Quotes from Henry VIII

Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, He would not in mine age have left me naked to mine enemies.

Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition: By that sin fell the angels.

This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hopes; to-morrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honours thick upon him; The third day comes a frost, a killing frost.

I have ventured, like little wanton boys that swim on bladders, this many summers in a sea of glory.

Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water.

And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, Never to hope again.

I have touch'd the highest point of all my greatness; And from that full meridian of my glory I haste now to my setting.

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot That it do singe yourself.

Press not a falling man too far!

'Tis better to be lowly born, And range with humble livers in content, Than to be perk'd up in a glistering grief, And wear a golden sorrow.

Orpheus with his lute made trees, And the mountain-tops that freeze, Bow themselves when he did sing.

An old man, broken with the storms of state, Is come to lay his weary bones among ye.

He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one; Exceeding wise, fair-spoken, and persuading.