Thomas More
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More, venerated by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was also a councillor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth7 February 1478
great hear meek men small swallow tame
Your sheep, that were wont to be so meek and tame and so small eaters, now, as I hear say, be become so great devourers, and so wild, that they eat up and swallow down the very men themselves.
boldly devoted mention speak thee thou
If I speak to thee in friendship's name, thou think'st I speak too coldly, if I mention love's devoted flame, thou say'st I speak too boldly
taken men anxiety
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.
men law rights
Every man has by the law of nature a right to such a waste portion of the earth as is necessary for his subsistence.
country children men
The education of youth belongs to the priests, yet they do not take so much care of instructing them in letters, as in forming their minds and manners aright; they use all possible methods to infuse, very early, into the tender and flexible minds of children, such opinions as are both good in themselves and will be useful to their country, for when deep impressions of these things are made at that age, they follow men through the whole course of their lives, and conduce much to preserve the peace of the government, which suffers by nothing more than by vices that rise out of ill opinions.
wise men office
By reason of gifts and bribes the offices be given to rich men, which should rather have been executed by wise men.
writing men dust
For men use, if they have an evil turn, to write it in marble; and whoso doth us a good turn we write it in dust.
fear men use
Those among them that have not received our religion do not fright any from it, and use none ill that goes over to it, so that all the while I was there one man was only punished on this occasion.
men names rich
Everywhere do I percieve a certain conspiracy of rich men seeking their own advantage underthat name and pretext of commonwealth.
men good-man
The times are never so bad but that a good man can make shift to live in them.
men might states
. . . 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.
hope men drowning
A drowning man will clutch at a straw.
heart pride men
Pride measures prosperity not by her own advantages but by the disadvantages of others. She would not even wish to be a goddess unless there were some wretches left whom she could order about and lord it over, whose misery would make her happiness seem all the more extraordinary, whose poverty can be tormented and exacerbated by a display of her wealth. This infernal serpent, pervading the human heart, keeps men from reforming their lives, holding them back like a suckfish.
men thinking crow
It is only natural, of course, that each man should think his own opinions best: the crow loves his fledgling, and the ape his cub.