The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

women is carried to the highest excess, they are slaves; and that their moral and intellectual
degradation increases in direct proportion to the adoration which is paid to mere external charms.
‘Strictures on the Modern System of Education’ (1799) vol. 1
1.167 Sir Thomas More 1478-1535
Oves inquam vestrae, quae tam mites esse, tamque exiguo solent ali, nunc (uti fertur) tam
edaces atque indomitae esse coeperunt ut homines devorent ipsos, agros, domos, oppida vastent
ac depopulentur.
Your sheep, that were wont to be so meek and tame, and so small eaters, now, as I hear say, be
become so great devourers, and so wild, that they eat up and swallow down the very men
themselves.
‘Utopia’ (1516) bk. 1 (following the marginal prècis ‘The Disaster Produced by Standing Military Garrisons’)
After his head was upon the block, [he] lift it up again, and gently drew his beard aside, and
said, This hath not offended the king.
In Francis Bacon ‘Apophthegms New and Old’ (1625) no. 22
In good faith, I rejoiced, son, that I had given the devil a foul fall, and that with those Lords I
had gone so far, as without great shame I could never go back again.
In William Roper ‘The Life of Sir Thomas More’ (Early English Text Society: Original Series 197, p. 69)
Indignatio principis mors est.
‘Is that all, my Lord?’ quoth he [to the Duke of Norfolk]. ‘Then in good faith is there no more
difference between your grace and me, but that I shall die to-day, and you to-morrow.’
William Roper ‘The Life of Sir Thomas More’ (E. E. T. S. Original Series 197, p. 71)
Son Roper, I thank our Lord the field is won.
In William Roper ‘The Life of Sir Thomas More’ (E. E. T. S. Original Series 197, p. 73)
Is not this house [the Tower of London] as nigh heaven as my own?
In William Roper ‘The Life of Sir Thomas More’ (E. E. T. S. Original Series 197, p. 83)
I pray you, master Lieutenant, see me safe up, and my coming down let me shift for my self.
On mounting the scaffold, in William Roper ‘The Life of Sir Thomas More’ (E. E. T. S. Original Series 197,
p. 103)
Pluck up thy spirits, man, and be not afraid to do thine office; my neck is very short; take heed
therefore thou strike not awry, for saving of thine honesty.
Words addressed to the executioner, in William Roper ‘The Life of Sir Thomas More’ (E. E. T. S. Original
Series 197, p. 103)
We may not look at our pleasure to go to heaven in feather-beds; it is not the way.
In William Roper ‘The Life of Sir Thomas More’
Son Roper, I may tell thee I have no cause to be proud thereof [the King having entertained
him at Chelsea], for if my head could wish him a castle in France it should not fail to go.
In William Roper ‘The Life of Sir Thomas More’
If the parties will at my hands call for justice, then, all were it my father stood on the one side,
and the Devil on the other, his cause being good, the Devil should have right.