Robert Graves (1895–1985) English poet and novelist
"The God Called Poetry".
Country Sentiment (1920)
“He who jumps for the moon and gets it not leaps higher than he who stoops for a penny in the mud.”
Source: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Last update June 3, 2021. History
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Howard Pyle4
American illustrator and author 1853–1911Related quotes
“Down on his knees he sinks, the stiff-necked King,
Stoops and kneels and grovels, chin to the mud.”
Robert Graves (1895–1985) English poet and novelist
"Nebuchadnezzar's Fall"
Country Sentiment (1920)
Context: Down on his knees he sinks, the stiff-necked King,
Stoops and kneels and grovels, chin to the mud.
Out from his changed heart flutter on startled wing
The fancy birds of his Pride, Honour, Kinglihood.
He crawls, he grunts, he is beast-like, frogs and snails
His diet, and grass, and water with hand for cup.
He herds with brutes that have hooves and horns and tails,
He roars in his anger, he scratches, he looks not up.
“He who builds on the people, builds on the mud.”
Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince
Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 9; translated by W. K. Marriott
“He who slings mud generally loses ground.”
Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965) mid-20th-century Governor of Illinois and Ambassador to the UN
Statement quoted in news summaries (11 January 1954); as quoted in Best Quotes of '54, '55, '56 (1957) edited by James Beasley Simpson, p. 58
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) leading Whig and Liberal politician who served as Prime Minister on two occasions
Source: 1806 journal entry on the acquittal of Lord Melville for misappropriation of public funds, as quoted in Stuart J. Reid, Lord John Russell (1895), p.9
“He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch.”
Jean-Luc Godard (1930) French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic
“There is nothing more dangerous than to leap a chasm in two jumps.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
As quoted in Design for Power : The Struggle for the World (1941) by Frederick Lewis Schuman, p. 200; This is the earliest citation yet found for this or similar statements which have been attributed to David Lloyd George, as well as to Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill, Vaclav Havel, Jeffrey Sachs, Rashi Fein, Walter Bagehot and Philip Noel-Baker. It has been described as a Greek, African, Chinese, Russian and American proverb, and as "an old Chassidic injunction". Variants:
Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.
The most dangerous thing in the world is to try to leap a chasm in two jumps.
Later life
“There is no greater mistake than to try to leap an abyss in two jumps.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
[Lloyd George, David, David Lloyd George, War Memoirs, New, 1, 1938, Odhams Press Limited, London, 445, XXIV: Disintegration of the Liberal Party]
War Memoirs
Aldo Leopold book A Sand County Almanac
“April: Draba”, p. 26.
A Sand County Almanac, 1949, "April: Come High Water," "April: Draba," "April: Bur Oak," & "April:Sky Dance"
“The more common report is that Remus mockingly jumped over the newly raised walls and was forthwith killed by the enraged Romulus, who exclaimed, "So shall it be henceforth with every one who leaps over my walls."”
Vulgatior fama est ludibrio fratris Remum novos transiluisse muros; inde ab irato Romulo, cum verbis quoque increpitans adiecisset 'sic deinde, quicumque alius transiliet moenia mea', interfectum.
Livy (-59–17 BC) Roman historian
Book I, sec. 7
History of Rome