“An author of antiquity said that every event has two handles, and that, in order to carry it, there is no sense in choosing the one that hurts the hand.”

—  Alain

In The Rain
Alain On Happiness (1928)

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 "An author of antiquity said that every event has two handles, and that, in order to carry it, there is no sense in choo…" by Alain?
Alain photo
Alain 35
French philosopher 1868–1951

Related quotes

Epictetus photo

“Everything has two handles, the one by which it may be carried, the other by which it cannot.”

Epictetus (50–138) philosopher from Ancient Greece

The Enchiridion (c. 135)
Variant: Everything has two handles, one by which it may be borne, the other by which it may not.
Context: Everything has two handles, the one by which it may be carried, the other by which it cannot. If your brother acts unjustly, don't lay hold on the action by the handle of his injustice, for by that it cannot be carried; but by the opposite, that he is your brother, that he was brought up with you; and thus you will lay hold on it, as it is to be carried. (43).

Ernest Hemingway photo

“If every one said orders were impossible to carry out when they were received where would you be? Where would we all be if you just said, "Impossible," when orders came?”

Ernest Hemingway book For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)

Morarji Desai photo

“One has got to choose between the two evils, also between the lesser of the two evils in the matter of food, and therefore vegetarian food has got to be taken by man in order to sustain human life”

Morarji Desai (1896–1995) Former Indian Finance Minister, Freedom Fighters, Former prime minister

19th World Vegetarian Congress 1967

Stanisław Lem photo

“Faith as well as science endowed the visible world with properties that eliminated blind, incalculable chance as the author of all events. The war of good and evil present in all religions does not always end, in every faith, with the victory of good, but in every one it establishes a clear order of existence. The sacred as well as the profane rests on that universal order…”

Stanisław Lem (1921–2006) Polish science fiction author

One Human Minute (1986)

Plutarch photo

“Lysander, when Dionysius sent him two gowns, and bade him choose which he would carry to his daughter, said, "She can choose best," and so took both away with him.”

Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher

Of Lysander
Laconic Apophthegms

Leonardo DiCaprio photo

“Drugs? Every one has a choice and I choose not to do drugs.”

Leonardo DiCaprio (1974) American actor and film producer

http://www.popmonk.com/actors/leonardo-dicaprio/quotes-leonardo-dicaprio.htm

Oscar Wilde photo

“A pessimist is one who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Similar quotes are found, unattributed, from as early as 1899 https://books.google.com/books?id=lC81AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA4-PA32&dq=%22two+evils%22+both+pessimist&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAGoVChMIuveP5uz0yAIVBVqICh0GRQQJ#v=onepage&q=%22two%20evils%22%20both%20pessimist&f=false. First clear attribution to Wilde was not until 1977 https://books.google.com/books?id=eOcWAQAAMAAJ&q=oscar+wilde+%22two+evils%22&dq=oscar+wilde+%22two+evils%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CE4Q6AEwCWoVChMIjMLEuO30yAIVBpSICh0c4Qi9
Disputed

Oprah Winfrey photo

“I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over fear.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

As quoted in Oprah, in Her Words : Our American Princess (2008) by Tuchy Palmieri, p. 71

Charles Evans Hughes photo

“The recognition of authority to impose previous restraint upon publication in order to protect the community against the circulation of charges of misconduct, and especially of official misconduct, necessarily would carry with it the admission of the authority of the censor against which the constitutional barrier was erected. The preliminary freedom, by virtue of the very reason for its existence, does not depend, as this Court has said, on proof of truth.”

Charles Evans Hughes (1862–1948) American judge

Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697 (1931).
Judicial opinions

Percy Bysshe Shelley photo

“I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: — Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Ozymandias

Ozymandias (1818)
Context: I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: — Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Related topics