Quotes from The True-Born Englishman — Daniel Defoe
1660–1731 England
15 quotes
That heterogeneous thing, an Englishman.
The grand contention's plainly to be seen,
To get some men put out, and some put in.
No panegyric needs their praise record;
An Englishman ne'er wants his own good word.
Restraint from ill is freedom to the wise;
But Englishmen do all restraint despise.
In their religion they are so uneven,
That each man goes his own byway to heaven.
But English gratitude is always such
To hate the hand which doth oblige too much.
And of all plagues with which mankind are cursed,
Ecclesiastic tyranny's the worst.
For Englishmen are ne'er contented long.
Great families of yesterday we show,
And lords whose parents were the Lord knows who.
From this amphibious ill-born mob began
That vain, ill-natured thing, an Englishman.
For justice is the end of government.
Attribution
Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Daniel Defoe (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.