Arthur Wellington Quotes

Quotes by and about Arthur Wellington

(Continued from his main entry on the site.)

Wellington: "I have always considered patience an eminently Christian virtue."

Wellington: "Whatever I did in India was done in obedience to orders, which I had received from proper authority; and for the manner of that obedience, and for its immediate results, I am ready, at any time, to [be held accountable]."

Wellington: "In military appointments, it is the duty of the inferior officer to assist his commander in the mode in which that commander may deem his services most advantageous. If I thought myself capable of giving advice, and of suggesting plans, it was my duty to endeavor to carry them into execution. But, if the commander did not think proper to listen to my advice or suggestions, it was then my duty to assist my superior in the way which that superior might appear eligible. This, Sir, is the principle which, in my opinion, ought to regulate the conduct of military officers. It is a principle on which [I have always] acted; and on it I will ever act."

Wellington: "The commands of all others which we ought to obey are those dictated to us by our social relations."

Wellington: "My public duties and the attention which I am under the necessity of paying to their performance render me unfit for social life. I really have [no] leisure time."

Wellington: "[When people talk nonsense] more good is done by [reacting with] contempt than by any disputation."

Wellington [arguing with a girlfriend:] "It is indeed very difficult to supply the daily wants of those who will not state what they are."

Wellington [arguing with a girlfriend:] "Unless ... worldly offices were attended to; the affairs of the world would not go on so quietly as might be wished by those who like [you] thought more of spirituals and of the next world!"

Jules Maurel: "Wellington always spoke with reserve."

History Wars Weapons: "He was a remarkably practical man, who always spoke concisely and rarely expressed emotions."

[His secretary:] "[The Duke is] a man of great ... decision and authority. [He] is a very hard man. [And] he will not endure any one who will not be subservient to him."