Kings

“ Contrair the kings of Cristendie.
‘He never was a king’s subject,
And a king’s subject he’ll never be;
For he wan them in the fields fighting,
Where the king and his nobles durst not come to see.’ ”

“ There might you see two Kings with equal pride 45 Gird on their arms, their Consorts by their side; Here the Foot-warriors glowing after fame, There prancing Knights and dexterous Archers came And Elephants, that on their backs sustain Vast towers of war, and fill and shake the plain. ”

“ And every dawn the dying rose was plucked, The dead leaves hid, all evil sights removed For said the King, "If he shall pass his youth Far from such things as move to wistfulness, And brooding on the empty eggs of thought, The shadow of this fate, too vast for man, May fade, belike, and I shall see him grow To that great stature of fair sovereignty When he shall rule all lands—if he will rule— The King of kings and glory of his time." ”

“ But no peace comes from such sovereignty, and no deep and vital joy. For the real King is not dead, and He is out and about, and our poor little monarchy is as the reign of the midge on a summer’s night. Our real kingship is in the acknowledgment of the King of kings. When we worship Him, and Him only, He will ask us to sit on His throne. ”

“ Espous’d of princes:—in whose days of mirth,
Kings sought her favor, from the ends of earth.
Whose armies, like thick clouds, around her throne
Waited, to make her royal mandates known:
And ships, shadow’d the sea—floating sublime
Like ocean demons:—linking clime to clime,
And land to land, in one vast, boundless sway,
They bade the world their lofty queen obey:
And at her feet laid down the gather’d spoil,
For which an hundred realms were doom’d to toil. ”

“ Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. ”

“ True kings are those who thus forsake
Their kingdoms for the Eternal King;
Serpent, her foot is on thy neck;
Herod, thou writhest, but canst not sting.
He, He is King, and He alone
Who lifts that infant hand to bless ”

“ And all the time a wind is blowing ashes, And sifting them upon the spotless linen Of kings and dukes in England till at last They find themselves mistaken for the people. Drink to me, clasp my hand, embrace me—tiens! The Emperor is home again in France, And Europe for democracy is thrilling. ”

“ Three Kings from the far-off East, bearing rich and costly presents.
They bow down low to the ground, and offer rare gifts: bright gold to the Infant King; sweet frankincense to God, who has come on earth; bitter myrrh to the Son of Man, who is to die for men. ”

“ It may be put symbolically, and even mystically, by saying that they all bear the image of the King. And, though the most mystical, it is also the most practical summary of equality that all men bear the image of the King of Kings. ”

“ Kings are commonly surrounded by still thicker fogs, collected around them by men of intriguing character, and faithless Ministers--all, of every class, unite in endeavouring to make things appear to Kings in any light but the true one. ”

“ Demonstrate that kings, by their nature and education, are obedient to the laws; bear them patiently; deem them no impediment to their wishes, designs, lusts, violences; that a whole series of monarchs hath been of this character and condition, wherever a whole series hath been permitted to continue; that under them independence of spirit, dignity of mind, rectitude of conduct, energy of character, truth of expression, and even lower and lighter things, eloquence, poetry, sculpture, painting, have flourished more exuberantly than among the free. ”

“ “Kings cannot ennoble thee, thou good, great soul, for One who is higher than kings hath done that for thee; but a king can confirm thy nobility to men.” ”

“ What babe new-born is this that in a manger cries?
Near on her bed of pain his happy mother lies.
⁠O, see! the air is shaken with white and heavenly wings—
⁠This is the Lord of all the earth, this is the King of Kings. ”

“ What a splendid destiny for a nation to be the Empire of such an Emperor, when that nation is France and when it adds its own genius to the genius of that man! To appear and to reign, to march and to triumph, to have for halting-places all capitals, to take his grenadiers and to make kings of them, to decree the falls of dynasties, and to transfigure Europe at the pace of a charge; to make you feel that when you threaten you lay your hand on the hilt of the sword of God; to follow in a single man, Hannibal, Cæsar, Charlemagne; ”

“ KING HENRY VI My crown is in my heart, not on my head;
Not decked with diamonds and Indian stones,
Nor to be seen: my crown is called content:
A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy. ”

“ When we emerged from the river on the other bank, a monarch, who at noon had seventeen thousand artisans in his establishments, was mounted upon a wretched spavined horse, with both hishead and feet bare. Permanence belongs to God alone, the King of Kings. ”

“ Kings are like stars; they rise and set; they have / The worship of the world, but no repose. Shelley.
Kings are said to have long arms; but every man should have long arms, and should pluck his living, his instruments, his power, and his knowing from the sun, moon, and stars. ”

“ These ten kings, however, desolate her: the will at this time acts in them, not in the beast—they are the prominent and existing actors, that they may give their power to the beast, whose final character and end we have already seen. ”

“ All things that move between the quiet poles Shall be at my command: emperors and kings Are but obeyed in their several provinces; But his dominion that exceeds in this, Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man; ”

“ He prospers ever, free from scathe, whom they, as with full hands, enrich, Whom they preserve from every foe. 3. The Kings drive far away from him his troubles and his enemies, And lead him safely o'er distress. ”

“ In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, there were no Kings; the consequence of which was, there were no wars; it is the pride of Kings which throws mankind into confusion. ”

“ This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall, Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands; ”

“ Upon the King's Return from Scotland.
Returned, I'll ne'er believe 't; first prove him hence;
Kings travel by their beams and influence.
Who says the soul gives out her gests, or goes
A flitting progress 'twixt the head and toes? ”

“ On the King's return to White-hall, after his Summer's Progress, 1684. SONG. Set by Mr. Henry Purcell.
From those serene and rapturous joys
A country life alone can give,
Exempt from tumult and from noise,
Where Kings forget the troubles of their reigns,
And are almost as happy as their humble swains,
By feeling that they live:
Behold th' indulgent Prince is come
To view the conquests of His mercy shown
To the new Proselytes of His mighty town,
10And men and angels bid Him welcome home. ”

“ Kings and their subjects, masters and slaves, 10 find a common level in two places—at the foot of the cross and in the grave. Colton.
Kings are but the slaves of their position; they dare not follow what their own hearts dictate. ”

“ Kings, of their own free will, leave the throne and hasten to arms; in their elevated place they not seldom curse their lives. No matter how boyárs grow stout, they also pale in their good fortune, like their lowest slave. ”

“ The fact that Kings and Emperors consider it necessary or appropriate, on all state occasions, to appear in the garb of one of the fighting branches of their service, is a significant indication of the apotheosis reached by the combative qualities in man! ”

“ The power of kings is founded on the reason and on the folly of the people, and specially on their folly. ”

“ And sweeps, with forceful arm, to their last graves,
Kings from the earth and pirates from the waves. ”

“ The indefensible thought was put forward that six or seven kings, backed by six or seven aristocracies, were about to take the crowns off the heads of the monarchs of the world, including themselves, and turn the world into a great democracy. ”

“ Kings could not play at. It is rather singular that, in our days, at least, though monarchs occasionally lose their crowns in these games of hazard, they rarely part with their heads at the same time. ”

“ Kings have to deal with their neighbors, their wives, their children, their prelates or clergy, their nobles, their second-nobles or gentlemen, their merchants, their commons, and their men of war; and from all these arise dangers, if care and circumspection be not used. ”

“ He that is king must have a successor, a second, a child that shall stand up in his stead, his own, suppose, or perhaps that poor and wise child spoken of, v. 13. Kings, when they grow old, must have the mortification of seeing those that are to jostle them out and stand up in their stead. ”

“ He will not withdraw His eye from the righteous.
11. Kings are for the throne, and he will cause them to sit in glory, and will protect them ; and, if fetters can bind, the feeble will be caught in the noose. ”

“ Kings, ministers, aristocrats, the rich in general, kept the people in poverty and subjection; they kept them as they kept dogs, to fight and hunt for their service. ”

“ Kings may usurp thrones, or republics may be established, without scarcely any stir in the town. Plassans sleeps while Paris fights. ”

“ But what are kings, when regiment is gone, But perfect shadows in a sunshine day? ”

“ 'Twixt kings and tyrants there's this difference known:
Kings seek their subjects' good, tyrants their own. ”

“ When kings the sword of justice first lay down,
They are no kings, though they possess the crown.
Titles are shadows, crowns are empty things,
The good of subjects is the end of kings; ”

“ For the transgression of a land, and a general defection from God and religion to idolatry, profaneness, or immorality, many are the princes thereof, many at the same time pretending to the sovereignty and contending for it, by which the people are crumbled into parties and factions, biting and devouring one another, or many successively, in a little time, one cutting off another, as 1 Kings xvi. ”

“ Is it not a noble farce wherein kings, republics, and emperors have so many ages played their parts, and to which the vast universe serves for a theatre? ”

“ The glory of the king of all the kings.—
You with the golden power on your brows,
You kings, I think you know not what you are.
First you shall learn yourselves: for neither light
Understandeth itself, nor darkness light. ”

“ Thus have the kings of the earth been wretchedly imposed upon by the papal powers, and condemned to the drudgery of extirpating with the sword of war, as well as that of justice, those whom they have marked for heretics, right or wrong, to the great prejudice of their own interests. ”

“ Alike in joy and sorrow bring
Thy mighty aid, God save the King!
4⁠And oh! when earthly thrones decay,
And earthly kingdoms fade away,
Grant him a throne in worlds on high,
A Crown of immortality. ⁠Amen. ”

“ On the fourth day the king entered the bath, and coming forth, sat down on the throne of his kingship, with the crown on his head, whereupon the folk came in to him, according to their wont and after the measure of their several ranks and degrees, and the amirs and viziers entered, ay, and the chamberlains and deputies and captains and men of war and the falconers and armbearers. ”