“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

—  Theodore Roosevelt

As quoted in Becoming a Great School (2013) by Cooper, Gustafson and Salah, p. ix
Disputed

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 29, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Comparison is the thief of joy." by Theodore Roosevelt?
Theodore Roosevelt photo
Theodore Roosevelt445
American politician, 26th president of the United States 1858–1919

Related quotes

Mark Twain photo

“Comparison is the death of joy.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Callimachus photo

“Set a thief to catch a thief.”

Callimachus (-310–-240 BC) ancient poet and librarian

Epigram 43; translation by Robert Allason Furness, from Poems of Callimachus (1931), p. 103
Epigrams

Thomas Fuller (writer) photo

“4106. Set a Thief to catch a Thief.”

Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual

Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)

Terry Pratchett photo

“The thief, as will become apparent, was a special type of thief. This thief was an artist of theft. Other thieves merely stole everything that was not nailed down, but this thief stole the nails as well.”

Terry Pratchett book Sourcery

Source: Sourcery

Thomas Fuller (writer) photo

“4788. The Thief is sorry he is to be hanged, but not that he is a Thief.”

Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual

Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)

Zhuangzi photo

“The petty thief is imprisoned but the big thief becomes a feudal lord.”

Zhuangzi (-369–-286 BC) classic Chinese philosopher

Source: The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu

Vladimir Nabokov photo

“The sun is a thief: she lures the sea
and robs it. The moon is a thief:
he steals his silvery light from the sun.
The sea is a thief: it dissolves the moon.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Pale Fire

Source: Pale Fire

Aurelius Augustinus photo

“Do not despair: one thief was saved. Do not presume: one thief was damned.”

Aurelius Augustinus (354–430) early Christian theologian and philosopher

Attributed to St. Augustine in The Repentance of Robert Greene, Master of Arts http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/Greene/Repentance_Robert_Greene.pdf (1592) by Robert Greene. <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Variant: Do not despair; one of the thieves was saved. Do not presume; one of the thieves was damned.

Bernard Cornwell photo

“Once a thief, always a thief, only now I steal from the enemy.”

Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer

Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Escape (2003)
Context: Until two days ago,' she went on suddenly, 'I thought that my life depended on other people. On employers. Now I think it depends on me. You taught me that. But I still need money.'
'Money's easy,' said Sharpe dismissively.
'That is not the conventional wisdom,' Sarah said drily.
'Steal the stuff,' Sharpe said.
'You were really a thief?'
'Still am. Once a thief, always a thief, only now I steal from the enemy. And some day I'll have enough to stop me from doing it and then I'll have to stop others from thieving from me.'
'You have a simple view of life.'
'You're born, you survive, you die,' Sharpe said. 'What's hard about that?

“Even if he was a thief, he was my thief. I could not push him away anymore.”

Janet Lee Carey (1954) American children's writer

Source: Dragonswood

Related topics