Top 40 Oliver Cromwell Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “He who stops being better stops being good.”

— Oliver Cromwell

2. “Work hard, trust in God, and keep your bowels open.”

— Oliver Cromwell

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3. “Keep your faith in God, but keep your powder dry.”

— Oliver Cromwell

4. “Catholicism is more than a religion, it is a political power. Therefore I’m led to believe there will be no peace in Ireland until the Catholic Church is crushed.”

— Oliver Cromwell

5. “No one rises so high as he who knows not whither he is going. Not only strike while the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking. Do not trust the cheering, for those persons would shout as much if you or I were going to be hanged.”

— Oliver Cromwell

6. “Make the iron hot by striking it.”

— Oliver Cromwell

7. “You have sat too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”

— Oliver Cromwell

8. “I have learned that if you fear God, you have no one else to fear.”

— Oliver Cromwell

9. “A man never rises higher than when he does not know whither his path can still lead him.”

— Oliver Cromwell

10. “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.”

— Oliver Cromwell

11. “A man never goes so far as when he does not know whither he is going.”

— Oliver Cromwell

12. “Paint me as I am. If you leave out the scars and wrinkles, I will not pay you a shilling.”

— Oliver Cromwell

13. “A man-of-war is the best ambassador.”

— Oliver Cromwell

14. “Our swords are in God’s hands, And our faith is in the Lord. Charge!”

— Oliver Cromwell

15. “Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will.”

— Oliver Cromwell

16. “I had rather have a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call a Gentle-man and is nothing else.”

— Oliver Cromwell

17. “Nature can do more than physicians.”

— Oliver Cromwell

18. “No one rises so high as he who knows not whither he is going.”

— Oliver Cromwell

19. “Necessity hath no law. Feigned necessities, imaginary necessities, are the greatest cozenage men can put upon the Providence of God, and make pretences to break known rules by.”

— Oliver Cromwell

20. “I desire not to keep my place in this government an hour longer than I may preserve England in its just rights, and may protect the people of God in such a just liberty of their consciences...”

— Oliver Cromwell

21. “Some people have food, but no appetite; others have an appetite, but no food. I have both. The Lord be praised.”

— Oliver Cromwell

22. “Royalty is but a feather in a man’s cap; let children enjoy their rattle.”

— Oliver Cromwell

23. “Mr. Lely, I desire you would use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me, and not flatter me at all; but remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me, otherwise I will never pay a farthing for it.”

— Oliver Cromwell

24. “For that which you mention concerning liberty of conscience, I meddle not with any man’s conscience.”

— Oliver Cromwell

25. “A few honest men are better than numbers.”

— Oliver Cromwell

26. “I have not the particular shining bauble or feather in my cap for crowds to gaze at or kneel to, but I have power and resolution for foes to tremble at.”

— Oliver Cromwell

27. “Necessity has no law.”

— Oliver Cromwell

28. “Opportunity is sometimes hard to recognize if you’re only looking for a lucky break.”

— Oliver Cromwell

29. “Men have been led in dark paths, through the providence and dispensation of God. Why, surely it is not to be objected to a man, for who can love to walk in the dark? But providence doth often so dispose.”

— Oliver Cromwell

30. “Who can love to walk in the dark? But providence doth often so dispose.”

— Oliver Cromwell

31. “My prayer is that God give me no longer life than I shall be glad to use mine office in edification, and not in destruction.”

— Oliver Cromwell

32. “My desire is to make what haste I can to be gone.”

— Oliver Cromwell

33. “What is all our histories, but God showing himself, shaking and trampling on everything that he has not planted.”

— Oliver Cromwell

34. “If any man whatsoever hath carried on the design of deposing the King and disinheriting his posterity; or if any man hath yet such a design he should be the greatest traitor and rebel in the world; but, since the Providence of God hath cast this upon us, I cannot but submit to Providence.”

— Oliver Cromwell

35. “Your pretended fear lest error should step in, is like the man that would keep all the wine out of the country lest men should be drunk. It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy, to deny a man the liberty he hath by nature upon a supposition that he may abuse it.”

— Oliver Cromwell

36. “I was by birth a gentleman, living neither in any considerable height nor yet in obscurity.”

— Oliver Cromwell

37. “The State, in choosing men to serve it, takes no notice of their opinions. If they be willing faithfully to serve it, that satisfies.”

— Oliver Cromwell

38. “Does a man speak foolishly? – suffer him gladly, for you are wise. Does he speak erroneously? – stop such a man’s mouth with sound words that cannot be gainsaid. Does he speak truly? – rejoice in the truth.”

— Oliver Cromwell

39. “I would have been glad to have lived under my wood side, and to have kept a flock of sheep, rather than to have undertaken this government.”

— Oliver Cromwell

40. “On becoming soldiers we have not ceased to be citizens.”

— Oliver Cromwell

41. “That which brought me into the capacity I now stand in, was the Petition and Advice given me by you, who, in reference to the ancient Constitution, did draw me here to accept the place of Protector. There is not a man living can say I sought it, no not a man, nor woman, treading upon English ground.”

— Oliver Cromwell