“Better to die ten thousand deaths,
Than wound my honour.”

—  Joseph Addison , book Cato

Act I, scene iv.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Better to die ten thousand deaths, Than wound my honour." by Joseph Addison?
Joseph Addison photo
Joseph Addison 226
politician, writer and playwright 1672–1719

Related quotes

Lobão photo

“It is better to live ten years at a thousand [miles per hour] than a thousand years at a ten”

Lobão (1957) Brazilian musician

From the lyrics of his song Vida Louca, Vida (Life, Crazy Life)

Swami Vivekananda photo

“Death is better than a vegetating ignorant life; it is better to die on the battle-field than to live a life of defeat.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Call to the Nation

Maimónides photo

“It is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death.”

Maimónides (1138–1204) rabbi, physician, philosopher

Sefer Hamitzvot [Book of the Commandments], commentary on Negative Commandment 290, as translated by Charles B. Chavel (1967); also in Defending the Human Spirit : Jewish Law's Vision for a Moral Society (2006) by Warren Goldstein, p. 269

“I know death hath ten thousand several doors
For men to take their exits.”

John Webster (1578–1634) English dramatist

Act IV, scene ii. Compare: "Death hath so many doors to let out life", John Fletcher, The Custom of the Country, act ii, scene 2.
Duchess of Malfi (1623)

George Farquhar photo

“Cos. Pray now, what may be that same bed of honour?
Kite. Oh, a mighty large bed! bigger by half than the great bed at Ware: ten thousand people may lie in it together, and never feel one another.”

George Farquhar The Recruiting Officer

The Recruiting Officer (1706), Act i. Sc. 1.

Ben Aaronovitch photo

“Was it better to die in the illusion of sunshine and warmth or face death in a cold darkness of reality? Was it better to die in happy ignorance or terrified knowledge? The answer, if you’re a Londoner, is that it’s better not to die at all.”

Ben Aaronovitch book Whispers Under Ground

Source: Whispers Under Ground (2012), Chapter 21, “Oxford Circus” (p. 224)

Edmund Burke photo

“That chastity of honour which felt a stain like a wound.”

Edmund Burke book Reflections on the Revolution in France

Volume iii, p. 332
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

Daniel Defoe photo

“Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.”

Daniel Defoe La vie et les aventures de Robinson Crusoe

Variant: Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.
Source: Robinson Crusoe (1719), Ch. 11, Finds Print of Man's Foot on the Sand.

Related topics