Empires Quotes - Page 21

• We must now face the difficult task of moving towards a single economy, a single political entity .. For the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire we have the opportunity to unite Europe.

  Romano Prodi

  Moving, Fall, Opportunity

  "Greek debt crisis prompts fears of EU disintegration" by Toby Helm, www.theguardian.com. June 25, 2011.

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• Kings fight for empires, madmen for applause.

  John Dryden

  Kings, Fighting, Applause

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• All empire is no more than power in trust.

  John Dryden

  Power

  'Absalom and Achitophel' (1681) pt. 1, l. 411

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• Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that it uses force only as a last resort. And, sadder still, there always is a chorus of willing intellectuals to say calming words about benign or altruistic empires.

  Edward Said

  Order, Tyrants, Democracy

  Edward W. Said (2014). “Orientalism”, p.21, Vintage

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• The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period.

  George Washington

  Ignorance, Rights, Age

  George Washington (1852). “The life of General Washington: first president of the United States”, p.112

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• The actions of bad men produce only temporary evil, the actions of good men only temporary good ; and eventually the good and the evil altogether subside, are neutralized by subsequent generations, absorbed by the incessant movements of future ages. But the discoveries of great men never leave us; they are immortal; they contain those eternal truths which survive the shock of empires, outlive the struggles of rival creeds, and witness the decay of successive religions.

  Henry Thomas Buckle

  Struggle, Science, Men

  Henry Thomas Buckle (1865). “History of Civilization in England: In Five Volumes”, p.208

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• Behind him the Master of Ceremonies cleared his throat. His eyes took on a distant, glazed look.The Stealer of Souls, he said in the faraway voice of one whose ears aren't hearing what his mouth is saying, Defeater of Empires, Swallower of Oceans, Thief of Years, The Ultimate Reality, Harvester of Mankind, the-ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT. I CAN SEE MYSELF IN.

  Terry Pratchett

  Ocean, Eye, Reality

  Terry Pratchett (2009). “Mort: (Discworld Novel 4)”, p.312, Random House

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• When I'm asked about the relevance to Black people of what I do, I take that as an affront. It presupposes that Black people have never been involved in exploring the heavens, but this is not so. Ancient African empires - Mali, Songhai, Egypt - had scientists, astronomers. The fact is that space and its resources belong to all of us, not to any one group.

  Mae Jemison

  Science, Egypt, Space

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• Moreover it is becoming the Britons, whether scientific or unscientific, who boast at all fitting occasions of their aptitude to rule the waves, should know something of the population of their saline empire, especially of those parts of it immediately in contact with their terrestrial domain, and the coasts of the Continent to which our United Kingdom appertains.

  Edward Forbes

  Ocean, Kingdoms, Aptitude

  Edward Forbes (1859). “The Natural History of the European Seas...”, p.3

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• It's clear that when we're this outnumbered by the creatures, we have to take a page from the British Empire and rule the lesser species through intimidation. That's why the single most important thing you can do as a human is to dominate an animal. Need more proof?Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. I'd say that about covers it.

  Stephen Colbert

  Moving, Animal, Sea

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• They are strewn with the wreckage of dead Empires - past Powers - only the Albanian "goes on for ever."

  Edith Durham

  Past, Albania, Goes On

  "High Albania". Book by Edith Durham, 1909.

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• The descendants of Holy Roman Empire monarchies became feeble-minded in the twentieth century, and after World War I had been done in by the democracies; some were kept on to entertain the tourists, like the one they have in England.

  Ishmael Reed

  War, Democracy, Tourists

  Ishmael Reed (1995). “Airing Dirty Laundry”, Perseus Books

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• The fall of Empire, gentlemen, is a massive thing, however, and not easily fought. It is dictated by a rising bureaucracy, a receding initiative, a freezing of caste, a damming of curiosity — a hundred other factors. It has been going on, as I have said, for centuries, and it is too majestic and massive a movement to stop.

  Isaac Asimov

  Fall, Gentleman, Curiosity

  Isaac Asimov (1986). “Foundation Trilogy”, Del Rey

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• Russia can be either an empire or a democracy, but it cannot be both. . . . Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire, but with Ukraine suborned and then subordinated, Russia automatically becomes an empire.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Russia, Ukraine, Democracy

  "Russia's lost swagger" by William Harrison, www.theguardian.com. June 29, 2008.

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• The consolidation of the states into one vast empire, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of ruin which has overwhelmed all that preceded it.

  Robert E. Lee

  Home, Ruins, Overwhelmed

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• A woman's whole life is a history of the affections. The heart is her world: it is there her ambition strives for empire; it is there her avarice seeks for hidden treasures. She sends forth
  her sympathies on adventure; she embarks her whole soul on the traffic of affection; and if shipwrecked, her case is hopeless — for it is a bankruptcy of the heart.

  Washington Irving

  Heart, Ambition, Adventure

  Washington Irving (1835). “The complete works of Washington Irving in one volume with a memoir of the author”, p.246

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• At the age of fifty-six Eleanor Stoddard was still a beautiful woman. She owned three hotels in France and another two in England. From nothing at all, she had built an empire. Eleanor had it all. Her one weakness was the young man sleeping beside her.

  Barbara Taylor Bradford

  Beautiful, Sleep, Men

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• In 1897, troops from the greatest empire the world had ever seen marched down London’s mall for Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee. Seventy years later, Britain had government health care, a government-owned car industry, massive government housing, and it was a shriveled high-unemployment socialist basket-case living off the dwindling cultural capital of its glorious past. In 1945, America emerged from the Second World War as the preeminent power on earth. Seventy years later . . . Let’s not go there.

  Mark Steyn

  Queens, War, Past

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• Rome didn't create an Empire by holding meetings - they did it by killing their enemies.

  Chris Johnson

  Inspirational, Rome, Enemy

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• In 2015, Vladimir Putin may witness his empire's death knell

  Strobe Talbott

  May, Putin, Witness

  "The Great Debate In 2015, Vladimir Putin may witness his empire’s death knell". blogs.reuters.com. December 16, 2014.

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• I think it's a great shame that America stopped being a republic and became an empire.

  Marianne Faithfull

  Thinking, America, Republic

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• Empires are not brought down by outside forces, they are destroyed by weaknesses from within.

  Lionel

  Weakness, Force, Destroyed

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• When Edward Gibbon was writing about the fall of the Roman Empire in the late 18th century, he could argue that transportation hadn't changed since ancient times. An imperial messenger on the Roman roads could get from Rome to London even faster in A.D. 100 than in 1750. But by 1850, and even more obviously today, all of that has changed.

  Walter Russell Mead

  Fall, Writing, Rome

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• I think deep down, this planet yearns for the days of the British Empire again. They long once more to be treated that badly, that politely. We did far worse things than you can possibly dream of, but we did it with that certainly gentlemanly swagger... Dreadfully sorry, but we seem to have crushed your entire continent's infrastructure. Allow me to make it up to you by offering you a job 4,000 miles away. No, no, I insist.

  John Oliver

  Dream, Jobs, Sorry

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• Peace is an Excellent Thing, and War is a great Misfortune. But there are Many things More valuable than Peace, and many Things Much worse than war. The maintenance of the Ottoman Empire belongs to the First Class, the Occupation of Turkey by Russia belongs to the Second.

  Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

  Peace, War, Russia

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