„So goth the world, now wo, now wel“
— John Gower, Confessio Amantis
Bk. 8, line 1738.
Confessio Amantis
„This world nys but a thurghfare ful of wo,
And we been pilgrymes, passynge to and fro“
— Geoffrey Chaucer, book The Canterbury Tales
The Knight's Tale, lV, 1990 - 1992
The Canterbury Tales
Context: This world nys but a thurghfare ful of wo,
And we been pilgrymes, passynge to and fro;
Deeth is an ende of every worldly soore.
Last update May 22, 2020. History
Geoffrey Chaucer98
English poet 1343 - 1400Related quotes
„Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro—
And what should they know of England who only England know?“
— Rudyard Kipling English short-story writer, poet, and novelist 1865 - 1936
The English Flag, Stanza 1 (1891).
Other works
„A fair feeld ful of folk fond I ther bitwene –
Of alle manere of men, the meene and the riche,
Werchynge and wandrynge as the world asketh.“
— William Langland, book Piers Plowman
B-text, Prologue, line 17.
Piers Plowman
„Text: Psalm 119:19. I am a stranger on the earth, hide not Thy command ments from me.
Are we what we dreamt we should be? No, but still the sorrows of life..., so much more numerous than we expected, the tossing to and fro in the world, they have covered it over, but it is not dead, it sleepeth.“
— Vincent Van Gogh Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890) 1853 - 1890
Quote from van Gogh's first sermon, 29 October, 1876; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, p. 18
1870s
„No! 'tis the present world that prompts the song,
The world we see, the world that feels the wrong,
The world of men, whose arguments ye know,
Of men, long curb'd to servitude and wo,
Men, rous'd from sloth, by indignation stung,
Their strong hands loos'd, and found their fearless tongue;
Whose voice of fire, whose deep-descending steel
Shall speak to souls, and teach dull nerves to feel.“
— Joel Barlow American diplomat 1754 - 1812
The Conspiracy of Kings (1792)
Context: Think not, ye knaves, whom meanness styles the Great,
Drones of the Church and harpies of the State, —
Ye, whose curst sires, for blood and plunder fam'd,
Sultans or kings or czars or emp'rors nam'd,
Taught the deluded world their claims to own,
And raise the crested reptiles to a throne, —
Ye, who pretend to your dark host was given
The lamp of life, the mystic keys of heaven;
Whose impious arts with magic spells began
When shades of ign'rance veil'd the race of man;
Who change, from age to age, the sly deceit
As Science beams, and Virtue learns the cheat;
Tyrants of double powers, the soul that blind,
To rob, to scourge, and brutalize mankind,
Think not I come to croak with omen'd yell
The dire damnations of your future hell,
To bend a bigot or reform a knave,
By op'ning all the scenes beyond the grave.
I know your crusted souls: while one defies
In sceptic scorn the vengeance of the skies,
The other boasts, — “I ken thee, Power divine,
“But fear thee not; th' avenging bolt is mine." No! 'tis the present world that prompts the song,
The world we see, the world that feels the wrong,
The world of men, whose arguments ye know,
Of men, long curb'd to servitude and wo,
Men, rous'd from sloth, by indignation stung,
Their strong hands loos'd, and found their fearless tongue;
Whose voice of fire, whose deep-descending steel
Shall speak to souls, and teach dull nerves to feel.
„We must deal with the world as it is, and not as it might have been had the history of the last 18 years been different.“
— John F. Kennedy 35th president of the United States of America 1917 - 1963
1963, American University speech
Context: Let us reexamine our attitude toward the cold war, remembering that we are not engaged in a debate, seeking to pile up debating points. We are not here distributing blame or pointing the finger of judgment. We must deal with the world as it is, and not as it might have been had the history of the last 18 years been different. We must, therefore, persevere in the search for peace in the hope that constructive changes within the Communist bloc might bring within reach solutions which now seem beyond us. We must conduct our affairs in such a way that it becomes in the Communists' interest to agree on a genuine peace. Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy — or of a collective death-wish for the world. To secure these ends, America's weapons are nonprovocative, carefully controlled, designed to deter, and capable of selective use. Our military forces are committed to peace and disciplined in self- restraint. Our diplomats are instructed to avoid unnecessary irritants and purely rhetorical hostility. For we can seek a relaxation of tension without relaxing our guard. And, for our part, we do not need to use threats to prove that we are resolute. We do not need to jam foreign broadcasts out of fear our faith will be eroded. We are unwilling to impose our system on any unwilling people — but we are willing and able to engage in peaceful competition with any people on earth.
„The thing we have to develop in the world today is the world citizen and bring to an end this crude nationalism which has been the source of so much world hate.“
— Alice A. Bailey esoteric, theosophist, writer 1880 - 1949
Source: The Unfinished Autobiography (1951), Chapter 6
„We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong.“
— Wendell Berry author 1934
"A Native Hill"
The Long-Legged House (1969)
Context: We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us... We must recover the sense of the majesty of the creation and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it.
„If we think that the world is here for us we will continue to destroy it the way we have been destroying it, because we think we can do no harm.“
— Douglas Adams English writer and humorist 1952 - 2001
Parrots, the Universe and Everything (2001)
„Security, freedom, dignity, if we had these three we could say that it has been worth while being born into this world“
— Aung San Suu Kyi State Counsellor of Myanmar and Leader of the National League for Democracy 1945
Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought Acceptance Speech (2013)
Context: Security, freedom, dignity, if we had these three we could say that it has been worth while being born into this world and I would like all the young people of Burma and young people all over the world to be able to feel that it was right that they have been born into this world.
„We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it.“
— Billy Joel American singer-songwriter and pianist 1949
We Didn't Start the Fire.
Song lyrics, Storm Front (1989)
„Humanity is not a zero sum game. When we have been at our most prosperous, we have been at our most principled, and when we do well, the rest of the world does well.“
— Jeff Flake American politician 1962
Speech in the U.S. Senate (2017)
Context: When a leader correctly identifies real hurt and insecurity in our country, and instead of addressing it, goes to look for someone to blame, there is perhaps nothing more devastating to a pluralistic society. Leadership knows that most often a good place to start in assigning blame is to look somewhat closer to home. Leadership knows where the buck stops.Humility helps, character counts. Leadership does not knowingly encourage or feed ugly or debased appetites in us. Leadership lives by the American creed, “E pluribus unum.” From many one. American leadership looks to the world and just as Lincoln did, sees the family of man. Humanity is not a zero sum game. When we have been at our most prosperous, we have been at our most principled, and when we do well, the rest of the world does well.
„We as Christians have a mandate. We have not been called to retire from the world when we are saved but to go out and conquer.“
— Rousas John Rushdoony American theologian 1916 - 2001
Audio lectures, Dominion (n. d.)
„Oh! The song of the future has been sung
All the battles have been won
On the mountain tops we stand
All the world at our command
We have opened up the soil with our teardrops and our toil“
— Gordon Lightfoot Canadian singer-songwriter 1938
Canadian Railroad Trilogy, Track 11, United Artists Watch it Here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjoU1Qkeizs
The Way I Feel (1967)
Context: There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
And the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real...
Oh! The song of the future has been sung
All the battles have been won
On the mountain tops we stand
All the world at our command
We have opened up the soil with our teardrops and our toil
„The world we want to transform has already been worked on by history and is largely hollow. We must nevertheless be inventive enough to change it and build a new world. Take care and do not forget ideas are also weapons.“
— Subcomandante Marcos Mexican activist 1957
Le Monde Diplomatique (August 2000) " Ideas Are Also Weapons http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Mexico/Ideas_weapons.html"
„Nothing matters if we aren't safe… The world has never been more dangerous than it is today.“
— Marco Rubio U.S. Senator from state of Florida, United States; politician 1971
As quoted in "America's Next Top Fearmonger: The presidential candidates compete to scare the daylights out of the U.S. public." http://nationalinterest.org/feature/america%E2%80%99s-next-top-fearmonger-12954 (22 May 2015), by Robert Golan-Vilella, National Interest.
2010s, 2015
„And the war was a terrible war, but it was a war for human freedom, and if the South had succeeded and if slavery had been extended, the United States, or part of it, might very well have been on the side of Hitler in the Second World War. We would not have been the bastion of freedom we have been in the twentieth century.“
— Harry V. Jaffa American historian and collegiate professor 1918 - 2015
2000s, The Real Abraham Lincoln: A Debate (2002), Q&A