Second Week, First Day, Part iii. Compare: "Lion, bear, or wolf, or bull", William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, act ii. sc. 1.
La Seconde Semaine (1584)
“The dog may be man
Horse, donkey, too
But the bull-
Man can not
Anytime.”
Smriti Shesh (Poetry Collection), Kathyaroop Books, 2002.
“Whether the bear beats the wolf or the wolf beats the bear, the rabbit always loses.”
Source: The Eye of the World
Song 16: "Against Quarrelling and Fighting".
1710s, Divine Songs Attempted in the Easy Language of Children (1715)
pg. 256
The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England (1801), Public entertainment
“A wolf was no less a wolf because a whim of chance caused him to run with the watch-dogs.”
"Beyond the Black River" (1935)
“Better a live dog than a dead lion.”
Più tosto can vivo che leone morto.
Della Morte, p. 525.
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 394.
“A living dog is better than a dead lion.”
Walden (1854)
Context: A living dog is better than a dead lion. Shall a man go and hang himself because he belongs to the race of pygmies, and not be the biggest pygmy that he can? Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made. Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.<!--pp.366-367
Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), Ch. 30
Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
