“To arm a hand more powerful than your own
Is an ill method to maintain the throne.”
Non è la via di dominar, se vuoi
Por l'arme in mano a chi può più di noi.
Canto XX, stanza 52 (tr. W. S. Rose)
Orlando Furioso (1532)
Original
Non è la via di dominar, se vuoi Por l'arme in mano a chi può più di noi.
Orlando Furioso (1532)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Ludovico Ariosto 97
Italian poet 1474–1533Related quotes
What rules the World? (also known by The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Is The Hand That Rules The World) reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919).
Context: They say that man is mighty,
He governs land and sea;
He wields a mighty scepter
O'er lesser powers than he;
But a mighty power and stronger,
Man from his throne hath hurled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Ode in Imitation of Alcæus, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Neither walls, theatres, porches, nor senseless equipage, make states, but men who are able to rely upon themselves", Aristides, Orations (Jebb's edition), vol. i. (trans. by A. W. Austin); By Themistocles alone, or with very few others, does this saying appear to be approved, which, though Alcæus formerly had produced, many afterwards claimed: "Not stones, nor wood, nor the art of artisans, make a state; but where men are who know how to take care of themselves, these are cities and walls."—Ibid. vol. ii.
“There is more power in the open hand than in the clenched fist.”
Herbert N. Casson cited in: The International Chemical Worker Vol. 13-15 (1953). p. 192
1950s and later
“You are a king by your own fireside, as much as any monarch in his throne.”
...estás en tu casa, donde eres señor della, como el rey de sus alcabalas.
Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Prologue
“No matter how high or great the throne,
What sits on it is the same as your own.”
As quoted in The Americans (1970) by David Frost, p. 181.
Vol. IV, p. 224
William Lloyd Garrison 1805-1879 (1885)
Source: The Revolt of the Angels (1914), Ch. XXXV
Context: The garrison laid down their arms before Satan. Michael placed his flaming sword at the feet of the conquering archangel.
"Take back your sword, Michael," said Satan. "It is Lucifer who yields it to you. Bear it in defence of peace and law." Then letting his gaze fall on the leaders of the celestial cohorts, he cried in a ringing voice:
"Archangel Michael, and you, Powers, Thrones, and Dominations, swear all of you to be faithful to your God."
"We swear it," they replied with one voice.
And Satan said:
"Powers, Thrones, and Dominations, of all past wars, I wish but to remember the invincible courage that you displayed and the loyalty which you rendered to authority, for these assure me of the steadfastness of the fealty you have just sworn to me."