Holy Roman Emperor Quotes & Sayings

The most certain way of ensuring victory is to march briskly and in good order against the enemy, always endeavouring to gain ground. — Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Moving forward fourteen hundred years, to sixteenth-century Europe, we hear a similar lament from the sister of the Holy Roman Emperor: "It is hard enough to marry a man . . . whom you do not know or love, and worse still to be required to leave home and kindred, and follow a stranger to the ends of the earth, without even being able to speak his language."4 — Stephanie Coontz

She was standing very close and looking up at him. Her eyes were big and round, but it was so dark he could barely see anything. So why was he so aware of how near her lips were to his? Why did the thought of kissing her seem burned into his brain like a mandate from both the king of England and the Holy Roman Emperor? — Melanie Dickerson

It is your attitude, and the suspicion that you are maturing the boldest designs against him, that imposes on your enemy. — Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Christmas Day 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne "Holy Roman Emperor" in the Basilica of St. Peter. The congregation acclaimed him as "Augustus," and Leo prostrated himself at Charlemagne's feet. — Karen Armstrong

We are made for action, and activity is the sovereign remedy for all physical ills. — Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Oh, but once my memories had pulsed with the blood-heat of life. In desperation, I forced myself to recall that once, I had walked with kings and conversed in languages never heard in this land. Once I had stood at the prow of a Sea Wolf ship and sailed oceans unknown to seamen here. I had ridden horses through desert lands, and dined on exotic foods in Arab tents. I had roamed Constantinople's fabled streets, and bowed before the Holy Roman Emperor's throne. I had been a slave, a spy, a sailor. Advisor and confidant of lords, I had served Arabs, Byzantines, and barbarians. I had worn captive's rags, and the silken robes of a Sarazen prince. Once I had held a jeweled knife and taken a life with my own hand. Yes, and once I had held a loving woman in my arms and kissed her warm and willing lips ... Death would have been far, far better than the gnawing, aching emptiness that was now my life. — Stephen R. Lawhead

it is the Mediterranean, specifically Italy, that gave us the poet Ovid, who in the Metamorphoses deplored the eating of animals, and the vegetarian Leonardo da Vinci, who envisioned a day when the life of an animal would be valued as highly as that of a person, and Saint Francis, who once petitioned the Holy Roman Emperor to scatter grain on fields on Christmas Day and give the crested larks a feast. — Mary Roach

You know that I'm not going to let the Holy Roman Emperor - or anybody else, for that matter - seduce me. — Deborah Harkness

Servitude of any sort is distasteful to all men, but especially objectionable is subjection to others in the case of those who ought to rule. — Ulrich Von Hutten

Do not forget your dogs of war, your big guns, which are the most-to-be respected arguments of the rights of kings. — Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

To God I speak Spanish, to women Italian, to men French, and to my horse - German. — Emperor Charles V

I am the Roman Emperor, and am above grammar. — Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor

It is not for the people to give laws to the prince, but to obey his mandate. — Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor

How absurd to try to make two men think alike on matters of religion, when I cannot make two timepieces agree. — Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Without supplies no army is brave. — Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick's wit was impressive. When a descendant of Ghengis Khan, who was wreaking havoc in the Muslim world, wrote threateningly that the holy Roman Emperor should surrender his lands and come to his court to become one of his vassals, Frederick replied that he'd think about it and to please hold open the position of falconer. — Nancy Goldstone

Remember, the prince is like a mirror exposed to the eyes of all his subjects who continually look to him as a pattern on which to model themselves, and who in consequence without much trouble discover his vices and virtues. — Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

It took time for the church to come to terms with the ignominy of the cross. Church fathers forbade its depiction in art until the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine ... Now, though, the symbol is everywhere: artists beat gold into the shape of the Roman execution device, baseball players cross themselves before batting, and cancy confectioners even make chocolate crosses for the faithful to eat during Holy Week. Strange as it may seem, Christianity has become a religion of the cross
the gallows, the electric chair, the gas chamber, in modern terms. — Philip Yancey

I make war on the living, not the dead. — Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

A defensive war is apt to betray us into too frequent detachment. Those generals who have had but little experience attempt to protect every point, while those who are better acquainted with their profession, having only the capital object in view, guard against a decisive blow, and acquiesce in small misfortunes to avoid greater. — Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Rascals, do you want to live forever? — Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

In the second century A.D. the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius may have best defined pantheism when he wrote, Everything is interwoven, and the web is holy. — Sharman Apt Russell

They say that kings are made in the image of God. If that is what he looks like, I feel sorry for God. — Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

On Earth, God has placed no more than two powers, and as there is in Heaven but one God, so is there here one Pope and one Emperor. Divine providence has specially appointed the Roman Empire to prevent the continuance of schism in the Church. — Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor

An army, like a serpent, travels on its belly. — Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

A single friar who goes counter to all Christianity for a thousand years must be wrong. — Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Since by the ordination of God I both am called and am Emperor of the Romans, in nothing but name shall I appear to be ruler if the control of the Roman city be wrested from my hands. — Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor

In theory the Holy Roman Emperor exercised a temporal sway matching the spiritual rule of the Pope over the universal community under God. — Barbara W. Tuchman