King Arthur Quotes

“Dennis the Peasant:Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Arthur:Be quiet!
Dennis:You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!”
― Graham Chapman, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Book): Mønti Pythøn Ik Den Hølie Gräilen

“I think too many people presume to read the divine Scriptures and fall into such terrors as this,' said Patricius sternly. 'Those who presume on their learning will learn, I trust, to listen to their priests for the true interpretations.'
The Merlin smiled gently. 'I cannot join you in that wish, brother. I am dedicated to the belief that it is God's will that all men should strive for wisdom in themselves, not look to it from some other. Babes, perhaps, must have their food chewed for them by a nurse, but men may drink and eat of wisdom for themselves.”
― Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon

“Yet some men say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had by the will of our Lord Jesu into another place; and men say that he shall come again, and he shall win the holy cross.”
― Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur

“And do you know another thing, Arthur? Life is too bitter already, without territories and wars and noble feuds.”
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

“This is beyond understanding." said the king. "You are the wisest man alive. You know what is preparing. Why do you not make a plan to save yourself?"
And Merlin said quietly, "Because I am wise. In the combat between wisdom and feeling, wisdom never wins.”
― John Steinbeck, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

“We shall have made such a blaze that men will remember us on the other side or the dark.”
― Rosemary Sutcliff

“It is all true, or it ought to be; and more and better besides.”
― Winston S. Churchill

“The gods do not visit you to remind you what you know already.”
― Mary Stewart

“Ah Gawaine, Gawaine, ye have betrayed me; for never shall my court be amended by you, but ye will never be sorry for me as I am for you”
― Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur

“Oh, what a lovely owl!" Cried the Wart.

But when he went up to it and held out his hand, the owl grew half as tall again, stood up as stiff as a poker, closed its eyes so that there was only the smallest slit to peep through - as you are in the habit of doing when told to shut your eyes at hide-and-seek - and said in a doubtful voice

"There is no owl."

Then it shut its eyes entirely and looked the other way.

"It is only a boy," said Merlyn.

"There is no boy," said the owl hopefully, without turning round.”
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

“Oh dire, dreadful death, you drag your heels.
Why dawdle and draw back? You drown my heart.”
― Simon Armitage, The Death of King Arthur: A New Verse Translation

“Used every man according to his capacity.”
― mary stewart, The Crystal Cave

“To many-towered Camelot”
― Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott

“So many scholars have spent so much time trying to establish whether Arthur ever existed at all that they have lost track of the single truth that he exists over and over.”
― John Steinbeck, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

“Well then, take this thought with you for the dark hours to come: It is a ludicrous fiction that love conquers all, but it can, in fact, conquer quite a lot. I am Iason of the Blood, Knight of Arthur, King of the Britons, reborn into dark service in the year of Our Lord five hundred and sixty. My power is vast, and for none to arrogate but by my will and decree. My services are engaged, Selina. Tell me what you need to ease your pain in this, and it is yours.”
― Chris Dee, Cat-Tales Book 3

“Outside the window the thin moon stood upright in a deep sky, like the paring of a finger-nail for magic, and against the sky the weather vane of the carrion crow with arrow in mouth pointed it's arrow to the south”
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

“I will tell you something else, King, which may be a surprise for you. It will not happen for hundreds of years, but both of us are to come back. Do you know what is going to be written on your tombstone? Hic jacet Arthurus Rex quondam Rexque futurus. Do you remember your Latin? It means, the once and future king.’
‘I am to come back as well as you?’
‘Some say from the vale of Avilion.’
The King thought about it in silence. It was full night outside, and there was stillness in the bright pavilion. The sentries, moving on the grass, could not be heard.
‘I wonder,’ he said at last, ‘whether they will remember about our Table?”
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

“I am afraid for my Table. I am afraid of what is going to happen. I am afraid it was all wrong.’
‘Nonsense.’
‘When I started the Table, it was to stop anarchy. It was a channel for brute force, so that the people who had to use force could be made to do it in a useful way. But the whole thing was a mistake. No, don’t interrupt me. It was a mistake because the Table itself was founded on force. Right must be established by right: it can’t be established by Force Majeure. But that is what I have been trying to do. Now my sins are coming home to roost. Lancelot, I am afraid I have sown the whirlwind, and I shall reap the storm.”
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

“You would argue that we’re not a parasitic life form?’ Arthur challenged. Morgan seemed wounded.

‘Do you think I’m parasitic, Arthur?’ asked Bedivere, his eyebrows raised.

‘No, but—’

‘How about Gwen?’ he added, teasing.

‘Of course not, I didn’t say that the individual is parasitic, just our current way of life. Consumerism is destroying the planet. No, it has destroyed the planet. Why do you think half the world has starved to death? There’s not enough left to support everyone.’

‘Says who?’ Morgan snapped.

‘Says common sense.’ He could feel the wine loosening his tongue. ‘People are lying when they say things aren’t that bad. What do you think all those wars were for? We were all just fighting over who got to eat the last éclair.’

Marvin’s stomach growled, and he awkwardly cleared his throat.”
― M.L. Mackworth-Praed

“Let's hold our horses for a moment and take a breather after which we can return to the round table as knights of the common good.”
― Wald Wassermann

“Exactly! Ever heard of King Arthur’s circular table? A circular table was selected to symbolize that all the people sitting on it were equal and their opinions mattered equally. We are sitting on a circular table, but is there equal freedom of speech and expression right now? There is no ‘head’ to this table, and yet we INSURGENTS---- why do we have to be called INSURGENTS for our voices----yeah, we INSURGENTS are put under you ALLIES just for mentioning our concerns! Isn’t that unconstitutional?”
― Lucy Carter, The Reformation

“I wonder," he said at last, "whether they will remember about our Table?”
― T.H. White

“Morgan Pendragon is far from insignificant. She's a force of destiny and you would do well not to trifle with her or ever let her name cross your lips again.”
― Briar Boleyn, Court of Claws

“This rabbi," said Merlyn, "went on a journey with the prophet They walked all day, and at nightfall they came to the sumble cotage of a poor man, whose only treasure was a cow.
The poor man ran out of his cottage, and his wife ran too, to welcome the strangers for the night and to offer them all the simple hospitality which they were able to give in straitened circumstances.
Elijah and the Rabbi were entertained with plenty of the cow's milk, sustained by home-made bread and butter, and they were put to sleep in the best bed while their kindly hosts lay down before the kitchen fire. But in the morning the poor man's cow was dead. "
"Go on."
"They walked all the next day, and came that evening to the house of a very wealthy merchant, whose hospitality they craved.
The merchant was cold and proud and rich, and all that he would do for the prophet and his companion was to lodge them in a cowshed and feed them on bread and water. In the morning, however, Elijah thanked him very much for what he had done, and sent for a mason to repair one of his walls, which happened to be falling down, as a return for his kindness.
"The Rabbi Jachanan, unable to keep silence any longer, begged the holy man to explain the meaning of his dealings with human beings.
"In regard to the poor man who received us so hospitably,' replied the prophet, 'it was decreed that his wife was to die that night, but in reward for his goodness God took the cow instead of the wife. I repaired the wall of the rich miser because a chest of gold was concealed near the place, and if the miser had repaired the wall himself he would have discovered the treasure. Say not therefore to the Lord: What doest thou? But say in thy heart:
Must not the Lord of all the earth do right?' "
"It is a nice sort of story," said the Wart, because it seemed to be over.”
― T.H. White, The Sword in the Stone

“So far as he was concerned, as yet, there might never have been such a thing as a single particle of sorrow on the gay, sweet surface of the dew-glittering world.”
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

“Merlyn had not intended him for private happiness. He had been made for royal joys, for the fortunes of a nation.”
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

“The old King felt refreshed, clear—headed, almost ready to begin again.”
― T.H. White, Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories That Scared Even Me

“But it was too late for another effort then. For that time it was his destiny to die, or, as some say, to be carried off to Avilion, where he could wait for better days. For that time it was Lancelot’s fate and Guenever’s to take the tonsure and the veil, while Mordred must be slain. The fate of this man or that man was less than a drop, although it was a sparkling one, in the great blue motion of the sunlit sea.

The cannons of his adversary were thundering in the tattered morning when the Majesty of England drew himself up to meet the future with a peaceful heart.

EXPLICIT LIBER REGIS QUONDAM REGISQUE FUTURI
THE BEGINNING”
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

“But he had never had a happiness of his own, never had himself: never since he was a little boy in the Forest Sauvage. It was not fair to steal away everything from him. They had made him like the blinded gold—finch they were speaking of, which was to pour out its song for man until it burst its heart, but always blind.”
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

“Finally there are the four boys in the high castle. Gawaine, who was the oldest of them and had the reddest hair, was fourteen; Gareth, who was the youngest and fairest, was nine; and they were all four quite wild. Gawaine was passionate; Agravaine was sulky; Gaheris was stupid; and Gareth was a dear. Their mother's character had two effects on them while they were small, the one good and the other bad. The good effect as that she was so selfish and cared so little for them that they were allowed to run wild, thus drawing a lot of niceness and reality out of the simple people in the village below. The bad effect was that, as she treated them like lap dogs when she did notice them, they behaved like lap dogs towards her. They adored her, and starved for her love.”
― T. H. White