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When a man takes an oath, Meg, he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water. And if he opens his fingers then — he needn't hope to find himself again.

— Robert Bolt A Man for All Seasons (1966)

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More quotes by Robert Bolt

When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties … they lead their country by a short route to chaos.

A Man for All Seasons (1968)

Morality's not practical. Morality's a gesture. A complicated gesture learnt from books.

A Man for All Seasons (1960)

The law is not a "light" for you or any man to see by; the law is not an instrument of any kind. The law is a causeway upon which so long as he keeps to it a citizen may walk safely.

A Man for All Seasons (1967)

I think you are another of these desert-loving English: Doughty, Stanhope, Gordon of Khartoum. No Arab loves the desert. We love water and green trees, there is nothing in the desert. No man needs nothing.

All Robert Bolt quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Robert Bolt (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.