“Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.[To Hindu priests complaining to him about the prohibition of Sati religious funeral practice of burning widows alive on her husband’s funeral pyre.]””
Quotes by Charles Napier
“So perverse is mankind that every nationality prefers to be misgoverned by its own people than to be well ruled by another””
“In 1843, after annexing the Indian province of Sind, British General Sir Charles Napier sent home a one word telegram, "Peccavi" implying "I have Sind..." (Napier was under explicit instructions that:1. He was not to attack Hyderabad.2. If provoked to fighting, he was under no conditions take Hyderabad's capital -- Sind.He then (according to the story) send the one word message Peccavi to London and of course all the recipients understood that he had violated his order and taken the city - the old British boy school Latin training...””
“The best way to quiet a country is a good thrashing, followed by great kindness afterwards. Even the wildest chaps are thus tamed.””
“The human mind is never better disposed to gratitude and attachment than when softened by fear.””
Charles NapierCharles Napier was a British soldier and writer, best known for his detailed accounts of military campaigns in the 19th century. His most notable works, 'The War in Syria' (Volumes 1 and 2), provide a...