Pope. Compare: "Behold, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed", Oxenstiern (1583–1654).
Table Talk (1689)
“A little wit and plenty of authority, that is what has almost always governed the world.”
Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (1597–1654) French author, best known for his epistolary essays
Un peu d'esprit et beaucoup d'autorité, c'est ce qui a presque toujours gouverné le monde.
Socrate Chrétien, Discours VIII.
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 230.
Socrate Chrétien (1662)
Garry Davis (1921–2013) American actor turned peace activist (1921-2013)
As quoted in Garry Davis Cult, Life (Jan 24, 1949)
“Is the world so unbearable? No! What we need is only a little more love for the world.”
Sri Chinmoy (1931–2007) Indian writer and guru
#4386, Part 5
Seventy Seven Thousand Service-Trees series 1-50 (1998)
Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American motivational speaker
Though sometimes credited to Ziglar on the internet, this is credited to Marie Fraser in Quote Unquote (1977) by Lloyd Cory
Misattributed
Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861–1907) British writer
Self-Question, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“And all of what little joy in the world
Seemed suddenly simple and endlessly mine.”
Nice and Blue, Pt 2.
Brother, Sister (2006)
“This world’s brought me very little joy, very little satisfaction.”
Taylor Caldwell (1900–1985) Novelist
1970s-, The Captains, the Kings, and Taylor Caldwell (1978)
Context: This world’s brought me very little joy, very little satisfaction. It’s brought me nothing but tragedy from the time I was born. I regret every day I live. The human situation is not as unique as you think it is. We’re all the same. We all get kicked in the pants, we all have our moments of elation — though not much happiness. Happiness is a child’s word. There may be short periods of contentment, but very short. Life is mostly disappointment, tragedy, loss and failure. <!--
It wasn’t until the last few years — imagine, not till the last few years — that I found out something that even a child knows. That money rules the world. That’s what nations fight about. I didn’t know it was that important. It came as a big shock to me.
“Of what significance the things you can forget? A little thought is sexton to all the world.”
Henry David Thoreau book Life Without Principle
Life Without Principle (1863)
