35 William, 1st Earl of Chatham Pitt Quotes

William, 1st Earl of Chatham Pitt quotes

1. Sir, Spain knows the consequence of a war in America; whoever gains, it must prove fatal to her.

2. When Trade is at stake it is your last Retrenchment; you must defend it, or perish.

3. It must cut up Liberty by the root and poison the Fountain of Publick Security; and who that has an English heart can ever be weary of asserting Liberty?

4. The atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honorable gentleman has with such spirit and decency charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny; but content myself with wishing that I may be one of those whose follies may cease with their youth, and not that number who are ignorant in spite of experience.

5. My Lord, I am sure I can save this country, and no one else can.

6. While we had France for an enemy, Germany was the scene to employ and baffle her arms.

7. We retain nothing, although we have conquered everything...France is chiefly, if not solely, to be dreaded by us in the light of a maritime and commercial power; and therefore by restoring to her all the valuable West India islands, and by our concessions in the Newfoundland fishery, we have given her the means of recovering her prodigious losses and of becoming once more formidable to us at sea...all the Spanish treasures and riches in America, lay at our mercy.

8. I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people, so dead to all the feelings of liberty, as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of the rest.

9. Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom; youth is the season of credulity.

10. The distinction between legislation and taxation is essential to liberty.

11. There are many things a parliament cannot do. It cannot make itself executive, nor dispose of offices which belong to the crown. It cannot take any man's property, even that of the meanest cottager, as in the case of enclosures, without his being heard.

12. Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it; and this I know, my lords, that where laws end, tyranny begins.

    Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

13. There is something behind the throne greater than the King himself.

14. I love the Americans because they love liberty, and I love them for the noble efforts they made in the last war.

15. Reparation for our rights at home, and security against the like future violations.

16. If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms - never - never - never! You cannot conquer America.

17. I invoke the genius of the Constitution.

18. The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail - its roof may shake - the wind may blow through it - the storm may enter - the rain may enter - but the King of England cannot enter - all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement!

19. The parks are the lungs of London.

20. Mr Pitt, on entering upon administration, had found the nation at the lowest ebb in point of power and reputation. His predecessors, now his coadjutors, wanted genius, spirit and system...France, who meant to be feared, was feared heartily...They were willing to trust that France would be so good as to ruin us by inches. Pitt had roused us from this ignoble lethargy.

21. The admirers of Mr Pitt extol the reverberation he gave to our councils, the despondence he banished, the spirit he infused, the conquests he made, the security he affixed to our trade and plantations, the humiliation of France, the glory of Britain carried under his administration to a pitch at which it never had arrived-and all this is exactly true.

22. This minister is, as you know, the idol of the people, who regard him as the sole author of their success, and they do not have the same confidence in the other members of the council...Pitt joins to a reputation of superior spirit and talent, that of most exact honesty...with simple manners and dignity, he seeks neither display nor ostentation...He is very eloquent, specious, wheedling, and with all the chicanery of an experienced lawyer. He is courageous to the point of rashness, he supports his ideas in an impassioned fashion and with an invincible determination, seeking to have no other ambition than to elevate Britain to the highest point of glory and to abase France to the lowest degree of humiliation.

23. Our toast in general is,-Magna Charta, the British Constitution,-PITT and Liberty forever!.

24. The memory of that great and glorious minister, who, to all succeeding ages, will be quoted as an illustrious example, how one great man, by his superior ability, could raise his drooping country from the abyss of despair to the highest pinnacle of glory, and render her honoured, respected, revered, and dreaded by the whole universe.

25. Erected by the King and Parliament As a Testimony to The Virtues and Ability of WILLIAM PITT EARL OF CHATHAM During whose Administration In the Regins of George II and George III Divine Providence Exalted Great Britain To an Height of Prosperity and Glory Unknown to any Former Age Born November 15, 1708; Died May 11, 1778

1. Poverty of course is no disgrace, but it is damned annoying.

2. The press is like the air, a chartered libertine.

3. Trade increases the wealth and glory of a country; but its real strength and stamina are to be looked for among the cultivators of the land.

4. Don't talk to me about a man's being able to talk sense; everyone can talk sense. Can he talk nonsense?

5. Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who posses it; and this I know, my lords: that where law ends, tyranny begins.

6. Unlimited power corrupts the possessor.

7. Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged heart.

8. I think I could eat one of Bellamy's veal pies.

9. Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who posses it.

10. Was not necessity the plea of every illegal exertion of power or exercise of oppression?...Necessity is the plea for very infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.