people-from-assyria

"Pul king of Assyria came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom under his control. And Menahem exacted the money from Israel, from all the very wealthy, from each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and did not stay there in the land."

"Also Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came to him and distressed him, and did not assist him. For Ahaz took part of the treasures from the house of the Lord, from the house of the king, and from the leaders, and he gave it to the king of Assyria; but he did not help him."

"So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.” And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria heeded him; for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin. Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the design of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship. Then Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Urijah the priest made it before King Ahaz came back from Damascus."

"There is no other language besides Syriac in which the word ‘Christians’ is expressed by the word nasara or anything near it….There is no doubt whatever that in the Persian Empire, and to some extent also in the Roman Empire, the Christians were called by non-Christians nasraye (the Nasara of the Qur’an), and that the Prophet took the word from the Syrians."

"Almost all the religious terms in the Qur’an are derived from Syriac."

"Till now, no drop from an Assyrian vein Hath flow'd for me, nor hath the smallest coin Of Nineveh's vast treasures e'er been lavish'd On objects which could cost her sons a tear: If then they hate me, 'tis because I hate not: If they rebel, 'tis because I oppress not."

"Which makes life itself a lie, Flattering dust with eternity."

"By all that's good and glorious."

"Eat, drink, and love; the rest's not worth a fillip."

"I am the very slave of circumstance And impulse,—borne away with every breath!"

"The dust we tread upon was once alive."

"All farewells should be sudden."

"Εὖ εἰδώς, ὅτι θνητὸς ἔφυς, σὸν θυμὸν ἄεξε, τερπόμενος θαλίήσι. θανόντι τοι οὔ τις ὄνησις. καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ σποδός εἰμι, Πίνου μεγάλης βασιλεύσας. ταῦτ ἔχω, ὅσσ’ ἔφαγον καὶ ἐφύβρισα καὶ μἐτ ἔρωτος τέρπν’ ἔπαθον, τὰ δὲ πολλὰ καὶ ὀλβια κεῖνα λέλειπται."

"Cf. Ede, bibe, lude, post mortem nulla voluptas."

"Th’ Assyrians’ king, in peace with foul desire And filthy lust that stained his regal heart, In war, that should set princely hearts afire, Vanquished did yield for want of martial art. The dent of swords from kisses seemed strange, And harder than his lady’s side his targe; From glutton feasts to soldiers’ fare a change His helmet far above a garland’s charge. Who scarce the name of manhood did retain Drenched in sloth and womanish delight, Feeble of sprete, unpatient of pain, When he had lost his honour and his right (Proud time of wealth, in storms appalled with dread) Murdered himself to show some manful deed."

"Th’ Assyrian king, in peace, with foul desire And filthy lusts that stained his regal heart; In war, that should set princely hearts on fire, Did yield, vanquished for want of martial art. The dint of swords from kisses seemèd strange, And harder than his lady’s side his targe; From glutton feasts to soldier’s fare a change; His helmet far above a garland’s charge: Who scarce the name of manhood did retain, Drenchèd in sloth and womanish delight, Feeble of spirit, impatient of pain, When he had lost his honour and his right, (Proud, time of wealth; in storms, appalled with dread,) Murthered himself, to show some manful deed."

"I thought to have made mine inoffensive rule An era of sweet peace 'midst bloody annals, A green spot amidst desert centuries, On which the future would turn back and smile, And cultivate, or sigh when it could not Recall Sardanapalus' golden reign. I thought to have made my realm a paradise, And every moon an epoch of new pleasures. I took the rabble's shouts for love – the breath Of friends for truth – the lips of woman for My only guerdon – so they are, my Myrrha: [He kisses her] Kiss me. Now let them take my realm and life! They shall have both, but never thee!"

"Why, what other Interpretation should it bear? it is The very policy of orient monarchs – Pardon and poison – favours and a sword – A distant voyage, and an eternal sleep […] How many satraps have I seen set out In his sire's day for mighty vice-royalties, Whose tombs are on their path! I know not how, But they all sicken'd by the way, it was So long and heavy."

"The recognition and acceptance of a genocide, and mass murder of nations is not to merely point a finger at a tyrant guilty of those crimes. It is acceptance of facts and truths with the ultimate goal to mend bridges between the races. It is not to merely condemn but to create the first step towards world peace."

"Anytime the western countries go to war in the Middle East, it becomes a religious war."

"When we perpetually allow the practice of genocide and holocaust and consent to the denial of such actions to linger for decades as in the case of the Assyrian, Armenian and Pontic Greek Genocides, we are in essence consenting to denial as a compromise. Denial is not compromise."

"Iraq's 'liberation' has become the 'oppression' of Assyrians."

"I may not have a country with boundaries, but my country is in me. My country is in my soul and in my heart. I am Assyria."

"As quoted in The Crimson Field."

"I am an Assyrian. That is not negotiable."

"The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold"

"(Hezekiah) himself, like a caged bird, I shut up in Jerusalem, his royal city."

"Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them."

"With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel."

"If you are looking for a friend who has no faults, you will have no friends."

"A man is judged by his deeds, not by his words."

"Better a patient man than a warrior, one who controls his temper than one who takes a city."

"Love rules without rules."

"Our own life is the instrument with which we experiment with truth."

"In an instant illumination can be achieved, it is as easy as turning on a light, the problem is finding the switch in the dark."

"He who digs a pit for his brother shall fall into it; and he who sets up traps shall be caught in them."

"O my boy! thou hast been to me like a man who took a stone, and threw it up to heaven to stone his Lord with it. And the stone did not hit, and did not reach high enough, but it became the cause of guilt and sin. O my boy! if thou hadst honoured me and respected me and hadst listened to my words thou wouldst have been my heir and wouldst have reigned over my dominions. O my son! know thou that if the tail of the dog or the pig were ten cubits long it would not approach to the worth of the horse's even if it were like silk. O my boy! I thought that thou wouldst have been my heir at my death; and thou through thy envy and thy insolence didst desire to kill me. But the Lord delivered me from thy cunning."

"O my boy! he who doeth good shall meet with good; and he who doeth evil shall meet with evil, for the Lord requiteth a man according to the measure of his work. O my boy! what shall I say more to thee than these sayings? for the Lord knoweth what is hidden, and is acquainted with the mysteries and the secrets. And He will requite thee and will judge, betwixt me and thee, and will recompense thee according to thy desert."

"Experience will show you, a Master can only point the way."

"Open your door to a good day and prepare yourself for a bad one."

"Better late than never."

"These Americans are cowards, because if they were courageous, they would have confronted us face-to-face, rather than coming at us from behind"

"It is imperative that there is intervention into our dire situation and treatment ... We hope that you will help us. We have been in prison for a long time and we have been cut from our families. No contacts, no phones, no letters. Even the parcels sent to us by our families are not given to us. We need a fair treatment, a fair investigation and finally a fair trial. Please help us"

"The Dujail case is part of a chain of assassination operations against officials and I am one of the victims, the president of the state in any country, if faced with an assassination attempt, should take procedures to punish those who conduct and help this operation. According to the law, people who support this assassination can also be convicted."

"Do you expect me, after all my history as a militant and as one of the Iraqi leaders, to go to an American prison – to go to Guantanamo? I would rather die"

"I'm a victim of a criminal act conducted by this party, which is in power right now. So put it on trial. Its leader was the prime minister and his deputy is the prime minister right now and they killed innocent Iraqis in 1980"

"I suppose I can just about bear to watch the “inspections” pantomime a second time. But what I cannot bear is the sight of French and Russian diplomats posing and smirking with Naji Sabry, Iraq’s foreign minister, or with Tariq Aziz. I used to know Naji and I know that two of his brothers, Mohammed and Shukri, were imprisoned and tortured by Saddam Hussein–in Mohammed’s case, tortured to death. The son of Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz was sentenced to twenty-two years of imprisonment last year; he has since been released and rearrested and released again, partly no doubt to show who is in charge. Another former friend of mine, Mazen Zahawi, was Saddam Hussein’s interpreter until shortly after the Gulf War, when he was foully murdered and then denounced as a homosexual. I have known many regimes where stories of murder and disappearance are the common talk among the opposition; the Iraqi despotism is salient in that such horrors are also routine among its functionaries. Saddam Hussein likes to use as envoys the men he has morally destroyed; men who are sick with fear and humiliation, and whose families are hostages."

"He didn't move. He couldn't talk. He didn't say a word to her. He just looked at her. It is so sad that he had to go this way"