“Our ills are worse than at their ease
These blameless happy souls suspect,
They only study the disease,
Alas, who live not to detect.”
In the Depths http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/C/CloughArthurHugh/verse/poemsproseremains/depths.html, st. 3.
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Arthur Hugh Clough34
English poet 1819–1861Related quotes
“The remedy is worse than the disease.”
Francis Bacon book Essays
Of Seditions and Troubles
Essays (1625)
“There are some remedies worse than the disease.”
Publilio Siro Latin writer
Maxim 301
Sentences, The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave
“Happy the poet who with ease can steer
From grave to gay, from lively to severe.”
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636–1711) French poet and critic
Heureux qui, dans ses vers, sait d'une voix légère
Passer du grave au doux, du plaisant au sévère.
Canto I, l. 75
As translated by John Dryden
The Art of Poetry (1674)
Variant: Happy who in his verse can gently steer
From grave to light, from pleasant to severe.
Harry Truman (1884–1972) American politician, 33rd president of the United States (in office from 1945 to 1953)
Aegistheus, Act 2
The Flies (1943)
“A person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill.”
Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice
Source: Pride and Prejudice
“There is no worse sickness for the soul,
O you who are proud, than this pretense of perfection.”
Rumi (1207–1273) Iranian poet
Rumi Daylight (1990)
Context: There is no worse sickness for the soul,
O you who are proud, than this pretense of perfection.
The heart and eyes must bleed a lot
before self-complacency falls away.
“I never was someone who was at ease with happiness.”
Hugh Laurie (1959) British actor, comedian, writer, musician and director