Cromwell Quotations

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QUOTES ABOUT OLIVER CROMWELL

1599-1658

* ".... he thought secracy a virtue, and dissimulation no vice, and simmulation, that is in plain English, a lie, or perfiderousness to be tolerable fault in case of necessity."
Richard Baxter, Reliquiae Baxterianae.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotation.

* "He was of a sanguine complexion, naturally of such a vivacity, hilarity and alacrity as another man is when he hath drunken a cup too much."
Ibid.

* "Cromwell wore a suit of plain cloth which seemed to have been made by an ill country tailor."
A fellow MP on Cromwell's style of dress.
In, Oliver Cromwell, British History Makers.
* "He gart Kings ken they had a lith in their neck."
Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck, in James Boswell, Tour of the Hebrides.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* ".. A devotee of law, he was forced to be often lawless; a civilian to the core, he had to maintain himself by the sword; with a passion to construct, his task was chiefly to destroy; the most scrupulous of men, he had to ride roughshod over his own scruples and those of others; the tenderest, he had continually to harden his heart; the most English of our greater figures, he spent his life in opposition to the majority of Englishmen; a realist, he was condemned to build that which could not last."
John Buchan, Oliver Cromwell.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "Cromwell was a man in whom ambition had not wholly suppressed, but only suspended, the sentiments of religion."
Edmund Burke, Letters, 1791.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotaions.

* As close as a goose
Sat the parliament-House
To hatch the royal gull;
After much fiddle-faddle,
The egg proved addle
And Oliver came forth Nol.
Samuel Butler, A Ballad.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* Sylla was the first of victors; but our own
The sagest of usurpers, Cromwell; he
Too swept off the senates while he hewed the throne
Down to a block - immortal rebel! See
What crimes it costs to be a moment free
And famous through all ages.
Lord Byron, Child Harold, canto iv.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "I confess I have an interest in this Mr Cromwell; and indeed, if truth must be said, in him alone. The rest are historical, dead to me; but he is epic, still living. Hail to thee, thou strong one; hail across the longdrawn funeral-aisle and night of time!..."
Thomas Carlyle, Historical Sketches.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "Poor King Charles laid his head on
the block
JANUARY 1649
Down came the axe, and...

In the silence that followed, the
only sound that could be heard was
a solitary giggle, from... Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector
of England
OLE
Born in 1599 and died in 1658
SEPTEMBER.
John Cleese, Monty Python Songs.Oliver Cromwell.

* His grandeur he deriv'd from heaven alone,
For he was great e'er fortune made him so
And wars like mists that rise against the sun
Made him but greater seem, not greater grow.

No borrow'd bays his temple did adorn,
But to our Crown he did fresh jewels bring;
Nor was his virtue poison'd soon as born,
With the too early thoughts of being King.
John Dryden, Heroick Stanzas consecrated to his Highness Oliver.
The Biographical Dictionary of Quotations.

* "The Protector, Oliver, now effecting King-ship, is petition'd to take the title on him, by all his new made sycophant Lords &c: but dares not for feare of the Phantics, not thoroughly purged out of his rebell army."
John Evelyn, Diary. 29 March 1657.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "Saw the superb funeral of the Protector:...but it was the joyfullest funeral that I ever saw, for there were none that cried, but dogs, which the souldiers hooted away with a barbarous noise; drinking and taking tobacco in the streets as they went."
John Evelyn, Diary. 22 November 1658.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "He lived a hypocrite and died a traitor."
John Foster. In Poisonous Quotations.

* "That slovenly fellow which you see before us, who hath no ornament in his speech; I say that sloven, if we should ever come to have a breech with the King (which God forbid) in such case will be one of the greatest men of England."
John Hampden, Speaking to Lord Digby in the house of commons, overheard by Sir Richard Bulstrode.
The Dictiuonary of Biographical Qupotations.

* "If you prove not an honest man, I will never trust a fellow with a great nose for your sake."
Sir Arthur Haslerig, A word to Generall Cromwell, 1647.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "... his character does not appear more extraordinary and unusual by the mixture of so much absurdity with so much penetration, than by his tempering such violent ambition, and such enraged fanaticism with so much regard to justice and humanity."
David Hume, History of England.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "...In a word, as he was guilty of many crimes against which Damnation is denounced, and for which hell-fire is prepared, so he had some good qualities which have caused the memory of some men in all Ages to be celebrated; and he will be look'd upon by posterity as a brave badd man."
Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, History of the Rebellion.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "A complex character such aas that of Cromwell, is incapable of creation, except intimes of great civil and religious excitement, and one cannot judge of the man without at the same time considering the contending elements by which he was surrounded. It is possible to take his character to pieces, and, selecting one or other of his qualities as a corner-stone, to build around it a moument which will show him as a patriot or a plotter, a Christian man or a hypocrite, a demon or a demi-god as the sculptor may choose."
F.A Inderwick, The Interregnum, 1648-60.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "Sir Philip Stapleton gave an account, from the committee for the defence of the Kingdom, how the troops and forces of the Parliament are disposed of...Mr Cromwell in Cambridgeshire, has seized the magazine in the castle at Cambridge; and hath hindered the carrying of plate from that University; which, as some report, was to the value of twenty thousand pounds, or thereabouts."
Account by Sir Philip Stapleton in, The Journal of the House of Commons. July 1642.
Commenting on the actions of Oliver Cromwell.

* "His body was wel compact and strong, his stature under 6 foote ( I beleeve about two inches) his head so shaped, as you might see it a storehouse and shop both of vast tresury of natural parts. His temper exceeding fyery as I have known, but the flame of it kept downe, for the most part, or soon allayed with those moral endowments he had. He was naturally compassionate towards objects in distresse, even to an effeminate measure; though God had made him a heart, wherein was left little roume for any feare, but what was due to himselfe, of which there was a large proportion, yet did he exceed in tenderness towards suffrerers. A larger soule, I thinke, hath seldom dwelt in a house of clay than his was."
John Maidston, Letter to John Winthrop, 24 March 1659.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "Of late I have not given so free and full a power unto (Cromwell) as formerly I did, because I heard that he used his power so as in honour I could not avow him in it....for his expressions were sometimes against the nobility, that he hoped to live to see never a nobleman in England, and he loved such (and such) better than others because they did not love Lords. And he further expressed himself with contempt of the Assemberly of Divines...these he termed persecutors, and that they persecuted honester men than themselves."
Earl of Manchester, Letter to the House of Lord's, December 1644.
David L.Smith, Oliver Cromwell 1640-1658.

* "Colonal Cromwell (chooses for) his officers not such as were soldiers or men of estate, but such as were common men, poor and of mean parentage, only he would give them the title of godly, precious men; yet his common practise was to cashier honest gentlemen and soldiers that were stout in the cause... I have heard him often say that it must not be soldiers nor the Scots that must do this work, but it must be the godly to this purpose."
Statement by an opponent of Cromwell, in The Quarrel between the Earl of Manchester and Oliver Cromwell.
David L. Smith, Oliver Cromwell 1640-1658.

* So restless Cromwell could not cease
In the inglorious Arts of Peace,
But through adventrous war,
Urged his active star.....

To ruine the great work of time,
And cast the kingdom old
Into another Mold.....
Andrew Marvell, An horation Ode upon Cromwell's return from Ireland.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "It was advertised this day from Peterborough that Colonal Cromwell had bestowed a visit on that little City and put them to the charge of his entertainment, plundering a great part thereof to discharge the reckoning,and further..he did most miserably deface the Cathedral church, break down organs, and destroy the glass windows, committing many other outrages on the house of God..."
An extract from the Royalist weekly newspaper, Mercurius Aulicus.28 April 1643.
Describing Cromwell's visit to Peterborough.

* "Yesterday afternoon his highness went to Hampton Court, and this day the most illustrous Lady, the Lady Mary Cromwell, third daughter of his Highness the Lord Protector, was there married to the most noble Lord, the Lord Falconbridge, in the presence of their Highnesses and many noble persons'."
The Mercurius Politicus issue, 19 November 1657. Reporting on the noble wedding of one of Cromwell's daughters.
Roy Sherwood, The Court of Oliver Cromwell. Publi. 1977.

* "Things will shortly happen which have been unheard of, and above all would open the eyes of those who live under Kings and other Sovereigns, and lead to great changes. Cromwell alone holds the direction of political and military affairs in his hands. He is one who is worth all the others put together, and, in effect, King."
John Dury in conversation with Hermann Mylius, envoy of a small German principality, 27 September 1651.
L.Miller, John Milton and the Oldenburg Safe Gaurd. David L.Smith; Oliver Cromwell. 1640-1658.

* Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud,
Not of war only, but detractions rude,
Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,
To peace and truth thy glorious way has ploughed
And on the neck of crowned fortune proud
Has reared God's trophies, and his work pursued,
While Darwen stream with blood of Scots imbrued,
And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud,
And Worcester's laureate wreath. Yet much remains
To conquer still; peace hath her victories
No less renowned than war: new foes arise,
Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains:
Help us to save free conscience from the paw
Of hireling wolves whose gospel is their maw.
John Milton, Sonnet XV1, To the Lord General Cromwell.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "He was decended of a House noble and illustrious."
John Milton. In Sir Richard Tangye; The Two Protectors, Oliver and Richard Cromwell. Publi. 1899.

* "At dinner we talked much of Cromwell, all saying he was a brave fellow and did owe his crown he got to himself, as much as any man that ever got one."
Samuel Pepys, Diary, 8 February 1667.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "He was a practical mystic, the most formidable and terrible of all combinations, uniting an aspiration derived from the celestial and supernatural with the energy of a mighty man of action; a great captain, but off the field seeming, like a thunderbolt, the agent of greater forces than himself ; no hypocrite, but a defender of the faith; the raiser and maintainer of the Empire of England."
Lord Rosebery, in W.C.Abbott, The Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.
* "Lieutenant -General Cromwell...a member of the House of Commons, long famous for godliness and zeal to his country, of great note for his service in the House, accepted of a commission at the very beginning of this war, whrein he served his country faithfully, and it was observed God was with him, and he began to be renowned."
Joshua Sprigge, Anglia Rediviva,London 1647.

* "Cromwell. To the eternal condemnation of Oliver. Seditionist, traitor, regicide, racialist, protofacist and blasphemous bigot. God save England from his like."
"The Times". Dictionary of Poisonous Quotes.

* "Whilst he was curious of his own words, (not putting forth too many lest they should betray his thoughts) he made others talk until he had, as it were, sifted them, and known their most intimate designs."
Sir William Waller, Recollections.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "This night his Highness the Lord Protector lay in Whitehall, who not being well by reason of a cold, lay in one of the chambers formerly the Queen's privy lodgings."
The Official Newsheet, Several Proceedings of State Affairs in England , Scotland and Ireland. 17 March 1654.

* "As for that famous and magnanimous commander, Lieutenant-General Cromwell, whose prowess and prudence, as they have rendered him most renowned for many former successful deeds of chivalry, so in this fight they have crowned him with the never withering laurels of fame and honour, who with so lion-like courage and impregnable animosity, charged his proudest adversaries again and again, like a Roman Marcellus indeed....and at last came off, as with some wounds, so with honour and triumph inferior to none."
John Vicars, Magnalia Dei Anglicana. Or England's Parliamentary-Chronicle. London 1646.

* "I.... had occasion to converse with Mr Cromwell's physician, Dr Simcott, who assured me that for many years his patient was a most splentick man and had phansies about the cross in that town; and that he had been called up to him at midnight, and such unseasonable hours very many times, upon a strong phansy, which made him belive he was then dying; and there went a story of him, that in the day-time, lying melancholy in his bed, he belived the spirit appeared to him, and told him he should be the greatest marr, (not mentioning the word King) in this Kingdom. Which his uncle, Sir Thomas Steward, who left him all the little estate Cromwell had, told him was traiterous to relate."
Sir Philip Warwick, on Cromwell's early manhood, in Memoirs of Sir Philip Warwick.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* Cromwell: What if a man should take upon himself to be King?
Whitelocke: I think that remedy would be worse than the disease.
Cromwell: Why do you think so?
Whitelocke: As to your own person the title of King would be of no advantage, because you have the full Kingly power in you already... I apprehend indeed, less envy and danger, and pomp, but not less power, and real opportunities of doing good in your being General than would be if you had assumed the title of King.
Bulstrode Whitelocke, Memorialls of English Affairs.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "In short, every beast hath some evil properties; but Cromwell hath the properties of all evil beasts."
Archbishop John Williams to King Charles at Oxford, in Hackett, Life of Archbishop Williams.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "The Swedish ambassador had been at Whitehall and was much discontented because he waited above an hour before the Protector came to him, which brought the ambassador to such impaitience that he rose from his seat and was going home again without speaking to the Protector, and said he durst not for his head admit of such dishonour to his master, by making him so long to attend for his audience."
Bulstrode Whitelocke's recollection of procedures at the court of the Protector.
Roy Sherwood, The Court of Oliver Cromwell.

* "...the English monster, the center of mischief, a shame to the British Chronicle, a pattern for tyranny, murder and hypocrisie, whose bloody Caligula, Domitian, having at last attained the height of his ambition, for five years space, he wallowed in the blood of many gallant and heroick persons...."
Gerard Winstanley, Loyal Mytyrology.
The Dictionary of Biographical Quotations.

* "Somerset House has been prepared for the lying in state of the late Protector, where he will remain until the day of the funeral, which is not yet fixed. The body was brought from Whitehall privately the other night accompanied only by his Highness's servants. There it lies in extraordinary pomp."
Francesco Giavarina, Venetian resident in England, in a Letter to his masters, the Doge and Senate, in Venice.