Quote#Wisdom
From this amphibious ill-born mob began
Quote byDaniel Defoe · 1660–1731
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The True-Born Englishman (1701), Pt. I, ll. 132–133.
English (original)
From this amphibious ill-born mob began That vain, ill-natured thing, an Englishman.
— Daniel Defoe
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Hail, hieroglyphic State machine, Contrived to punish fancy in; Men that are men in thee can feel no pain, And all thy insignificance disdain!
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We loved the doctrine for the teacher's sake.
Next, bring some lawyers to thy bar, By innuendo they might all stand there; There let them expiate that guilt, And pay for all that blood their tongues have spilt. These are the mountebanks of state, Who by the sleight of tongues can …
All men would be tyrants if they could.