Political Quotes

On the record
But rack, thumbscrew, wheel, iron crown, bed of steel, and every instrument of barbarous torture, now rejected with horror, were once upheld by the same spirit of vengeance, the same timidity, and the same tradition of another age.
Said by
Charles Sumner
Massachusetts

Editor's note · Context

Sumner draws a parallel between historical torture methods and the vengeance of past societies.

Share

More from Charles Sumner

I am opposed to a tariff for protection merely, and not for revenue."--Letter to John K.

gutenberg.org

In this contest, we may borrow from the ancient Greek, who, when his hands were cut off, fought with his stumps, and even with his teeth.

gutenberg.org

Still further: every ship-of-war that floats costs more than a well-endowed college.

gutenberg.org

By Perpetual Peace Kant understood a condition of nations where there could be no fear of War; and this condition, he said, was demanded by reason, which, abhorring all War, as little adapted to establish right, must regard this final…

gutenberg.org

Other voices in this conversation