
Stanza 2.
Carcassonne, (c. 1887; with translation by John Reuben Thompson)
Stanza 3.
Carcassonne, (c. 1887; with translation by John Reuben Thompson)
Stanza 2.
Carcassonne, (c. 1887; with translation by John Reuben Thompson)
“I am less than what you tell about me but more than what you think about me”
Nahj al-Balagha
Context: A man sarcastically started praising Imam Ali, though he had no faith in him and Imam Ali hearing these praises from him said "I am less than what you tell about me but more than what you think about me."
1970s, BOBBY FISCHER SPEAKS OUT! (1977)
“I care more about the people in books than the people I see every day.”
Source: Among Others
Part II, section iv, stanza 3
Maud; A Monodrama (1855)
Non copre abito vil la nobil luce,
E quanto è in lei d'altero e di gentile;
E fuor la maesta regia traluce
Per gli atti ancor de l'esercizio umile.
Canto VII, stanza 18 (tr. Wickert)
Gerusalemme Liberata (1581)
Source: Quartered Safe Out Here (1992), p. 54.