Quote#Wisdom
Perhaps the time may come when it will be wise to abandon all North…
Quote byGeorge III of Great Britain · 1738–1820
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Letter to Lord North (13 January 1778), quoted in The Correspondence of King George the Third with Lord North, From 1768 to 1783, Vol. II, ed. W. Bodham Donne (1867), pp. 118-119.
English (original)
Perhaps the time may come when it will be wise to abandon all North America but Canada, Nova Scotia, and the Floridas, but then the generality of the nation must see it first in that light, but to treat with Independence can never be possible... A sea war is the only wise plan.
— George III of Great Britain
More from George III of Great Britain
[The military policy of Great Britain should be based on a navy] equal if not superior to those of all other powers together, which must preserve it from invasion.
[Charles I] had too high a notion of the regal power and thought that every opposition to it was rebellion.
[Freedom of speech] is not only the natural privilege of liberty but also its support and preservation, every man therefore here is allowed to declare his sentiments openly, to speak or write whatever is not prohibited by the laws.
The pride, the glory of Britain, and the direct end of its constitution, is political liberty.
We may therefore infer from this long reign that this people will never refuse anything to a sovereign who they know will be the defender of their liberties.
If vice and faction can be got the better of, this nation will again appear in her ancient lustre.