“There are occasions when it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all.”

— George Orwell, book Homage to Catalonia

Charles Dickens (1939)
Source: Homage to Catalonia

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 30, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "There are occasions when it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all." by George Orwell?

George Orwell473

English author and journalist 1903–1950

Related quotes

“Good at a fight, but better at a play;
Godlike in giving, but the devil to pay.”

Thomas Moore (1779–1852) Irish poet, singer and songwriter

On a Cast of Sheridan's Hand.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“One of the first businesses of a sensible man is to know when he is beaten, and to leave off fighting at once.”

Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist

Samuel Butler's Notebooks http://books.google.com/books?id=cjk3AAAAIAAJ&q=%22One+of+the+first+businesses+of+a+sensible+man+is+to+know+when+he+is+beaten+and+to+leave+off+fighting+at+once%22&pg=PA186#v=onepage (1951)

“Struggle is life, and a movement, that no longer wants to fight, is beaten.”

Ture Nerman (1886–1969) Swedish socialist

Socialist newspaper Nya Samhället (24 September 1913)
Sourced quotes

“Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War

The Second World War, Volume I : The Gathering Storm (1948) Chapter 19 (Prague, Albania, and the Polish Guarantee).
Post-war years (1945–1955)

“Fight on, brave knights! Man dies, but glory lives! Fight on; death is better than defeat! Fight on brave knights! for bright eyes behold your deeds!”

Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet

“Sharpe bellowed in anger, the war shout. They thought him weak and beaten, but he had one fight in him and they would learn what a Rifleman was in a fight.”

Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer

Narrator, p. 186
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Honor (1985)

“It's going to get worse in our country and we better start fighting a lot tougher than we're fighting right now.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

2015-07-16

Trump: 'Absolutely Ridiculous' Marines Not Allowed to Carry Guns at Centers

Fox News Insider

http://insider.foxnews.com/2015/07/16/donald-trump-reacts-chattanooga-shootings-oreilly-factor
2010s, 2015

“A trooper fights for honor … or from loyalty. Or for loot sometimes. But he waits for pay. He will not wait without it, because when there is no fighting there is no honor to win, no flag to die for, no loot to gain.”

Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) American science fiction and fantasy writer

Volume 4: Exodus from the Long Sun (1996), Ch. 9
Fiction, The Book of the Long Sun (1993–1996)

“I give you the gift of my feelings. You will fight the fight better than me. Your speeches will be more eloquent than my speeches. Your commitment equally total.”

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1928–1979) Fourth President and ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan

pp 79 - 80.
Letter to his daughter (1978)
Context: Life is a love affair. There is a romance with every beauty of nature. I have no hesitation in saving that my most passionate love affair, my most thrilling romance has been with the people. There is an indissoluble marriage between politics and the people. That is why "Man is a political animal" and the state a political theatre. I have been on this stage of the masters for over twenty tumultuous years. I believe I still have a role to play. I believe the people still want me on this stage, but if I have to bow out, I give you the gift of my feelings. You will fight the fight better than me. Your speeches will be more eloquent than my speeches. Your commitment equally total. There will be more youth and vitality in your struggle. Your deeds ill be more daring. I transmit to you the blessing to the most blessed mission. This is the only present I can give you on your birthdays.

“It is better to fight with a few good men against all the wicked, than with many wicked men against a few good men.”

Antisthenes (-444–-365 BC) Greek philosopher

§ 5
From Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius

“There are occasions when it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

George Orwell473

Related quotes

Related topics