Remarks by Sir Thomas More | V2Melody Quotations

“Son Roper, I thank Our Lord, the field is won.”

Quiet triumph after deciding that conscience had prevailed over fear · Remark to William Roper after resisting pressure to take the oath (Roper’s Life)

“Is that all, my lord? Then in good faith, is there no more difference between your grace and me, but that I shall die to-day and you to-morrow?”

Calm acceptance of the danger of opposing royal will, noting the shared mortality of all · Reply to the Duke of Norfolk, reported in Roper’s Life

“Now would to our Lord, son Roper, upon condition that three things were well established in Christendom, I were put into a sack, and here presently cast into the Thames.”

Willingness to sacrifice himself for peace among princes, unity of the Church, and a just resolution of the king’s marriage · Conversation with William Roper, walking by the Thames at Chelsea (Roper’s Life)

“What he ought to do, but never what he is able to do. So shall you show yourself a true faithful servant and a right worthy Councillor. For if a lion knew his own strength, hard were it for any man to rule him.”

Counsel against flattering power and for speaking only of duty, not of possibility · Advice to Thomas Cromwell, reported in Roper’s Life

“We cannot go to heaven in featherbeds.”

Reminder that the path to heaven requires hardship rather than comfort · Remark to his children, reported in Roper’s Life

“I do nobody harm, I say none harm, I think none harm, but wish everybody good. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, in good faith, I long not to live.”

Declaration of harmless intent and readiness to accept death if innocence is insufficient · Letter to Margaret Roper, account of interrogation

“My case was such in this matter through the clearness of my own conscience that though I might have pain I could not have harm, for a man may in such a case lose his head and not have harm.”

Distinguishing bodily suffering from true spiritual harm when conscience is clear · Letter to Margaret Roper, from the Tower, June 1535

“The clearness of my conscience has made my heart hop for joy.”

Finding unexpected joy in the certainty of a clear conscience amid imprisonment · Letter to Margaret Roper, from the Tower, 1534

“I never intend, God being my good Lord, to pin my soul to another man’s back, not even the best man that I know this day living: for I know not where he may hap to carry it.”

Personal responsibility for conscience cannot be delegated to any other person · Dialogue with his daughter Margaret, Tower of London, August 1534

“Were it my father on the one side and the devil on the other, his cause being good, the devil should have his right.”

Insistence on impartial justice even when it would favour an enemy over family · Conversation reported in William Roper’s Life of Sir Thomas More

“This hath not offended the king.”

Final jest separating the innocent beard from any charge of treason · On the scaffold, placing his beard aside (Bacon’s Apothegms; Roper’s Life)

“Pluck up thy spirits, man, and be not afraid to do thine office; my neck is very short, take heed therefore thou strike not awry for saving of thine honesty.”

Gentle encouragement and wit offered to the man about to take his life · Words to the executioner, scaffold, 6 July 1535 (Roper’s Life)

“I pray you, Master Lieutenant, see me safe up, and for my coming down let me shift for myself.”

Characteristic humour even while mounting the rickety scaffold for execution · Conversation on the scaffold, 6 July 1535 (Roper’s Life)

“I die the King's good servant, and God's first.”

Expressing loyalty to conscience and faith above worldly authority · Final words, as recorded in contemporary accounts

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