Section 8 : Suffering and Consolation
Founding Address (1876), Life and Destiny (1913)
Context: It is written that the last enemy to be vanquished is death. We should begin early in life to vanquish this enemy by obliterating every trace of the fear of death from our minds. Then can we turn to life and fill the whole horizon of our souls with it, turn with added zest toall the serious tasks which it imposes and to the pure delights which here and there it affords.
“The stronger is the enemy, the more
Easily is the vanquished side excused.”
Sempre che l'inimico è più possente,
Più chi perde accettabile ha la scusa.
Canto XXIV, stanza 32 (tr. W. S. Rose)
Orlando Furioso (1532)
Original
Sempre che l'inimico è più possente, Più chi perde accettabile ha la scusa.
Orlando Furioso (1532)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Ludovico Ariosto 97
Italian poet 1474–1533Related quotes
“Monotony and dryness are lurking enemies which may be vanquished by variety.”
Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922)
Context: Variety.... Movement, contrast, and accent all contribute to variety... the spice of life... Monotony and dryness are lurking enemies which may be vanquished by variety.
“The gods are on the side of the stronger.”
Deos fortioribus adesse.
Book IV, 17
Histories (100-110)
“We write dust epitaphs for our vanquished enemies and watch them blow away in the desert wind.”
"The Pasho", Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2004
Drunk, written with Jake Gosling.
Song lyrics, + (2011)
Rien ne me choque autant que l'acharnement sur un vaincu, surtout quand les lyncheurs prennent la pose. Entre les chiens et le loup, je serai toujours du côté du loup, surtout quand il est blessé.
Beauté du crime (Plon, 1988, ISBN 2-259-01897-1), p. 13 http://www.denistouret.net/textes/Verges.html
Section 8 : Suffering and Consolation
Life and Destiny (1913)
As quoted in 1,001 Pearls of Wisdom (2006) by David Ross
Context: Philosophers should consider the fact that the greatest happiness principle can easily be made an excuse for a benevolent dictatorship. We should replace it by a more modest and more realistic principle — the principle that the fight against avoidable misery should be a recognized aim of public policy, while the increase of happiness should be left, in the main, to private initiative.