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Joan of Arc quotes in her own words...
Domremy, February, 1429
"But since God had commanded me to go,
I must do it. And since God had commanded it, had I had a hundred fathers
and a hundred mothers, and had I been a king's daughter, I would have gone."
"It pleased God thus to act through a
simple maid in order to turn back the King's enemies."
Vaucouleurs, February, 1429
"Nevertheless, I must be with the King
before mid-Lent, though I wear my legs to the knees on the road. For there
is none in this world--neither kings, nor dukes, nor the King of Scotland's
daughter, nor any other--who can restore the Kingdom of France. Nor is there
any succor for it but from me."
"Rather now than tomorrow, and
tomorrow than the day after!"
Vaucouleurs to Chinon, February-March, 1429
"I was born for this."
"Fear not: what I do, I do by
commandment. My brothers in Paradise tell me what I must do."
Chinon, Poitiers, Tours and Blois, March-April, 1429
To the Dauphin: "I shall last a year,
and but little longer: we must think to do good work in that year. Four
things are laid upon me: to drive out the English; to bring you to be
crowned and annointed at Reims; to rescue the Duke of Orléans
from the hands of the English; and to raise the siege of Orléans."
March from Blois to Orléans, April 28-29, 1429
"Trust in God. Make confession, and be
shriven, for so God will help you."
To the Bastard of Orléans:
"In God's name! Our Lord God's counsel is surer and wiser than yours."
"Hope in God. If
you have good hope and faith in Him, you shall be delivered from your
enemies."
Orléans: Capture of the English Fortress of the Augustines, May 6, 1429
"In God's name! Let us go on bravely!"
To one of the Captains: "You have been
with your counsel and I have been with mine. Believe me that the counsel of
my Lord will be accomplished and will stand, and this counsel of yours will
perish."
The March to Reims, June-July, 1429
To Gérardin D'Épinal,
of Domrémy: "I fear nothing but treachery."
Saint-Denis to Compiègne, September, 1429 to May, 1430
To her hostess: "I am sent to comfort
the poor and needy."
When women brought Rosaries for her to
bless: "You touch them: they will be as much bettered by your touch as by
mine!"
"To God I commend you, may he keep
you."
The Trial, February-May, 1431
"I come, sent by God. I have no
business here. I pray you, send me back to God from whom I am come."
"You say that you are my judge. Take
thoughts over what you are doing. For, truly, I am sent from God, and you
are putting yourself in great danger"
When asked if she is in God's grace:
"If I am not, God put me there, and if I am, God keep me there!"
"Had I known the hour and that I would
be taken, I should not have wanted to go. But I would have done their
bidding in the end, no matter what was to befall me."
"As to whether victory was my banner's
or mine, it was all our Lord's."
"There was neither sorcery or any evil
art in anything I have done."
"It lies with the Lord to make
revelations to whom He pleases."
"The offenses that you bring against
me I have not committed: as for the rest, I refer it to our Lord."
"Our Lord first served."
Last Day, Wednesday, May 30, 1431
"It was I who brought the message of
the crown to my King. I was the angel and there was no other."
"I beg each priest here to say a mass
for me."
"I pray you, go to the nearest church,
and bring me the cross, and hold it up level with my eyes until I am dead. I
would have the cross on which God hung ever before my eyes while life lasts
in me."
"Jhesus, Jhesus!"
All quotes from Joan of
Arc are taken from the book Joan of Arc: In Her Own Words. Using only
material compiled from her trial transcripts and testimonies, translator
Willard Trask arranged her exact words in this unique autobiography.
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