Shocking Sayings

736 sayings found from the Early Modern era

If I do not punish my servants, who will punish them? And if I do not punish them, who will fear me?

— Ivan the Terrible c. 1570s
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Woe to him who trusts in words more than deeds!

— Ivan the Terrible c. 1560s-1570s
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Brothers and friends, I am Toussaint Louverture; perhaps my name has made itself known to you. I have undertaken vengeance. I want Liberty and Equality to reign in St. Domingue. I am working to make that happen. Unite yourselves to us, brothers and f…

— Toussaint Louverture August 29, 1793
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The liberty of blacks could be guaranteed only under an independent black government.

— Toussaint Louverture c. 1796
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While Louverture can at times be a controversial figure, due to the fact that he enslaved others following his own freedom from bondage, he is nonetheless an important figure in Caribbean and Atlantic history.

— Toussaint Louverture Undated (historical analysis)
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I will tear off the epaulets of the officers who do not march; and I will shoot the soldiers who resist. I want work and order.

— Toussaint Louverture 1800
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Do you think that men who have been able to enjoy the blessing of liberty will calmly see it snatched away from them? They have fought to obtain it; they will fight to retain it.

— Toussaint Louverture October 28, 1797
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I have taken up arms for the freedom of my color, and I will maintain it as long as I breathe.

— Toussaint Louverture c. 1793-1802
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My General, you are mistaken in thinking that you can secure the liberty of the blacks by giving them a master. It is for them to choose one.

— Toussaint Louverture c. 1796
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I will be what I ought to be, and if I am not, I will be nothing.

— Jose de San Martin Undated, often cited as a personal motto.
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My sword will never be drawn without reason, nor sheathed without honor.

— Jose de San Martin Undated, often cited as a personal motto.
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I had rather be a good citizen in a free country than a king in a nation of slaves.

— Jose de San Martin Undated.
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A liberal-constitutional monarchy was the best hope for stability in the new nations of Spanish America.

— Jose de San Martin c. 1816-1822
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I proposed that Peru should be converted into an independent monarchy. The negotiations led to nothing.

— Jose de San Martin 1821
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Bolívar was in favor of forming a series of republics in the newly independent nations, whereas San Martín preferred the European system of rule and wanted to put monarchies in place.

— Jose de San Martin c. 1822 (Guayaquil Conference)
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The Negroes of Africa have received from nature no intelligence that rises above the foolish.

— Immanuel Kant 1764
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The Negro can be disciplined and cultivated, never however genuinely civilized. He lapses from himself into savagery [Wildheit].

— Immanuel Kant c. 1770s-1780s
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The Negroes and Americans will hence never be capable of founding an orderly civil society for themselves.

— Immanuel Kant c. 1770s-1780s
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By the mixing of the races 'the whites would become degraded'.

— Immanuel Kant c. 1770s-1780s
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All races will be extinguished, except that of the whites.

— Immanuel Kant c. 1770s-1780s
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