Controversial Sayings
61 sayings found from the Early Modern era
The heart is the beginning of life; the sun of the microcosm.
It is a great folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss.
There are only two families in the world: the Haves and the Have-Nots.
He who cannot give an account of three thousand years is lost in the darkness of inexperience.
The peasants are like animals; they understand nothing but the whip.
It is a shameful thing for a Christian to be ignorant of the works of nature.
For what can be more unjust than to throw the blame of a bad cause upon the fault of the first man?
I could name a country which would be glad to eat up our whole nation without salt.
I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king.
I praise loudly. I blame softly.
The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right.
Religion is the idol of the mob; it adores everything it does not understand.
I have taken vengeance for my race.
All men are liable to error; and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.
The Holy Roman Empire is neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.
He who wishes to revenge injuries by reciprocal hatred will live in misery.
Villain, I have done thy mother.
They ought to make good and skilled servants, for they repeat very quickly whatever we say to them.
The church is the true compass by which we must guide ourselves in these heathen lands.
The natives are a cowardly and treacherous people, wherefore we must always be on our guard.