“We were the Leopards, the Lions; those who'll take our place will be little jackals, hyenas; and the whole lot of us, Leopards, jackals, and sheep, we'll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth.”
Noi fummo i Gattopardi, i Leoni; quelli che ci sostituiranno saranno gli sciacalletti, le iene; e tutti quanti Gattopardi, sciacalli e pecore, continueremo a crederci il sale della terra.
Page 152
Il Gattopardo (1958)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa9
Sicilian writer and prince 1896–1957Related quotes
Sidney Hook (1902–1989) American philosopher
Out of Step (1985)
“To live like a lion for a day is far better than to live for a hundred years like a jackal.”
Tipu Sultan (1750–1799) Ruler of the Sultanate of Mysore
As quoted in Encyclopedia of Asian History (1988) Vol. 4, p. 104
Variants:
It is far better to live like a lion for a day than to live like a jackal for a hundred years.
It is far better to live like a tiger for a day than to live like a jackal for a hundred years.
Variant mentioned in Tipu Sultan : A Study in Diplomacy and Confrontation (1982) by B. Sheikh Ali, p. 329
Vita Sackville-West (1892–1962) English writer and gardener
"Leopards at Knole" p. 143
Collected Poems (1933)
“At the top of the mountain we are all snow leopards.”
Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author
Source: Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century
“we only asked for leopards to guard
our thinning dreams.”
Charles Bukowski book The People Look Like Flowers at Last
Source: The People Look Like Flowers at Last
“Democracy is the worship of jackals by jackasses.”
H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer
“[The] swarming, grunting masses of jackals…”
Conrad Black (1944) Canadian-born newspaper publisher
On investigative journalists:
"The world according to Conrad Black", 2007