“Even the strongest spirits have the moments of irresistible weakness”

— José Saramago , book The Cave

Source: The Cave (2000), p. 15 (Vintage 2003)

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José Saramago 138

Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in … 1922–2010

Teodor Burnar

“A weak enemy in the fortress is more fearsome than the strongest outside.”

Johann Jakob Wilhelm Heinse (1746–1803) German writer

Ein schwacher Feind in der Festung ist fürchterlicher als der stärkste von außen.
Ardinghell and the Blessed Islands (1787).

“In a weak moment, I have written a book.”

Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949) American author and journalist

“Be neither insufficiently spirited nor over spirited. An elevated spirit is weak and a low spirit is weak. Do not let the enemy see your spirit.”

Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) Japanese martial artist, writer, artist

Go Rin No Sho (1645), The Water Book

“Even the wolf has its moments of weakness, in which it sides with the lamb and thinks: I hope it runs away.”

Adolfo Bioy Casares (1914–1999) Argentine novelist

"El mismo lobo tiene momentos de debilidad, en que se pone del lado del cordero y piensa: Ojalá que huya."
Guirnaldas con amores, 1959.

“Haller’s sickness of soul, as I now know, is not the eccentricity of a single individual, but the sickness of the times themselves, the neurosis of that generation to which Haller belongs, a sickness, it seems, that by no means attacks the weak and worthless only but rather those who are strongest in spirit and richest in gifts.”

Hermann Hesse book Steppenwolf

Source: Steppenwolf (1927), p. 21

“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

William Tyndale (1494–1536) Bible translator and agitator from England

Matthew 26:41.
Tyndale's translations

“But how is the spirit of expenditure to be exorcised? Not by preaching; I doubt if even by yours. I seriously doubt whether it will ever give place to the old spirit of economy, as long as we have the income-tax. There, or hard by, lie questions of deep practical moment.”

William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) British Liberal politician and prime minister of the United Kingdom

Letter to Richard Cobden (5 January 1864), quoted in The Life of William Ewart Gladstone Volume II (1903) by John Morley, p. 62
1860s

“We all have moments of weakness. It’s how we recover from them that really counts.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Succubus Blues

“The force of circumstances… is stronger than even the strongest government”

Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903) German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist and writer

Vol. 1, Book II, Chapter 8. "Law. Religion. Military System. Economic Condition. Nationality"
The History of Rome - Volume 1
Context: The force of circumstances... is stronger than even the strongest government: the language and customs of the Latin people immediately shared (with Rome) its ascendancy in Italy, and already began to undermine the other Italian Nationalities.

“Even the strongest spirits have the moments of irresistible weakness”

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José Saramago 138

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