“How melancholy a thing is success.”
First Footsteps in East Africa (1856)
Context: How melancholy a thing is success. Whilst failure inspirits a man, attainment reads the sad prosy lesson that all our glories "Are shadows, not substantial things." Truly said the sayer, "disappointment is the salt of life" a salutary bitter which strengthens the mind for fresh exertion, and gives a double value to the prize.
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Richard Francis Burton 78
British explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, … 1821–1890Related quotes
“The success of most things depends upon knowing how long it will take to succeed.”
Le succès de la plupart des choses dépend de savoir combien il faut de temps pour réussir.
Pensées Diverses
Source: Philip Larkin: Letters to Monica
“The melancholy thing in our public life is the insane desire to get higher.”
Letter "to a leading editor" (10 April 1875), as quoted in The Life, Public Services and Select Speeches of Rutherford B. Hayes (1876) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22037 edited by James Quay Howard, ch. X, p. 144
Source: Intuitions and Summaries of Thought (1862), Volume II, p. 52.
Interview with Thomas Chau http://www.cinecon.com/news.php?id=0412221
Context: Melancholic and lovable is the trick, right? You've got to be able to show that you have these feelings. In the game of life, you get these feelings and how you deal with those feelings. What you do when you are trying to deal with a melancholy. A melancholy can be sweet. It's not a mean thing, but it's something that happens in life — like autumn.
Vol. II, bk. 5, ch. 4.
Recollections (1917)
