A biography for Algernon Sidneyhasn’t been written yet.
“Liars need to have good memories.”
“'Tis hard to comprehend how one man can come to be master of many, equal to himself in right, unless it be by consent or by force.”
“A general presumption that Icings will govern well, is not a sufficient security to the People... those who subjected themselves to the will of a man were governed by a beast.”
“The general revolt of a Nation cannot be called a Rebellion.”
“Liberty cannot be preserved, if the manners of the people are corrupted.”
“That is the best Government, which best provides for war.”
“If vice and corruption prevail, liberty cannot subsist; but if virtue have the advantage, arbitrary power cannot be established.”
“Such as have reason, understanding, or common sense, will, and ought to make use of it in those things that concern themselves and their posterity, and suspect the words of such as are interested in deceiving or persuading them not to see with their own eyes.”
“Laws and constitutions ought to be weighed... to constitute that which is most conducing to the establishment of justice and liberty.”
“Everyone sees they cannot well live asunder, nor many together, without some rule to which all must submit.”
“The common Notions of Liberty are not from School Divines, but from Nature.”
“Many things are unknown to the wisest, and the best men can never wholly divest themselves of passions and affections... nothing can or ought to be permanent but that which is perfect.”
“Who will wear a shoe that hurts him, because the shoe-maker tells him 'tis well made?”
“To depend upon the Will of a Man is Slavery.”
“God leaves to Man the choice of Forms in Government; and those who constitute one Form, may abrogate it.”
“All the nations they had to deal with, had the same fate.”
“The truth is, man is hereunto led by reason which is his nature.”
“There may be a hundred thousand men in an army, who are all equally free; but they only are naturally most fit to be commanders or leaders, who most excel in the virtues required for the right performance of those offices.”
“No right can come by conquest, unless there were a right of making that conquest.”
“This submission is a restraint of liberty, but could be of no effect as to the good intended, unless it were general; nor general, unless it were natural.”