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Guy Fawkes

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A desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy.

Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606) was an English soldier and a member of a Roman Catholic revolutionary group who attempted to carry out the Gunpowder Plot to assassinate King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) and the members of both houses of the Parliament of England with a huge explosion, which was prevented by his arrest on 5 November 1605.

Quotes

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  • A desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy.
    • Remark (6 November 1605) as quoted in The Dictionary of National Biography Vol. 6 (1917); He is here invoking a version of a famous statement of Hippocrates, also translated as "Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases."
  • ... to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains.
    • Remark as quoted in "Gunpowder Treason and Plot" (1976) by Cyril Northcote Parkinson. It was said in response to one of the lords of the King's Privy Chamber, who had asked what Fawkes intended to do with such a large amount of gunpowder.
Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Quotes about Fawkes

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Of all the plots and conspiracies that ever entered into the mind of man, the Gunpowder plot stands pre-eminent in horror and wickedness.
It is Guy Fawkes who is remembered today and King James who is forgotten. For since that time, the Fifth of November in England, like the Fourth of July in America, has been devoted to Fireworks.
There will some day come a Fifth of November — or another date, it doesn't matter — when fires will burn in a chain of brightness from Land's End to John O' Groats.
  • Remember, remember, the 5th of November
    The Gunpowder Treason and Plot;
    I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason
    Should ever be forgot.

    Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,
    'Twas his intent.
    To blow up the King and the Parliament.
    Three score barrels of powder below.
    Poor old England to overthrow.

    • Traditional rhyme recited on Guy Fawkes Night, the 5th of November, when effigies of him are traditionally burned.
    • Variants:
      Remember, remember, the 5th of November
      The Gunpowder Treason and plot;
      I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
      Should ever be forgot. QOTD 2007·11·05 Sound file
    • Remember, remember, the fifth of November,
      The Gunpowder Treason and plot.
      I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason
      Should ever be forgot.
  • Of all the plots and conspiracies that ever entered into the mind of man, the Gunpowder plot stands pre-eminent in horror and wickedness. The singular perseverance of the conspirators is shown by the fact, that so early as in Lent of the year 1603, Robert Catesby, who appears to have been the prime mover of the plot, in a conversation with Thomas Wintour and John Wright, first broke with them about a design for delivering England from her bondage, and to replant the Catholic religion.
    • "'A Brief History of "The Gunpowder Plot" from The Amulet (1828)
  • Guy Fawkes was a man of desperate character. In his person he was tall and athletic, his countenance was manly, and the determined expression of his features was not a little heightened by a profusion of brown hair, and an auburn-coloured beard. He was descended from a respectable family in Yorkshire, and having soon squandered the property he inherited at the decease of his father, his restless spirit associated itself with the discontented and factious of his age.
    • "'A Brief History of "The Gunpowder Plot" from The Amulet (1828)
  • Vote Guy Fawkes — The Only Man Ever To Enter Parliament With Honest Intentions
  • The Fifth of November is Guy Fawkes' Day in England. In peacetime it is celebrated with bonfires on the greens, fireworks in the parks and the carrying of "guys" through the streets. "Guys" are stuffed, straw figures of unpopular persons; and after they have been shown to everybody they are burnt in the bonfires amid great acclamation. The children black their faces and put on comical clothes, and go about begging for a Penny for the Guy. Only the very meanest people refuse to give pennies and these are always visited by Extreme Bad Luck.
    The Original Guy Fawkes was one of the men who took part in the Gunpowder Plot. This was a conspiracy for blowing up King James I and the Houses of Parliament on November 5th, 1605. The plot was discovered, however, before any damage was done. The only result was that King James and his Parliament went on living but Guy Fawkes, poor man, did not. He was executed with the other conspirators. Nevertheless, it is Guy Fawkes who is remembered today and King James who is forgotten. For since that time, the Fifth of November in England, like the Fourth of July in America, has been devoted to Fireworks. From 1605 till 1939 every village green in the shires had a bonfire on Guy Fawkes' Day. … Since 1939, however, there have been no bonfires on the village greens. No fireworks gleam in the blackened parks and the streets are dark and silent. But this darkness will not last forever. There will some day come a Fifth of November — or another date, it doesn't matter — when fires will burn in a chain of brightness from Land's End to John O' Groats. The children will dance and leap about them as they did in the times before. They will take each other by the hand and watch the rockets breaking, and afterwards they will go home singing to the houses full of light...
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BBC articles:

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