Monarchy Quotes

This famous quotation has been attributed to Voltaire, 1694-1778, and French Philosopher, Denis Diderot, 1713-1784. Most quotation collections erroneously attribute it to Diderot in the version “Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.” Both Voltaire and Diderot used the quotation as did many others opposed to monarchy and the then repressive church hierarchies. But the origin of the famous phrase was with Meslier. When the priest died, three handwritten manuscripts were found written and signed by him in which he attacked religion in general and the church and the Bible in particular. His Testament was read by Voltaire and Denis Diderot among others and he was very influential in their development as opponents of organized religion.

This quotation reflects the Spinoza view that the individual is supreme in determining truth.

The priest had come to the Empress to complain about the debauchery of her Prime Minister and made the error of describing him as the first man of the empire. The story may be apocryphal but it illustrates the character of the Empress. The source of the exact words are given in the historical novel, Luise Muhlbach, Joseph II. and His Court

These appear in much of her correspondence to Dee. In acknowledgement of the second, Dee signed his letters and reports to the Queen with two zeros (representing his eyes) and the numeral 7 which at the time in numerology was the number of mystery. Many believe that the James Bond moniker of ‘007’ derives from England’s original great secret agent and superspy who the queen would allow almost anything.

William the Conqueror. The King had come ashore and fell forward in the sand on his face and hands. Showing a sense of humor, he hade this statement. Shortly thereafter he took England militarily at Hastings and seized it politically.

The offer of Darius was to pay him ten thousand talents, to cede to him all the countries west of the Euphrates, and to give him his daughter in marriage. Parmenio had urged him to take the offer. Alexander then went on and defeat Darius and the Persions who far outnumbered his forces. Asia then had one king who was more popular than Darius had been.

England had, under Henry VIII, left the Roman Catholic Church where the King replaced the Pope as head of the English Church. Henry’s successors then had to organize and manage the national Christian church. James was discussing the hierarchy of the Church of England and there was a suggestion that Bishops be eliminated and have every priest directly responsible to the crown. Bishops would be powerful figures who might form a power center. (They did later). However, King James I observed that the King is God’s choice and rules by divine right. So there had to be bishops to crown kings. The bishoprics were retained.

Cromwell was not opposed to monarchy per se as long as it was reasonably checked. He saw Charles II as a terrible monarch. After deposing Charles, he and his associates had to come up with some form of government. As “Lord Protector” he was a de facto monarch without the trappings.

Huey P. Long credited this quotation for the origin of his famous slogan, "Every Man a King, but No Man Wears a Crown”. See {609936}

Khomeini was a politician as well as a cleric. He was not always consistent depending on his audience. This book was the publication of 17 different speeches with different audiences. Here he opposes all monarchy, but there is little doubt that his main target was the monarchy of Saudi Arabia. In {620335} he suggests that monarchy would be acceptable if the monarch followed Islamic law. Here he leaves no room for monarchies of which there were and are a number in the Muslim world. And at the height of Islam there was a Caliph who not only had absolute rule of ALL Muslim countries, but he was the absolute ruler of the religion. The Caliph and later the Islamic Sultan held more absolute power than any king or Pope ever had. Most of the Islamic fundamentalists claim that they want a return to having a Caliph with absolute power. And even in Iraq today, the “Supreme Leader” exercises more autonomous power, than any monarch or dictator does in his own country.

Paine was describing the conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror.