end up anywhere.
 * As difficult as it was to reach Spectre, I was fated to get there eventually. After all, no man can avoid reaching the end of his life.
 * This isn't how I die.
 * We didn't have a proper wedding. Your mother-in-law was never supposed to marry me. She was engaged to somebody else.
 * It was on that night Karl met his destiny. And I met mine. Almost.
 * They say when you meet the love of your life, time stops. And that's true. What they don't tell you, is that once time starts again, it moves extra fast to catch up.
 * You will never know its Girth!
 * It was that night I discovered that most things you consider evil or wicked are simply lonely, and lacking in social niceties.
 * Fate has a cruel way of circling around on you. After all this work to leave Ashton, the girl I loved was now engaged to one of its biggest jerks. There's a time when a man needs to fight, and a time when he needs to accept that his destiny is lost, that the ship has sailed, and that only a fool will continue. The truth is, I've always been a fool.
 * Sandra Templeton, I love you! And I will marry you!
 * While I took the beating of a lifetime, it was Don Price who was ultimately defeated.
 * Truth is, I've been thirsty my whole life. Never really known why.
 * You see, most men, they'll tell a story straight through— it won't be complicated, but it won't be interesting either.

William Bloom

 * In telling the story of my father's life, it's impossible to separate the fact from the fiction, the man from the myth. The best I can do is to tell it the way he told me. It doesn't always make sense, and most of it never happened. But that's what kind of story this is.
 * Everyone loves my father. He's a very likable guy.
 * Okay, okay— The thing about icebergs is you only see 10 percent. The other 90 percent is below the water where you can't see it. That's what it is with you Dad. I'm only seeing this little bit that sticks above the water.
 * [last lines] That was my father's final joke, I guess. The man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They live on after him. And in that way, he becomes immortal.

Jenny

 * It's not a woman, it's a fish. No one ever catches her. Fish looks diff'rent to diff'rent people. My daddy said it looked like the coon dog he had when he was kid...back from the dead.
 * Fate has a way of circling back on a man, and taking him by surprise. A man sees things differently at different times in his life. This town didn't seem the same now that he was older.

Dialogue

 * Edward: Having a kid changes everything. I mean, there's the diapers and the burping and the midnight feedings...
 * Will: Did you do any of that?
 * Edward: No, but I hear it's terrible. Then you spend years trying to corrupt and mislead this child, fill its head with nonsense and still it turns out perfectly fine.

 * Norther Winslow: I've been working on this poem for 12 years.
 * Edward: Really.
 * Norther Winslow: There's a lot of expectation. I don't want to disappoint my fans...the grass so green, skies so blue, spectre is really great!
 * Edward: It's only three lines long.
 * Norther Winslow: This is why you should never show a work in progress.

 * Beamen: You won't find a better place!
 * Edward: I don't expect to.
 * Jenny: Promise me you'll come back.
 * Edward: I promise. Someday. When I'm really supposed to.

 * Man in crowd: Mayor, he ate an entire cornfield!
 * Young girl in crowd: He ate my dog!

 * Mayor: Son that creature could crush you without trying.
 * Edward: Oh trust me— he'll have to try.

 * Edward: Will never told you?... Ah, probably just as well. He would have told it wrong anyway. All the facts and none of the flavor.
 * Josephine: Oh... so this is a tall tale?
 * Edward: Well, it's not a short one.

 * Karl: I don't want to eat anybody. I just get so hungry. I'm just too big.
 * Edward: Did you ever think maybe you're not too big— but, maybe this town's just too small?

 * Amos: Tell me, Karl, have you ever heard the term “involuntary servitude?”
 * Karl: No.
 * Amos: Unconscionable contract?
 * Karl: Uh... Nope.
 * Amos: Great! Here you go.

 * Edward: I just saw the woman I'm going to marry, I know it. But I lost her.
 * Amos: Oh, tough break. Well, most men have to get married before they lose their wives.
 * Edward: I'm going to spend the rest of my life looking for her. That or die alone.
 * Amos: Damn, Kid! Let me guess. Real pretty? Reddish-blondish hair? Blue dress?
 * Edward: Yeah!
 * Amos: I know her uncle. Friends of the family.
 * Edward: Who is she? Where does she live?
 * Amos: Forget it kid, don't waste your time. She's out of your league.
 * Edward: What do you mean? You don't even know me.
 * Amos: Sure I do. You were hot s*** back in Hickville, but here in the real world, you got squat. You don't have a plan. You don't have a job. You don't have anything except the clothes on your back... you were a big fish in a small pond, but this here is the ocean, and you're drowning. Take my advice and go back to Puddleville. You'll be happy there.

 * Edward: You don't know me, but my name is Edward Bloom and I love you. I've spent the last three years working to find out who you are. I've been shot and stabbed and trampled a few times— I broke my ribs twice— but it's all been worth it to see you here, now, and to finally get to talk to you. Because I'm destined to marry you. I knew it the first moment I saw you at the circus. And I know it now more than ever.
 * Sandra: I'm sorry.
 * Edward: You don't have to apologize to me. I'm the luckiest person you'll find today.
 * Sandra: No, I'm sorry. I'm engaged to be married. But you're wrong. I do know you. At least by reputation. Edward Bloom from Ashton. See, I'm actually engaged to a boy from Ashton. Don Price. He was a few years older than you.
 * Edward: Well... congratulations. I'm sorry to have bothered you...

 * Josephine: You never told me how your parents met.
 * Will: They met at Auburn.
 * Josephine: What about the details? How they fell in love. The Circus. The War. You never told me any of that.
 * Will: That's because most of it never happened.
 * Josephine: But it's romantic.

 * Will: You have to understand. When I was growing up, he was gone more than he was here. And I started thinking— maybe he has a second life somewhere else. With another family, another house— he leaves us, he goes to them. Or maybe there is no second family. Maybe he never wanted a family. But whatever it is, maybe he likes that second life better. And the reason he tells all those stories is because he can't stand this boring place.
 * Josephine: But it's not true.
 * Will: What is "true"? He's never told me a single true thing.

 * Edward: What do you want, Will? Who do you want me to be?
 * Will: Yourself. Good, bad, everything. Just show me who you are for once.
 * Edward: I have been nothing but myself since the day I was born. And if you can't see that, it's your failing, not mine.

 * Sandra: It was during the war. Your father went missing. They thought he was dead.
 * Will: That really happened?
 * Sandra: Not everything your father says is a complete fabrication.

 * Jenny: One day, Edward Bloom left, and never returned to the town he'd saved. As for the girl, the common belief was that she'd become a witch, and crazy at that. She became something of a legend herself. And the story ended where it began.
 * Will: Well, logically, you couldn't be the witch, because she was old when he was young.
 * Jenny: Well, it's logical if you think like your father. See, to him, there's only two women: your mother and everyone else... And one day I realized I was in love with a man who could never love me back. I was living in a fairy tale... I'm not sure I should have told you any of this... I wanted to be as important to him as you were, and I was never going to be. I was make-believe and... his other life, you, you were real.

 * Will: As we get-as we get close to the river, we see that everybody is already there.
 * Will: And I mean everyone...it's-it's unbelievable.
 * Edward: The story...of my life.
 * Will: And the strange thing is,there's not a sad face to be found,everyone is just so glad to see you.And send you off right.
 * Will: You become what you always were...a very big fish...and that's how it happens.
 * Edward: Exactly.

Taglines

 * An adventure as big as life itself.

Cast

 * Ewan McGregor - Edward Bloom (Young)
 * Albert Finney - Edward Bloom (Senior)
 * Billy Crudup - Will Bloom
 * Jessica Lange - Sandra Bloom (Senior)
 * Helena Bonham Carter - Jenny (Young & Senior) & The Witch
 * Alison Lohman - Sandra Bloom (Young)
 * Robert Guillaume - Dr. Bennett (Senior)
 * Marion Cotillard - Josephine
 * Matthew McGrory - Karl the Giant
 * David Denman - Don Price (Age 18-22)
 * Missi Pyle - Mildred
 * Loudon Wainwright III - Beamen
 * Ada Tai - Ping
 * Arlene Tai - Jing
 * Steve Buscemi - Norther Winslow
 * Danny DeVito - Amos Calloway
 * Perry Walston - Edward Bloom (Age 10)
 * Hailey Anne Nelson - Jenny (Age 8)
 * Miley Cyrus - Ruthie (Age 8)

title: Big Fish


text:
A. J. Liebling

Abbott Joseph "Joe" Liebling (born October 18, 1904, in New York City; died December 28, 1963) was an American journalist who was closely associated with The New Yorker from 1935 until his death. Best known as a press critic, Liebling wrote the magazine's "Wayward Press" feature from 1945 on.

Quotes

 * As a result of its generous stand [Robert Maynard Hutchins’ controversial policy of admitting students after their second year of high-school], the University of Chicago’s undergraduate college acts as the greatest magnet for neurotic juveniles since the Children’s Crusade, with Robert Maynard Hutchins…playing the role of Stephen the Shepherd Boy.
 * Chicago: The Second City (Knopf, 1952; University of Nebraska Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8032-8035-1, p. 110.

 * Inconsiderate to the last, Josef Stalin, a man who never had to meet a deadline, had the bad taste to die in installments.
 * The New Yorker, March 28, 1953, quoted in David Remnick, "Reporting It All: A.J. Liebling at 100", The New Yorker, March 29, 2004.

 * The subject [of Stalin's death] permitted a rare blend of invective and speculation—both Hearst papers, as I recall, ran cartoons of Stalin being rebuffed at the gates of Heaven, where Hearst had no correspondents—and I have seldom enjoyed a week of newspaper reading more.
 * Just Enough Liebling: Classic Work by the Legendary New Yorker Writer, p. 23.

 * People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.
 * The New Yorker, April 7, 1956.

 * Show me a poet, and I'll show you a shit.
 * The New Yorker, March 28, 1953, quoted in David Remnick, "Reporting It All: A.J. Liebling at 100", The New Yorker, March 29, 2004.

 * Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.
 * The New Yorker, May 14, 1960.

 * You can hope for lucky encounters only if you walk around a lot.
 * The road back to Paris (1988)

 * A man´s taste is formed more by his culture, his profession, and the period in which he is young than by his race or politics.
 * The road back to Paris (1988)

Quotes about A.J. Liebling

 * As A. J. Liebling wrote: "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." Today, a handful of multinational corporations own much of the media and control what the American people see, hear, and read. This is a direct threat to American democracy. It is an issue we cannot continue to ignore.
 * Bernie Sanders Our Revolution (2016)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: A. J. Liebling


text:
Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor (born 7 August 1942) is an American novelist, humorist, comedian, and public radio personality.

Quotes

 * God writes a lot of comedy, Donna; the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny.
 * Happy to be Here (1983), p. 259

 * Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known.
 * Lake Wobegon Days (1985), p. 337

 * I think if the church put in half the time on covetousness that it does on lust, this would be a better world for all of us.
 * Lake Wobegon Days (1986), p. 138

 * Lake Wobegon, where smart doesn't count for so much. A minister has to be able to read a clock. At noon, it's time to go home and turn up the pot roast and get the peas out of the freezer.
 * Lake Wobegon Days (1985), p. 355

 * Thank you, dear God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough. Thank you for the rain. And for the chance to wake up in three hours and go fishing: I thank you for that now, because I won't feel so thankful then.
 * Leaving Home (1987), p. 9

 * Selective ignorance, a cornerstone of child rearing. You don't put kids under surveillance: it might frighten you. Parents should sit tall in the saddle and look upon their troops with a noble and benevolent and extremely nearsighted gaze.
 * Leaving Home (1987), p. 19

 * Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted.
 * Leaving Home (1987), p. 20

 * A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together.
 * Leaving Home (1987), p. 184

 * It was luxuries like air conditioning that brought down the Roman Empire. With air conditioning their windows were shut, they couldn't hear the barbarians coming.
 * As quoted in Simpson's Contemporary Quotations (1988) by James Beasley Simpson, p. 211

 * The funniest line in English is “Get it?” When you say that, everyone chortles.
 * We Are Still Married : Stories & Letters (1989), p. xvi

 * To know and to serve God, of course, is why we're here, a clear truth, that, like the nose on your face, is near at hand and easily discernible but can make you dizzy if you try to focus on it hard. But a little faith will see you through. What else will do except faith in such a cynical, corrupt time? When the country goes temporarily to the dogs, cats must learn to be circumspect, walk on fences, sleep in trees, and have faith that all this woofing is not the last word. What is the last word, then? Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith rules through ordinary things: through cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music and books, raising kids — all the places where the gravy soaks in and grace shines through. Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people.
 * We Are Still Married : Stories & Letters (1989),, "The Meaning of Life", p. 217

 * Cherish the Minnesota State Fair. Wherever you find beauty and simplicity and truth, know that there is a committee somewhere planning to improve it --- don't let them do it.
 * University of Minnesota Alumni Association (UMAA) Annual Meeting Keynote Speech (29 April 1992) UMAA 199204 to 199306 Meeting Minutes''

 * To many Americans, whose only knowledge of the North Star State is that it is intensely cold and populated by Swedes and Holsteins, it will come as a surprise to wake up one morning in 2004 and read in the newspaper, "Half of U.S. Economy Now in Hands of Minnesota".
 * "Minnesota's Sensible Plan, TIME'' (11 September 1995)

 * One day Donald Trump discovers that he is owned, lock, stock, and roulette wheel, by Lutheran Brotherhood, and must renegotiate his debt load with a committee of silent Norwegians who don't understand why anyone would pay more than $120 for a suit.
 * "Minnesota's Sensible Plan, TIME'' (11 September 1995)

 * Minnesota is a state of public-spirited and polite people, where you can get a good cappucino and eat Thai food and find any book you want and yet live on a quiet tree-lined street with a backyard and send your kids to public school. When a state this good hits the jackpot, it can only be an inspiration to everybody.
 * "Minnesota's Sensible Plan, TIME'' (11 September 1995)

 * Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose.
 * As quoted in The Cat Lover's Book of Fascinating Facts : A Felicitous Look at Felines (1997) by Ed Lucaire

 * I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it.
 * As quoted in Precision Shooting : The Trapshooter's Bible (1998) by James Russell, p. 54

 * Where I'm from we don't trust paper. Wealth is what's here on the premises. If I open a cupboard and see, say, thirty cans of tomato sauce and a five-pound bag of rice, I get a little thrill of well-being — much more so than if I take a look at the quarterly dividend report from my mutual fund.
 * As quoted in The Times Book of Quotations (2000), p. 384

 * The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong's moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt's evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk.
 * ""We're Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore" In These Times (26 August 2004)

 * Well, they're taking kids out of the country and sending them over there, National Guard kids and Army Reserve. They're sending kids who are barely prepared for this, and they're sending them over there to kill people, which is a serious thing. And to kill not terrorists, but to kill insurgents. I sort of find myself in agreement, uncomfortably, with Patrick Buchanan, who writes about this in his book, Where The Right Went Wrong. And writes that great powers, the way they skidded off the road, was getting involved in wars. That it's the role of great powers to stay out of wars.
 * Real Time with Bill Maher (15 October 2004)

 * To the cheater, there is no such thing as honesty, and to Republicans the idea of serving the public good is counterfeit on the face of it — they never felt such an urge, and therefore it must not exist.
 * Homegrown Democrat : A Few Plain Thoughts From the Heart of America (2004), p. 78

 * Journalism is a good place for any writer to start — the retailing of fact is always a useful trade and can it help you learn to appreciate the declarative sentence. A young writer is easily tempted by the allusive and ethereal and ironic and reflective, but the declarative is at the bottom of most good writing.
 * "Post to the Host" (July 2005)

 * There is almost no marital problem that can't be helped enormously by taking off your clothes.
 * "The Old Scout" in The Writer's Almanac (4 October 2005)

 * I think the most un-American thing you can say is, “You can't say that.”
 * As quoted in The Nastiest Things Ever Said About Democrats (2006) by Martin Higgins, p. 171, and The Nastiest Things Ever Said About Republicans (2006) by Martin Higgins, p. 204

 * Jesus said the meek would inherit the earth, but so far all we've gotten is Minnesota and North Dakota.
 * "When I'm 64" Salon.com (8 August 2006)

 * None of the men and women who voted for this bill has any right to speak in public about the rule of law anymore, or to take a high moral view of the Third Reich, or to wax poetic about the American Idea.
 * Referring to the Military Commissions Act of 2006, in "Congress's Shameful Retreat From American Values" in The Chicago Tribune (4 October 2006)

 * '''If the government can round up someone and never be required to explain why, then it's no longer the United States of America as you and I always understood it. Our enemies have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They have made us become like them.
 * "Congress's Shameful Retreat From American Values" in The Chicago Tribune (4 October 2006)

 * If you can't trust a Methodist with absolute power to arrest people and not have to say why, then whom can you trust?
 * "Congress's Shameful Retreat From American Values" in The Chicago Tribune (4 October 2006)

 * In electronic publishing, they're are no editors and if their are there not very good.
 * "Five Columns", in The Keillor Reader (2014), p. 257

 * Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.
 * Trademarked closing lines in The Writer's Almanac

 * The word “loser” is spoken with such contempt these days, a man might like to forget the losses in his own life that taught him something about good judgment. The money he invested in that casino in Atlantic City that went bust, the university course he enrolled in that promised to teach him the secrets of success but instead he wound up unemployed and 40 grand in debt, the candidate whose hat he wore who turned out to be tone-deaf and deluded — dumb, dumb, dumb, and yet his loved ones did not chortle and point and do the nyaa-nyaa. They put an arm around him and said, “This is how we learn.” And it is.
 * "Garrison Keillor: God help us. We’re in trouble down here." in The Washington Post (26 July 2016)

 * We made our mistakes back in the 20th century, Lord knows, but we never nominated a man for president who brags about not reading. Calvin Coolidge had his limits. Warren G. Harding spent more time on his hair than strictly necessary. Lyndon Baines Johnson was a piece of work. But all of them read books. When I envision a Trump Presidential Library, I see enormous chandeliers and gold carpet and a thousand slot machines. God help us. I mean it. We’re in trouble down here.
 * "Garrison Keillor: God help us. We’re in trouble down here." in The Washington Post (26 July 2016)

A Prairie Home Companion

 * 6 July 1974 – 13 June 1987, and November 1989 - present

 * I want to resume the life of a shy person.
 * Announcing he was leaving the show, the first run ending in June 1987 (14 February 1987)

 * Librarians, Dusty, possess a vast store of politeness. These are people who get asked regularly the dumbest questions on God's green earth. These people tolerate every kind of crank and eccentric and mouth-breather there is.
 * "Cowboy Librarians" (13 December 1997)

News from Lake Wobegon

 * "News from Lake Wobegon" is a monologue segment which is usually heard in the second hour of every performance of "A Prairie Home Companion". The introduction and close are nearly always the same:

 * It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my home town, out on the edge of the prairie...

 * That's the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.
 * See also the Wikipedia article on the Lake Wobegon effect.

Disputed

 * Going to church no more makes you a Christian than standing in a garage makes you a car.
 * Though Keillor has been quoted on the internet and in print as having made this or a similar remark, such expressions have been made by others, and may have originated with Billy Sunday, who is quoted as having said "Going to church on Sunday does not make you a Christian any more than going into a garage makes you an automobile!" in Press, Radio, Television, Periodicals, Public Relations, and Advertising, As Seen through Institutes and Special Occasions of the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism (1967) edited by John Eldridge Drewry.

 * A book is a gift you can open again and again.
 * Attributed to Keillor in The Miracle of Language (1999) by Richard Lederer, p. 149, this statement also appears in What? (1988) by Ronald Silliman, p. 28:
 * A book is a gift you can open again and again especially when you're writing it yourself.

title: Garrison Keillor


text:
User talk:Mksmith

Hello, Welcome to Wikiquote.

I noticed that you were here some time ago, but bolding of quotes or portions of them, that one finds more significant or notable is one presentation device that has been permitted here, (and I confess: one that I personally prefer and generally encourage). I feel that it allows pages to be more visually interesting and appealing, and quotes that are notable to be more easily discerned. The following is pasted from a comment I recently made on the John Acton talk page explaining some of my reasons:

 * I, as well as others, have used bolding to emphasize passages or entire quotations that we find to be especially significant or notable. I do seek to continue to encourage the use of this form of presentation, as I think it can be very useful in drawing the eye to major passages and statements, especially on pages with a great deal of material. It may not be perceived as necessary but I (and, I believe, others as well) do find it appropriate, and useful. (I personally rather dislike the blandness of many pages that have no bolding or other use of typography to draw the attention of the eye to at least some of the more significant statements.)

 * As I noted in my original comment on this issue last year, I am aware that this could be excessively employed, but the only guideline that I have thus far suggested is that passages that are innately derogatory should not be so emphasized. Even this, though I consider it a good practical guideline, I have not and do not seek to make an absolute rule.

 * I think bolding is generally preferable to italics for such purposes on electronic pages, because it is more noticeable, and italics have often been used in the original documents or statements— bolding is thus more obviously an editorial addition within Wikiquote. On the rarer occasions where bolding or capitalization is used in the original for emphasis these can be retained or omitted as seems appropriate.

 * Anyone well acquainted with me would perceive that I am a person who recognizes a need for establishing some useful and convenient rules and guidelines for many procedures, but who strongly prefers that in nearly all endeavors there be a minimum of rules improperly imposed as if they were absolutes, and an avoidance of any rules or actions based upon casual presumptions or unwarranted suppositions. I know that others do, and expect that others will disagree with me on many issues, but hope that relatively minor disputes, or even major ones, will not be seen as indications or causes of enmity. ~ Kalki

I do hope you find it interesting here, and I am sorry I inadvertently erased one of your contributions briefly— I have replaced it. I am sincerely interested in encouraging a broad range of ideas to be expressed here, from a broad range of sources. Best wishes. ~ Kalki 18:33, 5 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * Pleased to have you here. I too have extensive quotation collections, but simply haven't had all the time I might wish to arrange and format them. All contributions of quotes by any of the people you have mentioned are very welcome. ~ Kalki 19:51, 5 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * I just noticed that you are adding lines that link to the List of people by occupation. Though I have extensively used this myself as a linking tool, just today I have proposed that this be abandoned, in favor of using the Categories schemes, such as Wikipedia is now doing (see Talk:List of people by occupation). Just today I have also created a  link that creates a palette of links at the bottom of pages, which I think is preferable to the previous method that used a link to just one or two such locations. ~ Kalki 20:03, 5 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * Thanks for creating all the new pages that you have recently added. I am wondering why you are still using the older "See also:List of people by name" option when there is a link (List of people by name|People) on the newer lynx option which provides other links as well. All that is required is to type or paste at the bottom of the page. If there are title or formatting changes to the "lynx" options that you believe should be made, I am open to suggestions. ~ Kalki 19:45, 7 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Just want to point out that it does seem to be well decided that the best links to the english wikipedia from the english wikiquote are with "w:" - I had previously used "wikipedia:en" because months ago it was indicated that these would be best, and that simple "en:" links would no longer work. Presently neither of them work as they had, directing instead to points withn Wikiqoute or not functioning at all, and "w:en" is only needed if one is linking to the english Wikipedia from a project in another language. Despite a rather long period of confusions and uncertainty, the use of "w:" as the best way of linking from here to the english Wikipedia does at last seem definitely decided. Thanks again for all the additions you have been making here. ~ Kalki 22:20, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the reminder about the "Title entry" you mentioned. I now remember being a bit worried at the time it was created that many more might be produced, but I don't believe any were, and this might be unique. The contributions listing of it's author seems to indicate that it might be the only time he created such a title. I was not a sysop back when it was created, so I couldn't delete pages, and actualy didn't kow how to go about getting one deleted.  I now intend to delete this one, and add the quotation within it to another page, within the next few days. I'm a bit rushed for time today, and don't want to spend too much thought on it right now, or upon any procedures to establish, but I will get back to it. ~ Kalki 21:32, 26 Jul 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:Mksmith


text:
Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Frances; née Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales (now Charles III). The couple had two sons: William, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, born on June 21, 1982, and September 15, 1984, respectively. However, the couple's marriage was unsuccessful; they separated in 1992 and divorced on August 28, 1996. The princess died in a fatal car accident in Paris on 31 August 1997.

Quotes
Lady Diana Spencer: Of course! Charles, Prince of Wales: Whatever 'in love' means.
 * Anthony Carthew (ITN): And, I suppose, in love?
 * From the interview given at the time of their engagement (24 February 1981), as cited in "Anthony Carthew" (Obituary), The Times (22 January 2007).
 * In a BBC interview at the time (24 February 1981), Prince Charles said: "Delighted and frankly amazed that Diana is prepared to take me on."

 * I was always told by my family that I was the thick one. That I was stupid and my brother was the clever one. And I was always so conscious of that. I used to go to the headmistress crying saying I wish I wasn't so stupid.
 * Said to voice coach Peter Settelen in 1992, as quoted in "Tapes reveal more from Princess Diana: NBC News exclusive: Inside the life of the late icon", NBC News (30 November 2004)

 * From early childhood many had felt they were expected to be perfect, but didn't feel they had the right to express their true feelings to those around them - feelings of guilt of self revulsion and low personal esteem. Creating in them a compulsion to 'disolve like a disprin' and disappear.
 * A speech by The Princess of Wales about eating disorders (27 April 1993)

 * Each person is born with very individual qualities and potential. We as a society owe it to women to create a truly supportive environment in which they too can grow and move forward.
 * [Speech given by The Princess of Wales on women and mental health (1 June 1993)]

 * These children need to feel the same things as other children. To play, to laugh and cry, to make friends, to enjoy the ordinary experiences of childhood. To feel loved and nurtured and included by the world they live in, without the stigma that AIDS continues to attract.
 * The Princess of Wales during a speech about women and children with Aids (8 September 1993)

 * Care in the community is a partnership. A partnership between skilled and caring professionals and a concerned and caring community. Working together, to find new ways of helping these people who've been excluded and connecting them with neighbours who will understand and accept them. By providing, proper funding for the homes they will need and the support they so rightly deserve, we can show them how much we care.
 * The Princess of Wales' speech on care in the community (17 November 1993)

 * When I started my public life, twelve years ago, I understood the media might be interested in what I did. I realized then their attention would inevitably focus on both our private and public lives. But I was not aware of how overwhelming that attention would become. Nor the extent to which it would affect both my public duties and my personal life, in a manner, that's been hard to bear. At the end of this year, when I've completed my diary of official engagements, I will be reducing the extent of the public life I've lead so far.
 * Speech to the Headway lunch (3 December 1993)

 * Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.
 * Responding to the question "Do you think Mrs Parker Bowles was a factor in the breakdown of your marriage?" in an interview with Martin Bashir on BBC Panorama (20 November 1995)

 * She won't go quietly, that's the problem. I'll fight to the end, because I believe that I have a role to fulfill, and I've got two children to bring up.
 * Interview with Martin Bashir on BBC Panorama (20 November 1995)

 * I always knew I'd never be the next queen. I'd like to be a queen of people's hearts, in people's hearts, but I don't see myself being queen of this country. I don't think many people will want me to be queen.
 * Interview with Martin Bashir on BBC Panorama (20 November 1995)

 * I do things differently, because I don't go by a rule book, because I lead from the heart, not the head, and albeit that's got me into trouble in my work, I understand that.
 * Interview with Martin Bashir on BBC Panorama (20 November 1995)

 * The kindness and affection from the public have carried me through some of the most difficult periods, and always your love and affection have eased the journey.
 * Princess Diana on the public 1995, BBC Panorama interview

 * I think the British people need someone in public life to give affection, to make them feel important, to support them, to give them light in their dark tunnels. I see it as a possibly unique role, and yes, I’ve had difficulties, as everybody has witnessed over the years, but let’s now use the knowledge I’ve gathered to help other people in distress
 * Princess Diana on the society 1995, BBC Panorama interview

 * Everyone needs to be valued. Everyone has the potential to give something back.
 * The Guardian, December 9, 1995, p. 2

 * It takes professionalism to convince a doubting public that it should accept back into its midst many of those diagnosed as psychotics, neurotics and other sufferers who Victorian communities decided should be kept out of sight in the safety of mental institutions.
 * The Telegraph, (31 Aug 1997)The Princess of Wales during a speech for Turning Point in 1990

 * Anywhere I see suffering, that is where I want to be, doing what I can.
 * Attributed to Diana by her biographer Andrew Morton, The Sun (1 September 1997), p. 18

 * Carry out a random act of kindness with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.
 * The Huffington Post - Diana: The Legacy (31 Aug 2012)

 * I don't want to talk about things I haven't seen, so if they want me to talk about those things, I've got to go there and see for myself.

 * HIV doesn't make people dangerous to know, so you can shake their hands and give them a hug. Heaven knows they need it.
 * Princess Diana Charity Work, Biography Online

 * The worst illness of our time is that so many people have to suffer from never being loved.
 * "Princess Diana Charity Work", Biography Online

 * Two things stand like stone: kindness in anothers trouble, courage in your own. (This is a quote from poet Adam Lindsay Gordon)
 * "Princess Diana Charity Work", Biography Online

 * Family is the most important thing in the world.
 * Princess Diana: 10 most inspiring quotes from the 'people's princess', Hello Magazine Daily News, (1 July 2015)

 * They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody?
 * "Princess Diana: 10 most inspiring quotes from the 'people's princess'", Hello Magazine, Daily News (1 July 2015)

 * I don’t want expensive gifts; I don’t want to be bought. I have everything I want. I just want someone to be there for me, to make me feel safe and secure.
 * "Princess Diana: 10 most inspiring quotes from the 'people's princess'", Hello Magazine, Daily News (1 July 2015)

 * If you find someone you love in your life, then hang on to that love.
 * "Princess Diana: 10 most inspiring quotes from the 'people's princess'", Hello Magazine, Daily News (1 July 2015)

Quotes about Diana, Princess of Wales

 * In alphabetical order by author or source within the chronological sections.

1981–1994

 * She is in that adversary mood toward the press that is the first stage in the removal from life that fame inflicts.
 * Tina Brown "The Mouse That Roared", Vanity Fair (October 1985)

 * She was fun and accessible, thats why people loved her.
 * Elton John, London 1993.The Sun

 * We clicked in an intangible way' probably because of our upbringing.
 * George Michael, world AIDS day concert, London 1994.The Sun

 * After dinner at a friends house, Diana said, 'Do you have a pair of Marigolds?' I'll do the washing up. The host convinced her there was no need!
 * Cliff Richard, Tennis Federation Cup Nottingham 1991.The Sun

 * Only in storybooks do you get to dance with a princess until midnight. But it happened to me.
 * John Travolta, The White House 1985.The Sun

1997

 * She was well loved and admired across the Commonwealth and was emerging as a potent symbol of our common humanity in her evident commitment to others less fortunate than herself.
 * Emeka Anyaoku (Commonwealth Secretary General), as cited in "World Reaction to Diana's Death" BBC News (nd, September 1997)

 * Princess Diana in her official position and in a personal capacity has made an extraordinary contribution not only to her country but to the world.
 * Jean Chretien (Canadian Prime Minister), as cited in "World Reaction to Diana's Death" BBC News (nd, September 1997)

 * Hillary and I admired her for her work for children, for people with AIDS, for the cause of ending the scourge of land mines in the world and for her love for her children William and Harry.
 * Bill Clinton, as cited in "World Reaction to Diana's Death" BBC News (nd, September 1997)

 * In our opinion she was the foremost ambassador for Aids awareness on the planet and no one can fill her shoes in terms of the work she did.
 * Gavin Hart of the National Aids Trust, "BBC"

 * On the second occasion, at a Vanity Fair charity event in London several years later, things were more relaxed. Nobody even pretended that her marriage was anything more than fiction. This time we had a brief burble, and I said to her, "We republicans must stick together." She laughed fetchingly.
 * In the aftermath of her untimely death, which has thrown up a smog of irrelevant questions, — like, did the media do it? — we will soon be facing the only essential one: Will she be, posthumously, as much a destabilizer of the House of Windsor as she was when she was living?
 * Christopher Hitchens "The Haunting of the House of Windsor: In death, Diana will cause more problems for Britain's royal family than she ever did in life", Salon (2 September 1997)
 * Windsor is spelt "Winsor" in the article title.

 * It has ended, at a young age, the life of a person who held a particular fascination for many people around the world.
 * John Howard (Australian Prime Minister), as cited in "World Reaction to Diana's Death" BBC News (nd, September 1997)

 * She believed, against all the evidence of her own beautiful eyes, that there was some kind of enchanted place called Abroad, where she would be understood and where she could lead a more normal life.
 * Clive James "Mourning My Friend, Princess Diana", The New Yorker (7 September 1997)

 * Her genuine concern for the plight of others and her ability to talk to anybody and make them feel special were her remarkable qualities. Her loss has been felt here very deeply because of the wonderful work she did here with patients. She will be very deeply missed.
 * Rebecca Mosley, The Royal Marsden NHS Trustt's communications manager, "BBC"

 * She represented Britain with nobility and warmth and she captured the imagination of millions throughout the world with her dedication to her children and to innumerable worthy causes. Her untimely death is a shock to all who admired her and who will cherish her memory
 * Benjamin Netanyahu, as cited in "World Reaction to Diana's Death" BBC News (nd, September 1997)

 * I don't think she ever understood why her genuinely good intentions were sneered at by the media, why there appeared to be a permanent quest on their behalf to bring her down. It is baffling. My own and only explanation is that genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum. It is a point to remember that of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this - a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age.
 * Charles, Earl Spencer "Full text of Earl Spencer's Funeral Oration", BBC News (6 September 1997)

 * Many exceptional projects that touched the lives of ordinary people have been put into practice in Russia with her direct participation.
 * Boris Yeltsin, in a statement issued by the Kremlin (probably September 1997), as cited in "Princess Diana and the Causes Close to Her Heart", People (23 June 2011)

Since 1998

 * Caring for people who are dying and helping the bereaved was something for which Diana had passion and commitment. When she stroked the limbs of someone with leprosy, or sat on the bed of a man with HIV/AIDS and held his hand, she transformed public attitudes and improved the life chances of such people. People felt if a British princess can go to a ward with HIV patients, then there's nothing to be superstitious about.
 * Nelson Mandela, at a press conference in London 2002.My Hero

 * But a new world began, I think, in 1980, with the discovery that Diana, the future Princess of Wales, had legs. You will remember how the young Diana taught for a few hours a week at a kindergarten called Young England, and when it was first known that she was Charles's choice of bride, the press photographed her, infants touchingly gathered around; but they induced her to stand against the light, so in the resulting photograph the nation could see straight through her skirt. A sort of licentiousness took hold, a national lip-smacking. Those gangling limbs were artlessly exposed, without her permission. It was the first violation.
 * Hilary Mantel "Royal Bodies", London Review of Books, 35:4 (21 February 2013).

 * I always think of my mother in everything I do. I hope she would be proud of my work. My brother and I often ask ourselves: what would our mother have done in this situation? My mother was to me, like my brother, a role model. And also to many people worldwide. I believe people took to her so warmly because she possessed the ability to take away their embarrassment in whatever situation she met them in. She was immediately sympathetic. Exactly like her, I know that I enjoy a privileged position as a member of the royal family and I must use what was given to me to try to make a difference in important topics.
 * Prince Harry, as cited in "Prince Harry: I think of my mother in everything I do", The Telegraph, 17 December 2010.
 * Prince Harry speaking ahead of an awards ceremony in Berlin.

 * She was our guardian, friend and protector. She never once allowed her unfaltering love for us to go unspoken or undemonstrated. She will always be remembered for her amazing public work. But behind the media glare, to us, just two loving children, she was quite simply the best mother in the world. We would say that wouldn't we. But we miss her. She kissed us last thing at night. Her beaming smile greeted us from school. She laughed hysterically and uncontrollably when sharing something silly she might have said or done that day. She encouraged us when we were nervous or unsure. She - like our father - was determined to provide us with a stable and secure childhood.
 * Prince Harry, "'She was the best mother in the world' DIANA MEMORIAL DAY", The Free Library (1 September 2007).
 * Prince Harry paying a tribute to his mother on the 10th anniversary of her death

 * I think she'd be happy in the way that we're going about it but slightly unhappy about the way the other people were going about it as in saying, 'Look: you're not normal, so stop trying to be normal,' which is very much what we get a lot.
 * Prince Harry, "Timeline: Prince Harry turns 30; party boy to philanthropist", USA Today, 15 September 2014.
 * From a 2007 interview the Prince gave to NBC.

 * My mother used her position very well to help other people, as does my father, and I hope to do the same.
 * Prince William of Wales as cited in "William's life and loves", BBC News (20 June 2003).

 * Losing a close family member is one of the hardest experiences that anyone can ever endure. My mother Diana was present at your launch 15 years ago, and today I am incredibly proud to be able to continue her support for your fantastic charity, by becoming your royal patron. Never being able to say the word 'Mummy' again in your life sounds like a small thing. However, for many, including me, it's now really just a word – hollow and evoking only memories.
 * Prince William of Wales "Prince William talks of 'emptiness' on Mother's Day", The Telegraph (12 March 2009).
 * From a speech delivered when the Prince became patron of the Child Bereavement Charity.

title: Diana, Princess of Wales


text:
William I of England

William I (c. 1028–9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman monarch of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. He was a descendant of Rollo and was Duke of Normandy from 1035 onward. By 1060, following a long struggle to establish his throne, his hold on Normandy was secure. In 1066, following the death of Edward the Confessor, William invaded England, leading an army of Normans to victory over the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands, and by difficulties with his eldest son, Robert Curthose.

Quotes

 * See — I have taken England with both my hands.
 * Remark after he stepped off his ship on the coast of England and fell into the sand (28 September 1066), as quoted in LIFE magazine, Vol. 40, No. 13 (26 March 1956), p. 85

 * Most valiant of men, what availed the power of the Frank king, with all his people, from Lorraine to Spain, against Hastings, my predecessor? What he wanted of the territory of France he appropriated to himself; what he chose, only, was left to the king; what he had, he held during his pleasure; when he was satisfied, he relinquished it, and looked for something better. Did not Rollo, my ancestor, the founder of our nation, with your progenitors, conquer at Paris the king of the Franks in the heart of his dominions; nor could he obtain any respite until he humbly offered possession of the country which from you is called Normandy, with the hand of his daughter? Did not your fathers take prisoner the king of the French, and detain him at Rouen till he restored Normandy to your Duke Richard, then a boy; with this stipulation, that in every conference between the King of France and the Duke of Normandy, the duke should have his sword by his side, while the king should not be allowed so much as a dagger? This concession your fathers compelled the great king to submit to, as binding for ever.
 * Speech to his army before the Battle of Hastings (14 October 1066), quoted in Henry of Huntingdon, The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon, translated and edited by Thomas Forester (1853), p. 210

 * Ah! let any one of the English whom our predecessors, both Danes and Norwegians, have defeated in a hundred battles, come forth and show that the race of Rollo ever suffered a defeat from his time until now, and I will submit and retreat. Is it not shameful, then, that a people accustomed to be conquered, a people ignorant of the art of war, a people not even in possession of arrows, should make a show of being arrayed in order of battle against you, most valiant? Is it not a shame that this King Harold, perjured as he was in your presence, should dare to show his face to you? It is a wonder to me that you have been allowed to see those who by a horrible crime beheaded your relations and Alfred my kinsman, and that their own accursed heads are still on their shoulders. Raise, then, your standards, my brave men, and set no bounds to your merited rage. Let the lightning of your glory flash, and the thunders of your onset be heard from east to west, and be the avengers of the noble blood which has been spilled.
 * Speech to his army before the Battle of Hastings (14 October 1066), quoted in Henry of Huntingdon, The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon, translated and edited by Thomas Forester (1853), p. 211

 * I attacked the English of the Northern Shires like a lion. I ordered their houses and corn, with all their belongings, to be burnt without exception and large herds of cattle and beasts of burden to be destroyed wherever they were found. It was there I took revenge on masses of people by subjecting them to a cruel famine; and by doing so — alas!— I became the murderer of many thousands of that fine race.
 * Part of a speech on his deathbed in 1087, referring to the Harrying of the North, written down by a monk named Ordericus Vitalis in 1123; as quoted in Empires and Citizens : The Roman Empire, Medieval Britain, African Empires (2003) by Ben Walsh, p. 60

Quotes about William I

 * He must be judged by his acts, but his acts are sufficiently illuminating. They leave no doubt of his greatness, but they reveal also a man who was harsh and unlovable – perhaps even personally repellent. Most of his life was spent in war, and war brought out what was brutal in this burly warrior whose physical strength (until diminished by corpulence) was exceptional, and who may have looked something like Henry VIII of England. His savagery in war is well attested.
 * David C. Douglas, 'William the Conqueror: Duke and King', in Whitelock, Douglas et al., The Norman Conquest, Its Setting and Impact: A Book Commemorating the Ninth Centenary of the Battle of Hastings (1966), pp. 73-74

 * As a warrior, William was (perhaps inevitably) stained with blood. As a ruler, his avarice was notorious, and his taxation savage. He needed money for his government, and particularly for the numerous mercenaries he employed. The ruthlessness with which he extracted money from England must be set against the good administration he provided... Strong in rule, he was not a tyrant. Contemporaries found him a man to fear, but also a man to respect.
 * David C. Douglas, 'William the Conqueror: Duke and King', in Whitelock, Douglas et al., The Norman Conquest, Its Setting and Impact: A Book Commemorating the Ninth Centenary of the Battle of Hastings (1966), pp. 74-75

 * He was harsh and rapacious, personally pious, courageous in adversity, and indomitably tenacious of purpose. He could suit his policy to opportunity; but his will was inflexible, and his energy was untiring.
 * David C. Douglas, 'William the Conqueror: Duke and King', in Whitelock, Douglas et al., The Norman Conquest, Its Setting and Impact: A Book Commemorating the Ninth Centenary of the Battle of Hastings (1966), p. 75

 * It would, in truth, be difficult to deny to William the Conqueror a place among the greatest monarchs of the Middle Ages. He stands four-square, a dominant figure against the background of his own fascinating and tumultuous age. As a warrior he was widely renowned, and probably justly, for...his patience, his organization and his generalship were surely of the highest order. But it is above all for his constructive statesmanship that he commands attention; and here his achievement must appear all the more remarkable when it is recalled that his ceaseless preoccupation with the problems of government was coupled with ceaseless campaigning... To England he gave a new aristocracy and a reconstituted church. At the same time, he was concerned to respect the traditions of the country he conquered, and he revitalized many of its ancient institutions. He made his own contribution to the highly individual character of medieval England, and Anglo-Norman history in the eleventh century cannot be appraised without reference to his characteristic acts.
 * David C. Douglas, 'William the Conqueror: Duke and King', in Whitelock, Douglas et al., The Norman Conquest, Its Setting and Impact: A Book Commemorating the Ninth Centenary of the Battle of Hastings (1966), p. 76

 * As a mere constellation of talent in different fields Anselm, Gregory VII and William the Conqueror were the greatest men in Europe during this period... William and Gregory were men of action of a kind rare at any time, but almost unknown in the Middle Ages: they were creators who dealt intuitively with confused situations, having little in precedent or business routine or learned construction to guide them. Gregory had an energy of purpose and clarity of vision in practical affairs for which no parallel can be found in these centuries. William had an undaunted mastery of the problems of the secular world—that is to say, of other men's wills—in both fighting and ruling, unapproached in creative power by any other medieval ruler after Charlemagne.
 * R. W. Southern, Saint Anselm and His Biographer: A Study of Monastic Life and Thought 1059–c.1130 (1963), p. 4

title: William I of England


text:
Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, CH, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record and film producer, poet, painter, and animal rights and peace activist. He became famous as a founding member of The Beatles and Wings.

Quotes

 * She's lovely, great. She was very friendly. She was just like a mum to us.
 * About Queen Elizabeth II, in an interview after the Beatles received their MBEs from her (26 October 1965)

 * I really wish the people that look sort of in anger at the 'weirdos,' at the happenings, at the psychedelic freak-out, would instead of just looking with anger, just look with nothing; with no feeling; be unbiased about it. They really don't realize that what these people are talking about is something that they really want themselves. It's something that everyone wants. You know, it's personal freedom to be able to talk and be able to say things And it's dead straight! It's a real sort of basic pleasure for everyone. But it looks weird from the outside.
 * From the TV show "It's So Far Out It's Straight Down", 18.1.1967

 * Some fella said to me, "Have you had LSD, Paul?" And I said "Yes." And it was only 'cuz I was going to just be honest with him. There's no other reason. I didn't want to spread it or anything, you know. I'm not trying to do anything except answer his question. But he happened to be a reporter, and I happened to be a Beatle.
 * Pop Chronicles: Show 39 - The Rubberization of Soul: The great pop music renaissance. Part 5, interview recorded 5.14.1968

 * Personally, I think you can put any interpretation you want on anything, but when someone suggests that Can't Buy Me Love is about a prostitute, I draw the line. That's going too far.
 * The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics (1969), p 107

 * We probably seem to be anti-religious...none of us believes in God.
 * Hit Parader (January 1970)

 * I wasn't really dead.
 * "The Chris Farley Show" sketch on Saturday Night Live, regarding the Paul is Dead hoax.

 * “You’re up on your beautiful Appaloosa stallion. It’s a fine spring day. We’re riding through the woods. The bluebells are all out, and the sky is a clear blue." I had barely got to the end of the sentence when she closed her eyes and gently slipped away. She was unique, and the world is a better place for having known her. I love you, Linda.
 * Last words to his wife, Linda, as recounted by McCartney in a statement released to the press three days after her death; as quoted in "Linda's Death 'Heartbreak' for McCartney" by Emma Ross, Tucson Citizen (April 21, 1998), p. B1

 * When I see bacon, I see a pig, I see a little friend, and that's why I can't eat it. Simple as that. But I'll eat Linda's veggie bacon. All her food was so good.
 * Animal Times interview, Fall, 1998

 * Steve Martin came around for a barbecue once. I was grilling and he said, “Oh, no, I can’t have any of that.” I asked why not and he said, “Sorry, I’m vegetarian.” I said, “You didn’t know we are?! Everything on the grill is veggie!” He said, “Ahhh” and ate three veggie burgers and then asked where he could buy them.
 * Animal Times interview, Fall, 1998

 * Criticism didn't really stop us and it shouldn't ever stop anyone, because critics are only the people who can't get a record deal themselves.
 * The Beatles Anthology (2000), p. 96

 * We're constantly being asked all sorts of very profound questions. But we're not very profound people. People say, 'What do you think of the H-bomb, of religion, of fan worship?' But we didn't really start thinking about these things until people asked us. And even then we didn't get much time to consider them. What do I think of the H-bomb? Well, here's an answer with the full weight of five O levels and one A level behind it: I don't agree with it.
 * The Beatles Anthology (2000), p. 109

 * I don't have any desire to learn. I feel it's like a voodoo, that it would spoil things if I actually learnt how things are done.
 * Of arranging, The Beatles Anthology (2000), p. 175

 * While the others had got married and moved out to suburbia, I had stayed in London and got into the arts scene through friends like Robert Fraser and Barry Miles and papers like The International Times. We opened the Indica gallery with John Dunbar, Peter Asher and people like that. I heard about people like John Cage, and that he’d just performed a piece of music called 4’33” (which is completely silent) during which if someone in the audience coughed he would say, ‘See?’ Or someone would boo and he’d say, ‘See? It’s not silence—it’s music.’ I was intrigued by all of that. So these things started to be part of my life. I was listening to Stockhausen; one piece was all little plink-plonks and interesting ideas. Perhaps our audience wouldn’t mind a bit of change, we thought, and anyway, tough if they do! We only ever followed our own noses—most of the time, anyway. ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ was one example of developing an idea.
 * The Beatles Anthology (2000), p. 212

 * With life and all I've been through, I do have a belief in goodness, a good spirit. I think what people have done with religion is personified good and evil, so good's become God with 'o' out, and evil's become Devil with a 'd' added. That's my theory of religion.
 *  The Beatles Anthology (2000)

 * For cruelty to animals, vegetarianism is the great thing to get rid of that. For the planet, to prevent depleting the water and the land and everything, it’s a great idea. And I think it’s a great thing for your health, and doctors nowadays agree with that. There are plenty of great books and organizations, so no matter where you are, there is someone to help you. That’s your first step, and I think your second step is just look in the supermarket for good vegetarian food, and I think it’s so much more readily available now.
 * Sir Paul McCartney and PETA VP Dan Mathews Reflect on Two Decades of Activism (April 2005)

 * We thought we'd be really big in Liverpool.
 * On the Beatles' early expectations of their success (2007 interview with Larry King)

 * What a fucking great band we were.
 * Discussing The Beatles in the documentary, All Together Now (2008)

 * I tend not to say much on the phone now. If I leave a message, it's benign. You edit yourself according to the new circumstances of the new world. I think it would be quite good to get some sort of laws.
 * Discussing phone hacking

 * I'd like to be able to go on holiday and not to have to hold my belly in for two whole weeks.
 * Of his fear that paparazzi would take unflattering photos

The Beatles
Songs credited to Lennon–McCartney:

 * Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away Now it looks as though they're here to stay. Oh, I believe in yesterday.
 * "Yesterday", from Help! (1965)

 * Why she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.
 * "Yesterday", from Help! (1965)

 * Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play Now I need a place to hide away. Oh, I believe in yesterday.
 * "Yesterday", from Help! (1965)

 * To lead a better life, I need my love to be here. Here, making each day of the year, Changing my life with a wave of her hand. Nobody can deny that there's something there.
 * "Here, There and Everywhere" form Revolver (1966) - Full lyrics at Songfacts.com

 * I want her everywhere and if she's beside me I know I need never care. But to love her is to need her Everywhere, knowing that love is to share each one believing that love never dies watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there.
 * "Here, There and Everywhere" (1966)

 * Lovely Rita, Meter Maid, nothing could come between us. When it gets dark I'll tow your heart away
 * "Lovely Rita" from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

 * Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm sixty-four?
 * "When I'm Sixty-Four" from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

 * Hey Jude, don't make it bad Take a sad song and make it better. Remember to let her into your heart Then you can start to make it better.
 * "Hey Jude" (1968)

 * Obladi oblada life goes on bra Lala how the life goes on
 * Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (1968)

 * And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.
 * "The End"; The last full song track of Abbey Road (1969) the last Beatles album to be recorded before the band broke up. (Let It Be was the last album released, but had been recorded earlier.)

 * The long and winding road that leads to your door Will never disappear, I've seen that road before it always leads me here, Leads me to your door.
 * "The Long and Winding Road" from Let It Be (1970)

Wings

 * I thought the only lonely place was on the moon.
 * "Jet" from Band on the Run (1974)

 * You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs I look around me and I see it isn't so Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs And what's wrong with that? I'd like to know 'Cause here I go again... I love you.
 * "Silly Love Songs", 1976

Quotes about Paul McCartney

 * Even legendary musician Paul McCartney weighed in. In his foreword to a new book against Arctic drilling by Greenpeace activist Ben Stewart, McCartney wrote, "As the ice retreats, the oil giants are moving in. Instead of seeing the melting as a grave warning to humanity, they are eyeing the previously inaccessible oil beneath the seabed at the top of the world. They're exploiting the disappearance of the ice to drill for the very same fuel that caused the melting in the first place."
 * Amy Goodman Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America (2017) p 237

title: Paul McCartney


text:
Charles II of England

Charles II of England (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Charles II was the eldest surviving child of Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and Henrietta Maria of France. After Charles I's execution at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War, the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II king on 5 February 1649. However, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth, and the country was a de facto republic led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, and Charles fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland. Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. A political crisis that followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy, and Charles was invited to return to Britain. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim. After 1660, all legal documents stating a regnal year did so as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649.

Quotes

 * Better than a play!
 * On the House of Lords' debate on Lord Ross's Divorce Bill (1610), as quoted in King Charles the Second (1931) by Arthur Bryant

 * If we are understood, more words are unnecessary; if we are not likely to be understood, they are useless.
 * To the Earl of Manchester, as quoted in the notes to Hudibras (1674), Part 1, Canto 1, by Samuel Butler, edited by Henry George Bohn, (1859)

But we had not gone two hours on our way but the mare I rode on cast a shoe; so we were forced to ride to get another shoe at a scattering village, whose name begins with something like Long—. And as I was holding my horse's foot, '''I asked the smith what news? He told me that there was no news that he knew of, since the good news of the beating of the rogues the Scots.''' I asked him whether there was none of the English taken that joined with the Scots? He answered, that he did not hear that that rogue Charles Stewart was taken; but some of the others, he said, were taken, but not Charles Stewart. '''I told him, that if that rogue were taken he deserved to be hanged, more than all the rest, for bringing in the Scots. Upon which he said, that I spoke like an honest man, and so we parted.'''
 * Mrs. Lane and I took our journey towards Bristol, resolving to lie at a place called Long Marson, in the vale of Esham.
 * As quoted by Philibert de Gramont (1701), in Memoirs of the Court of Charles the Second (1846) by Anthony Hamilton, edited by Sir Walter Scott.

 * We saw, that no Expedient would be entertain'd but that of a total Exclusion, which We had so often declar'd, was a Point, that in Our Own Royal Judgment, so nearly concern'd Us both in Honour, Justice, and Conscience, that We could never consent to it: In short, We cannot, after the sad Experience We have had of the late Civil Wars, that Murder'd Our Father of Blessed Memory, and ruin'd the Monarchy, consent to a Law, that shall establish another most Unnatural War, or at least make it necessary to maintain a Standing Force for the Preserving the Government and the Peace of the Kingdom.
 * His Majesty's Declaration to all his Loving Subjects, touching the Causes and Reasons that moved Him to Dissolve the Two last Parliaments (8 April 1681), quoted in Memoirs Relating to the Impeachment of Thomas Earl of Danby, (Now Duke of Leeds,) In the Year, 1678 (1711), pp. 102-103

 * And who cannot but remember, That Religion, Liberty and Property were all lost and gone, when the Monarchy was shaken off, and could never be reviv'd till that was restored.
 * His Majesty's Declaration to all his Loving Subjects, touching the Causes and Reasons that moved Him to Dissolve the Two last Parliaments (8 April 1681), quoted in Memoirs Relating to the Impeachment of Thomas Earl of Danby, (Now Duke of Leeds,) In the Year, 1678 (1711), p. 106

 * He had been, he said, an unconscionable time dying; but he hoped that they would excuse it.
 * As quoted in A History of England (1849) by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Vol. I, Ch. 4, p. 437

 * Let not poor Nelly starve.
 * On his deathbed, asking that his favourite mistress, Nell Gwynne, be looked after, as quoted in History of My Own Time (1734), by Gilbert Burnet, Vol.II, Bk.iii, Ch. 17

Quotes about Charles II

 * Sorted alphabetically by author or source

Is like a garden full of weeds'''...
 * '''A man of words and not of deeds,
 * Anonymous (ca. 1680) Puritan satire about Charles II, in a copy of proverbs in the, as quoted by Percy B. Green, A History of Nursery Rhymes (1899) p. 186.

Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it is to be banished thy native country, to be overruled as well as to rule and sit upon the throne; and being oppressed, thou hast reason to know how hateful the oppressor is both to God and man. If after all these warnings and advertisements thou dost not turn unto the Lord with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered thee in thy distress and give up thyself to follow lust and vanity, surely great will be thy condemnation. Against which snare, as well as the temptation of those that may or do feed thee and prompt thee to evil, the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be to apply thyself to that Light of Christ, which shineth in thy conscience, which neither can nor will flatter thee nor suffer thee to be at ease in thy sins, but doth and will deal plainly and faithfully with thee as those that are followers thereof have also done. God Almighty, who hath so signally hitherto visited thee with his love, so touch and reach thy heart, ere the day of thy visitation be expired, that thou mayest effectually turn to him so as to improve thy place and station for his name.
 * There is no king in the world, who can so experimentally testify of God's providence and goodness; neither is there any who rules so many free people, so many true Christians: which thing renders thy government more honorable, thyself more considerable, than the accession of many nations filled with slavish and superstitious souls.
 * Robert Barclay, in a letter to Charles II (25 November 1675), later published in Theologiæ Vere Christianæ Apologia (1676), and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity: Being an Explanation and Vindication of the Principles and Doctrines of the People called Quakers (1678)

 * It is practically impossible to separate the failure of the Restoration Settlements from the personality of King Charles II. In an age of personal monarchy, royal personality mattered. At first, as with nearly all new rulers, only the king's good points shone through. Charles II was highly intelligent. He spoke fluent French and some Italian; he had a particular interest in science, maintaining a laboratory, and serving as the founding patron of the Royal Society. He was also witty, affable, and approachable. (He would, in our own day, have made a terrific TV talk-show host.) This was in sharp, and in the most part, agreeable contrast to his father, who had been impossibly aloof and formal. The new king was also vigorous, as he proved on the tennis court and in the bedroom: in the words of one historian, he was "unmistakably the 'sport' of his line." More importantly, he was tolerant, flexible, and open to compromise- again, in welcome contrast to his father.
 * Richard Bucholz and Newton Key, Early Modern England, 1485-1714: A Narrative History (2009), p. 283

 * Above all, Charles II saw the need for healing after a quarter-century of bitter conflict. At Breda he had promised forgiveness to his enemies, and, in general, he lived up to that promise: fewer than 40 old rebels and servants of the Commonwealth and Protectorate were left out of the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion (1660). The most serous revenge was reserved for those who had signed Charles I's death warrant and, of these, only 11 were executed. Those unfortunate souls, however, suffered the full fury of the traditional punishments associated with treason: they were hanged, drawn, and quartered, and their boiled remains impaled on the City gates. The new regime even vented its wrath on the dead: the bodies of Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton, and John Bradshaw were exhumed and hanged at Tyburn in their shrouds. Afterwards their heads were placed on pikes at Westminster Hall- the place of Charles I's trial- as a warning to all potential rebels.
 * Richard Bucholz and Newton Key, Early Modern England, 1485-1714: A Narrative History (2009), p. 283

 * On the other hand, Charles II forgave many surviving Roundheads, reappointing them to the offices they had performed so well for the Commonwealth and Protectorate, rewarding them for their new-found loyalty with titles, pensions, and lands. This eased bitterness on their part and it kept experienced and competent people in government. But it also left many old Royalists, impoverished by their long and faithful service to the Stuarts in defeat and exile, resentful that they were not rewarded more generously. In fact, most Royalist nobility and gentry regained the lands lost during the Interregnum, but those further down the social scale were not so lucky. A fund of £60,000 was established for indigent officers, but individual pay-outs were tiny. Hence the dark Royalist joke that the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion meant indemnity for the king's former enemies and oblivion for his friends.
 * Richard Bucholz and Newton Key, Early Modern England, 1485-1714: A Narrative History (2009), p. 283-284

 * Charles II's willingness to slight old friends for new ones was, in fact, characteristic of the man. A his reign progressed, it became increasingly clear that his loyalty to servants and favorites was undependable; that his intelligence frequently manifested itself as cunning and duplicity; that his charm was often deceptive and self-serving; that his easy-going nature was also lazy and indecisive; and that his flexibility was, in part, the corollary of having no long-term goal or plan. Basically, Charles II was a cynic- and who could blame him? After all, the people who now professed their undying loyalty and affection for him were the very ones who had fought against his father. He would never fully understand their prejudices. On his last visit to his dominions in 1651 he had been forced to hide in a tree before sneaking out of the country in disguise. During the ensuing exile of over eighteen years he had been threatened, denounced, promised to, lied to, used, and spied on by them- as well as by every government in Europe. Often, he would find that a confidential servant was in the pay of his enemies; or that a fellow monarch had used him as a pawn in some diplomatic game of chess with Cromwell. No wonder that he trusted no one. He never knew when the English, Scots, and Irish would change their minds once more and force him to go "on his travels" again.
 * Richard Bucholz and Newton Key, Early Modern England, 1485-1714: A Narrative History (2009), p. 284-285

 * So, perhaps understandably, the young but wizened king decided to make hay while the sun shone. Hence his laziness. Hence his apparent lack of a long-term plan, besides survival. Hence his almost obsessive interest in "diversion": having fun and relieving boredom through the pursuit and patronage of art, music, literature, the theater, witty conversation, gambling, drinking, and womanizing. A positive result of these tendencies was that the Restoration court was the greatest center for cultural patronage of its day. It has been credited with introducing England to the comedy of intrigue, the first stage actresses, the man's three-piece suit, periwigs, and such delicacies as champagne, tea, and ice cream.
 * Richard Bucholz and Newton Key, Early Modern England, 1485-1714: A Narrative History (2009), p. 285

 * The King was only fifty-six, and in appearance lively and robust, but his exorbitant pleasures had undermined his constitution. To represent him as a mere voluptuary is to underrate both his character and his intellect. His whole life had been an unceasing struggle. The tragedy he had witnessed and endured in his youth, the adventures and privations of his manhood, the twenty-five years of baffling politics through which he maintained himself upon the throne, the hateful subjugations forced upon him by the Popish Plot, now in his last few years gave place to a serene experience. All the fires of England burned low, but there was a genial glow from the embers at which the wearing King warmed his hands. Halifax, now more than ever trusted, still urged him to the adventure of a new Parliament, and Charles might have consented, when suddenly in February 1685 an apoplectic stroke laid him low. The doctors of the day inflicted their tormenting remedies upon him in vain. With that air of superiority to death for which all mortals should be grateful he apologised for being "so unconscionable a time in dying." James was at hand to save his soul. Old Father Huddleston, the priest who had helped him in the days of the Boscobel oak, was brought up the backstairs to rally him to Rome and give the last sacrament. Apart from hereditary monarchy, there was not much in which Charles believed in this world or another. He wanted to be King, as was his right, and have a pleasant life. He was cynical rather than cruel, and indifferent rather than intolerant. His care for the Royal Navy is his chief claim upon the gratitude of his countrymen.
 * Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Volume Two: The New World (1956), p. 381-382

 * Strong leaders, even absolute monarchs, owe their strength to a natural social constituency rather than to an authoritarian personality. For Charles, it was the nexus of squire and parson that fuelled the uncompromising counter-revolution of populist Anglicanism. These were the men, like the Vicar of Bray, for whom Good King Charles's days were golden, at least in retrospect. At the time, they found him often reluctant to go as far as they wished in persecuting Catholics and Dissenters. Only later did Charles's reign assume the golden glow of nostalgia, as unhappy Tories under the first two Georges sought a stylish archetype which would highlight, by contrast, the Hanoverian boorishness. Then, Charles's rule came to seem a symbol of the triumph of indulgence, pleasure and tolerance over rigour, earnestness and bigotry. But at the time, it was a much more ambiguous affair.
 * J. C. D. Clark, 'The politics of absolute power', The Times (25 November 1989), p. 39

 * [I]f we suppose that Charles II was serious in intending to bury the protestant religion, the liberties of England, and the Dutch commonwealth in one grave, he may be considered as the most criminal of all English Princes. And, if we impute his indecisive and desultory measures, after he withdrew from the war, either to levity, or to the influence of the sums he received from foreigners, his conduct will appear in a very mean light. But, if his motives were really as criminal and mean as they are generally supposed to have been, the consequences of them afford one of the many instances in the English history, in which good has arisen to the English nation from intended evil.
 * John Dalrymple, Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland From the Dissolution of the Last Parliament of Charles II. Until the Sea-battle Off La Hogue, Vol. I (1771), p. 39

 * This day came in his Majestie Charles the 2d to London after a sad, & long Exile, and Calamitous Suffering both of the King & Church: being 17 yeares: This was also his Birthday, and with a Triumph of above 20000 horse & foote, brandishing their swords and shouting with unexpressable joy: The wayes straw'd with flowers, the bells ringing, the streets hung with Tapissry, fountaines running with wine: The Major, Aldermen, all the Companies in their liver[ie]s, Chaines of Gold, banners; Lords & nobles, Cloth of Silver, gold & vellvet every body clad in, the windos & balconies all set with Ladys, Trumpets, Musick, & [myriads] of people flocking the streetes & was as far as Rochester, so as they were 7 houres in passing the Citty, even from 2 in the afternoon 'til nine at night: I stood in the strand, & beheld it, & blessed God: And all this without one drop of bloud, & by that very army, which rebell'd against him: but it was the Lords doing, et mirabile in oculis nostris: for such a Restauration was never seene in the mention of any history, antient or modern, since the returne of the Babylonian Captivity, nor so joyfull a day, & so bright, ever seene in this nation: this hapning when to expect or effect it, was past all humane policy.
 * John Evelyn, diary entry (29 May 1660), quoted in John Evelyn, The Diary of John Evelyn, ed. E. S. de Beer (1959), p. 406

 * After the fall of Clarendon...the King entered into that career of government, which, that he was able to pursue it to its end, is a disgrace to the history of our country. If any thing can add to our disgust at the meanness with which he solicited a dependence upon Lewis the Fourteenth, it is the hypocritical pretence upon which he was continually pressing that monarch.
 * Charles James Fox, A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James the Second (1808), p. 23

 * When considered as a companion, he appears the most amiable and engaging of men... His love of raillery was so tempered with good breeding, that it was never offensive: His propensity to satire was so checked with discretion, that his friends never dreaded their becoming the object of it: His wit, to use the expression of one who knew him well, and who was himself a good judge, could not be said so much to be very refined or elevated, qualities apt to beget jealousy and apprehension in company, as to be a plain, gaining, well-bred, recommending kind of wit. And though perhaps he talked more than strict rules of behaviour might permit, men were so pleased with the affable, communicative deportment of the monarch, that they always went away contented both with him and with themselves. This indeed is the most shining part of the king's character; and he seems to have been sensible of it: For he was fond of dropping the formality of state, and of relapsing every moment into the companion. In the duties of private life his conduct, though not free from exception, was, in the main, laudable. He was an easy generous lover, a civil obliging husband, a friendly brother, an indulgent father, and a good natured master.
 * David Hume, The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to The Revolution in 1688, Volume VI (1778 edn., 1983), pp. 446-447

 * When we consider him as a sovereign, his character, though not altogether destitute of virtue, was in the main dangerous to his people, and dishonourable to himself. Negligent of the interests of the nation, careless of its glory, averse to its religion, jealous of its liberty, lavish of its treasure, sparing only of its blood; he exposed it by his measures, though he ever appeared but in sport, to the danger of a furious civil war, and even to the ruin and ignominy of a foreign conquest. Yet may all these enormities, if fairly and candidly examined, be imputed, in a great measure, to the indolence of his temper; a fault, which, however unfortunate in a monarch, it is impossible for us to regard with great severity.
 * David Hume, The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to The Revolution in 1688, Volume VI (1778 edn., 1983), p. 447

 * In reaction to the classical—"Whig"—view, some more recent historians have gone to the other extreme, describing Charles as the personification of king-craft, a master of political tactics who skilfully played Shaftesbury and his supporters before finally destroying them. There can be no doubt that, in contrast to his father and brother, Charles was extremely intelligent and clever. But there was a limit to what cleverness could achieve during the Exclusion crisis. Although the King retained his prerogative powers he could not use them during the summer of 1679 against those whom he was now increasingly regarding as the enemies of the Crown as well as of his brother and the ministers. He possessed other, and eventually decisive, advantages, the protection of the Guards, the fund of old Cavalier loyalty which although overlaid by fear of Popery was bound to revive, and the unswerving support of the Church. Yet he was still obliged to play for time, and in order to do so he had to make concessions even if in bad faith. With the time which he gained Charles was able to rally support against Exclusion, and he was the real founder of the Tory party. Later in 1679–80 he succeeded in ruling for sixteen months without calling Parliament, and in ejecting the Whigs from all positions of influence in the central and local administration. Nevertheless, he was still checked by Shaftesbury, and his policy was only partially successful in lessening tensions. Despite all the advantages which the King enjoyed, Shaftesbury was able to defy him and to continue to do so until foreign intervention altered the balance of power. The Whigs were not to be defeated until the King chose to become a French dependent in preference to reigning as the servant of the most astute of his subjects.
 * J. R. Jones, The First Whigs: The Politics of the Exclusion Crisis, 1678–1683 (1961), pp. 60-61

 * Richmond, Grafton, St. Albans, Buccleuch, Southampton, Daventry, Montagu — These peers' families' fathers are reckoned — Merrily back to King Charles the Second.
 * Iain Moncreiffe and Don Pottinger, quoted in Blood Royal (1956)

 * The King was soe much pleased in the country, and soe great a lover of the diversions which that place did afford, that he lett himselfe down from Majesty to the very degree of a country gentlemen. He mixed himselfe amongst the crowd, allowed every man to speak to him that pleased, went a-hawkeing in mornings, to cock matches in afternoons (if ther were noe hors races), and to plays in the evenings, acted in a barn and by very ordinary Bartlemew-fair comedians.
 * John Reresby, Memoirs of Sir John Reresby: The Complete Text and a Selection from His Letters, ed. Andrew Browning (1936; 2nd edn., 1991), p. 259

 * If his Majesty is resolved to have my head, he may make a whistle of my arse if he pleases.
 * Algernon Sydney, on being told that part of his sentence had been remitted — that he would merely be executed, but his estate would remain intact, quoted in Joe Miller's Jests (1739), p. 6

At length Robert Barclay, a native of Scotland, presented to the king, in 1675, his "Apology for the Quakers"; a work as well drawn up as the subject could possibly admit. The dedication to Charles II., instead of being filled with mean, flattering encomiums, abounds with bold truths and the wisest counsels. "Thou hast tasted," says he to the king, at the close of his "Epistle Dedicatory," "of prosperity and adversity: thou hast been driven out of the country over which thou now reignest, and from the throne on which thou sittest: thou hast groaned beneath the yoke of oppression; therefore hast thou reason to know how hateful the oppressor is both to God and man. If, after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord, with all thy heart; but forget Him who remembered thee in thy distress, and give thyself up to follow lust and vanity, surely great will be thy guilt, and bitter thy condemnation. Instead of listening to the flatterers about thee, hearken only to the voice that is within thee, which never flatters. I am thy faithful friend and servant, Robert Barclay." The most surprising circumstance is that this letter, though written by an obscure person, was so happy in its effect as to put a stop to the persecution.
 * The Quakers suffered several persecutions under Charles II; not upon a religious account, but for refusing to pay the tithes, for "theeing" and "thouing" the magistrates, and for refusing to take the oaths enacted by the laws.
 * Voltaire, in "The History of the Quakers" in The Works of Voltaire (1762), Vol 13, as translated by Tobias George Smollett, Thomas Francklin, et al., later published as "The Religion of the Quakers", in The Works of Voltaire: A Contemporary Version with Notes (1901), Vol. 33, as modernized by William F. Fleming

 * We have a pretty witty king, Whose word no man relies on; He never said a foolish thing, Nor ever did a wise one.
 * John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, as quoted in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Vol. XLIV (January - June 1857) p. 592; It is said to that this was written on the door of Charles II's bedchamber, and that on seeing it, the king replied, "This is very true: for my words are my own, and my actions are my ministers'...."

title: Charles II of England


text:
Godwin, Earl of Wessex

Godwin, Earl of Wessex (c.1001 – 15 April 1053) was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Canute the Great and his successors.

Misattributed

 * Sir king, I have been often accused of harbouring traitorous designs against you, but, as God in heaven is just and true, may this morsel of bread choke me if even in thought I have ever been false to you.
 * The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon (trans. Thomas Forester), Book VI
 * Godwin supposedly said this just before he choked to death on a piece of bread at the table of King Edward "the Confessor", but the story is very doubtful.

title: Godwin, Earl of Wessex