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There are some examples of medieval kings who were terrible human beings but were nevertheless good kings.
Sep 30, 2025
There has been a comparatively greater proportion of good queens, than of good kings.
The House of Peers, throughout the war, Did nothing in particular, And did it very well: Yet Britain set the world ablaze In good King George's glorious days!
Gods be good, why would any man ever want to be king? When everyone was shouting King in the North, King in the North, I told myself ... swore to myself ... that I would be a good king, as honorable as Father, strong, just, loyal to my friends and brave when I faced my enemies ... now I can't even tell one from the other.
Teachers teach and do the world good, Kings just rule and most are never understood
A riot is the language of the unheard.
I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.
It seems to us unwise to have insisted on teaching geometry to the younger Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, in order to make him a good king, but from Plato's point of view it was essential. He was sufficiently Pythagorean to think that without mathematics no true wisdom is possible.
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable . . .
If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
Politics, as the word is commonly understood, are nothing but corruptions, and consequently of no use to a good king or a good ministry; for which reason Courts are so overrun with politics.
George VI in the conventional parlance was a Good King who sacrificed his life to his sense of duty. If we are to have monarchs it would be hard to find a better one.
There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'
We all have known good critics, who have stamped out poet's hopes; Good statesmen, who pulled ruin on the state; Good patriots, who, for a theory, risked a cause; Good kings, who disemboweled for a tax; Good Popes, who brought all good to jeopardy; Good Christians, who sat still in easy-chairs; And damned the general world for standing up. Now, may the good God pardon all good men!
If you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl, but keep moving forward!
So do I wish I was to be king? That is not a question I ask myself. I ask myself, Would I be a good king? Would I be quick witted and generous of spirit and full of that boundless energy? Or would I be clumsy and stupid and dulled by my own prejudices? I try to be a good man, since I am alive at all, and hope that that teaches me what I would need to know if I was ever faced with a higher challenge.
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.
The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.
An awful lot of fantasy, and even some great fantasy, falls into the mistake of assuming that a good man will be a good king, that all that is necessary is to be a decent human being and when you're king everything will go swimmingly.
Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.
Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
I did not set out to be beloved and just, only strong." 'A King can be better than that," the Prince insisted. "And so we all begin, determined to better our fathers' performances, knowing we can change the very nature of humanity, make it better, cleaner. But then daggers strike in the night, and peasants revolt, and all manner of atrocities become a necessity as breakfast. Only Princes believe in the greater good. Kings know there is only Reign, and all things may be committed in its holy name.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
There is some good in the worst of us, and some evil in the best of us.
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
Look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin.
Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.
The time is always right to do what is right.
Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
What are you doing for others?
I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Hate is too great a burden to bear.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.
Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.