MARCUS: As our birth brings to us the beginning, so may death bring the end of all things. As nothing belonged to us before we were born, so nothing will belong to us after we are dead.
[Ut, quo modo initium nobis rerum omnium ortus noster adferat, sic exitum mors, ut nihil pertinuit ad nos ante ortum, sic nihil post mortem pertinebit.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 1, ch. 38 (1.38) / sec. 91 (1.91) (45 BC) [tr. Peabody (1886)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:As our Birth giveth us an entrance into the business of this World, so Death should give our Exit from it. Which, as before our Birth, it nothing concern'd us, so neither shall it after Death.
[tr. Wase (1643)]As our birth was the beginning of things with us, death will be the end; and as we were no ways concerned with them before we were born, so we shall have none after we are dead.
[tr. Main (1824)]As our birth is the entrance of all things for us, so death is the exit; as before we saw the light nothing belonged to us, so nothing will belong to us after the scene is closed.
[tr. Otis (1839)]Just in the same manner as our birth was the beginning of things with us, so death will be the end; and as we were no ways concerned with anything before we were born, so neither shall we be after we are dead.
[tr. Yonge (1853)]As birth introduces us to the beginning of things, so does death to the end, it follows that, as before [birth] there was nothing which concerned us, so there will be nothing that concerns us after death.
[tr. Black (1889)][...] As we possessed nothing before birth, so will nothing remain to us after death.
[ed. Harbottle (1897)]Our birth brings the beginning of everything for us, so death brings the end: then just as nothing affected us before [birth], so nothing will affect us after death.
[tr. Douglas (1985)]Just as birth is the beginning of everything for us, so death is the end, and just as nothing mattered to us before we were born, nothing will matter after we die.
[tr. Habinek (1996)]Just as our birth brings the beginning of all things, so our death brings the end of all, then just as nothing affected us before birth, so nothing will affect us after death.
[tr. Davie (2017)]
Quotations about:
concerns
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
CREON:Now stay here, if you must,
This one day. You can hardly in one day accomplish
What I am afraid of.[ΚΡΈΩΝ: νῦν δ᾽, εἰ μένειν δεῖ, μίμν᾽ ἐφ᾽ ἡμέραν μίαν:
οὐ γάρ τι δράσεις δεινὸν ὧν φόβος μ᾽ ἔχει. ]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 355ff (431 BC)[tr. Vellacott (1963)]
(Source)
Creon lets Medea stay one more day before her exile begins, giving us the most ironic line in the play. Some scholars or translators omit or bracket these lines, since Creon has already said he will let her stay.
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:But if thou needs must tarry, tarry here
This single day, for in so short a space
Thou canst not execute the ills I dread.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]One single day, if so thy needs require,
I will indulge thee; in that little space
Thou wilt not do the horrid deeds I dread.
[tr. Potter (1814)]But now if stay thou must, stay this one day;
Not so thou'lt compass any deed I dread.
[tr. Webster (1868)]So now, if abide thou must, stay this one day only, for in it thou canst not do any of the fearful deeds I dread.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]But now if thou must stay, remain here yet one day, for thou wilt not do any horrid deed of which I have dread.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]Now, if remain thou must, remain one day --
Too short for thee to do the deeds I dread.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]So linger on,
If thou needs must, till the next risen sun;
No further. . . . In one day there scarce can be
Those perils wrought whose dread yet haunteth me.
[tr. Murray (1906)]But now, if you must stay, stay for this day alone.
For in it you can do none of the things I fear.
[tr. Warner (1944)]So remain, if you must, but only for one day.
You'll not do any of the terrible things I fear.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]Now stay, if stay you must, for one more day. You will not do the mischief I fear by then.
[tr. Kovacs (1994)]Stay, if you need to but just one more day.
In any case, what harm could you do me in such a short time?
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]Now, if stay you must, stay for one day.
you can not do any dreadful deed of which I am in terror.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]So, if you must remain, stay one more day.
In that time you can’t do the harm I fear.
[tr. Johnston (2008), l. 421ff]But now, if you must stay, stay this one day;
you won't do any of the ghastly things I fear.
[tr. Ewans (2022)]So now, if you must remain, stay this one day only; for you will not do anything terrible [deinon] of which I am afraid.
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]
And now, ladies and gentlemen, that we’ve enjoyed some good times this evening, and enjoyed some laughter together, I feel it is my obligation to remind you of some of the negative, depressing, dangerous, life-threatening things that life is really all about; things you have not been thinking about tonight, but which will be waiting for you as soon as you leave the theater or as soon as you turn off your television sets. Anal rape, quicksand, body lice, evil spirits, gridlock, acid rain, continental drift, labor violence, flash floods, rabies, torture, bad luck, calcium deficiency, falling rocks, cattle stampedes, bank failure, evil neighbors, killer bees, organ rejection, lynching, toxic waste, unstable dynamite, religious fanatics, prickly heat, price fixing, moral decay, hotel fires, loss of face, stink bombs, bubonic plague, neo-Nazis, friction, cereal weevils, failure of will, chain reaction, soil erosion, mail fraud, dry rot, voodoo curse, broken glass, snake bite, parasites, white slavery, public ridicule, faithless friends, random violence, breach of contract, family scandals, charlatans, transverse myelitis, structural defects, race riots, sunspots, rogue elephants, wax buildup, killer frost, jealous coworkers, root canals, metal fatigue, corporal punishment, sneak attacks, peer pressure, vigilantes, birth defects, false advertising, ungrateful children, financial ruin, mildew, loss of privileges, bad drugs, ill-fitting shoes, widespread chaos, Lou Gehrig’s disease, stray bullets, runaway trains, chemical spills, locusts, airline food, shipwrecks, prowlers, bathtub accidents, faulty merchandise, terrorism, discrimination, wrongful cremation, carbon deposits, beef tapeworm, taxation without representation, escaped maniacs, sunburn, abandonment, threatening letters, entropy, nine-mile fever, poor workmanship, absentee landlords, solitary confinement, depletion of the ozone layer, unworthiness, intestinal bleeding, defrocked priests, loss of equilibrium, disgruntled employees, global warming, card sharks, poisoned meat, nuclear accidents, broken promises, contamination of the water supply, obscene phone calls, nuclear winter, wayward girls, mutual assured destruction, rampaging moose, the greenhouse effect, cluster headaches, social isolation, Dutch elm disease, the contraction of the universe, paper cuts, eternal damnation, the wrath of God, and PARANOIA!!
George Carlin (1937–2008) American comedian
Show (1986-05-02/03), Playin’ with Your Head, “Things to Watch Out For,” Beverly Theater, Los Angeles
(Source)
KING HENRY: Gives not the hawthorn bush a sweeter shade
To shepherds looking on their silly sheep
Than doth a rich embroidered canopy
To kings that fear their subjects’ treachery?William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry VI, Part 3, Act 3, sc. 5, l. 42ff (3.5.42-45) (1591)
(Source)
You’re trying to drown your sorrows in alcohol and it won’t work. Sorrows know how to swim.
Ann Landers (1918–2002) American advice columnist [pseud. for Eppie Lederer]
“Ask Ann Landers,” syndicated column (1958)
Landers used the phrase multiple times, e.g.,However, the phrase predates her in a variety of anonymous sources; see here for more discussion.
- "And now an added P.S. In these days of political unrest, financial crisis and emotional upheaval, a word to those of you who are trying to drown your sorrow. Please be aware that sorrow knows how to swim." [The Ann Landers Encyclopedia: A to Z (1978)]
- "People who drink to drown their sorrow should be told that sorrow knows how to swim."
