Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
| NUMBER: | 1019 |
| AUTHOR: | Elijah Kellogg (1813–1901) |
| QUOTATION: | Ye call me chief, and ye do well to call him chief who, for twelve long years, has met upon the arena every shape of man or beast that the broad Empire of Rome could furnish, and has never yet lowered his arm. And if there be one among you who can say that, ever, in public fight or private brawl, my actions did belie my tongue, let him step forth and say it. If there be three in all your throng dare face me on the bloody sand, let them come on! Yet I was not always thus, a hired butcher, a savage chief of still more savage men. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | This declamation was written by Kellogg when he was a student at Andover Theological Seminary in 1840–1843, and has been published elsewhere in books on public speaking and oratory. |
| SUBJECTS: | Leadership |