Henry IV of England Quotes
The shortest and surest way of arriving at real knowledge is to unlearn the lessons we have been taught, to mount the first principles, and take nobody's word about them.
Henry St. John, 1678-1751, British Secretary for War and Foreign Secretary (Tory), Quoted in Adam Woolever, Treasury of Wisdom, Wit and Humor, Odd Comparisons and Proverbs, 1891
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This principle, so important to the philosophy of science, was a major component of the philosophy of Spinoza—the part that had him excommunicated by the 3 major religions of the era.
3rd Earl Russell of Kingston. He arrives at the same place as Spinoza did in the 17th century although his reasons are different.
Henry IV was King of England from 1399 to 1413. He asserted the claim of his grandfather King Edward III, a maternal grandson of Philip IV of France, to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the first English ruler since the Norman Conquest over three hundred years prior whose mother tongue was English rather than French. He was known as Henry Bolingbroke before ascending to the throne. His father was Edward III's third son, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. His mother. Blanche, was the daughter of royal nobleman, Henry, Duke of Lancaster.
