“My child, all is lost for him, and he will never achieve the rank of 'Master' in any land, because someone who is born a master, always has the lowest standing among 'Masters'.”
Quotes from his operas, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Hans Sachs, Act 2, Scene 4
Original: (de) Mein Kind, für den ist alles verloren,
und Meister wird der in keinem Land;
denn wer als Meister geboren,
der hat unter Meistern den schlimmsten Stand.
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Richard Wagner 39
German composer, conductor 1813–1883Related quotes

R. McCulloch Dick ( Editor, The Philippine Free Press).
BALIW

“I never was truly my own master but was always ruled by circumstances.”
Conversation with Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases (11 November 1816), Mémorial de Sainte Hélène, v. 4, p. 133 http://books.google.com/books?id=945jAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA133.
Context: I may have had many projects, but I never was free to carry out any of them. It did me little good to be holding the helm; no matter how strong my hands, the sudden and numerous waves were stronger still, and I was wise enough to yield to them rather than resist them obstinately and make the ship founder. Thus I never was truly my own master but was always ruled by circumstances.

“He who flies from his master is a runaway; but the law is master”
X, 25
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book X
Context: He who flies from his master is a runaway; but the law is master, and he who breaks the law is a runaway. And he also who is grieved or angry or afraid, is dissatisfied because something has been or is or shall be of the things which are appointed by Him who rules all things, and He is Law, and assigns to every man what is fit. He then who fears or is grieved or is angry is a runaway.

The He-Ancient, in Pt. V
1920s, Back to Methuselah (1921)
Homage to the square' (1964), Oral history interview with Josef Albers' (1968)

“The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.”
essay "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House", in Sister Outsider

“Who is master of Bohemia is master of Europe.”
Reported as frequently quoted but unverified in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989), which states, "it cannot be found in the official writings and pronouncements of Bismarck. It is possible that he said it, and it was passed on orally rather than being recorded, or that he expressed the sentiment in other terms and the idea took this form as others tried to quote him".
Disputed