Giles Milton · 388 pages
Rating: (3.3K votes)
“In the Banda Islands, ten pounds of nutmeg cost less than one English penny. In London, that same spice sold for more than £2.10s. – a mark-up of a staggering 60,000 per cent. A small sackful was enough to set a man up for life, buying him a gabled dwelling in Holborn and a servant to attend to his needs”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
“The local natives were particularly curious to know why the English required such huge quantities of pepper and there was much scratching of heads until it was finally agreed that English houses were so cold that the walls were plastered with crushed pepper in order to produce heat.”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
“merchants who financed this expedition viewed it as a reconnaissance mission rather than a trading venture and little cargo was loaded on board the ships. Instead, all available space was converted into living space for the large number of men on board, a necessary feature of long voyages into the unknown. Many would die on the outward trip and for those that survived there was a cornucopia of tropical diseases awaiting them on their arrival in the East”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
“Juet's journal frequently records how only a tiny quantity of alcohol was needed to get the Indians drunk, 'for they could not take it'; and tales of the drunkenness that greeted Hudsons' arrival persisted among the native Indians until the last century. Indeed Heckewelder claims that the name Manhattan is derived from the drunkenness that took place there, since the Indian word 'manahactanienk' means 'the island of general intoxication'.”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
“The Queen coined new money specifically for the Company {East India}. Minted at the Tower of London and bearing her arms on one side and a portcullis on the other, it soon became know as the portcullis money. She also granted the merchants a new flag which, with its blue field and background of thirteen red and white stripes, prefigured the one adopted by the Thirteen Colonies of America some 175 years later.”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
“He penned a letter to the Company in London, a letter whose unfailing spirit would become legendary among the sailors of the East India Company. 'I cannot tell where you should looke for me.' he wrote, 'because I live at the devotion of the winds and seas.'
(Written by/about Captain James Lancaster, on the ship Red Dragon, during a terrible storm, 1603)”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
“The voyage had proved a human and financial disaster. Of the 198 men who rounded the Cape, only 25 returned alive. Worse still, two of the three ships had been lost and the one that did manage to limp into port was carrying not spices but scurvy. Lancaster had proved--if proof was needed--that the spice trade involved risks that London's merchants could ill afford. It was not until they learned that the Dutch had entered the spice race, and achieved a remarkable success, that they would consider financing a new expedition to the islands of the East Indies.”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
“Hawkins was annoyed but placed his trust in tact and diplomacy. He sent a polite but firm letter to the Portuguese commander reminding him that their two countries were at peace and asking that ‘he release my men and goods, for that we were Englishmen.’ The commander was in no mood to be lenient and sent Hawkins a return letter ‘vilely abusing His Majesty [King James I] terming him King of Fishermen, and of an island of no import’.”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
“Yet they are unmoved when told of the cruel blow that fortune has dealt them, happy to see out their days on this unknown and unspoiled atoll. They will tell you that the view from their windows is infinitely more magnificent than Manhattan's glittering skyline.”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
“antagonist having one hand strapped behind his back and the other”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
“Realising that Mauritius could be a valuable port of call for Dutch ships Heemskerck put a rooster and some hens ashore and planted orange and lemon seeds, invoking 'the Almighty God's blessing that He may lend His power to make them multiply and grow for the benefit of those who will visit the island after us'.”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
“Setting sail from Tidore, his next port of call was the island of Celebes, where he found himself royally entertained by the King of Butung.... This island unknown to the English but Middleton (Captain David Middleton) enjoyed his stay here and found the King a curious fellow who was only to keen to entertain his guests with banquets and sweetmeats. Some meals were novel affairs; the ship's purser found himself eating in a room whose interior decor consisted entirely of rotting human heads, dangling from the ceiling.”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
“At your arrival at Run,’ he had been told, ‘show yourself courteous and affable, for they are a peevish, perverse, diffident and perfidious people and apt to take disgust upon small occasions.”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
“geography. In those days, Run was the most talked about island in the world, a place of such fabulous wealth that Eldorado’s gilded riches seemed tawdry by comparison.”
― Giles Milton, quote from Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
Giles Milton
Born place: in Buckinghamshire, The United Kingdom
Born date January 1, 1966
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“Yoga is asking us to pay attention to the nature of all of our relationships and to apply the yamas and the niyamas to them. Whether it is our relationship to our breath, the bottoms of our feet, the ant crawling across the kitchen floor, our families, or to God, we are being asked to pay attention. The aim of yogic practice is to free us from the endless distractions of the kleshas—fear, pride, desire, and ignorance—and to teach us to bring a focused mind to bear on the nature of our relationships. Our time spent on the mat is dedicated to that end.”
― quote from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga
“Abbe Faria: Here is your final lesson - do not commit the crime for which you now serve the sentence. God said, Vengeance is mine.
Edmond Dantes: I don't believe in God.
Abbe Faria: It doesn't matter. He believes in you. ”
― Alexandre Dumas, quote from The Count of Monte Cristo, V1
“Scientists say that these things evolved this way over millions of years." He shook his head. "That's a bunch of bunk. I don't think an animal can just all-of-a-sudden decide it wants to make light grow out it's butt. What kind of nonsense is that? Animals don't make light." He pointed to the stars. "God does that. I don't know why or how, but I'm pretty sure it's not chance. It's not some haphazard thing he does in his spare time."
He looked at me, and his expression changed from one of wonder to seriousness, to absolute convicton. "Chase, I don't believe in chance." He held up the jar. "This is not chance, neither are the stars."....."And neither are you. So, if your mind is telling you that God slipped up and might have made one giant mistake when it comes to you, you remember the firefly's butt.”
― Charles Martin, quote from Chasing Fireflies: A Novel of Discovery
“Tull stopped laughing and stared into Loken’s face. His blue eyes were terribly cold and hard. ‘Kaos is the damnation of all mankind, Loken. Kaos will outlive us and dance on our ashes. All we can do, all we can strive for, is to recognise its menace and keep it at bay, for as long as we persist.”
― Dan Abnett, quote from Horus Rising
“Observing the behavior of individual fowl in a henhouse, we note that birds lower in rank are pecked by, and give way to, birds of higher rank. In an ideal case, there exists a linear order of rank with a top hen who pecks all the others. Those in the middle ranks peck those below them but respect all the hens above them. At the bottom there is a drudge who has to take it from everyone. (Adolf Remane, Vertebrates and Their Ways)”
― Ryszard Kapuściński, quote from The Emperor
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