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Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption
14 quotes
“Hong Kong, once a vibrant and politically diverse community is slowly becoming a totalitarian state. The rule of law is profoundly compromised in any area about which the government feels strongly... Intimidated or convinced by the darkening political mood, many judges have lost sight of their traditional role as defenders of the liberty of the subject, even when the law allows it”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) first seen 2024 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his resignation from Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal, in "The rule of law in Hong Kong is in grave danger", Financial Times (10 June 2024)
“Success is admirable in a king, but failure is compelling and usually better recorded.”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is one of the paradoxes of England’s medieval history that in spite of its strong central institutions it was known mainly for its chronic political instability.”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Tuscan poet Dante Alighieri had a simple explanation for England’s problematic status in fourteenth-century Europe. The difficulty, he thought, lay in their national character. The English were a proud and covetous people, ever eager for conquest and incapable of remaining peaceably within their own borders. Dante’s opinion echoed the conventional sentiment of his day, which regarded England as a society to which violence and aggression came naturally.”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The government of Mortimer and Isabella was intensely hated. It proved to be just as vindictive, despotic and unstable as that of the Despensers but a great deal less competent.”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Finance was always Edwards III’s weak point. He had little understanding of the problems of taxation or credit and was bored by administration. He tended to fund his enterprises on a hand-to-mouth basis, without budgets or forecasts.”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Some of the troops had been conscripted, the last occasion when compulsion played a significant part in the recruitment of Edward’s armies. But most of them were volunteers serving for adventure, honour and money. This remarkable reversal of the English nobility’s traditional objection to foreign military service was arguably Edward III’s most significant achievement.”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Edward’s chief asset was his personality. He was uncomplicated and likable. He was flamboyant, extrovert and generous. His household and his war retinue became famous centres of chivalry. He presided at splendid entertainments at court. He was addicted to practical jokes and fancy-dress parties. He fought in the lists himself, with the same reckless courage that he would later show in battle. For his humbler subjects, it was enough that he behaved as a king was expected to behave, and favoured the sort of people whom a king was expected to favour.”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Edward III’s claim to the crown of France was a bargaining counter, to be surrendered as part of a permanent territorial settlement. Edward always had an exaggerated idea of its value, just as he had an unrealistic view of the strength of his bargaining position generally. He would pass the next decade trying to exploit his victory at Crécy and discovering how much more complicated the world really was.”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Edward III had always greatly overestimated the help that conspirators and malcontents could bring him.”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In chess, the capture of the king marks the end of the game. In politics, it may be only the beginning.”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Charles understood better than his father or his adversary that the chief material of war was money.”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“England, however, was endowed with a precociously advanced system of government which made its kings powerful beyond anything warranted by its comparatively modest resources. Unlike France, which had developed as a nation by the gradual coalescence of ancient autonomous provinces, each with its own distinct political and cultural traditions, England had been conquered in the space of a few years in the eleventh century by the Norman kings, who had created a centralized, unitary state and settled it with a new, alien aristocracy. Three centuries later, Englishman still had a highly developed notion of public authority.”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He had achieved spectacular victories in the field and in the conference chamber. But the treaty of Brétigny, which marked the high point of his achievement, could never have represented a permanent settlement. The circumstances which produced it were too extraordinary. So Edward was condemned to see thirty years of conquest reversed in less than five. After a lifetime devoted to conquest in Scotland and France, he ended his reign with precisely the territory that he had started with. He died leaving his realm exhausted by intensive taxation and persistent military failure. He had healed the bitter divisions which he had inherited from his father, but bequeathed others to his successor, Richard II, which would one day contribute to his destruction.”
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source