Joan of Arc

 

  

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Jehanne: Portraits of a Saint

 

Quotes

learn about this and other portraits from Orléans
Portrait: The Maid of Orléans
Maison de Jeanne d'Arc, Orléans

"She was truthful when lying was the common speech of men; she was honest when honest was become a lost virtue; she was a keeper of promises when the keeping of a promise was expected of no one; ... she was full of pity when a merciless cruelty was the rule; she was steadfast when stability was unknown, and honorable in an age which had forgotten what honor was; she was a rock of convictions in a time when men believed in nothing and scoffed at all things; she was unfailingly true in an age that was false to the core; ... she was of a dauntless courage when hope and courage had perished in the hearts of her nation..." Mark Twain, Joan of Arc

"Consider this unique and imposing distinction. Since the writing of human history began, Joan of Arc is the only person, of either sex, who has ever held supreme command of the military forces of a nation at the age of seventeen." Louis Kossuth

 

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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