“My master ought to have remembered what
A glittering prize can do to bend the will,
Yet at the crucial moment he forgot
And all his fortune changed from good to ill.”
Dovea in memoria avere il signor mio,
Che l'oro e 'l premio ogni durezza inchina;
Ma, quando bisognò, l'ebbe in oblio,
Ed ei si procacciò la sua ruina.
Canto XLIII, stanza 70 (tr. B. Reynolds)
Orlando Furioso (1532)
Original
Dovea in memoria avere il signor mio, Che l'oro e 'l premio ogni durezza inchina; Ma, quando bisognò, l'ebbe in oblio, Ed ei si procacciò la sua ruina.
Orlando Furioso (1532)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Ludovico Ariosto 97
Italian poet 1474–1533Related quotes
“He who doesn't prize his past, ill-prepares his future.”
Original: (pt) Quem mal-preza o seu passado, mal-prepara o seu futuro.
Source: "A Alma e a Gente - Os Lusitanos", 24 Jan 2010
“354. He that hath no ill fortune is troubled with good.”
Jacula Prudentum (1651)
Source: Attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 78.
Source: Facets of a Diamond: Reflections of a Healer (2002), p. 109
Source: No Country for Old Men (2005)
Context: The stories gets passed on and the truth gets passed over. As the sayin goes. Which I reckon some would take as meanin that the truth cant compete. But I dont believe that. I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt. You cant corrupt it because that's what it is. It's the thing you're talkin about. I've heard it compared to the rock — maybe in the bible—and I wouldnt disagree with that. But it'll be here even when the rock is gone. I'm sure they's people would disagree with that. Quite a few, in fact. But I never could find out what any of them did believe.
“The world continues to offer glittering prizes to those who have stout hearts and sharp swords”
"Idealism in International Politics", Rectoral Address at Glasgow University (7 November, 1923).
Quoted in The Times, 8 November 1923, according to "Guarantee of Peace: The League of Nations in British Policy 1914-1925" by Peter J. Yearwood, pg 280
Context: Politically, economically and philosophically the motive of self-interest not only is but must... and ought to be the mainspring of human conduct... For as long a time as the records of history have been preserved human societies passed through a ceaseless process of evolution and adjustment. This process has sometimes been pacific, but more often it has resulted from warlike disturbance. The strength of different nations, measured in terms of arms, varies from century to century. The world continues to offer glittering prizes to those who have stout hearts and sharp swords; it is therefore extremely improbable that the experience of future ages will differ in any material respect from that which has happened since the twilight of the human race … it is for us who, in our history have proved ourselves a martial … people … to maintain in our own hands the adequate means for our own protection and … to march with heads erect and bright eyes along the road of our imperial destiny.