Thomas More Quotes
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Every man has by the law of nature a right to such a waste portion of the earth as is necessary for his subsistence.
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If the lion knew his own strength, hard were it for any man to rule him.
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Occupy your mind with good thoughts, or the enemy will fill them with bad ones.
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Lawyers-a profession it is to disguise matters.
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Friendship demands attention.
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Getting married is like putting one's hand in a bag containing 99 serpents and one eel.
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. . . the state of things and the dispositions of men were then such, that a man could not well tell whom he might trust or whom he might fear.
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The Utopians feel that slaughtering our fellow creatures gradually destroys the sense of compassion, which is the finest sentiment of which our human nature is capable.
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In the first place, most princes apply themselves to the arts of war, in which I have neither ability nor interest, instead of to the good arts of peace. They are generally more set on acquiring new kingdoms by hook or by crook than on governing well those that they already have.
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The things we pray for, good Lord, give us grace to labor for.
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By reason of gifts and bribes the offices be given to rich men, which should rather have been executed by wise men.
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What though youth gave love and roses, Age still leaves us friends and wine
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The way to heaven out of all places is of length and distance.
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As for rosemary, I let it run all over my garden walls, not only because my bees love it but because it is the herb sacred to remembrance and to friendship, whence a sprig of it hath a dumb language.
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On his mounting the scaffold to be beheaded: 'I pray you, Master Lieutenant, see me safely up, and for my coming down, let me shift for myself.' To the executioner: 'Pick up thy spirits, Man, and be not afraid to do thyne office; my neck is very short; take heed, therefore thou strike not awry, for saving of thyne honesty.'
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No more like together than is chalke to coles.
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I would uphold the law if for no other reason but to protect myself.
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And peradventure we have more cause to thank Him for our loss than for our winning; for His wisdom better seeth what is good for us than we do ourselves.
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There are several sorts of religions, not only in different parts of the island, but even in every town; some worshipping the sun, others the moon or one of the planets.
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They have no lawyers among them, for they consider them as a sort of people whose profession it is to disguise matters.
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An absolutely new idea is one of the rarest things known to man.
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In Utopia, where every man has a right to everything, they all know that if care is taken to keep the public stores full, no private man can want anything; for among them there is no unequal distribution, so that no man is poor, none in necessity; and though no man has anything, yet they are all rich; for what can make a man so rich as to lead a serene and cheerful life, free from anxieties.
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The servant may not look to be in better case than his master.
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Nor can they understand why a totally useless substance like gold should now, all over the world, be considered far more important than human beings, who gave it such value as it has, purely for their own convenience.