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Peasants Quotes

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Peasants Quotes

“Talking to a peasant one day, I suggested to him the hypothesis that there might indeed be a God who governs heaven and earth, a Consciousness or Conscience of the Universe, but that even so it would not be sufficient reason to assume that the soul of every man was immortal in the traditional and concrete sense. And he replied, "Then what good is God?”

MenSoulReasonMightEarthUniverseHeavenConsciousnessTalkingOne DayConscienceAssumingEvery ManTraditionalImmortalitySufficientImmortalConcreteHypothesisPeasantsHeaven And Earth
Book:The Tragic Sense of Life in Men and Nations
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“Ireland still remains the Holy Isle whose aspirations must on no account be mixed with the profane class-struggles of the rest of the sinful world ... the Irish peasant must not on any account know that the Socialist workers are his sole allies in Europe.”

KnowsWorldStillsClassStruggleHolyEuropeAccountsRemainsWorkersAspirationAlliesIrelandSoleSocialistPeasantsClass StruggleProfaneIsleSinful World
Book:Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: selected correspondence, 1846-1895: with explanatory notes
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“Whether we ever get to know about them or not, there are very probably alien civilizations that are superhuman, to the point of being god-like in ways that exceed anything a theologian could possibly imagine. Their technical achievements would seem as supernatural to us as ours would seem to a Dark Age peasant transported to the twenty-first century. Imagine his response to a laptop computer, a mobile telephone, a hydrogen bomb or a jumbo jet.”

KnowsWayFirstsSeemsAgeDarkImagineCenturyCivilizationAchievementComputerTwentiesResponseAliensBombsTelephonesTheologianMobileExceedPeasantsJetDark AgesLaptopsSuperhumanHydrogenHydrogen BombLaptop Computers
Book:The God Delusion
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“On Sundays, at the matin-chime, The Alpine peasants, two and three, Climb up here to pray; Burghers and dames, at summer's prime, Ride out to church from Chamberry, Dight with mantles gay, But else it is a lonely time Round the Church of Brou.”

TwoThreeChurchPrayingGaySummerLonelyRoundsClimbsSundayPrimePeasantsSabbathDamesChimesAlpine
Book:Delphi Complete Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold (Illustrated)
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“All the lessons learned, unlearned; The young, who learned to read, now blind, Their eyes with an archaic film; The peasant relapses to a stumbling tune, Following the donkey's bray; These only remember to forget. But somewhere some word presses, On the high door of a skull and in some corner, Of an irrefrangible eye, Some old man memory jumps to a child - Spark from the days of energy. And the child hoards it like a bitter toy.”

MenChildrenEyeRememberFilmYoungEnergyMemoriesForgetDoorsLessonsBlindPressesFollowingCornersBitterTunesOld ManSparksToysPeasantsSkullsStumblingDonkeyLesson LearnedRelapse
Author:Stephen Spender
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“The American farmer, whose holdings were not so extensive as those of the grandee nor so tiny as those of the peasant, whose psychology was Protestant and bourgeois, and whose politics were petty-capitalist rather than traditionalist, had no reason to share the social outlook of the rural classes of Europe. In Europe land was limited and dear, while labor was abundant and relatively cheap; in America the ratio between land and labor was inverted.”

ReasonAmericaSocialClassPsychologyShareLandEuropeLaborDearTinyNo ReasonFarmersCapitalistOutlookPettyPeasantsBourgeoisProtestantsRatiosInverted
Author:Richard Hofstadter
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“Our peasant music, naturally, is invariably tonal, if not always in the sense that the inflexible major and minor system is tonal. (An "atonal" folk-music, in my opinion, is unthinkable.) Since we depend upon a tonal basis of this kind in our creative work, it is quite self-evident that our works are quite pronouncedly tonal in type. I must admit, however, that there was a time when I thought I was approaching a species of twelve-tone music. Yet even in works of that period the absolute tonal foundation is unmistakable.”

IfsKindSelfOpinionCreativeTypeDependsPeriodsMajorsBasesAbsolutesFoundationSpeciesFolksToneWorking ItTwelveMinorsEvidentPeasantsUnthinkableCreative WorkFolk Music
Author:Bela Bartok
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“Every man feels that perception gives him an invincible belief of the existence of that which he perceives; and that this belief is not the effect of reasoning, but the immediate consequence of perception. When philosophers have wearied themselves and their readers with their speculations upon this subject, they can neither strengthen this belief, nor weaken it; nor can they shew how it is produced. It puts the philosopher and the peasant upon a level; and neither of them can give any other reason for believing his senses, than that he finds it impossible for him to do otherwise.”

MenGivingFeelsBelieveReasonBeliefLevelsExistenceImpossibleSubjectsEffectsReaderPerceptionConsequencePhilosopherEvery ManSensesPerceiveReasoningSpeculationPeasantsInvincible
Book:The Works of Thomas Reid, D. D.: Now Fully Collected, with Selections from His Unpublished Letters
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“This priesthood became a closed group, able to control enormous wealth and incomes, and concerned very largely with the study of the solar and astronomical periodicities on which there influence was originally based. With the surplus thus created, the priesthood was able to command human labor in huge amounts and to direct this labor from the simple tillage of the peasant peoples to the diversified and specialized activities that constitute civilized living.”

HumansAbleWealthSimpleStudyGroupsInfluenceHugeAmountActivityConcernedLaborDirectEnormousIncomeCommandCivilizedPeasantsPriesthoodSurplusPeriodicity
Author:Carroll Quigley
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“First impressions of mediaeval life are usually coloured by the courtly romances of Malory and his later refiners. Chaucer brings us down to reality, but his people belong to a prosperous middle-class world, on holiday and in holiday mood. Piers Plowman stands alone as a revelation of the ignorance and misery of the lower classes, whose multiplied grievances came to a head in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.”

PeopleWorldFirstsRealityRomanceClassMiddleIgnoranceMiseryMoodImpressionRevelationsHolidayMiddle ClassProsperousPeasantsRevoltGrievanceStand AloneFirst ImpressionLower ClassPiersChaucer
Author:William Langland
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“According to the oral tradition of Witches, we were once the priests and priestesses of a peasant Pagan religion. Members of this secret sect met at night beneath the full moon, for these were the "misfits" and "outcasts" who did not fit into mainstream society. Little has changed over the centuries and the Witchcraft community still embraces individuals frequently rejected in mainstream society. These include gays, lesbians, transgendered individuals, and other people with the courage to live their lives authentically in accord with who they are inside their hearts, minds, and spirits.”

PeopleMindHeartLittlesStillsSpiritNightIndividualCommunitySecretCenturyChangedFitMetsGayMoonMembersTraditionEmbracePriestsWitchMainstreamRejectedPeasantsAccordWitchcraftPaganSectsOutcastMisfitsFull MoonOral TraditionPriestessesMainstream Society
Author:Raven Grimassi
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“It is Mind which determines the change of Society, and it was because the mind at work was a Catholic mind that the slave became a serf and was on his way to becoming a peasant and a fully free man-a man free economically as well as politically. The whole spirit of the Church was for small property, and that spirit was slowly, instinctively, working for the establishment of small property throughout Christendom.”

MenWayMindWellsWholeSpiritPoliticsChurchEconomyBecomingCatholicPropertySlaveDetermineLiberalismEstablishmentPeasantsFree ManChristendomSerfs
Book:The Crisis Of Civilization
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“No man - prince, peasant, pope - has all the light, who says else is a mountebank. I claim no private lien on truth, only a liberty to seek it, prove it in debate, and to be wrong a thousand times to reach a single rightness. It is that liberty they fear. They want us to be driven to God like sheep, not running to him like lovers, shouting joy!”

MenWantLightRunningJoyLibertyLoversThousandProveClaimsDrivenDebateSheepPopeWant UPeasantsShoutingProve It
Author:Morris West
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“Who are we? And for what are we going to fight? Are we the titled slaves of George the Third? The military conscripts of Napoleon the Great? Or the frozen peasants of the Russian Czar? No -- we are the free born sons of America; the citizens of the only republic now existing in the world; and the only people on earth who possess rights, liberties, and property which they dare call their own.”

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Author:Andrew Jackson
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“I know animals more gallant than the African warthog, but none more courageous. He is the peasant of the plains - the drab and dowdy digger in the earth. He is the uncomely but intrepid defender of family, home, and bourgeois convention, and he will fight anything of any size that intrudes upon his smug existence. ... His eyes are small and lightless and capable of but one expression - suspicion. What he does not understand, he suspects, and what he suspects, he fights.”

KnowsDoeHomeEyeEarthFightingAnimalExistenceExpressionCapableSizeHis EyesCourageousSuspectsConventionsSuspicionPeasantsBourgeoisDefendersGallantFamily Home
Book:West with the Night
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“She set about preparing her supper. It would have to be one of those classically simple meals, the sort that French peasants are said to eat and that enlightened English people sometimes enjoy rather self-consciously - a crusty French loaf, cheese, and lettuce and tomatoes from the garden. Of course there should have been wine and a lovingly prepared dressing of oil and vinegar, but Dulcie drank orange squash and ate mayonnaise that came from a bottle.”

PeopleShouldHas BeensSaidSelfSometimesCoursesEnjoySimpleFoodGardenShould HaveCookingWinePreparedOilMealsEnlightenedCulinaryBottlesCheesePreparingOrangeDressingsDrankPeasantsShould Have BeenTomatoesSupperSquashVinegarLettuceMayonnaiseOil And Vinegar
Author:Barbara Pym
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“... I have always fallen for ads. The sweetheart of J. Walter Thompson, I have a peasant-like belief in whatever miracle they profess to effect.”

BeliefEffectsMiracleFallenAdsPeasantsSweetheart
Book:That's Me All Over: All the Favorite Absurdities from Dithers and Jitters, Soap Behind the Ears, and Excuse It, Please! Along with Tiny Garments
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“It is quite affecting to observe how much the olive tree is to the country people. Its fruit supplies them with food, medicine and light; its leaves, winter fodder for the goats and sheep; it is their shelter from the heat and its branches and roots supply them with firewood. The olive tree is the peasant's all-in-all.”

PeopleCountryLightTreeRootsMedicineFruitWinterHeatBranchesSheepShelterPeasantsSuppliesGoatsOlivesFodderFirewoodOlive TreesFood Medicine
Book:Greece and the Greeks: The Narrative of a Winter Residence and Summer Travel in Greece and Its Islands
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“But we remember that it was just precisely in the reign of Richard II that the Peasants' War, following upon the changes wrought by the visitations of the Great Plague, virtually destroyed serfdom as a personal status.”

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Book:A Short History of English Law: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Year 1919
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“In the United States, many people said you can't have folk music in the United States because you don't have any peasant class. But the funny thing was, there were literally thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who loved old time fiddling, ballads, banjo tunes, blues played on the guitar, spirituals and gospel hymns. These songs and music didn't fit into any neat category of art music nor popular music nor jazz. So gradually they said well let's call it folk music.”

PeopleWellsArtSaidStatesSongUnitedClassUnited StatesFitJazzGuitarFolksTunesCategoriesThey SaidFunny ThingsPeasantsNeatHymnsFolk MusicBalladsOld TimePopular MusicArt MusicBanjos
Author:Pete Seeger
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