Update
Show Summary Details

Page of

PRINTED FROM OXFORD REFERENCE (www.oxfordreference.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single entry from a reference work in OR for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 10 February 2025

William Pitt 1759–1806
British Tory statesman; Prime Minister, 1783–1801, 1804–6 

  1. Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom: it is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
    speech, House of Commons, 18 November 1783
  2. England has saved herself by her exertions, and will, as I trust, save Europe by her example.
    replying to a toast in which he had been described as the saviour of his country in the wars with France
    R. Coupland War Speeches of William Pitt (1915)
  3. Roll up that map; it will not be wanted these ten years.
    of a map of Europe, on hearing of Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz, December 1805
    Earl Stanhope Life of the Rt. Hon. William Pitt vol. 4 (1862) ch. 43
  4. Oh, my country! how I leave my country!
    last words, also variously reported as ‘How I love my country’; and ‘My country! oh, my country!’
    Earl Stanhope Life of the Rt. Hon. William Pitt vol. 3 (1879) ch. 43; Earl Stanhope Life of the Rt. Hon. William Pitt (1st ed.), vol. 4 (1862) ch. 43; and G. Rose Diaries and Correspondence (1860) vol. 2, 23 January 1806; oral tradition reports, ‘I think I could eat one of Bellamy's veal pies’