“Danger (the spur of all great minds) is ever
The curb to your tame spirits.”
The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois (1613), Act V, scene i.
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George Chapman 60
English dramatist, poet, and translator 1559–1634Related quotes
"Philip of Pokanoket : An Indian Memoir".
A more extensive statement not found as such in this work is attributed to Irving in Elbert Hubbard's Scrap Book (1923) edited by Roycroft Shop:
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon (1819–1820)
Variant: Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above it.
From the Enchiridion (1640) of Francis Quarles.
Misattributed
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 324.
“Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.”
Vol. I; CCCCXXIV
Lacon
“Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.”
Not found in Burke's writings. It was almost certainly first published in Charles Caleb Colton's Lacon (1820), vol. 1, no. 324
Misattributed
“He who has love in his breast has ever the spurs at his flanks.”
Act II, scene VII — (Samia).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 264.
La Calandria (c. 1507)