Quotes from Richard Francis Burton

One death to a man is a serious thing: a dozen neutralize one another.

Broke is a temporary condition, poor is a state of mind.

Support a compatriot against a native, however the former may blunder or plunder.

Between 2 and 3 in the morning of the 19th inst. I was aroused by the cry that the enemy was upon us.

Between 2 and 3 in the morning of the 19th inst. I was aroused by the cry that the enemy was upon us.

Wherever we halted we were surrounded by wandering troops of Bedouins.

Reason is Life's sole arbiter, themagic Laby'rinth's single clue.

I was surrounded at the time by about a dozen of the enemy, whose clubs rattled upon me without mercy, and the strokes of my sabre were rendered uncertain by the energetic pushes of an attendant who thus hoped to save me.

Of the gladdest moments in human life...is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands.

All faith is false, all faith is true. Truth is the shattered mirror strown in myriad bits, while each believes his little bit the whole to own.

Travellers, like poets, are mostly an angry race: by falling into a daily fit of passion, I proved to the governor and his son, who were profuse in their attentions, that I was in earnest.

Friends of my youth, a last adieu! haply some day we meet again; Yet ne'er the self-same men shall meet; the years shall make us other men.

The men were wild as ourang-outans, and the women fit only to flog cattle.

Cease, man, to mourn, to weep, to wail; Enjoy thy shining hour of sun; We dance along Death's icy brink, But is the dance less full of fun?