George Herbert Quotes
Give not S. Peter so much, to leave Saint Paul nothing.
[Give not Saint Peter so much, to leave Saint Paul nothing.]
Herbert, George. Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, etc. London: T. Maxey, 1651.
Ironically, at the time the great worry was the ability to produce sufficient food for the whole world. Today, we find that task relatively easy, but we still have malnutrition and starvation on some parts of the world. Supply is only one factor. Distribution is as critical.
This was one of the principles of Saxon King Alfred in his distribution of 1/4 of his revenue. Typically. Kings would give lands, monies and tax exemptions to the wealthy nobles to ensure their support and loyalty even though they did not need the benefit, and those that needed, did not get. Opponents of George W. Bush and the early 21st century Republicans used this quotation to criticize the policies that would be large tax cuts and other benefits to the wealthy, while assuming that there would be a “trickle down” effect to the others.
This proverb operates with the force of law and in a sense is the doctrine of contributory negligence. I have a right to compensation for damage you have done me unless I have done something which impinges on your rights. If your camel destroys my crops, my rights have been violated, but if had used your camel without your permission, and he got out of control. I right is cancelled out. In a larger sense, this principle is used globally in international disputes. The Israeli right to live in peace has been, in the view of some Arabs, “cancelled out” by the fact that the Israelis have taken others land.
This line was used at his trial to show that he had communist tendencies. He and the 9 others refused to answer a Congressional Committee’s questions about their political beliefs and affiliations. Trumbo served a year in jail for Contempt of Congress and then was blacklisted for years, but he was so good that Otto Preminger broke the Blacklist and hired him whereupon he was employed in many of the major films. He had actually won an Academy Award writing under the name of Robert Rich.
To Republicans of the 21st century, it is shocking the Taft (and Theodore Roosevelt) were strong advocates of reducing the economic gulf between the rich and poor.
George Herbert was a Welsh-born poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devotional lyricists." He was born into an artistic and wealthy family and largely raised in England. He received a good education that led to his admission to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1609. He went there with the intention of becoming a priest, but he became the University's Public Orator and attracted the attention of King James I. He served in the Parliament of England in 1624 and briefly in 1625.
