Thanks be to God, since my leaving drinking of wine, I do find myself much better, and do mind my business better, and do spend less money, and less time lost in idle company.
Samuel PepysRead
I went out to Charing Cross to see Major General Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could in that condition.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote illustrates a grim historical event witnessed by the author, showing a man facing his fate with unexpected cheerfulness.
In this quote, Samuel Pepys recounts a moment of historical significance where he witnesses the execution of Major General Harrison. The striking contrast between the grimness of the event—hanging, drawing, and quartering—and Harrison's cheerful demeanor highlights the complexity of human emotions in the face of impending death. It prompts reflections on courage, acceptance, and the nature of bravery when confronted with the ultimate consequence of one's actions.
Themes
ExecutionCheerfulnessDeathHistorical EventBravery
In practice
Example use cases
In a history class discussing the execution of Major General Harrison.
More from Samuel Pepys
All quotes →Similar quotes
It all happened so fast. The ghetto. The deportation. The sealed cattle car. The fiery altar upon which the history of our people and the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed.
Elie WieselRead
Germany has spent the decades since World War II in national penance for Nazi crimes. America spent the decades after the Civil War transforming Confederate crimes into virtues. It is illegal to fly the Nazi flag in Germany. The Confederate flag is enmeshed in the state flag of Mississippi.
Ta-Nehisi CoatesRead
Racial inequity in how the immense benefits of the original G.I. Bill were disbursed are well-documented, and we've all seen how these inequities have trickled down over time, leaving Black World War II veterans and their families without the benefits they earned through service and sacrifice.
Raphael WarnockRead
Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of the defining impression of our being.
Ken BurnsRead
Also, what mountains of dead ashes, wreck and burnt bones, does assiduous pedantry dig up from the past time and name it History.
Thomas CarlyleRead
We know from our recent history that English did not come to replace U.S. Indian languages merely because English sounded musical to Indians' ears. Instead, the replacement entailed English-speaking immigrants' killing most Indians by war, murder, and introduced diseases, and the surviving Indians' being pressured into adopting English, the new majority language.
Jared DiamondRead