Charles Sumner Quotes

Quotes about:

• From the beginning of our history the country has been afflicted with compromise. It is by compromise that human rights have been abandoned.

  Charles Sumner

  Country, Rights, Political

  Charles Sumner (1876). “The Works of Charles Sumner”

  57 Copy quote

• Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace.

  Charles Sumner

  Kings, Queens, Children

  72 Copy quote

• By the Law of Slavery, man, created in the image of God, is divested of the human character, and declared to be a mere chattel.

  Charles Sumner

  Character, Men, Law

  Charles Sumner (2016). “The Complete Works of Charles Sumner”, p.1444, Library of Alexandria

  36 Copy quote

• If a man has done evil in his life, he must not be complimented in marble.

  Charles Sumner

  Men, Evil, Done

  As quoted in "Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney" by James F. Simon, Simon and Schuster, (p. 268), 2006.

  34 Copy quote

• The true greatness of nations is in those qualities which constitute the greatness of the individual.

  Charles Sumner

  Greatness, Quality, Individual

  Charles Sumner (1845). “The True Grandeur of Nations: An Oration Delivered Before the Authorities of the City of Boston, July 4, 1845”, p.82

  25 Copy quote

• Nothing from man's hands, nor law, nor constitution, can be final. Truth alone is final.

  Charles Sumner

  Truth, Men, Hands

  Charles Sumner (1856). “Recent Speeches and Addresses [1851-1855]”, p.81

  30 Copy quote

• Give me the centralism of liberty; give me the imperialism of equal rights.

  Charles Sumner

  Rights, Giving, Liberty

  Charles Sumner (2016). “The Complete Works of Charles Sumner”, p.6482, Library of Alexandria

  20 Copy quote

• The slave power dares anything, and it can be conquered only by the united masses of the people. From Congress to the people, I appeal.

  Charles Sumner

  People, Slavery, Congress

  Nassau William Senior, Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe, Charles Sumner (1856). “American slavery: repr. of an article [by N.W. Senior, entitled Slavery in the United States] on 'Uncle Tom's cabin' [by H.E.B. Stowe] and of mr. Sumner's speech of the 19th and 20th of May, 1856. With a notice of the events which followed that speech”, p.143

  35 Copy quote

• The Senator from South Carolina has read many books of chivalry, and believes himself a chivalrous knight, with sentiments of honor and courage. Of course he has chosen a mistress to whom he has made his vows, and who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight I mean the harlot, Slavery. For her, his tongue is always profuse in words.

  Charles Sumner

  Believe, Book, Mean

  Charles Sumner (2016). “The Complete Works of Charles Sumner”, p.1564, Library of Alexandria

  30 Copy quote

• War crushes with bloody heel all justice, all happiness, all that is Godlike in man. In our age there can be no peace that is not honorable; there can be no war that is not dishonorable.

  Charles Sumner

  Crush, War, Men

  26 Copy quote

• Without knowledge there can be no sure progress. Vice and barbarism are the inseparable companions of ignorance. Nor is it too much to say that, except in rare instances, the highest virtue is attained only through intelligence.

  Charles Sumner

  Ignorance, Progress, Vices

  Charles Sumner (1849). “The Law of Human Progress: An Oration Before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Union College, Schenectady. July 25th, 1848”, p.26

  21 Copy quote

• Moral excellence is the bright consummate flower of all progress.

  Charles Sumner

  Flower, Excellence, Progress

  Charles Sumner (2016). “The Complete Works of Charles Sumner”, p.517, Library of Alexandria

  7 Copy quote

• A nation cannot afford to do a mean thing.

  Charles Sumner

  Mean, Meanness, Nations

  Charles Sumner (2016). “The Complete Works of Charles Sumner”, p.5771, Library of Alexandria

  14 Copy quote

• The age of Chivalry is gone. An age of Humanity has come.

  Charles Sumner

  Diversity, Justice, Humanity

  "The Complete Works of Charles Sumner".

  17 Copy quote

• No true and permanent fame can be founded, except in labors which promote the happiness of mankind.

  Charles Sumner

  Fame, Mankind, Labor

  Charles Sumner (1850). “Orations and Speeches [1845-1850]”, p.332

  17 Copy quote

• There is the National Flag. He must be cold, indeed, who can look upon its folds rippling in the breeze without pride of country. If he be in a foreign land, the flag is companionship and country itself, with all its endearment...The very colors have a language which was recognized by our fathers; white is for purity; red, for valor; blue, for justice. And altogether, bunting, stripes, stars, and colors, blazing in the sky, make the flag of our country, to be cherished by all our hearts, to be upheld by all our hands.

  Charles Sumner

  Country, Stars, Father

  13 Copy quote

• The true grandeur of humanity is in moral elevation, sustained, enlightened and decorated by the intellect of man

  Charles Sumner

  Men, Humanity, Civil War

  Charles Sumner (1850). “Orations and Speeches [1845-1850]”, p.122

  13 Copy quote

• Whether the Union stands or falls, I believe the profession of arms will henceforth be more desirable and more respected than it has been hitherto.

  Charles Sumner

  War, Believe, Fall

  13 Copy quote

• Without security, civilization is cramped and dwarfed. Without security, there can be no freedom. Nor shall I say too much, when I declare that security, guarded of course by its offspring, freedom, is the true end and aim of government.

  Charles Sumner

  Freedom, Government, Civilization

  Charles Sumner (1856). “Last Three Speeches on Kansas Ad Freedom: Feb. 7th, March 6th, and May 19th & 20th, 1856”, p.619

  9 Copy quote

• There are two sorts of pity: one is a balm and the other a poison; the first is realized by our friends, the last by our enemies.

  Charles Sumner

  Two, Enemy, Poison

  9 Copy quote

• It's Christmas at Ground Zero The button has been pressed The radio Just let us know That this is not a test Everywhere the atom bombs are droppin It's the end of all humanity No more time for last minute shoppin' It's time to face your final destiny.

  Charles Sumner

  Zero, Destiny, Humanity

  6 Copy quote

• Let the bugles sound the Truce of God to the whole world forever.

  Charles Sumner

  Peace, Forever, Sound

  Charles Sumner (2016). “The Complete Works of Charles Sumner”, p.123, Library of Alexandria

  14 Copy quote

• I have never known a man who was sensual in his youth, who was high-minded when old.

  Charles Sumner

  Men, Sensual, Youth

  12 Copy quote

• The highest greatness, surviving time and stone, is that which proceeds from the soul of man. Monarchs and cabinets, generals and admirals, with the pomp of court and the circumstance of war, in the lapse of time disappear from sight; but the pioneers of truth, though poor and lowly, especially those whose example elevates human nature, and teaches the rights of man, so that "a government of the people, by the people, for the people, may not perish from the earth;" such a harbinger can never be forgotten, and their renown spreads co-extensive with the cause they served so well.

  Charles Sumner

  War, Greatness, Men

  8 Copy quote

• The thought of going abroad makes my heart leap.

  Charles Sumner

  Heart, My Heart, Leap

  9 Copy quote

Page 1 of 2

← Prev

1

2

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin