James Thomson Quotes

When Britain first, at Heaven's command, Arose from out the azure main, This was the charter of the land, And guardian angels sung this strain: 'Rule, Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.'

Just as a man would not cherish living in a body other than his own, so do nations not like to live under other nations, however noble and great the latter may be.

After centuries the time has come when India has gained independence from foreign rule and it's the time when we all [the Independent Princely States) should unite for our motherland""

By the blood that flows in my veins and upon my honor, I swear to God to free Brazil!

For as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honors that we are fighting, but from freedom—for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.

The spirit of nationalism springs from the deepest of human emotions. It rises from the yearning of men to be free of foreign domination, to govern themselves. It springs from a thousand rills of race, of history, of sacrifice and pride in national achievement.

The American revolution was a struggle for home rule but also for who should rule at home.

And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, while the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.

No, our greatness does not come from our government.

They have nothing in their whole imperial arsenal that can break the spirit of one Irishman who doesn't want to be broken.

We feel free. We're independent. People can be openly proud of being Estonian. I have a lot of belief in Estonia.

In January 1776, Thomas Paine issued 'Common Sense,' advocating independence from Great Britain.

The American War of Independence is the expulsion of the intrusive elements, alien to the American essence. If American reality is the reinvention of itself, whatever is found in any way irreducible or unassimilable is not American.

Our founders did not oust George III in order for us to crown Richard I.

Happy for America, happy for Europe, perhaps for the world when, on the delivery of Cornwallis's sword to the illustrious, the immortal Washington, or rather by his order, to the brave Lincoln, the sun of Liberty and Independence burst through a sable cloud, and his benign influence was, almost instantaneously, felt in our remotest corners!

To maintain this Separation (from England) is to maintain the Religion, Liberty and Property of ourselves and our Posterity; to renounce it is to Sink into the lowest meanness and Slavery. May God remove every such thought from every American Breast! Welcome first the Life of the most uncivilized Savages! Welcome Death itself and everlasting Oblivion to our race!

General San Martin will never shed the blood of his compatriots, and he will unsheath his sword only against the enemies of the independence of South America.

This Society has been established for the purpose of grouping together American gentlemen who, distinguished by the liberality of their ideas and the fervour of their patriotic zeal, shall work together systematically and methodically for the independence and well-being of America, devoting to this most noble end all their strength, their influence, their faculties and talents, loyally sustaining one another, labouring honourably and proceeding with justice.

I say to that bloodthirsty mob that I, as Prince Regent of Brazil and its Perpetual Defender, mean to declare null and void all the decrees of those stinking and pestiferous Machiavellian troublemakers and that those decrees will not be carried out... If this frank declaration should irritate those Lusitanian-Spaniards, let them send an army against us, and we will show them what Brazilian valor is.

Arise, ye noble citizens, cast out all fear for good or ill, for our brave breasts and arms, shall be the walls that guard Brazil.

We cannot avoid facing the fact that we occupied a new place among the people of the world… Our flag is a proud flag, and it stands for liberty and civilization. Where it has once floated, there must be no return to tyranny.

The gentleman asks, when were the colonies emancipated? But I desire to know, when were they made slaves

With Freedom's lion-banner Britannia rules the waves.

The independence of America is one of the principle titles of glory to France.

[American colonists] had no common national tradition except that against which they were revolting.