'Tis so much to be a king, that he only is so by being so.
- Michael Eyquen de Montaigne,
Michael Eyquen de Montaigne
Quotes , Source: Essays--Of the Inconveniences of Greatness
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A crown! what is it?
It is to bear the miseries of a people!
To bear the miseries of a people!
And sink beneath a load of splendid care!
Hannah More
Quotes , Source: Daniel (pt. VI)
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St. George he was for England; St. Dennis was for France.
Sing, "Honi soit qui mal y pense."
Old Song
Quotes , Source: Black-letter Ballad, London, 1512
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In good King Charles's golden days
When royalty no harm meant,
A zealous high-churchman was I,
And so I got preferment.
Old Song
Quotes , Source: Vicar of Bray, written before 1710
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But all's to no end, for the time will not mend
Till the King enjoys his own again.
Martyn Parker
Quotes , Source: Upon Defacing of White-Hall
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What is a king? a man condemn'd to bear
The public burthen of the nation's care.
Matthew Prior
Quotes , Source: Solomon (bk. III, l. 275)
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His legs bestrid the ocean: his reared arm
Crested the world: his voice was propertied
As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends;
But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,
He was as rattling thunder.
William Shakespeare
Quotes , Source: Antony and Cleopatra (Cleopatra at V, ii)
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The gates of monarchs
Are arched so high that giants may jet through
And keep their impious turbans on without
Good morrow to the sun.
William Shakespeare
Quotes , Source: Cymbeline (Belarius at III, iii)
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There's such divinity doth hedge a king
That treason can but peep to what it would,
Acts little of his will.
William Shakespeare
Quotes , Source: Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Claudius, King of Denmark at IV, v)
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Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
William Shakespeare
Quotes , Source: King Henry the Fourth, Part II (King Henry at III, i)
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And fearless minds climb soonest unto crowns.
William Shakespeare
Quotes , Source: King Henry the Sixth, Part III (Richard, Duke of Gloucester at IV, vii)
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O, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favors!
There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,
More pangs and fears than wars or women have;
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again.
William Shakespeare
Quotes , Source: The Life of King Henry the Eighth (Wolsey at III, ii)
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At length her grace rose and with modest paces
Came to the altar, where she kneeled, and saint-like
Cast her fair eyes to heaven and prayed devoutly;
Then rose again and bowed her to the people;
When by the Archbishop of Canterbury
She had all the royal makings of a queen,
As holy oil, Edward Confessor's crown,
The rod, and bird of peace, and all such emblems
Laid nobly on her; which performed, the choir
With all the choicest music of the kingdom
Together sung 'Te Deum.' So she parted
And with the same full state packed back again
To York Place, where the feast is held.
William Shakespeare
Quotes , Source: The Life of King Henry the Eighth (Third Gentleman at IV, i)
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Every subject's duty is the king's, but every subject's soul is
his own.
William Shakespeare
Quotes , Source: The Life of King Henry the Fifth (King Henry at IV, i)
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The king-becoming graces,
As justice, verity, temp'rance, stableness,
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness,
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude,
I have no relish of them, but abound
In the division of each several crime,
Acting in many ways.
William Shakespeare
Quotes , Source: Macbeth (Malcolm at IV, iii)
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