“Man wants but little here below,
Nor wants that little long.”
Source: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 8, The Hermit (Edwin and Angelina), st. 8.
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Oliver Goldsmith134
Irish physician and writer 1728–1774Related quotes
Wilhelm Reich book Listen, Little Man!
Listen, Little Man! (1948)
Context: My intellect tells me: "Tell the truth at any cost." The Little Man in me says: "It is stupid to expose oneself to the little man, to put oneself at his mercy. The Little Man does not want to hear the truth about himself. He does not want the great responsibility which is his. He wants to remain a Little Man. He wants to remain a Little Man, or wants to become a little great man. He wants to become rich, or a party leader, or commander of a legion, or secretary of the society for the abolition of vice. But he does not want to assume responsibility for his work..."
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The Philosophy of Antoninus
Context: Epictetus wanted little, and it seems that he always had the little that he wanted, and he was content with it, as he had been with his servile station. But Antoninus after his accession to the empire sat on an uneasy seat. … what must be the trials, the troubles, the anxiety, and the sorrows of him who has the world's business on his hands with the wish to do the best that he can, and the certain knowledge that he can do very little of the good which he wishes.
“A man must be a little mad if he does not want to be even more stupid.”
Michel De Montaigne book Essays
Book III, Ch. 9
Essais (1595), Book III
Cat Stevens (1948) British singer-songwriter
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Source: The Darkest Surrender
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Speech to the Cambridge University Aeronautical Society, April 1925 in Trenchard, Man of Vision (1962) p. 519