“The affairs of gold-laden Gyges do not interest me
zealousy of the gods has never seized me nor anger
at their deeds. But I have no love for great tyranny
for its deeds are very far from my eyes.”
Fragment 19
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Archilochus19
Ancient Greek lyric poet -680–-645 BCRelated quotes
Ashoka (-304–-232 BC) Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty
And further, one should think: "This leads to happiness in this world and the next."
Edicts of Ashoka (c. 257 BC)
Archilochus (-680–-645 BC) Ancient Greek lyric poet
Fragments
Variant: The affairs of gold-laden Gyges do not interest me
zealousy of the gods has never seized me nor anger
at their deeds. But I have no love for great tyranny
for its deeds are very far from my eyes.
Context: These golden matters
Of Gyges and his treasuries
Are no concern of mine.
Jealousy has no power over me,
Nor do I envy a god his work,
And I do not burn to rule.
Such things have no
Fascination for my eyes.
“If one good deed in all my life I did,
I do repent it from my very soul.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet
“God bless thee, bride of my life's dawn, Where'er I be, to nobler deed thou'lt wake me.”
Falk, in a statement rich with ironies.
Love's Comedy (1862)
Context: I go to scale the Future's possibilities! Farewell!
God bless thee, bride of my life's dawn, Where'er I be, to nobler deed thou'lt wake me.
Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) Icelandic author
Ólafur
Heimsljós (World Light) (1940), Book Four: The Beauty of the Heavens
“Prayed for so oft, the dawn of fight is come.
No more entreat the gods: with sword in hand
Seize on our fates; and Caesar in your deeds
This day is great or little.”
Nil opus est uotis, iam fatum accersite ferro.
in manibus uestris, quantus sit Caesar, habetis.
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus book Pharsalia
Book VII, line 252 (tr. E. Ridley).
Pharsalia
“Pleasure and love are the pinions of great deeds.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Iphigenia in Tauris
Act II, sc. i
Iphigenie auf Tauris (1787)