My lords, you are highly placed. It is well. We must believe that God has his reasons that it should be so. You have power, opulence, pleasure, the sun ever shining in your zenith, authority unbounded, enjoyment without a sting, and a total forgetfulness of others. So be it. But there is something below you — above you, it may be. My lords, I bring you news — news of the existence of mankind.
[Mylords, vous êtes en haut. C’est bien. Il faut croire que Dieu a ses raisons pour cela. Vous avez le pouvoir, l’opulence, la joie, le soleil immobile à votre zénith, l’autorité sans borne, la jouissance sans partage, l’immense oubli des autres. Soit. Mais il y a au-dessous de vous quelque chose. Au-dessus peut-être. Mylords, je viens vous apprendre une nouvelle. Le genre humain existe.]
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician
The Man Who Laughs [L’Homme qui rit; The Laughing Man; By Order of the King], Part 2, Book 8, ch. 7 (2.8.7) (1869) [tr. Steele (Auth.) (1871)]
(Source)
Gwynpaine addressing the House of Lords.
(Source (French)). Other translations:My lords, you are highly placed. It is well. We must believe that God has his reasons that it should be so. You have power, opulence, pleasure, the sun ever shining in your zenith, authority unbounded, enjoyment without a sting, and a total forgetfulness of others. So be it. But there is something below you -- above you, may be. My lords, I bring you news, -- news of the existence of mankind.
[tr. Steele (1869)]My lords, you are on high. 'Tis well. We must believe that God hath his reasons for this. You have power, opulence, joy, the sun motionless in your zenith, authority without limit, enjoyment undivided, immense forgetfulness of others. But there is something below you; above, perhaps. My lords, I am come to tell you some news. The human race exists.
[tr. Hapgood (1888)]My Lords, you are loftily placed. It is well. We must believe that God has his reasons for this. You have power, opulence, joy, the sun always motionless at your zenith, unbounded authority, undivided enjoyment, an immense oblivion of all others. So be it. But there is something beneath you. Above you, too, perhaps. My Lords, I come to tell you news. The human race exists.
[tr. Phillips (1894)]Mylords, you are upstairs. That is good. You must believe that God has his reasons for this. You have power, opulence, joy, the sun standing still at your zenith, unbounded authority, undivided enjoyment, immense forgetfulness of others. So be it. But there is somthing below you. Above perhaps. Mylords, I have come to tell you some news. The human race exists.
[tr. Lavelle (2003)]
Quotations about:
place
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair
Where I sit.
There isn’t any
Other stair
Quite like
It.
I’m not at the bottom,
I’m not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.A. A. Milne (1882–1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
When We Were Very Young, “Halfway Down,” st. 1 (1924)
(Source)
KING: From lowest place when virtuous things proceed,
The place is dignified by the doer’s deed.William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 2, sc. 3, l. 136ff (2.3.136-137) (1602?)
(Source)
In short, there’s simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here
In Camelot.Alan Jay Lerner (1918–1986) American dramatist, lyricist, composer
“Camelot” [Arthur], Camelot(1960; 1967)
(Source)
Based on T.H. White, The Once and Future King (1958).
Man is the only animal who does not feel at home in nature, who can feel evicted from paradise, the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem that he has to solve and from which he cannot escape.
Erich Fromm (1900–1980) American psychoanalyst and social philosopher
The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, ch. 10 (1973)
(Source)
Sometimes elided, "Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem he has to solve."
A nuisance may be merely a right thing in the wrong place — like a pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard.
George Sutherland (1862–1942) Anglo-American jurist, Supreme Court Justice (1922–1938)
Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365, 388 (1926)
A snub is the effort of a person who feels superior to make someone else feel inferior. To do so, he has to find someone who can be made to feel inferior.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, activist; First Lady of the US (1933–45)
Comment (1935-03-26), White House Press Conference
(Source)
When asked about an incident where Frances Perkins, US Secretary of Labor, was chosen speaker at the Charter Day at the University of California, Berkeley, and alumna Martha Ijams refused to act as hostess for the alumni banquet because she felt the honor should not have been given to a "mere politician."
Roosevelt was the first First Lady to give White House press conferences, which she initiated in 1933, inviting otherwise-excluded female reporters to the events.
This comment appears to be the source of the much more common (and a bit more victim-blaming) quotation attributed to Roosevelt:No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
This latter, which first seems to show up in Reader's Digest (1940-09) as a stand-alone "quotable," has not been found in Roosevelt's writings or news coverage of her. While sometimes cited to one or another of her memoirs, it is not present there.
For more information into this research, see: Quote Origin: No One Can Make You Feel Inferior Without Your Consent – Quote Investigator®.
