“He who has had, has been, but he who hasn't been, has been had.”

—  Stanisław Lem, book The Cyberiad

In "Tale of the Three Storytelling Machines of King Genius", §2
The Cyberiad (1967)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update May 22, 2020. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "He who has had, has been, but he who hasn't been, has been had." by Stanisław Lem?
Stanisław Lem photo
Stanisław Lem74
Polish science fiction author 1921–2006

Related quotes

“Never was there a man of deep piety, who has not been brought into extremities — who has not been put into fire — who has been taught to say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."”

Richard Cecil (clergyman) (1748–1810) British Evangelical Anglican priest and social reformer

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 585.

Georges Sorel photo

“It seems that it was the Jews who had entered the has not been a happy one.”

Georges Sorel book Reflections on Violence

Source: Reflections on Violence (1908), p. 290

Gershom Scholem photo

“No one has a right to speak who, in the midst of thinking, hasn't been overcome with the experience of glimpsing the essence of history.”

Gershom Scholem (1897–1982) German-born Israeli philosopher and historian

Diary Entry (2 March 1916), published in Lamentations of Youth : The Diaries of Gershom Scholem, 1913-1919, p. 109 http://books.google.com/books?id=QSGHABOOFhAC&pg=PA109

Ernest Hemingway photo

“Personal columnists … are jackals and no jackal has been known to live on grass once he had learned about meat — no matter who killed the meat for him.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

A Letter from Cuba (1934)

Phil Brown (footballer) photo

“Lee has been with the physio all week and hasn't trained. David Livermore has trained so the shoe is on the other foot there and he has thrown his hat into the ring.”

Phil Brown (footballer) (1959) English association football player and manager

06-May-2007, Hull City OWS
More hat-throwing, and poor shoe control.

Fred Astaire photo

“He is terribly rare. He is like Bach, who in his time had a great concentration of ability, essence, knowledge, a spread of music. Astaire has that same concentration of genius; there is so much of the dance in him that it has been distilled.”

Fred Astaire (1899–1987) American dancer, singer, actor, choreographer and television presenter

George Balanchine in Nabokov, Ivan and Carmichael, Elizabeth. "Balanchine, An Interview". Horizon, January 1961, pp. 44-56. (M).

Matthew Hayden photo

“This has been a big incident, hasn't in. In reality, James Anderson was a B-grade bowler who got his arse-whipped by Australia that many times it's not even funny. Frankly I don't care what he has to say but at least he has improved his bowling, thank goodness”

Matthew Hayden (1971) Australian cricketer

Quoted on Telegraph.co.uk (October 18, 2012), "Matthew Hayden labels England's James Anderson a 'B-Grade bowler' after dressing-room Ashes fracas" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/9617137/Matthew-Hayden-labels-Englands-James-Anderson-a-B-Grade-bowler-after-dressing-room-Ashes-fracas.html

Confucius photo

“He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

Virgil photo

“Blessed is he who has been able to win knowledge of the causes of things.”
Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.

Virgil Georgics

Book II, line 490 (tr. H. Rushton Fairclough); homage to Lucretius.
John Dryden's translation:
: Happy the man, who, studying nature's laws,
Thro' known effects can trace the secret cause.
Georgics (29 BC)