American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

Ludwig Van Beethoven (baptized December 17, 1770-March 26, 1827) was a Prussian composer who ranks among the greatest in history. He was a contemporary of Mozart and Haydn. Beethoven began losing his hearing at the age of 28 and eventually became totally deaf. Incredibly, though, he continued writing music, creating some of the greatest symphonies, concertos, sonatas, string quartets and choral masterpieces that the world has ever known. Beethoven wrote: <Today happens to be the Lord's Day, so I will quote you something from my Bible: "See that ye love one another as I have loved you."> 1770LB001 <No friend...

William Wordsworth (April 7, 1770-April 23, 1850) was one of the first English Romantic poets. He published his Lyrical Ballads in 1798; and Poems in Two Volumes in 1807. Other works include: The Excursion; The White Doe of Rylstone; Memorials of a Tour of the Continent; and Ecclesiastical Sketches. Greatly criticized at first, his works gradually became recognized, and in 1843, Queen Victoria appointed him Poet-Laureate of England: <TRUST IN THE SAVIOUR But Thou art true, Incarnate Lord! Who didst vouchsafe for man to die; Thy smile is sure, Thy plighted Word No charge can falsify.> 1770WW001   <HYMN FOR...

Napoleon Bonaparte, I (August 15, 1769-May 5, 1821) was the Emperor of France, 1804-15. Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, Bonaparte rose to prominence under the First French Republic and led successful campaigns against the First and Second Coalitions arrayed against France. In interesting twist of history is related by Juan Cole, in Napoleon's Egypt-Invading the Middle East (NY: Palgrave MacMillian, 2007). France had been in a treaty with the Muslim Ottoman Empire and planned to send artillery personnel to upgrade and train the Ottoman military. Napoleon was going to be sent, but he...

Boston Gazette (September 1768) carried an article which read: <If an army should be sent to reduce us to slavery, we will put our lives in our hands and cry to the Judge of all the earth....Behold, how they come to cast us out of this possession which Thou hast given us to inherit. Help us, Lord, our God, for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude.> 1768BG001 -- American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement. Endnotes: 1768BG001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Boston Gazette....

Francois Rene' de Chateaubriand (September 4, 1768-July 4, 1848) was a French politician and writer. He helped begin the literary style known as Romanticism, which emphasized man's emotion in a rather flowery style. A young captain in the French military, he became disillusioned at the violence of the French Revolution and came to America in 1791. His fascination with the Southern States became the subject of his novels, Les Natchez (1826), Atala (1801) and René (1802). He returned to France in 1792 and fought for Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé. Wounded and left for dead at the siege of...