Thomas Bulfinch Quotes

19 quotes in 347 categories

• The word "Chivalry" is derived from the French Cheval, a horse.
• Thus we hope to teach mythology not as a study, but as a relaxation from study; to give our work the charm of a story-book,…
• It was not till toward the end of the thirteenth century that the prose romances began to appear.
• If no other knowledge deserves to be called useful but that which helps to enlarge our possessions or to raise our station in society, then…
• For Mythology is the handmaid of literature; and literature is one of the best allies of virtue and promoters of happiness.
• Religion united its influence with those of loyalty and love, and the order of knighthood, endowed with all the sanctity and religious awe that attended…
• The earliest form in which romances appear is that of a rude kind of verse.
• The sunflower is a favorite emblem of constancy
• ON the decline of the Roman power, about five centuries after Christ, the countries of Northern Europe were left almost destitute of a national government.
• We thus see that the Greeks of the early ages knew little of any real people except those to the east and south of their…
• Without a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of our own language cannot be understood and appreciated.
• The word knight, which originally meant boy or servant, was particularly applied to a young man after he was admitted to the privilege of bearing…
• Mail armor continued in general use till about the year 1300, when it was gradually supplanted by plate armor, or suits consisting of pieces or…
• The other classes of which society was composed were, first, freemen, owners of small portions of land, independent, though they sometimes voluntarily became the vassals…
• The preparatory education of candidates for knighthood was long and arduous.
• The Romans held Britain from the invasion of Julius Caesar till their voluntary withdrawal from the island, A.D. 420,- that is, about five hundred years.
• It has, therefore, been a favorite boast of the people of Wales and Cornwall, that the original British stock flourishes in its unmixed purity only…
• Shields were generally made of wood, covered with leather, or some similar substance. To secure them, in some sort, from being cut through by the…

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