crown quotes

  • I will cling to the old rugged cross, And exchange it some day for a crown.

    - George Bennard
      'The Old Rugged Cross'.

  • Avirtuouswomanisa crowntoher husband: but shethat maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.

    -Bible (Old Testament)
    Proverbs12:4.

  • Many kings have sat down upon the ground; and one that was never thought of hath worn the crown.

    -Bible (Apocrypha)
    Ecclesiasticus11:5.

  • Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    Revelation 2:10.

  • And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.

    -Bible (NewTestament)
    Revelation12:1.

  • The strongest poison ever known Came from Ceasar's laurel crown.

    -William Blake
    c.1803  Auguries of Innocence, l.97^8.

  • Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion.To attack the first isnottoassail the last.To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns.

    - Charlotte Bronte« 
      Jane Eyre (2nd edn), preface.

  • The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown: The Lion beat the Unicorn all round the town. Some gave them white bread, some gave them brown; Some gave them plum-cake and drummed them out of town.

    -Dodgson
    Through the Looking-Glass, ch.7,'The Lion and the Unicorn'.

  •    The dominion of the sea, as it is an ancient and undoubted right of the crown of England, so it isthe best security of the land† The wooden walls are the best walls of this kingdom.

    -Thomas, 1st Baron Coventry
      Speech to the Star Chamber,17  Jun.'Wooden walls'refers to ships.

  • He stood at bold defiance with his prince; Held up the buckler of the people's cause Against the crown, and skulked behind the laws.

    -John Dryden
    Absalom and  Achitophel, pt.1, l.205^7.

  • Let old Timotheus yield the prize, Or both divide the crown: He raised a mortal to the skies; She drewan angel down.

    -John Dryden
      Of 'Divine Cecilia'.  Alexander's Feast, l.177^80.

  • Desire paces Eternityas if it had bounds, craving death. The Word climbs upward into Its crown.

    -William Dunbar
      Roots and Branches,'Structure of Rime X VII'.

  • The influence of the Crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished.

    -John Dunning
      Motion passed by the House of Commons.

  • To be a King and towear a crown is a thing more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasant to them that bear it.

    -Elizabeth I
      Address to parliament. Quoted in G R Elton Renaissance and Reformation1300^1648 (2nd edn,1968), p.134.

  • The British Empire has advanced to a new conception of autonomyand freedom, to the idea of a system of British nations, each freely ordering its own individual life, but bound together in unity byallegiance to one Crown, and co-operating in all that concerns the common weal.

    -GeorgeVI
      Opening, as Duke ofYork, the first  Australian Parliament to assemble in Canberra, 9 May.

  • Content's a kingdom, and I wear that crown.

    -Thomas Heywood
    c.1607  A Woman Killed  with Kindness, sc.7.

  • He was my crowned King, and if the Parliamentary authority of England set the crown upon a stock, I will fight for that stock: And as I fought then for him, I will fight for you, when you are established by the said authority.

    -Norfolk
      Explaining before the future Henry VII his reasons for siding with Richard III at Bosworth, 22  Aug. Quoted in William Camden Remains Concerning Britain (1605).

  • Minds that are great and free, Should not on fortune pause, 'Tis crown enough to virtue still, her own applause.

    - Ben Jonson
    The Underwood,'An Ode to Himself' (published1640).

  • 'Ave you 'eard o'the Widow at Windsor With a hairy gold crown on 'er 'ead? She 'as ships on the foamshe 'as millions at 'ome, An'she pays us poor beggars in red.

    - (Joseph) Rudyard Kipling
      'The Widow at  Windsor'.

  • A god is not so glorious as a king. I think the pleasure they enjoy in Heaven, Cannot compare with kingly joys in earth. To wear a crown enchased with pearl and gold, Whose virtues carry with it life and death; To ask and have, command and be obeyed; When looks breed love, with looks to gain the prize, Such power attractive shines in princes'eyes!

    - Christopher Marlowe
      Tamburlaine the Great (published1590), pt.1, act 2, sc.5.

  • Nature that framed us of four elements, Warring within our breasts for regiment, Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds: Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend The wondrous architecture of the world, And measure every wandering planet's course, Still climbing after knowledge infinite, And always moving as the restless spheres, Wills us to wear ourselves, and never rest, Until we reach the ripest fruit of all, That perfect bliss and sole felicity, The sweet fruition of an earthly crown.

    - Christopher Marlowe
      Tamburlaine the Great (published1590), pt.1, act 2, sc.7.

  • Let Erin remember the days of Old, Ere her faithless sons betrayed her; When Malachi wore the collar of gold Which he won from her proud invader; When her kings, with standards of green unfurled, Led the Red-Branch Knights to danger; Ere the emerald gem of the western world Was set in the crown of a stranger.

    -Thomas Moore
      Irish Melodies,'Let Erin Remember'.

  • To the Lords of convention 'twas Claver'se who spoke, 'Ere the King's crown shall fall there are crowns to be broke; So let each Cavalier who loves honour and me, Come follow the bonnet of Bonny Dundee.'

    - Sir Walter Scott
      The Doom of Devorgoil, act 2, sc.2,'Bonny Dundee', stanza1.

  • The glories of our blood and state Are shadows, not substantial things; There is no armour against fate; Death lays his icy hand on kings: Scepter and crown Must tumble down, And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

    -James Shirley
      The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses, act1, sc.3.

  • If this country is settled, it will be one of the finest Colonies under the Crown, suitable for the growth of anyand everything.

    -John McDouall Stuart
      On reaching the sea at the Gulf of Carpentaria. Journal entry, Jul.

  • For the crown of our life as it closes Is darkness, the fruit thereof dust; No thorns go as deep as a rose's, And love is more cruel than lust. Time turns the old days to derision, Our loves into corpses or wives; And marriage and death and division Make barren our lives.

    - Algernon Charles Swinburne
      Poems and Ballads,'Dolores', stanza 20.

  • This is truth the poet sings, That a sorrow's crownofsorrow isremembering happier things.

    -Tennyson
      Poems,'Locksley Hall' l.75^6.

  • The nation suspects that the regular ministerial majorities in Parliament are bought, and that the Crown hasmadea purchase oftheHousewiththemoneyofthe people. Hence the ready, tame and servile compliance to every royal verdict issued by Lord North† It is almost universally believed that this debt has been contracted in corrupting the representatives of the people.

    - Samuel Whitbread
      House of Commons,16 Apr.

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2010 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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