“It could be worse,' Passini said respectfully. "There is nothing worse than war."
Defeat is worse."
I do not believe it," Passini said still respectfully. "What is defeat? You go home.”
Source: A Farewell to Arms
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Ernest Hemingway 501
American author and journalist 1899–1961Related quotes

Hagakure (c. 1716)
Context: People with intelligence will use it to fashion things both true and false and will try to push through whatever they want with their clever reasoning. This is injury from intelligence. Nothing you do will have effect if you do not use truth.
In affairs like law suits or even in arguments, by losing quickly one will lose in fine fashion. It is like sumo. If one thinks only of winning, a sordid victory will be worse than a defeat. For the most part, it becomes a squalid defeat.

“But the adjectives change,” said Jimmy. “Nothing’s worse than last year’s adjectives.”
Source: Oryx and Crake

About African Americans in the United States, interview with Fox News Jeanine Pirro. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBmp7z9BR1w (August 21, 2016)
2010s, 2016, August

“About me, nothing worse they will tell you, my love, than what I told you”

“Wars worse than civil.”
Bella...plus quam civilia.
Book I, line 1 (tr. Christopher Marlowe).
Pharsalia