A monarchy is a merchantman which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a rock, and go to the bottom; a republic is a raft which will never sink, but then your feet are always in the water.

Fisher Ames

More information about this quote

Topic

Monarchy Democracy Downsides of democracy Political theory

Speaker

Fisher Ames

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1795 1790s 18th century

Occupation

Politician

From

United States

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Ames, Fisher. Address in the House of Representatives. House of Representatives. 1795, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Ames, Fisher. Quoted in A Miracle Mirrored: The Dutch Republic in European Perspective, written by Henk van Nierop, edited by Karel Davids and Jan Lucassen. Cambridge University Press, 2011, ch. 2.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Fisher Ames about monarchy: “A monarchy is a merchantman which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a…”
Download
A quote by Fisher Ames about monarchy: “A monarchy is a merchantman which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a…”
Download
A quote by Fisher Ames about monarchy: “A monarchy is a merchantman which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a…”
Download

Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1790s

Old religious factions are volcanoes burnt out.

Edmund Burke

Speech on the Petition of the Unitarians, May 11, 1792

More information about this quote
Topic
Sectarianism Religion
Speaker
Edmund Burke
Source
Speech on the Petition of the Unitarians, May 11, 1792
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Language
English
Time
1792 1790s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Burke, Edmund. Address on Petition of the Unitarians. House of Commons. 11 May 1792, Palace of Westminster, London, England, UK.

Current Citation

Burke, Edmund. "Speech on the Petition of the Unitarian Society." The Portable Edmund Burke, edited by Isaac Kramnick. Penguin Classics, 1999.

Another quote about Democracy

Democratic nations care but little for what has been, but they are haunted by visions of what will be; in this direction their unbounded imagination grows and dilates beyond all measure.... Democracy, which shuts the past against the poet, opens the future before him.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Democracy in America

Buy Democracy in America at Amazon Buy Democracy in America at Amazon
Read Democracy in America, vol. 1 at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Democracy

Author

Alexis de Tocqueville
Source
Democracy in America
Genre
Political literature
Language
French
Time
1840 1840s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. De La Democratie en Amerique [Democracy in America]. Vol. 2, London: Saunders and Otley, 1840, sect. 1, ch. 17.

Current Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II, translated by Henry Reeve. Bantam Classics, 2000, vol. 2, sect. 1, ch. 17.

Another quote from the following genre Political speech

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

Winston Churchill

More information about this quote
Topic
World War II No surrender
Speaker
Winston Churchill
Source
We Shall Fight on the Beaches
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Language
English
Time
1940 1940s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Churchill, Winston. "We Shall Fight on the Beaches." House of Commons meeting. 4 June 1940, The Palace of Westminster, London, England, UK. Address.

Current Citation

Churchill, Winston. "Dunkirk: Wars Are Not Won by Evacuations." Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: The Great Speeches, edited by David Cannadine. Penguin Classics, 2007.