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FAMOUS QUOTES ABOUT AND BY SAINT JOAN OF ARC
QUOTES ABOUT SAINT JOAN:
"Foe only to the great blood guilty ones, The Masters and Murderers of Mandkind."
Robert Southey-18th Century Poet
"Joan was a being so uplifted from the ordinary run of mankind that she finds no equal in a thousand years."
Winston Churchill-Legendary British Prime Minister in WWII
"Consider this unique and imposing distinction. Since the writing of human history began, Joan of Arc is the only person, of either sex, who has ever held supreme command of the military forces of a nation at the age of seventeen."
Louis Kossuth-19th Century European Freedom Fighter
"A perfect woman, nobly plann'd, to warn, to comfort, and command;
And yet a spirit still, and bright with something of an angel light."
William Wordsworth-19th Century Poet
"The history of this woman brings us time and again to tears."
Jules Michelet-19th Century French Historian
"She was perhaps the only entirely unselfish person whose name has a place in profane history."
Mark Twain-19th Century American Writer
QUOTES BY SAINT JOAN:
***Included in Maid of Heaven as part of the story are many famous quotes by Saint Joan. Using actual quotes by her
helps bring her alive and give the reader some idea what her personality was like. Below are some more of her famous
quotes:***
"When I was thirteen years old, I had a Voice from God to help me govern my conduct. And the first time I was very fearful.
And came this Voice, about the hour of noon, in the summer-time, in my father's garden; I had not fasted on the eve preceding that day."
Speaking to Robert de Baudricourt:
"I have come to you on the part of my Lord, in order that you may send word to the Dauphin, to hold fast, and to not cease
war against his enemies. Before mid-Lent the Lord will give him help. In truth, the kingdom belongs not to the Dauphin, but to my Lord. But my Lord wills that
the Dauphin be made King, and have the kingdom in command. Notwithstanding his enemies, the Dauphin will be made King, and it is I who will conduct him to the coronation."
"Since God commanded it, had I had a hundred fathers and a hundred mothers, had I been a King's daughter, I should have departed."
Speaking to her Knights on the road to Chinon:
"Fear nothing. You shall see how at Chinon the noble Dauphin will greet us with a glad face."
"I have been commanded to do two things on the part of the King of Heaven: one, to raise the siege of Orleans; the other, to conduct the King to Reims for his sacrament and his coronation."
First words to Charles:
"Very illustrious Lord Dauphin, I am come, being sent on the part of God, to give succour to the kingdom and to you."
"Gentle Dauphin, I am called Joan the Maid"
"I recognised him by the counsel and revelation of my Voice."
Upon meeting the Duke of Alencon:
"The more we can get together of the blood of the King of France, the better it will be."
"In God's name, I well know that I shall have much to go through at Poitiers! But God will aid me. Now let us be going."
Asked at Poitiers why she had come:
"As I guarded the animals a Voice appeard to me. This Voice said to me: 'God has great pity for the people of France. It is required that thoug, Joan, betake thee to France."
Having heard these words, I wept. Then the Voice said to me: 'Go to Vaucouleurs. Tho wilt find there a captain who will conduct the safely to France, and to the King.
Be without fear.' I have done what was commanded me. And I rached the King without prevention of any sort."
Asked why she needed an army if God wished to deliver the French people:
"In God's name, the soldiers will fight and He will grant victory."
"Aide toy, Dieu te aidera"
"God helps those who help themselves"
Asked what dialect her Voice spoke:
"A better than yours."
Asked if she believed in God:
"Yes, better than you."
Asked for a sign:
"In God's name! I have not come to Poitiers to work sign! But take me to Orleans; and I will show you signs why I am sent."
First letter to the English:
King of England, and you, Duke of Bedford, who call yourself Regent of the kingdom France; you William de la Pole, Count of Suffolk; John, Lord Talbot; and you Thomas, Lord Scales,
who call yourselves lieutenants of the said Duke of Bedford, do justly by the King of Heaven; render to the Maid who is sent here of God, the King of Heaven, the keys of all the good cities that you have taken and violated in France.
She has come here from God to restore the royal blood. She is all ready to make peace, if you will deal rightly by her, acknowledge the wrong done France, and pay for what you have taken.
And all of you, archers, companions of war, nobles and others who are before you; and if this is not done, expect news of the Maid, who will go to see your shortly, to your very great damage. King
of England, if you do not do this, I am Chef de Guerre, and in whatever place I shall find your people in France, I will make them go whether they will or not; and if they will not obey I will have them all killed.
I am sent here by God , the King of Heaven, each and all, to put you out of all France. And if they will obey I will be merciful. And stand not by your opinion, for you wilol never hold the kingdom of France throught God, King of Heaven,
son of Saint Mary; it will be thus ruled by King Charles, true heritor; for God , the King of Heaven, wishes it, and this to him is revealed by the Maid, and he will enter Paris in good company.
If you will not believe the news from God and the Maid, in whatever place we shall find you, we shall strike in your midst, and will make so great a hurrah [hahay] that for a thousand years there has not been one in France so great, if you do not
deal justly. And you may well believe that the King of Heaven will send more strength to the Maid than you will be able to lead in all your assaults against her and her good soldiers. And when the blows fall we shall see
sho will have the better right from God of Heaven. You, Duke of Bedford, the Maid begs you and requires of you that you work not your own destruction. If you listen to her you will yet be able to come in her company to where the French will do
the finest deed that ever was done for Christianity. And reply to this, if you wish to make peace at the city of Orleans; and if thus you do not do, you will shortly remember it to your great sorrow. Written
this Tuesday, Holy Week. [March 22, 1429]
"When I was at Tours or at Chinon I sent to seek a sword which was in the church of Saint Catherine of Fierbois, behind the altar, and it was found at once all covered with rust.....This sword was in the earth, all rusty, and there were upon it five croses and I knew it by my voices and I had never seen the man
who went to seek this sword. I wrote to the prelates of the place that if they please I should have the sword and they sent it to me. It was not very deep under ground behind the altar, as it seems to me, but I do not know exactly whether it was before or behind the altar. I think tht I wrote at the time that it was behind the altar. After this sword had been found, the prelates of the place had it rubbed, and at once the rust fell from it without difficulty.
There was an arms merchant of Tours who went to seek it, and the prelates of that place gave me a sheath, and those of Tours also, with them had two sheaths made for me: one of red velvet and the other of cloth-of-gold, and I myself had another made of right strong leather. But whn I was captured, it was that sword which I had.
I always wore that sword until I had withdrawn from Saint-Denis after the assault against Paris."
"I had a banner, the field of which was sown with lilies. There the World was represented [the image of God holding the World] and two angels at the sides. It was of linen or white boucassin. There was written upon it, as it seems to me, these words:
Jesus Mary, and it was fringed with silk."
"I have told you often enough that I did nothing but by God's commandment. I bore this standard when we went forward against the enemy to avoid killing anyone. I have never killed anyone."
On the march to Orleans she counseled the army to:
"have great confidence in God and confess their sins."
"Are you the Bastard of Orleans? Was it you who gave counsel that I come here, on this side of the river, and that I am not to go directly where are Talbot and the English?"
"In Gods's name, the counsel of our Lord is safer and wiser than yours. You have thought to deceive me, and you deceive yourself still more; for I bring you better succour than ever came to any knight or city whatever, seeing that it is the succour of the King of Heaven. Nevertheless, it comes to you
not through love of me; it proceeds from God himself, who at the request of Saint Louis and Saint Charlemagne, has had pity for the city of Orleans, and has not wished that the enemy should at the same time possess the person the duke and his city."
"Trust in God. God will aid the city of Orleans and expel the enemy."
Confronting a great merchant of Orleans she heard cursing God:
"Ah, friend, dare you thus forswear our Lord and Master? In God's name, you will recant before I leave here!"
Scloding her page Louis De Contes for not waking her when fighting began:
"Ha, graceless boy, you did not tell me that the blood of France was flowing!"
Letter shot into the Tourelles on May 5, 1429:
"You, men of England, who have no right in the Kingdom of France, the King of Heaven orders and notifies you through me, Jehanne the Maid, to leave your fortresses and go back to your own country; or I will produce a clash of arms to be eternally remembered. And this is the third and last time I have written to you; I shall not write anything further.
Jesus, Maria
Jehanne the Maid
I have sent you my letters honorably, but you detain my heralds; for you have detained my herald called Guyenne. Please send him back to me, and I will send some of your men captured in the fortress of Saint Loup, for they are not all dead."
"In God's name, forward boldly!"
"You have been at your council, and I have been at mine. Now, be assured that the counsel of my Lord will fulfill itself and prevail, and that yours will fail."
To Father Pasquerel the night before the attack on the Tourelles:
"Rise tomorrow very early, earlier than today, and do the best that you are able. It will be necessary to keep always near me, for tomorrow I shall have much to do, and greater need of you than I have ever had.
Tomorrow the blood will flow from my body, above the breast."
To her host in Orleans the morning of the attack on the Tourelles:
"Keep it until evening, because this evening I will bring you a godon, and will return by the way of the bridge."
To her soldiers during the battle:
"Have good heart! Do not fall back; you will have the bastille soon!"
Her only comment about Orleans later at her trial since her Judges tried to avoid the subject:
"I was the first to place a scaling ladder on the bastion of the bridge."
Response to soldiers wanting to apply a charm to her wound:
"I would rather die than do a thing which I know to be a sin or against the will of God."
Recovering from her wound and seeing the Army in retreat:
"Ha, my standard, my standard!
Looking up into the Tourelles and calling out to the English commander:
"Glasdale, Glasdale, surrender to the King of Heaven! You called my putain (whore), but I have great pity for your soul, and for your followers."
Day after the battle of Orleans when the English showed the would fight no more:
"In Gods name, they are going. Let them go, while we give thanks to God and pursue them no farther, since today is Sunday."
At Loches, where she went to see the King after the great victory, people threw themselves at her in adoration. A companion told her she should forbid it and she replied:
"Of a truth, if God does not protect me from it, I would not know how to protect myself."
Growing impatient for Charles to leave with her for Reims and his coronation:
"Noble Dauphin, hold no longer so many of these interminable councils, but come at once to Reims and receive your rightful crown."
Asked by court official if her counsel was advising her in her request:
"Yes, and I am much stimulated thereby."
Further asked by the same official to explain her counsel; an attempt by him to get her to reveal more about her divine counsel. She blushed and responded:
"I think I understand what you with to know, and I will tell it to you willingly."
Charles told her it was not necessary to respond if she did not want to but she replied:
"When I am baffled in some manner, because someone does not wish to credit the thinsk that I speak on the part of God, I retire apart, and I pray to God, complaining that those to whom I speak are hard to f belief. My prayer to God finished, I hear a Voice that says to me:
'Daughter of God, go, go, go; I will aid thee, go.' And when I hear this Voice I have great joy. I would like always to hear it."
At Selles trying to mount her horse, a great black courser who was uncontrollable:
"Lead him to the cross."
The horse immediately calmed down and she mounted and turned toward the priests nearby:
"You, priests and men of the church, form procession and make prayers to God."
First day at Jargeau when some of her army was apprehensive:
"Fear no multitude whatsoever. Do not hesitate to assault the English. God conducts our work. If I had not this assurance, I would rather guard sheep than expose myself to so great perils."
First night a Jargeau she spoke to those inside the walled city:
"Surrender the place to the King of Heaven, and to the noble King Charles, and go away! Otherwise he will destroy you."
To the Duke of Alencon:
"Forward, noble duke, to the assualt. Doubt not. The hour is good when God pleases. One must work when God wills. Work and God will work also."
Later to the Duke of Alencon:
"Ah, noble duke, hast thou fear? Knowest thou not I have promised thy wife to bring thee back safe and sound?"
Fulfilling her promise to the Duke of Alencon's wife, she warned the duke:
"Step aside from there. If you do not, that machine will kill you."
After a stone knocked her off of the ladder she was climbing she jumped up yelling:
"Friends, friends, up! up! Our Lord has condemned the English. At this moment they are ours. Have good heart."
First words to the Constable Richemont:
"Ah, fair Constable, you did not come because of me, but since you are come, you are welcome."
At Patay with an imposing Enlgish force coming to meet them the Duke of Alencon asked her "What am I to do?":
"Have good spurs, all of you!"
Some hearing an not understaning asked her if she meant they should retreat and she replied:
"No! The English sill turn their backs. They will not defend themselves, and will be beaten. You will need good spurs to follow them."
Asked again by Lahire and Alencon: "The English are coming; they are in order of battle and ready to fight.":
"Strike boldly, the will take to flight!"
With her Captains still hesistating she told them:
"In God's name, we must fight them! If they were hung to the clouds we would have them; for God sends us to chastise them!
The noble Kind will have today the greatest victory that he has had in a long time. And my counsel has told me that they (the enemy) are all ours."
Speaking to the Duke of Alencon:
"Have the trumpets sounded, and take horse. It is time to go to the noble King Charles, to put him on the road to his coronation at Reims."
Letter sent to the city on Tournay on June 25, 1429:
+ Jesus + Maria
Noble loyal Frenchmen of the town of Tournai, the Maid informs you of the tidings from here: that in eight days she has driven the English out of all the places they held on the River Loire, by assault and otherwise, where there were many killed and captured; and she has defeated them in battle. And know that the Earl of Suffolk, La Pole his brother, Lord Talbot, Lord Scales, and my lord John Fastolf and many knights and commanders have been captured and the Earl of Suffolk's brothern and Glasdale are dead. Stand fast loyal Frenchmen, I pray you. And [crossed-out word] I pray and request you to be ready to come to the anointing of the noble king Charles at Rheims, where we will be soon. And come to us when you learn that we are approaching. I commend you to God; may God watch over you and grant you grace so that you can maintain the good cause of the Kingdom of France.
Written at Gien the 25th day of June.
Before setting out for Reims:
"By my staff! I will conduct the noble King Charles and his company safely and he will be crowned at the said place of Reims."
Letter sent to the city of Troyes on July 4, 1429, as the army approaced that city on the way to Reims:
+ Jesus, + Maria
Very dear and good friends - if you don't mind - lords, bourgeois, and inhabitants of the town of Troyes, Joan the Maid sends word and makes known to you, in the name of the King of Heaven, her rightful and sovereign Lord, in whose royal service she remains each day, that you should render true obedience and recognition to the noble king of France, who will be at Rheims and Paris quite soon, regardless of whomever may come against us; and [will be] in his towns of the holy kingdom with the help of King Jesus. Loyal Frenchmen, come before King Charles and let there be no failing; and do not worry about your lives nor your property if you do so; and if you do not do so I promise and guarantee upon your lives that we will enter, with the help of God, into all the towns which should be part of the holy kingdom, and make there a good durable peace, regardless of whomever may come against us.
I commend you to God; may God protect you, if it pleases Him.
Reply soon.
Before the city of Troyes, written at St. Phal, Tuesday the fourth day of July.
Speaking to Charles before Troyes when it would not submit:
"Noble King of France, if you will remain here before the city of Troyes, it will be in your domination within two days, whether through force or through love; and fo this make no doubt."
Speaking to Brother Richard from the city when he approached her making the sign of the cross and sprinkling holy water.
"Approach boldly, I will not fly away."
"Kneeling before the King and embracing his knees after the coronation:
Noble King, now is accomplished the pleasure of God, who willed that I should raise the siege of Orleans and should bring you to this city of Reims to receive you holy coronation, thus showing that you are the true King, him to whom the throne of France must belong."
Letter to the Duke of Burgundy written the morning of the coronation:
+ Jesus Maria
Great and honoured Prince, Duke of Burgundy, Joan the Maid requests of you, in the name of the King of Heaven, my rightful and sovereign Lord, that the King of France and yourself should make a good firm lasting peace. Fully pardon each other willingly, as faithful Christians should do; and if it should please you to make war, then go against the Saracens. Prince of Burgundy, I pray, beg, and request as humbly as I can that you wage war no longer in the holy kingdom of France, and order your people who are in any towns and fortresses of the holy kingdom to withdraw promptly and without delay. And as for the noble King of France, he is ready to make peace with you, saving his honor; if you're not opposed.
And I tell you, in the name of the King of Heaven, my rightful and sovereign Lord, for your well-being and your honor and upon your lives, that you will never win a battle against the loyal French, and that all those who have been waging war in the holy kingdom of France have been fighting against King Jesus, King of Heaven and of all the world, my rightful and sovereign Lord. And I beg and request of you with clasped hands to not fight any battles nor wage war against us - neither yourself, your troops nor subjects; and know beyond a doubt that despite whatever number of soldiers you bring against us they will never win. And there will be tremendous heartbreak from the great clash and from the blood that will be spilled of those who come against us.
And it has been three weeks since I had written to you and sent proper letters via a herald [saying] that you should be at the anointing of the King, which this day, Sunday, the seventeenth day of this current month of July, is taking place in the city of Rheims - to which I have not received any reply. Nor have I ever heard any word from this herald since then.
I commend you to God and may He watch over you if it pleases Him, and I pray God that He shall establish a good peace.
Written at the said place of Rheims, the seventeenth day of July.
Letter sent to the citizens of Reims on August 5, 1429:
My dear and good friends, the obedient and loyal Frenchmen of the city of Rheims, Joan the Maid lets you know of her tidings, and asks and requests that you should have no concerns about the good cause she is carrying on for the Royal family. I promise and guarantee you that I will never abandon you so long as I live. And it's true that the King has made a truce with the Duke of Burgundy lasting fifteen days, by which he [Burgundy] must turn over the city of Paris peaceably at the end of fifteen days. However, do not be surprised if I don't enter it [Paris] so quickly. I am not at all content with truces made like this, and I don't know if I will uphold them; but if I do uphold them it will only be in order to protect the honor of the King; also, they [the Burgundians] will not cheat the Royal family, for I will maintain and keep together the King's army so as to be ready at the end of these fifteen days if they don't make peace. For this reason, my very dear and perfect friends, I pray that you do not worry yourselves so long as I live, but I ask that you keep good watch and defend the King's city; and let me know if there are any traitors who wish to do you harm, and as soon as I can I will remove them; and let me know your news.
I commend you to God, may He protect you.
Written this Friday the fifth day of August near Provins, while encamped in the fields on the road to Paris.
While riding with Alencon and the Archbishop of Reims near Crepy-en-Valois:
"These are a good people. I have seen non elsewhere who have shown so much joy at the coming of our noble King. Would God I might be happy enough when I shall finish my days to be buried in this soil!"
When asked by the Archbishop where she hoped to die:
"Wherever it may plese God. I am sure neither of the time nor the place. I know no more of it than yourself. But I would that it were pleasing to God, my Creator, that I might now retire, laying arms aside, and that I might serve my father and my mother, guarding their sheep with my sister and my brothers, who would be greatly rejoiced to see me!"
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