Portrait of Richard Overton

Quotes by Richard Overton

1631 – 1664

Richard Overton (1631-1664) was an actor, playwright, and Leveller pamphleteer during the English Revolution. He had his own secret printing press and wrote many articles for the Leveller journal The Moderate. His most important works include Mans Mortalitie (1644), An Arrow against all Tyrants (1646), and A Defiance against all Arbitrary Usurpations (1646).

Titles

Natural Rights

Richard Overton shoots “An Arrow against all Tyrants” from the prison of Newgate into the prerogative bowels of the arbitrary House of Lords and all other usurpers and tyrants whatsoever (1646)

Richard Overton

Liberty

Richard Overton argues that to submit to the unjust rule by another is to violate one’s right of self ownership (1646)

Richard Overton