“The only method of learning to bear with dignity the vicissitudes of fortune is to recall the catastrophes of others.”

—  Polybius , book The Histories

Polybius. The Histories of Polybius, trans. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh. London, New York: Macmillan and Co., 1889. Book I, Chapter 1
The Histories

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The only method of learning to bear with dignity the vicissitudes of fortune is to recall the catastrophes of others." by Polybius?
Polybius photo
Polybius 15
ancient Greek historian -208–-126 BC

Related quotes

John Ogilby photo

“Of Pride in thy Prosperity beware,
Vicissitudes of Fortune Constant are.”

John Ogilby (1600–1676) Scottish academic

Fab. LXII: Of the Gourd, and the Pine
The Fables of Aesop (2nd ed. 1668)

William Godwin photo

“The man that does not know himself not to be at the mercy of other men, that does not feel that he is invulnerable to all the vicissitudes of fortune, is incapable of a constant and inflexible virtue.”

William Godwin (1756–1836) English journalist, political philosopher and novelist

Book V, "Of Education"
Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793)

Pliny the Younger photo

“Such are the vicissitudes of our mortal lot: misfortune is born of prosperity, and good fortune of ill-luck.”
Habet has vices conditio mortalium, ut adversa ex secundis, ex adversis secunda nascantur.

Pliny the Younger (61–113) Roman writer

V.
Panegyricus

Edward Gibbon photo

“Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave.”

Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) English historian and Member of Parliament

Vol. 1, Chap. 71.
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire: Volume 1 (1776)

Alfred Austin photo

“Imagination should
A reconciler, not a rebel, be,
To teach the heart of man to apprehend
Nature's vicissitudes, and bear his own,
With sympathetic fancy.”

Alfred Austin (1835–1913) British writer and poet

Source: Fortunatus the Pessimist (1892), Urania in Act IV, sc. ii; p. 178.

Olaudah Equiano photo

“I was named Olaudah, which, in our language, signifies vicissitude or fortune also, one favoured, and having a loud voice and well spoken.”

Olaudah Equiano (1745–1797) African abolitionist

Chap. I
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789)

C.G. Jung photo

“I am no longer alone with myself, and I can only artificially recall the scary and beautiful feeling of solitude. This is the shadow side of the fortune of love.”

C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology
Seneca the Younger photo

“Things ’twas hard to bear ’tis pleasant to recall.”
quae fuit durum pati, meminisse dulce est.

Seneca the Younger Hercules Furens

Hercules Furens (The Madness of Hercules), lines 656-657; (Amphitryon)
Alternate translation: Things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember. (translator unknown).
Tragedies

Virgil photo

“Learn fortitude and toil from me, my son,
Ache of true toil. Good fortune learn from others.”
Disce, puer, virtutem ex me verumque laborem, Fortunam ex aliis.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book XII, Lines 435–436 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald)

Ricky Gervais photo

“That’s the other thing I learned that day, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, in the end leads to liberation and dignity.”

Ricky Gervais (1961) English comedian, actor, director, producer, musician, writer, and former radio presenter

Related topics