“Better sit still, men say, than rise to fall.”

Book II, stanza 79
Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (1600)

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 "Better sit still, men say, than rise to fall." by Edward Fairfax?
Edward Fairfax photo
Edward Fairfax 10
English translator 1580–1635

Related quotes

Jean Chrétien photo

“There's no such thing as a genius in politics, or at least I have never met one. There are only human beings, some better than others, who rise or fall on the challenges they meet.”

Jean Chrétien (1934) 20th Prime Minister of Canada

Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Nine, But Who Watches The Dog?, p. 211

“Men and things rise, fall, move away, approach. Everything is a comedy of distances.”

Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Argentinian poet

Hombres y cosas, suben, bajan, se alejan, se acercan. Todo es una comedia de distancias.
Voces (1943)

Terry Pratchett photo

“Who would not rather be a rising ape than a falling angel?”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

A similar remark was reportedly made by Pratchett in The Herald (4 October 2004): I'd rather be a climbing ape than a falling angel.
"I create gods all the time - now I think one might exist" (2008)
Context: Evolution was far more thrilling to me than the biblical account. Who would not rather be a rising ape than a falling angel? To my juvenile eyes Darwin was proved true every day. It doesn't take much to make us flip back into monkeys again.

Golda Meir photo

“Whether Women are better than men, I can say they are certainly no worse.”

Golda Meir (1898–1978) former prime minister of Israel

Golda Meir Quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved July 7, 2022.

Miguel de Cervantes photo

“Heaven's help is better than early rising.”

Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright

Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part II (1615), Book III, Ch. 34.

“The story of the rise, fall, and forgetting of the individual is the tale of the rise, fall, and repression of psychoanalysis.”

Russell Jacoby (1945) American historian

Source: Social Amnesia: A Critique of Conformist Psychology from Adler to Laing (1975), p. 38

Conan O'Brien photo
Thomas Hobbes photo

Related topics