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Home  »  Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men  »  Lord Burghley

S.A. Bent, comp. Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men. 1887.

Lord Burghley

  • [Sir William Cecil, an English statesman; born 1520; secretary of state from the accession of Queen Elizabeth, 1558; lord treasurer, 1572; died 1598.]
  • Madam, I have heard men say that those who would make fools of princes are the fools themselves.

  • To Queen Elizabeth.
  • “England,” he said, “can never be ruined except by a parliament.”
  • He wrote to his son, Sir Robert Cecil, July 10, 1598: “Serve God, by serving the queen; for all other service is indeed bondage to the Devil.”
  • He used to throw off his official robe with the exclamation, “Lie there, Lord Treasurer!”