
Vice and Virtue, iii
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part II - Elementary Morality
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
Vice and Virtue, iii
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part II - Elementary Morality
“Man, whence is he? / Too bad to be the work of a god, too good for the work of chance.”
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, as quoted in Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern English and Foreign Sources (1899) by James Wood, p. 61; usually attributed to Doris Lessing in the form: "Man — who is he? Too bad, to be the work of God: Too good for the work of chance!"
Misattributed
“Man, whence is he?
Too bad to be the work of a god, too good for the work of chance.”
Der Mensch, wo ist er her?
Zu schlecht für einen Gott, zu gut fürs Ungefähr.
As quoted in Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern English and Foreign Sources (1899) by James Wood, p. 61
Variant: Man — who is he? Too bad to be the work of God; Too good for the work of chance!
45 Antigonus I
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders
Don Soderquist “ Live Learn Lead to Make a Difference https://books.google.com/books?id=s0q7mZf9oDkC&lpg=pg=PP1&dq=Don%20Soderquist&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false, Thomas Nelson, April 2006 p. 58.
On Doing Things Right
Imperfection http://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poem/21399/Imperfection
From the poems written in English
“They are too green", he said, "and only good for fools.”
The Fox and the Grapes, fable 11; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
Fables (1668–1679)