“I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken.”

“Sir, what can be said of these things? Is it the arm of the flesh that hath done these things? Is it the wisdom and counsel, or strength of man? It is the Lord only. God will curse that man and his house that dares to think otherwise. Sir, you see the work is done by a Divine leading. God gets into the hearts of men, and persuades them to come under you.”

“Oliver Cromwell banned kissing on Sundays---even for married couples---on pain of a prison sentence.”

“But there is another possible attitude towards the records of the past, and I have never been able to understand why it has not been more often adopted. To put it in its curtest form, my proposal is this: That we should not read historians, but history. Let us read the actual text of the times. Let us, for a year, or a month, or a fortnight, refuse to read anything about Oliver Cromwell except what was written while he was alive. There is plenty of material; from my own memory (which is all I have to rely on in the place where I write) I could mention offhand many long and famous efforts of English literature that cover the period. Clarendon’s History, Evelyn’s Diary, the Life of Colonel Hutchinson. Above all let us read all Cromwell’s own letters and speeches, as Carlyle published them. But before we read them let us carefully paste pieces of stamp-paper over every sentence written by Carlyle. Let us blot out in every memoir every critical note and every modern paragraph. For a time let us cease altogether to read the living men on their dead topics. Let us read only the dead men on their living topics.”

“A few honest men are better than numbers.”

“Put your trust in God but be sure to keep your powder dry. ”

“Do not trust the cheering, for those persons would shout as much if you or I were going to be hanged.”

“Keep your faith in God, but keep your powder dry.”

“Nature can do more than physicians.”

“He who stops being better stops being good.”

“Subtlety may deceive you integrity never will. ”