Source: Night-Thoughts (1742–1745), Night I, Line 417.
“Resolve to be thyself; and know, that he
Who finds himself, loses his misery.”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools
"Self-Dependence" (1852), lines 31-32
Source: The Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold
Tobias Dantzig (1884–1956) American mathematician
Henri Poincaré, Critic of Crisis: Reflections on His Universe of Discourse (1954), Ch. 2. The Age of Innocence
“His resolve is not to seem, but to be, the best.”
Aeschylus (-525–-456 BC) ancient Athenian playwright
Source: Seven Against Thebes (467 BC), line 592; compare: esse quam videri.
“The man who is tenacious of purpose in a rightful cause is not shaken from his firm resolve by the frenzy of his fellow citizens clamoring for what is wrong, or by the tyrant's threatening countenance.”
Iustum et tenacem propositi virum
non civium ardor prava iubentium,
non vultus instantis tyranni
mente quatit solida.
Book III, ode iii, line 1
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright
Translation of Horace, Odes, Book III, ode iii.
Context: The man resolved, and steady to his trust,
Inflexible to ill, and obstinately just,
May the rude rabble's insolence despise,
Their senseless clamours and tumultuous cries;
The tyrant's fierceness he beguiles,
And the stern brow, and the harsh voice defies,
And with superior greatness smiles.
“He resolved not to speak again until he had controlled his temper.”
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) American writer
Source: Earthsea Books, The Farthest Shore (1972), Chapter 3, "Hort Town"
Philip Rieff (1922–2006) American sociologist
The Triumph of the Therapeutic (1966)
“I am resolved to grow fat, and look young till forty.”
The Maiden Queen, Act iii, scene 1.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“On this day by God's grace I resolved to give up all beauty until I had His leave for it.”
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) English poet
Journal entry (6 November 1865), as reported in In Extremity: A Study of Gerard Manley Hopkins (1978) by John Robinson, p. 1
“His majesty could not see why the principle was not applicable to politics. He resolved to try it.”
Alexander Bryan Johnson (1786–1867) United States philosopher and banker
The Philosophical Emperor, a Political Experiment, or, The Progress of a False Position: (1841)
Context: His majesty recollected the celebrated quack doctor, who when asked why his patrons were more numerous than those of regular practitioners, replied, that he was patronised by the fools, who are numerous in every community, while regular physicians are patronised by the wise, who are few. His majesty could not see why the principle was not applicable to politics. He resolved to try it. He would so govern as to be patronised by the numerous class, and leave the desires of the few to be regarded by some future emperor, who should choose to make so unpromising an experiment.
