Spanish Armada Quotes

And therefore I am come amongst you at this time, not as for my recreation or sport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all; to lay down, for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood, even the dust. I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too.

I have the heart of a man, not a woman, and I am not afraid of anything.

A good book should make you laugh, cry or pee your pants. The best do all three!

When nationalism first became a religion, the English looked at the map, and, noticing that their island lay very high in the Northern Hemisphere, evolved the pleasing theory that the further north you live the more virtuous you become. The histories I was given when I was a little boy started off by explaining in the naïvest way that a cold climate made people energetic while a hot one made them lazy, and hence the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

I fear not," Hamilcar said gravely, shaking his head. "It seems to be the fate of all nations, that as they grow in wealth so they lose their manly virtues. With wealth comes corruption, indolence, a reluctance to make sacrifices, and a weakening of the feeling of patriotism.

As the long limousine purred to life Edwina felt as if she were Elizabeth, setting sail to battle the Spanish Armada. She was Elizabeth, damn it! What she had built no one was going to take away from her. Not her house, not her hotels, not her fine stable of horses -- and most especially not the young thoroughbred she had left sleeping by the side of her Olympic-size outdoor pool. Some pleasures, she decided, were simply too enticing to give up.

It will be long before everyone is wiped out. People live in war time, they always have. There was terror down through history - and the men who saw the Spanish Armada sail over the rim of the world, who saw the Black death wipe out half of Europe, those men were frightened, terrified. But though they lived and died in fear, I am here; we have built again. And so I will belong to a dark age, and historians will say "We have few documents to show how the common people lived at this time. Records lead us to believe that a majority were killed. But there were glorious men." And school children will sigh and learn the names of Truman and Senator McCarthy. Oh, it is hard for me to reconcile myself to this. But maybe this is why I am a girl - - - so I can live more safely than the boys I have known and envied, so I can bear children, and instill in them the biting eating desire to learn and love life which I will never quite fulfill, because there isn't time, because there isn't time at all, but instead the quick desperate fear, the ticking clock, and the snow which comes too suddenly upon the summer. Sure, I'm dramatic and sloppily semi-cynical and semi-sentimental. But in leisure years I could grow and choose my way. Now I am living on the edge. We all are on the brink, and it takes a lot of nerve, a lot of energy, to teeter on the edge, looking over, looking down into the windy blackness and not being quite able to make out, through the yellow, stinking mist, just what lies below in the slime, in the oozing, vomit-streaked slime; and so I could go on, into my thoughts, writing much, trying to find the core, the meaning for myself. Perhaps that would help, to synthesize my ideas into a philosophy for me, now, at the age of eighteen, but the clock ticks, ah yes, "At my back I hear, time's winged chariot hovering near." And I have too much conscience, too much habit to sit and stare at snow, thick now, and evenly white and muffling on the ground. God, I scream for time to let go, to write, to think. But no. I have to exercise my memory in little feats just so I can stay in this damn wonderful place which I love and hate with all my heart. And so the snow slows and swirls, and melts along the edges. The first snow isn't good for much. It makes a few people write poetry, a few wonder if the Christmas shopping is done, a few make reservations at the skiing lodge. It's a sentimental prelude to the real thing. It's picturesque & quaint.

The defeat of the Armada in 1588 was Elizabeth's high point. Things went downhill after that. Militarily the triumph against Spain was rather undermined the following year when Elizabeth sent her own massive Armada, commanded by Sir Francis Drake, to Spain and Portugal. This was annihilated too. So maybe God was neutral. Or Muslim.

I have the body but of a weak, feeble woman,” she told her troops as the Spanish Armada sailed for home in 1588, “but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.” Relishing opposites, the queen was constant only in her patriotism, her insistence on keeping ends within means, and her determination—a requirement for pivoting—never to be pinned down. 38 Her hopes for religion reflected this. Knowing the upheavals her country had undergone—Henry VIII’s expulsion of the pope from English Catholicism, the shift to strict Protestantism in Edward VI’s brief reign, the harsh reversion to Rome under Mary—Elizabeth wanted a single church with multiple ways of worship. There was, she pointed out, “only one Jesus Christ.” Why couldn’t there be different paths to Him? Theological quarrels were “trifles,” or, more tartly, “ropes of sand or sea-slime leading to the Moon.” 39 Until they affected national sovereignty. God’s church, under Elizabeth, would be staunchly English: whether “Catholic” or “Protestant” mattered less than loyalty. This was, in one sense, toleration, for the new queen cared little what her subjects believed. She would watch like a hawk, though, what they did. “Her Majesty seems to me incomparably more feared than her sister,” Feria warned Philip—which was saying something since that lady had been “bloody” Mary. “We have lost a kingdom,

Swaggering in the coffee-houses and ruffling it in the streets were the men who had sailed with Frobisher and Drake and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Hawkins, and Sir Richard Granville; had perhaps witnessed the heroic death of Sir Philip Sidney, at Zutphen; had served with Raleigh in Anjou, Picardy, Languedoc, in the Netherlands, in the Irish civil war; had taken part in the dispersion of the Spanish Armada, and in the bombardment of Cadiz; had filled their cups to the union of Scotland with England; had suffered shipwreck on the Barbary Coast, or had, by the fortune of war, felt the grip of the Spanish Inquisition; who could tell tales of the marvels seen in new-found America and the Indies, and, perhaps, like Captain John Smith, could mingle stories of the naive simplicity of the natives beyond the Atlantic, with charming narratives of the wars in Hungary, the beauties of the seraglio of the Grand Turk, and the barbaric pomp of the Khan of Tartary.

A known fact may be so unbearable that it is habitually pushed aside and not allowed to enter into logical processes, or on the other hand it may enter into every calculation and yet never be admitted as a fact, even in one’s own mind. Every nationalist is haunted by the belief that the past can be altered. He spends part of his time in a fantasy world in which things happen as they should – in which, for example, the Spanish Armada was a success or the Russian Revolution was crushed in 1918 – and he will transfer fragments of this world to the history books whenever possible. Much of the propagandist writing of our time amounts to plain forgery. Material facts are suppressed, dates altered, quotations removed from their context and doctored so as to change their meaning. Events which, it is felt, ought not to have happened are left unmentioned and ultimately denied.fn6 In 1927 Chiang Kai-Shek boiled hundreds of Communists alive, and yet within ten years he had become one of the heroes of the Left. The realignment of world politics had brought him into the anti-Fascist camp, and so it was felt that the boiling of the Communists ‘didn’t count’, or perhaps had not happened.

«El Libertador ha quedado asombrado con tanta inesperada prueba de la decadencia de la moral del gobierno. Crece su espanto al ver en la comunicación cuán presente tenía entonces el Ejecutivo los deberes de la fuerza armada; y que si ésta no debe nunca emplearse contra las leyes ni contra el libre sufragio de las asambleas electorales o de los legisladores, nunca es tampoco deliberante, ni puede escudarse con sospechas. ¿Qué gobierno podrá desde ahora reposar en las bayonetas de que se crea sostenido? (…) ¿Cuán no será la consecuente degradación de Colombia?».

Cortés’s conquest of Mexico—and the plunder that came from it—threw Spain’s elite into delirium. Enraptured by sudden wealth and power, the monarchy launched a series of costly foreign wars, one overlapping with another, against France, the Ottoman Empire, and the Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire. Even as Spain defeated the Ottomans in 1571, discontent in the Netherlands, then a Spanish possession, was flaring into outright revolt and secession. The struggle over Dutch independence lasted eight decades and spilled into realms as far away as Brazil, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. Along the way, England was drawn in; raising the ante, Spain initiated a vast seaborne invasion of that nation: the Spanish Armada. The invasion was a debacle, as was the fight to stop rebellion in the Netherlands.

stately homes of Britain. Trerice in Cornwall not only has its bowling alley still, but an original Tudor set of kayles, which are rather fat-bellied skittles, or bowling pins, to play with. And whether it really happened or not, Sir Francis Drake is reputedly said to have refused to break off his game of bowls when the Spanish Armada was finally sighted, a story that gains its credibility from the popularity of the game among gentlemen. The city of London had public bowling alleys, both indoor and outdoor.

On July 12, 1588, the Spanish Armada set sail for the Netherlands. The English were outnumbered and outgunned. However, fortune smiled on the English when they caught the Armada anchored in close formation near Calais. At midnight on July 28, the English sent fireships loaded with pitch, brimstone, and gunpowder directly into the heart of the Armada.

La muerte no es esa Parca armada con una guadaña [ ... ] la muerte es el viento del norte, las nubes llenas de nieve capaces de enterrar vivo todo lo que respira. Es el frío que quema los pulmones y rompe los huesos, que te hace trizas el ánimo.

You have a bad memory for details. You can tell her the date of the Spanish Armada, but you couldn’t even guess at the balance of your checkbook.

back burner, with intervals of détente, reversals of alliance, and many changes in fortune. After the failure of the Armada in 1588, Spain could not attack England at home. English forces were never strong enough to wage sustained warfare on the Spanish mainland. Instead, the intermittent conflict moved indecisively through what we would now call the third world—the scattered colonial dependencies of the two powers and over the trade routes and oceans of the world. English hawks, often Puritans and merchants, wanted an aggressive anti-Spanish policy that would take on the pope while opening markets; moderates (often country squires uninterested in costly foreign ventures) promoted détente.

Among all Crafts this [i.e. clothing manufacture] was the onely chiefe, for that it was the greatest merchandize, by the which our Countrey became famous through all Nations. And it was verily thought, that the one halfe of the people in the land liued in those daies therby, and in such good sort, that in the Common-wealth there were few or no beggers at all : poore people, whom God lightly blesseth with most children, did by meanes of this occupation so order them, that by the time that they were come to be sixe or seuen yeares of 20 age, they were able to get their owne bread : Idlenesse was then banished our coast, so that it was a rare thing to heare of a thiefe in those daies

Elizabeth didn’t have the money to build a wartime Navy, and the Spanish, the might of Europe, were about to launch their Armada against her small nation.

Martin Frobisher was called into service and given command of a squadron of ships when the Spanish Armada threatened in 1588. He was enraged when Sir Francis Drake, a pirate who was rewarded with a knighthood for his prize-taking prowess, seized a Spanish ship

Juan Esteban removed his gloves and raised the lid of the exquisite case to reveal a solid gold apple adorned with a reliquary silver crucifix embedded in the face. Juan Esteban held the heavy lemon sized orb in his bare hand and slowly wiped his thumb back and forth across the crucifix and asked, “How did you get it to be so flawless?” “It takes time. This was the fourth casting. The first three were good, but not good enough for a king,” Mateo replied. “This one is perfect.” The general had acquired a portion of a gold and silver shipment from the Santa Fe mint at Bogota to fulfill his personal mission to exalt favor with King Philip V of Spain. It was this ruler who had entrusted the general with command of the armada. As a devout catholic, Juan Esteban envisioned a holy gift to honor his king. With the expertise of this goldsmith, the golden orb was created in secrecy. An apple represented Adam and Eve’s ‘original sin’ and the crucifix symbolized Christ Jesus’ redemption of mankind. General Juan Esteban de Ubilla christened the casting as the Temptation of Paradise. “Yes, this one is perfect,” General de Ubilla replied. “You are a fine artisan. Now, before I leave, you must break the molds. There will never be another casting.” “But Your Excellency, I should retain the mold as you may one day require another,” Mateo pleaded. “There will be no others. This is the one. This is the only one,” he emphasized. “Yes, Your Excellency.” “And Mateo, if word reaches me that another orb exists?” “Yes, master?” “I will have your hands removed.

En realidad el levantamiento se venía maquinando desde principios de la década de los ochenta. En 1983, cuatro capitanes, dándose aires de personajes decimonónicos, se comprometieron ante el mítico Samán de Güere, el árbol donde Simón Bolívar alguna vez había echado una siesta. Los juramentados, en su fantasía, mezclaron la atávica vocación de poder de los militares venezolanos con el ideario radical que grupos de izquierda habían logrado gotear hasta los cuarteles en un enjundioso trabajo de penetración que llevaba años haciéndose. Y es que unos sobrevivientes de la guerrilla vencida en los años sesenta, incapaces de aceptar la derrota, no habían querido colgar sus hábitos y nunca renunciaron a la práctica de penetración de las Fuerzas Armadas. Siguieron insistiendo en el asalto, en la conspiración, y el empeño les generó sus réditos en una camada de jóvenes militares que lograron infiltrar con sus opiniones y creencias. De ahí surgió el cuarteto de mosqueteros de 1983. De ahí se nutre la logia militar que poco a poco va creciendo con cuadros de cadetes que a su vez han sido captados por los líderes fundadores en su paso por la Academia Militar. El objetivo de la logia es tomar el poder para realizar cambios profundos, y el plazo para alcanzarlo es 1992. El año tope para el alzamiento. Para esa fecha, los líderes del movimiento deberán haber ascendido en el escalafón hasta el grado de tenientes coroneles y tendrán a su cargo tropas que podrán movilizar para su causa. Para esa fecha también, el gobierno que estuviera despachando desde Miraflores –el que fuera, no importa: adeco o copeyano ¿quién podía adivinar con tanta antelación?– se encontraría en el penúltimo año de su período, y lo más probable, con bajos puntos de aceptación popular. Entonces, finalmente, las condiciones estarían dadas. La excusa para amotinarse podría ser cualquiera: pérdida de soberanía, pobreza, corrupción, crisis económica, endeudamiento externo, amantes presidenciales. Cualquier argumento vale.

La paz armada es la única posibilidad de convivencia entre los mexicanos, pueblo salvaje e indisciplinado.

Every time I go to Germany, and see the preparations the Nazis are making, I grow more doubtful. I don’t think you have ever been in such danger as you are today—certainly not since the time of the Spanish Armada.

Hamilton believed that the United States should preemptively seize Spanish Florida and Louisiana, lest they fall into hostile French hands. To accomplish this, he directed General James Wilkinson to assemble an armada of seventy-five riverboats.

and you couldn’t be in better hands. Edna is the coolest-headed performer with whom you will ever have the privilege of sharing a stage. Nothing can shake up this woman. So let her steadiness be your guide. Stay relaxed by seeing how relaxed she is. Remember that an audience will forgive a performer for anything except being uncomfortable. And if you forget your lines, just keep talking gibberish, and Edna will somehow fix it. Trust her—she’s been doing this job since the Spanish Armada, haven’t you, Edna?” “Since somewhat before then, I should think,” she said, smiling. Edna looked incandescent in her vintage red Lanvin gown from the Lowtsky’s bin. I had tailored the dress to her with such care. I was so proud of how well I’d dressed her for this role. Her makeup was exquisite, too. (But of course it was.) She still resembled herself, but this was a more vivid, regal version of herself. With her bobbed, glossy black hair and that lush red dress, she looked like a piece of Chinese lacquer—immaculate, varnished, and ever so valuable. “One more thing before I turn it over to your trusty producer,” said Billy. “Remember that this audience didn’t come here tonight because they want to hate you. They came because they want to love you. Peg and I have put on thousands of shows over the years, in front of every kind of audience there is,

In Protestant countries, the Reformation removed the anointing (and the excommunicating) of secular rulers from the jurisdiction of Rome. The doctrine of the divine right of kings was invented to enable kings to be anointed by bishops they had themselves appointed, rather than by appointees of the Pope. The interests of national kings and their peoples were certainly closer than those of popes or emperors. But however much the interest of kings and their peoples might seem close at a time of national peril—as at the time of the Spanish Armada—at other times they might be in the harshest conflict, with ensuing revolutions and civil wars. The national Church of England, established by Henry VIII's break with Rome, had as its most fundamental doctrine that of passive obedience to the king, under all circumstances and at any cost. But such a doctrine could not survive the contingency of the King himself becoming Catholic. In the Glorious Revolution of 1689, the Church of England itself was converted from the divine right of kings to popular sovereignty, exercised in and through the Parliament.