JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN

The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.

My dear doctor, I am surprised to hear you say that I am coughing very badly, as I have been practising all night.

Evil prospers when good men do nothing.

I speak in the spirit of the British law, which makes liberty commensurate with, and inseparable from, the British soil--which proclaims, even to the stranger and the sojourner, that the ground on which he treads is holy, and consecrated by the genius of universal emancipation. No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced; no matter what complexion an Indian or an African sun may have burnt upon him; no matter in what disastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven down; no matter with what solemnities he may have been offered upon the altar of Slavery; the first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and the god sink together in the dust--his spirit walks abroad in its own majesty--his body swells beyond the measure of his chains, and he stands redeemed, regenerated and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of universal emancipation.

It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become prey to the active.

I have never yet heard of a murderer who was not afraid of a ghost.

But as in wailing there's nought availing, And Death unfailing will strike the blow, Then for that reason, and for a season, Let us be merry before we go.

It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become prey to the active. The conditions upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt.

Madame de Stael talks herself into a beauty.

Assassinate me you may; intimidate me you cannot.

Assassinate me you may; intimidate me you cannot.

Evil prospers when good men do nothing.

The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.

My dear doctor, I am surprised to hear you say that I am coughing very badly, as I have been practising all night.

His smile is like the silver plate on a coffin.

When I can't talk sense, I talk metaphor.

I have never yet heard of a murderer who was not afraid of a ghost.

In this administration, a place can be found for every bad man.

… the annihilation of Ireland.

I speak in the spirit of the British law, which makes liberty commensurate with, and inseparable from, the British soil--which proclaims, even to the stranger and the sojourner, that the ground on which he treads is holy, and consecrated by the genius of universal emancipation. No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced; no matter what complexion an Indian or an African sun may have burnt upon him; no matter in what disastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven down; no matter with what solemnities he may have been offered upon the altar of Slavery; the first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and the god sink together in the dust--his spirit walks abroad in its own majesty--his body swells beyond the measure of his chains, and he stands redeemed, regenerated and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of universal emancipation.

It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become prey to the active.

The first inventions of commerce are, like those of all other arts, cunning and short-sighted.

But as in wailing there's nought availing, And Death unfailing will strike the blow, Then for that reason, and for a season, Let us be merry before we go.

Madame de Stael talks herself into a beauty.

It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become prey to the active. The conditions upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt.