Grotius Quotes & Sayings

Ignorance of certain subjects is a great part of wisdom. — Hugo Grotius

A man cannot govern a nation if he cannot govern a city; he cannot govern a city if he cannot govern a family; he cannot govern a family unless he can govern himself; and he cannot govern himself unless his passions are subject to reason — Hugo Grotius

Liberty is the power that we have over ourselves. — Hugo Grotius

There is none of you who would not publicly exclaim that everyone should be moderator and arbitrator in his own matter, who would not command all citizens to use rivers and public places equally and indifferently, who would not with all his power defend the liberty of going hither and thither and trading. — Hugo Grotius

When Pococke inquired of Grotius, where the proof was of that story of the pigeon, trained to pick peas from Mahomet's (Muhammad's) ear, and pass for an angel dictating to him? Grotius answered that there was no proof! ... — Thomas Carlyle

Even God cannot make two times two not make four. — Hugo Grotius

Tis long ere time can mitigate your grief;
To wisdom fly, she quickly brings relief. — Hugo Grotius

By understanding many things, I have accomplished nothing. — Hugo Grotius

As to the Christian religion, besides the strong evidence which we have for it, there is a balance in its favor from the number of great men who have been convinced of its truth after a serious consideration of the question. Grotius was an acute man, a lawyer, a man accustomed to examine evidence, and he was convinced. Grotius was not a recluse, but a man of the world, who certainly had no bias on the side of religion. Sir Isaac Newton set out an infidel, and came to be a very firm believer. — Samuel Johnson

A state is a perfect body of free men, united together to enjoy common rights and advantages. — Hugo Grotius

Men rush to arms for slight causes, or no cause at all, and once taken up there is no longer any respect for law, divine or human. — Hugo Grotius

I have spent my life laboriously doing nothing. — Hugo Grotius

A new danger now beset him [Grotius], the danger of becoming simply a venal pleader, a creature who grinds out arguments on this or that side, for this or that client: a mere legal beast of prey. Fortunately for himself and for the world he took a higher view of his life-work: his determination clearly was to make himself a thoroughly equipped jurist, and then, as he rose more and more in his profession, to use his powers for the good of his country and of mankind. — Andrew Dickson White

Religious belief does not do away with either natural or human law from which sovereignty is derived. — Timothy Brook

I saw in the whole Christian world a license of fighting at which even barbarous nations might blush. Wars were begun on trifling pretexts or none at all, and carried on without any reference of law, Divine or human. — Hugo Grotius