Courtiers Quotes

• If, in looking at the lives of princes, courtiers, men of rank and fashion, we must perforce depict them as idle, profligate, and criminal, we must make allowances for the rich men's failings, and recollect that we, too, were very likely indolent and voluptuous, had we no motive for work, a mortal's natural taste for pleasure, and the daily temptation of a large income. What could a great peer, with a great castle and park, and a great fortune, do but be splendid and idle?

  William Makepeace Thackeray

  Fashion, Men, Temptation

  William Makepeace Thackeray (1869). “Miscellanies: The four Georges. The English humorists. Roundabout papers”, p.38

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• I find virtue to be found amongst the farmers of the country alone, not about courts, where courtiers dwell.

  Andrew Jackson

  Country, Virtue, Found

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• When mighty roast beef was the Englishman's food It ennobled our hearts and enriched our blood-- Our soldiers were brave and our courtiers were good. Oh! the roast beef of England. And Old England's roast beef.

  Henry Fielding

  Heart, Blood, Brave

  'The Grub Street Opera' (1731) act 3, sc. 3

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• Perhaps one of the only positive pieces of advice that I was ever given was that supplied by an old courtier who observed: Only two rules really count. Never miss an opportunity to relieve yourself; never miss a chance to sit down and rest your feet.

  King Edward VIII

  Opportunity, Two, Feet

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• Courtiers don't take wagers against the king's skill. There is the deadly danger of winning.

  Isaac Asimov

  Kings, Winning, Skills

  Isaac Asimov (1951). “Foundation”

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• Dogs live with man as courtiers 'round a monarch, steeped in the flattery of his notice ... to push their favor in this world of pickings and caresses is, perhaps, the business of their lives.

  Robert Louis Stevenson

  Dog, Men, World

  Robert Louis Stevenson (2016). “Memories and Portraits: Stevenson's Vol. 21”, p.70, VM eBooks

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• Peoples, be peoples and others will respect you. Be courtiers and others will scorn you and it will be well deserved.

  Louis-Joseph Papineau

  Wells, Scorn

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• Practise in everything a certain nonchalance that shall conceal design and show that what is done and said is done without effort and almost without thought.

  Baldassare Castiglione

  Design, Effort, Done

  Baldassare Castiglione (2012). “The Book of the Courtier”, p.35, Courier Corporation

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• The politics of courtiers resemble their shadows; they cringe and turn with the sun of the day.

  Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

  Shadow, Sun, Turns

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• The fawning courtier and the surly squire often mean the same thing,--each his own interest.

  George Berkeley

  Mean, Selfishness, Surly

  George Berkeley (1837). “Works: Account of His Life and Letters”, p.363

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• The best servants of the people, like the best valets, must whisper unpleasant truths in the master's ear. It is the court fool, not the foolish courtier, whom the king can least afford to lose.

  Walter Lippmann

  Kings, People, Ears

  Walter Lippmann (1914). “A Preface to Politics”

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• The Westerly Wind asserting his sway from the south-west quarter is often like a monarch gone mad, driving forth with wild imprecations the most faithful of his courtiers to shipwreck, disaster, and death.

  Joseph Conrad

  Death, Wind, Mad

  Joseph Conrad (2015). “The Complete Novels of Joseph Conrad - All 20 Works in One Premium Edition: Including Unforgettable Titles like Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, Nostromo, Under Western Eyes and Many More (With Author’s Letters, Memoirs and Critical Essays)”, p.4441, e-artnow

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• The success of great scholars and thinkers is commonly a courtier-like success, not kingly, not manly.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Success, Scholar, Thinker

  Henry David Thoreau (1882). “Walden”, p.26

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• You can smile when your heart is breaking because you are a woman, and a courtier, and a Howard. That's three reasons for being the most deceitful creature on God's earth.

  Philippa Gregory

  Heart, Three, Earth

  Philippa Gregory (2008). “The Other Boleyn Girl (Movie Tie-In)”, p.98, Simon and Schuster

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• In the humanist ideal, the mainstream is where interesting debate, the generating of new ideas and creativity take place. In rational society this mainstream is considered uncontrollable and is therefore made marginal. The centre ground is occupied instead by structures and courtiers.

  John Ralston Saul

  Creativity, Ideas, Interesting

  "The Doubter's Companion". Book by John Ralston Saul, 1994.

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• The room was quiet, the others flicking glances at me. I ignored them. After years in Sounis's palaces being eyed with disgust by my uncle and my own father and courtier after courtier, I assure you I am unrivaled at pretending not to notice other people's glances.

  Megan Whalen Turner

  Uncles, Father, Years

  Megan Whalen Turner (2010). “A Conspiracy of Kings”, Greenwillow

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• The wicked can have only accomplices, the voluptuous have companions in debauchery, self-seekers have associates, the politic assemble the factions, the typical idler has connections, princes have courtiers. Only the virtuous have friends.

  Voltaire

  Funny Friendship, Real, Self

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• Every spendthrift passion has its attendant courtiers.

  Doris Lessing

  Passion, Spendthrift

  Doris Lessing (2010). “Shikasta: Re, Colonised Planet 5”, p.301, Vintage

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• Washington has become our Versailles. We are ruled, entertained, and informed by courtiers -- and the media has evolved into a class of courtiers. The Democrats, like the Republicans, are mostly courtiers. Our pundits and experts, at least those with prominent public platforms, are courtiers. We are captivated by the hollow stagecraft of political theater as we are ruthlessly stripped of power. It is smoke and mirrors, tricks and con games, and the purpose behind it is deception.

  Chris Hedges

  Games, Class, Mirrors

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• Leaders of the Church have often been Narcissus, flattered and sickeningly excited by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy.

  Pope Francis

  Leader, Church, Leprosy

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• The neo-conservatives, who are closely linked to the neo-corporatists, are rather different. They claim to be conservatives, when everything they stand for is a rejection of conservatism. They claim to present an alternate social model, when they are little more than the courtiers of the corporatist movement. Their agitation is filled with the bitterness and cynicism typical of courtiers who scramble for crumbs at the banquet tables of real power, but are always denied a proper chair.

  John Ralston Saul

  Real, Rejection, Bitterness

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• Art editors and critics - people like me - have become a courtier class.

  Dave Hickey

  Art, Editors, Class

  "Doyen of American critics turns his back on the 'nasty, stupid' world of modern art" by Edward Helmore, Paul Gallagher, www.theguardian.com. October 27, 2012.

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• Here and there in the ancient literature we encounter legends of wise and mysterious games that were conceived and played by scholars, monks, or the courtiers of cultured princes. These might take the form of chess games in which the pieces and squares had secret meanings in addition to their usual functions.

  Hermann Hesse

  Wise, Squares, Games

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• But I shall hear without pain, that I play the courtier very ill, and talk of that which I do not well understand.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Pain, Play, Ill

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2012). “The Selected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.150, Graphic Arts Books

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• Ausonius must be read to be believed! As poet, no subject is too trivial for him; as courtier, no flattery too excessive.

  Decimius Magnus Ausonius

  Flattery, Poet, Subjects

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