WIST Quotations

Burton, Robert -- Anatomy of Melancholy, Part 2, sec. 3, member 3 “Against Poverty and Want” (1621-1651)

Dave — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 16:31:14 +0000

Divitiæ sæculi sunt laquei diaboli: so writes Bernard; worldly wealth is the devil’s bait: and as the Moon, when she is fuller of light, is still farthest from the Sun, the more wealth they have, the farther they are commonly from God.

Robert Burton (1577-1640) English scholar
Anatomy of Melancholy, Part 2, sec. 3, member 3 “Against Poverty and Want” (1621-1651)
(Source)

The Latin is as translated; it's elsewhere also given as: "The riches of the world are the snares of the devil."

This overall passage, in later editions (which did away with much of Burton's Latin, or just left it in translation), reads:

Worldly wealth is the devil's bait: so writes Bernard; and as the Moon, when she is fuller of light, is still farthest from the Sun, the more wealth they have, the farther they are commonly from God.

Further edited and condensed editions in the 19th Century, shifts from wealth estranging people from God to wealth estranging people from happiness:

Worldly wealth, indeed, is the devil's bait; and those whose minds feed upon riches recede, in general, from real happiness, in proportion as their stores increase; as the Moon when she is fullest is farthest from the Sun.

This last version, leaving out the "indeed," becomes commonly used in late 19th Century collections of quotations, and is most common (from that) in quotation collections today.

Burton, Robert -- Anatomy of Melancholy, Part 3, sec. 2, member 5, subsec. 5 (1621, 2nd ed.)

Dave — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 16:11:50 +0000

He that will not when he may,
When he will he shall have nay.

Robert Burton (1577-1640) English scholar
Anatomy of Melancholy, Part 3, sec. 2, member 5, subsec. 5 (1621, 2nd ed.)
(Source)

Generally attributed to Burton, but the text is set as a quotation on the page. This form seems to date from c. 1450; an earlier 1303 passage goes:

He that wyl nat when he may,
He shal nat, when he wyl.

More discussion here and here.

Burton, Robert -- The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1.2.3.7 (1621-51)

Dave — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 16:06:30 +0000

Every other sin hath some pleasure annexed to it, or will admit of an excuse; envy alone wants both. Other sins last but for awhile; the gut may be satisfied, anger remits, hatred hath an end, envy never ceaseth.

[Omne peccatum aut excusationem secum habet, aut voluptatem, sola invidia utraque caret, reliqua vitia finem habent, ira defervescit, gala satiatur, odium finem habet, invidia nunquam quiescit.]

Robert Burton (1577-1640) English scholar
The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1.2.3.7 (1621-51)
(Source)

Burton is quoting here, but it is unclear whom.

Burton, Robert -- The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1.2.4.7 (1621-51)

Dave — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 01:15:13 +0000

One was never married, and that’s his hell; another is, and that’s his plague.

Robert Burton (1577-1640) English scholar
The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1.2.4.7 (1621-51)
(Source)

Burton, Robert -- The Anatomy of Melancholy, 3.4.1.3 (1621-51)

Dave — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 22:11:04 +0000

Sickness and sorrows come and go, but a superstitious soul hath no rest.

Robert Burton (1577-1640) English scholar
The Anatomy of Melancholy, 3.4.1.3 (1621-51)
(Source)