Horace and Aristotle already told us about the virtues of their forefathers and the vices of their times, and authors down through the centuries have spoken in like manner. If they had told the truth, men would nowadays be bears.
[Horace et Aristote nous ont déjà parlé des vertus de leurs pères, et des vices de leur temps, et les auteurs de siècle en siècle nous en ont parlé de même. S’ils avaient dit vrai, les hommes seraient à présent des ours.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 396 (1720-1755) [tr. Clark (2012)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translation:Horace and Aristotle told us of the virtues of their fathers, and the vices of their own time, and authors down through the centuries have told us the same. If they were right, men would now be bears.
[E.g.]
Quotations about:
degeneracy
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
The old folk of our grandfathers’ young days sang a song bearing exactly the same burden; and the young folk of to-day will drone out precisely similar nonsense for the aggravation of the next generation. “Oh, give me back the good old days of fifty years ago,” has been the cry ever since Adam’s fifty-first birthday. Take up the literature of 1835, and you will find the poets and novelists asking for the same impossible gift as did the German Minnesingers long before them and the old Norse Saga writers long before that. And for the same thing sighed the early prophets and the philosophers of ancient Greece. From all accounts, the world has been getting worse and worse ever since it was created. All I can say is that it must have been a remarkably delightful place when it was first opened to the public, for it is very pleasant even now if you only keep as much as possible in the sunshine and take the rain good-temperedly.
Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) English writer, humorist [Jerome Klapka Jerome]
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Memory” (1886)
(Source)
First published in Home Chimes (1885-09-26).
What a contrast to this civil war in our midst! Here, set deep inside the country, are conspiracy, danger and a deadly foe. Degeneracy, madness and evil are the enemies we have to fight.
[Domesticum bellum manet, intus insidiae sunt, intus inclusum periculum est, intus est hostis. cum luxuria nobis, cum amentia, cum scelere certandum est.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Orationes in Catilinam [Catilinarian Orations], No. 2, ch. 5 / § 11 (2.5.11) (63-11-09 BC) [tr. Grant (1960)]
(Source)
Cicero argues that, having achieved peace with other nations, the danger to Rome is now the internal one of Catiline and his decadent, wastrel followers.
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:The Plot is within; the danger locked within; the Enemy is within: We have a Conflict with Luxury, with Madness, with Treachery.
[tr. Wase (1671)]Our only danger is at home; treason lurks within our walls; the enemy is in the heart of the city. Luxury, villainy, and madness, are the foes we are to encounter.
[tr. Sydney (1795)]Domestic war alone remains. The only plots against us are within our own walls, -- the danger is within, -- the enemy is within. We must war with luxury, with madness, with wickedness.
[tr. Yonge (1856)]A war at home remains; the snares are within; the danger is inclosed within; the enemy is within; we have to contend with luxury, with madness, with guilt.
[tr. Mongan (1879)]A domestic war remains; the snares are within; the danger is inclosed within; the enemy is within; it is to be contended to (by) us with luxury, with madness, with crime.
[tr. Underwood (1885)]A domestic war remains; the ambuscades are within; the danger is enclosed within; the enemy is within; (it) is to [must] be contended by us [we must contend] with luxury, with madness, with crime.
[tr. Dewey (1916)]The enemy is within the gates; it is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend.
[tr. Taylor (1916)]
‘Tis fear that proves souls base-born.
[Degeneres animos timor arguit.]
Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 4, l. 13 (4.13) [Dido] (29-19 BC) [tr. Fairclough (1916)]
(Source)
Of the bravery shown in Aeneas' tale demonstrating what a great, if not even divine, man he is.
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:Feare shews degenerate minds.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]Fear ever argues a degenerate kind.
[tr. Dryden (1697)]Fear argues a degenerate mind.
[tr. Davidson/Buckley (1854)]Fear proves a base-born soul.
[tr. Connington (1866)]Fear shows degenerate souls.
[tr. Cranch (1872)]Fear proves the vulgar spirit.
[tr. Mackail (1885)]For fear it is shows base-born souls.
[tr. Morris (1900)]Fear argues souls degenerate and base.
[tr. Taylor (1907), st. 2, l. 14]'Tis cowardice
betrays the base-born soul.
[tr. Williams (1910)]Fear proves a bastard spirit.
[tr. Humphries (1951)]Mean souls convict themselves by cowardice.
[tr. Day Lewis (1952)]For in the face of fear
the mean must fall.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1971)]Tell-tale fear
Betrays inferior souls.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1981), ll. 19-20]If there is any baseness in a man, it shows as cowardice.
[tr. West (1990)]Fear reveals the ignoble spirit.
[tr. Kline (2002)]Fear
Always gives away men of inferior birth.
[tr. Lombardo (2005)]Fear exposes the lowborn man at once.
[tr. Fagles (2006), l. 16]Fear shows up lesser men.
[tr. Bartsch (2021)]
Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Review of A Coat of Many Colours: Occasional Essays by Herbert Read, Poetry Quarterly (Winter 1945)
