Our life gets as complicated as a comedy as it goes on, but the complications get gradually resolved: see that the curtain comes down on a good denouement.
[Vase empeñando nuestra vida como en comedia, al fin viene a desenredarse. Atención, pues, al acabar bien.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 211 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]
(Source)
(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:
Our life is acted like a Play. The Catastrophy is in the last Act. The chief part then is, to end it well.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]
Our life becomes more complicated as we go along, like a comedy, but toward the end it becomes simpler; keep in mind, therefore, the happy ending.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]
Our lives fold and unfold like theater, so be careful to end well.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]
Quotations about:
complication
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
“When did life get so complicated?” she wondered to Dimity.
“Boys,” said Dimity succinctly.
Gail Carriger (b. 1976) American archaeologist, author [pen name of Tofa Borregaard]
Curtsies & Conspiracies (2013)
Chapter the Eleventh: In Which the Plot, Behaving in Much the Manner Of a Soup to which Corn Starch Has been Added, Begins, at Last, to Thicken
Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
The Phoenix Guards (1991)
Sometimes I don’t know if my life is complicated, or if it’s that I just think too much about things.
John Scalzi (b. 1969) American writer
Zoe’s Tale (2008)
After all my time here, I’ve yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, didn’t become still more complicated.
Poul Anderson (1926-2001) American writer
Call Me Joe [Arne Viken] (1957)
Sometimes attributed to Arthur Koestler (who attributed the quote to Anderson). See here for more details (and a reference to WIST).
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.
