Treason Quotes
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For while the treason I detest, The traitor still I love.
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More Treason Quotes
In monarchy the crime of treason may admit of being pardoned or lightly punished, but the man who dares rebel against the laws of a republic ought to suffer death.
Samuel Adams— Arguing for a Riot Act which prohibited 12 or more persons from congregating in public and which empowered county sheriffs to kill rioters, during debates prompted by Shays' Rebellion (1786 - 1787) and the death sentences given to many of the rebels; as quoted in Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States (1980), Chapter 5: A kind of Revolution; also quoted in "Completing the American Revolution" by Norman D. Livergood
As for myself, my course is clear. A British subject I was born — a British subject I will die. With my utmost effort, with my latest breath, will I oppose the ‘veiled treason’ which attempts by sordid means and mercenary proffers to lure our people from their allegiance.
john a. macdonald— February 3, 1891 as the 1891 election was called, fought largely over the issue of free trade with the United States. [1]
We have no more right to decline the exercise of jurisdiction which is given, than to usurp that which is not given. The one or the other would be treason to the constitution.
john marshall— Cohens v. Virginia, 19 U.S. (6 Wheaton) 264, 387 (1821); with this sentence Marshall hold that the United States Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction to hear appeals from a state court in a case between a state and its own citizens, even if the case involved interpretation of a federal statute.
They do not ill, being lords of ours, to slay Me; nay, they could not spare: but thee to slay, To spill thy strong young life for truth to me, In all men's eyes would mark them monstrous:;: thou Must live, and serve my slayers, and serving them Sustain my memory by the proof if God Shall give thee grace to prove it that thy name, Thy father's name and mine, in true men's ears Rings truth, and means not treason.
algernon charles swinburne— Faliero, Act V. Sc. 3.
Corporations cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed, nor excommunicate, for they have no souls.
edward coke— Edward Coke, Case of Sutton's Hospital (1612), 5 Rep. 303; 10 Rep. 32 b.
Music is no different from opium. Music affects the human mind in a way that makes peoplethinkof nothing but music and sensual matters? Music is a treason to the country, a treason to our youth, and we should cut out all this music and replace it with something instructive.
— 1979 Ramadan speech, 23 Jul. Quoted in Lebrecht Discord (1982).
To every man of vision the clear Voice speaks; there is no great leadership where there is not a mystic. Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside themselves was superior to circumstance. To choose the sure thing is treason to the soul.
bruce fairchild barton— On Jesus, in Ch. 1 : The Executive
A millennial belief in a Holy God may have the effect of deepening the soul, but it is also obviously archaic, and modern influences would presently bring me up to date and reveal how antiquated my origins were. To turn away from those origins, however, has always seemed to me an utter impossibility. It would be a treason to my first consciousness to un-Jew myself.
Saul Bellow— Part I, p. 26
Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell; and George the Third — ["treason!" cried the Speaker] — may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.
patrick henry— Speech on the Stamp Act, Virginia House of Burgesses (29 May 1765)
I am not yet born; forgive meFor the sins that in me the world shall commit, my wordsWhen they speak me, my thoughts when they think me,My treason engendered by traitors beyond me,My life when they murder by means of myHands, my death when they live me.
louis macneice— "Prayer Before Birth", line 11
Riel, our brother, is dead, victim of his devotion to the cause of the Métis of which he was leader, victim of fanatism and treason; of the fanatism of Sir John and of some other friends of his; of the treason of three of our own who, in order to keep their wallet, have sold their brother.
honoré mercier— Riel, notre frère, est mort, victime de son dévouement à la cause des Métis dont il était le chef, victime du fanatisme et de la trahison; du fanatisme de Sir John et de quelques-uns de ses amis; de la trahison de trois des nôtres qui, pour garder leur portefeuille, ont vendu leur frère.
— Speech of 1885 about the hanging of Louis Riel, at the Champs de Mars of Montreal. [1]
So do your duty, boys, and join with prideServe your country in her suicideFind the flags so you can wave goodbyeBut just before the end even treason might be worth a tryThis country is too young to dieI declare the war is overIt's over, it's over.
phil ochs— "The War Is Over" from Tape from California (1968)
Ah, when to the heart of man Was it ever less than a treason To go with the drift of things, To yield with a grace to reason, And bow and accept the end Of a love or a season?
robert frost— "Reluctance", st. 4 (1913)
To think for oneself is not only, as Gide said, counterrevolutionary but also apostasy and, at certain times, treason.
Eric Hoffer— Entry (1953)
Whoever in our government leaked that information is guilty of treason, and I think anything less than execution is too kind a penalty.
mike huckabee— Siddique, Haroon; Weaver, Matthew (1 December 2010), "US embassy cables culprit should be executed, says Mike Huckabee", The Guardian, retrieved on 2010-12-02 regarding leak of 250,000 US diplomatic cables to the website WikiLeaks
The creation of a legal eligibility allowing the grant of an amnesty for treason is abhorrent and unacceptable. The Bill was supposed to be a search for the truth behind the tragedy of 2000, but the Bill never once mentions the word "truth".
graeme leung— 16 June 2005 parliamentary submission
Rebellion must be managed with many swords; treason to his prince's person may be with one knife.
thomas fuller— Thomas Fuller, The Holy State and the Prophane State (1642), The Traitor.
treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.
— Sir John Harington, Epigrams, Book iv, Epistle 5. Compare: "Prosperum ac felix scelus/ Virtus vocatur" ("Successful and fortunate crime/ is called virtue"), Seneca, Herc. Furens, ii. 250.
Oh, for a tongue to curse the slave Whose treason, like a deadly blight, Comes o'er the councils of the brave, And blasts them in their hour of might!
thomas moore— Thomas Moore, Lalla Rookh (1817), The Fire-Worshippers.
If you maintain a consistent political position long enough, you will eventually be accused of treason.
— Mort Sahl, "Live at the hungry i" (1960 comedy album).
He [Cæsar] loved the treason, but hated the traitor.
— Plutarch, Life of Romulus.
Another serious charge against Jesus was that of treason to his country. His admonition to refrain from hatred and retaliation and instead to love the Romans seemed to the patriots of the day nothing less than disloyalty and treachery to his native land... There is little doubt as to what would have happened to an American citizen early in 1918 if he had arisen in a Liberty Loan mass meeting and pleaded for the immediate cessation of hostilities and protested against the hatred being manifested toward the Germans.
— p.27 (Jesus or Christianity A Study in Contrasts (1929))
Flight, in criminal cases, is itself a crime. If an innocent man flies for treason or felony, he forfeits all his goods and chattels. Outlawry, in a capital case, is as a conviction for the crime: And many men who never were tried have been executed upon the outlawry.
— Lord Mansfield, Rex v. Wilkes (1769), 4 Burr. Part IV., p. 2549.
I committed treason for you, but now my wife will remember me with honour.
— Who: Robert MacLeish
— Source: Tooth and Claw (2006)
— Notes: .
Smooth runs the water, where the brook is deep; And in his simple show he harbours treason.
— Suffolk, scene i
In peace and honour rest you here, my sons; Rome's readiest champions, repose you here in rest, Secure from worldly chances and mishaps! Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells, Here grow no damned drugs, here are no storms, No noise, but silence and eternal sleep: In peace and honour rest you here, my sons!
— Titus Andronicus, scene i
— Variant line: Here grow no damned grudges, here are no storms,
When squint-eyed Slander plies the unhallow'd tongue, From poison'd maw when treason weaves his line, And Muse apostate (infamy to song!) Grovels, low muttering, at Sedition's shrine.
james beattie— James Beattie, The Judgment of Paris (1765), stanza 109.
