WIST Quotations https://wist.info Wish I'd Said That! Thu, 04 Jun 2026 19:24:31 +0000 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/little-w-little-box-60x60.jpg malignity – WIST Quotations https://wist.info 32 32 43606282 Euripides -- Medea [Μήδεια], l. 330ff (431 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1963)] https://wist.info/euripides/81069/ https://wist.info/euripides/81069/#respond Tue, 30 Dec 2025 18:35:10 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=81069 MEDEA: Oh, what an evil power love has in people’s lives!

CREON: That would depend on circumstances, I imagine.

[ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: Φεῦ φεῦ, βροτοῖς ἔρωτες ὡς κακὸν μέγα.

ΚΡΈΩΝ: ὅπως ἄν, οἶμαι, καὶ παραστῶσιν τύχαι.]


Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 330ff (431 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1963)]
    (Source)

After Creon has spoken of how both love of his country and his children requires him to banish Medea. She has already faced Jason's love gone wrong as well, and her reaction to that will give end up in bad circumstances to all involved.

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

MEDEA: To Mortals what a dreadful scourge is love!
CREON: As Fortune dictates, Love becomes, I ween,
Either a curse or blessing.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]

MEDEA: Alas, what fatal ills love works to man!
CREON: That is, I ween, as fortune guides th' event.
[tr. Potter (1814)]

MEDEA: Ah me! How great an ill to man is love!
CREON: That is, I doubt, as fortune waits on it.
[tr. Webster (1868)]

MEDEA: Ah me! ah me! to mortal man how dread a scourge is love!
CREON: That, I deem, is according to the turn our fortunes take.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

MEDEA: Alas! alas! how great an ill is love to man!
CREON: That is, I think, as fortune also shall attend it.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]

MEDEA: Alas! to mortals what a curse is love!
KREON: Blessing or curse, I trow, as fortune falls.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]

MEDEA: O Loves of man, what curse is on your wings!
CREON: Blessing or curse, 'tis as their chances flow.
[tr. Murray (1906)]

MEDEA: Oh what an evil to men is passionate love!
CREON: That would depend on the luck that goes along with it.
[tr. Warner (1944)]

MEDEA: Ah! What an evil thing men’s loves are!
CREON: It all depends, I suppose, on how things turn out.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]

MEDEA: Oh, what a bane is love to mortals.
CREON: I fancy that depends on the circumstances.
[tr. Kovacs (1994)]

MEDEA: Ah, the loves of mortal men! What a boundless source of woe!
CREON: That would depend, I imagine, on the circumstances of each case.
[tr. Davie (1996)]
<
MEDEA: Oh! What a dreadful thing love is!
CREON: It depends ...
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]

MEDEA: Feu, feu [Aah, aah] mortal affections, how great an affliction they are!
CREON: That, I think, depends on the circumstances.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]

MEDEA:Alas,
love’s a miserable thing for mortal men.
CREON: I think events determine if that’s true.
[tr. Johnston (2008)]

MEDEA: Oh, how great an evil love is to mankind.
CREON: No, I am sure that depends on the circumstances.
[tr. Ewans (2022)]

MEDEA: Ah me! Ah me! To mortals how great an evil [kakon] is love!
CREON: That, I suppose, is according to the turn our fortunes take.
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]

 ]]> https://wist.info/euripides/81069/feed/ 0 81069 Moliere -- Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite [Le Tartuffe, ou L’Imposteur], Act 5, sc. 3 (1669) [tr. Wilbur (1963)] https://wist.info/moliere/77070/ https://wist.info/moliere/77070/#respond Fri, 20 Jun 2025 16:27:31 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=77070 MME. PERNELLE: The tongues of spite are busy night and noon.
And to their venom no man is immune.

[Les langues ont toujours du venin à répandre,
Et rien n’est ici-bas qui s’en puisse défendre.]


Molière (1622-1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite [Le Tartuffe, ou L’Imposteur], Act 5, sc. 3 (1669) [tr. Wilbur (1963)]
    (Source)

Dismissing the accusations against Tartuffe by her son, Orgon.

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Tongues never want for Venom to spit; nothing here below can be Proof against them.
[tr. Clitandre (1672)]

Evil tongues have always venom to scatter abroad, and nothing here below can guard against it.
[tr. Van Laun (1876)]

Evil tongues have always some venom to pour fourth; and here below there is nothing proof against them.
[tr. Wall (1879)]

Tongues never lack venom to spread about. Nothing in this world can be proof against them.
[tr. Mathew (1890), 5.2]

Tongues are always ready to spit venom: nothing here below is proof against them.
[tr. Waller (1903)]

Their tongues for spitting venom never lack,
There's nothing here below they'll not attack.
[tr. Page (1909)]

Many a tongue is ready to spread slander,
And nothing in this world is proof against it.
[tr. Bishop (1957)]

Venom is what their tongues will never lack,
And nothing here below escapes attack.
[tr. Frame (1967)]

No -- slanderous tongues on every hand,
All poisonous talk.
[tr. Bolt (2002)]

Nothing in this world can deflect the venom of malice.
[tr. Steiner (2008)]

Wicked tongues will always have poison to spread about.
[tr. Campbell (2013)]

 ]]> https://wist.info/moliere/77070/feed/ 0 77070