King John Quotes

“Pitiful and pitied by no one, why have I come to the ignominy of this detestable old age, who was ruler of two kingdoms, mother of two kings? My guts are torn from me, my family is carried off and removed from me. The young king [crown prince Henry, †1183] and the count of Britanny [prince Geoffrey, †1186] sleep in dust, and their most unhappy mother is compelled to be irremediably tormented by the memory of the dead. Two sons remain to my solace, who today survive to punish me, miserable and condemned. King Richard [the Lionheart] is held in chains [in captivity with Emperor Henry VI of Germany]. His brother, John, depletes his kingdom with iron [the sword] and lays it waste with fire. In all things the Lord has turned cruel to me and attacked me with the harshness of his hand. Truly his wrath battles against me: my sons fight amongst themselves, if it is a fight where where one is restrained in chains, the other, adding sorrow to sorrow, undertakes to usurp the kingdom of the exile by cruel tyranny. Good Jesus, who will grant that you protect me in hell and hide me until your fury passes, until the arrows which are in me cease, by which my whole spirit is sucked out?"

[Third letter to Pope Celestine (1193)]”
― Eleanor of Aquitaine

“Who dares not stir by day must walk by night.”
― William Shakespeare, King John

“ما بالي أسخر من المغتنم وأمعن في السخرية؟
اللهم إلا لأنه لم يحاول استمالتي بعد, وما حسبت أن بي قدرة على الرفض والامتناع, إذا ما أقبلت دنانيره الذهبية تصافح راحتي.
ولكن ما دامت كفي لم تتعرض لإغراء بعد، فإني سأظل أسخر من الأغنياء كما يفعل المتسول الصعلوك, ممعناً في السخرية ما دمت فقيراً معدما.
أنادي أن ليس في العالم خطيئة غير الثراء حتي إذا صرت غنياً, كان دأبي عندئذ أن أنادي بأن لا رذيلة في العالم غير الفقر.
ولأن كانت المغانم تدفع الملوك إلي نقض العهود, فيا أيها المكسب كن لي سيداً، أكن لك عبداً”
― Shakspear

“When King John was angry, he threw himself down and rolled the floor, yelling and chewing the expensive oriental rugs that Crusaders had brought back from the East.”
― James Daugherty, The Magna Charta