Thomas More Biography Quotes 30 Report mistakes

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Known as	Saint Thomas More
Occup.	Author
From	England
Born	February 7, 1478 London, England
Died	July 6, 1535 London, England
Cause	beheading
Aged	57 years

Early Life and Education
Thomas More was born in London in 1478, the son of John More, a successful lawyer who became a judge, and his wife Agnes. As a boy he served in the household of John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor, an experience that exposed him to court politics and humanist learning. After schooling in London, he studied briefly at Oxford, where he encountered the revival of classical letters associated with figures like William Grocyn and Thomas Linacre. At his father's insistence he returned to London to pursue law, entering Lincoln's Inn and building a reputation for keen judgment and an exacting conscience. For a time he weighed a religious vocation, practicing austere devotions among the London Carthusians, before concluding that his path lay in public service and family life.

Humanist Circle and Utopia
More's outlook was shaped by the Christian humanism that flourished in early sixteenth-century Europe. He formed a celebrated friendship with Desiderius Erasmus, who frequently visited London; Erasmus's Praise of Folly plays on More's name and pays tribute to his wit. More's own most famous work, Utopia (1516), was written in Latin during and after a diplomatic journey to the Low Countries and framed as a conversation with the Antwerp humanist Peter Giles. Utopia presents an imaginary island commonwealth to probe issues of property, education, religious tolerance, and civic duty. Rather than prescribe a program, the book invites readers to reflect on the moral limits of power and the uses of reason in public life, themes that resonated across Europe and made More a central figure in Renaissance letters.

Legal Career and Public Service
Called to the bar and active in London's courts, More became undersheriff of London in 1510, esteemed for impartial judgments and for advocating the poor. He entered royal service under Henry VIII, advising on trade and law, and undertook diplomatic missions, including negotiations in Flanders that honed his skills in practical statecraft. He sat in Parliament, becoming Speaker of the House of Commons in 1523, and worked alongside senior counselors such as Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Knighted in 1521, he rose within the king's council as a trusted, if principled, servant who combined learning with administrative efficiency.

Lord Chancellor and the King's Great Matter
Wolsey's fall in 1529 opened the way for More's appointment as Lord Chancellor, the highest judicial and political office in the realm. He succeeded at a turbulent moment: Henry VIII sought an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and recognition of his union with Anne Boleyn. More, an orthodox Catholic, favored reform of abuses but resisted any breach with Rome. He enforced existing statutes against heresy while also writing to defend Catholic doctrine in debates with William Tyndale and Martin Luther; at court, however, he counseled moderation in policy. As pressure mounted for the clergy's Submission and for royal supremacy over the church, More asked leave to resign in 1532, citing ill health and conscience. He withdrew to private life as Thomas Cromwell and other royal agents advanced the break with Rome.

Imprisonment, Trial, and Execution
The Act of Succession (1534) and the Act of Supremacy required oaths acknowledging the king as Supreme Head of the Church of England. More declined to swear in the prescribed form, carefully keeping silence to avoid direct defiance. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he corresponded with family, especially his daughter Margaret Roper, and composed works of consolation and devotion. Interrogated by Cromwell and confronted by former colleagues, he maintained that the state could not command his conscience in matters of faith. In July 1535 he was tried for high treason; the decisive evidence came from Richard Rich, whose testimony More disputed. Convicted, he was executed on Tower Hill on 6 July 1535. He is widely remembered for the remark that he died the king's good servant, but God's first. His contemporary John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, met a similar fate days earlier, underscoring the depth of the religious and political rupture.

Family and Personal Life
More married Jane Colt in 1505; they had four children: Margaret, Elizabeth, Cecily, and John. After Jane's death in 1511 he married the widow Alice Middleton, and their blended household became a noted center of learning. More believed girls should be educated alongside boys and oversaw an advanced curriculum for his daughters, rare for the time. His son-in-law William Roper later wrote a memoir that remains a major source for More's character and final months. The artist Hans Holbein the Younger found patronage in More's home, producing the influential portrait that shaped More's posthumous image. Despite his public burdens, More cultivated music, convivial conversation, and a disciplined spiritual life, seeking to reconcile civic obligation with inner piety.

Writings and Ideas
Beyond Utopia, More authored the History of King Richard III, an unfinished work in Latin and English that profoundly influenced later portrayals, including Shakespeare's. He assisted Henry VIII's early theological stance and wrote polemics such as Responsio ad Lutherum and A Dialogue Concerning Heresies, defending sacramental theology and church authority. In the Tower he composed A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation and De Tristitia Christi, meditations that reveal his inward turn toward conscience, suffering, and hope. His writings show a mind committed to reasoned argument, classical eloquence, and Christian ethics, yet also display the hard edges of confessional conflict that marked his age.

Legacy and Reception
More's life has provoked admiration and controversy. To admirers, including Erasmus and many later readers, he exemplified integrity in public life and a humane vision of education and commonwealth. Critics point to his role in enforcing laws against heresy as evidence of intolerance in an age of religious strife. He was venerated by Catholics as a martyr, canonized in 1935, and, alongside John Fisher, commemorated for fidelity of conscience. In the modern era, his figure has transcended confessional lines: historians reassess his thought in the context of early Tudor politics, while artists and writers, notably in Robert Bolt's play A Man for All Seasons, have portrayed the drama of his choices in the face of power. His complex legacy continues to animate debates about law, faith, and the claims of the state on the moral life of the citizen.

Our collection contains 30 quotes who is written by Thomas, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Ethics & Morality - Wisdom - Friendship - Love.

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