Tell the innocent visitor from another world that two people were killed at Serajevo, and that the best that Europe could do about it was to kill eleven million more.
A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
Peace with Honour, ch. 16 “Patriotism and Pledges,” sec. 5 (1934)
(Source)
Quotations about:
proportionality
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
NURSE: But not long
Can the extremes of grandeur ever last;
And heavier are the curses which it brings
When Fortune visits us in all her wrath.[ΤΡΟΦΌΣ:Τὰ δ᾽ ὑπερβάλλοντ᾽
οὐδένα καιρὸν δύναται θνητοῖς,
μείζους δ᾽ ἄτας, ὅταν ὀργισθῇ
δαίμων οἴκοις, ἀπέδωκεν.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 127ff (431 BC) [tr. Wodhull (1782)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:But the height
Of tow'ring greatness long to mortal man
Remains not fix'd; and, when misfortune comes
Enraged, in deeper ruin sinks the house.
[tr. Potter (1814)]But too high-pitched luck
Stands no mortal in stead at the time of need;
Nay, more, when the god is stirred to his wrath,
Dowers greater curse on the house.
[tr. Webster (1868)]But greatness that doth o'erreach itself, brings no blessing to mortal men; but pays a penalty of greater ruin whenever fortune is wroth with a family.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]But excess of fortune brings more power to men than is convenient, and has brought greater woes upon families, when the Deity be enraged.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]But to men never weal above measure
Availed: on its perilous height
The Gods in their hour of displeasure
The heavier smite.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]But the fiercely great
Hath little music on his road,
And falleth, when the hand of God
Shall move, most deep and desolate.
[tr. Murray (1906)]Greatness brings no profit to people.
God indeed, when in anger, brings
Greater ruin to great men’s houses.
[tr. Warner (1944)]This is the wild and terrible justice of God: it brings on great persons
The great disasters. [tr. Jeffers (1946)]To be rich and powerful brings no blessing;
Only more utterly
Is the prosperous house destroyed, when the gods are angry.
[tr. Vellacott (1963)]Excess on the other hand
Always surpasses what is appropriate for men.
When heaven is angered at a house
It pays back ruin in plenty.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]But excessive riches mean no advantage for mortals, and when a god is angry at a house, they make the ruin greater.
[tr. Kovacs (1994)]Excess, though, means no profit for man and pays him back with greater ruin, whenever a house earns heaven's anger.
[tr. Davie (1996)]If man holds something else dearer to moderation, he will most certainly lose out in the end. Add to that the wrath of the gods, which will fall most heavily upon such a man’s house and which will destroy him.
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]But excess
never should have a place in our lives.
It brings all the greater ruin
when some god feels spite toward a house.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]Going for too much brings no benefits.
And when the gods get angry with some home,
the more wealth it has, the more it is destroyed.
[tr. Johnston (2008)]Excess does not yield any gain,
for when a god is angry with a house
it pays with great destruction.
[tr. Ewans (2022)]Extreme greatness brings no balance to mortal men, and pays a penalty of greater disaster [atē] whenever a superhuman force [daimōn] is angry with a household [oikos].
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]
If a person transgresses any of these rules, the penalty shall fit the crime.
[Quod quis earum rerum migrassit, noxiae poena par esto.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
De Legibus [On the Laws], Book 3, ch. 4 / sec. 11 (3.4/3.11) [Marcus] (c. 51 BC) [tr. Rudd (1998)]
(Source)
A variant on the Latin legal maxim, culpae poenae par esto, usually rendered "Let the punishment fit the crime" (see also Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado (1885)).
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:If any one shall infringe any of these laws, let him bear the penalty.
[tr. Barham (1842)]If any one shall infringe any of these laws, let him be liable to a penalty.
[tr. Barham/Yonge (1878)]The punishment for violation of any of these laws shall fit the offense.
[tr. Keyes (1928)]Whatever of these someone has violated, let the penalty be equivalent to the crime.
[tr. Zetzel (1999)]Whatever of these matters someone departs from, let there be a penalty equal to the wrongdoing.
[tr. Fott (2013)]Whatever someone has violated, let the punishment match the offense.
[Bartelett's]
“Neither does this please me, nothing in excess;” for we ought to hate in excess those that are bad to excess.
[οὐδὲ τὸ μηδὲν ἄγαν· δεῖ γὰρ τούς γε κακοὺς ἄγαν μισεῖν.]
Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher
Rhetoric [Ῥητορική; Ars Rhetorica], Book 2, ch. 21, sec. 14 (2.21.14) / 1395a.33 (350 BC) [Source (1847)]
(Source)
On developing one's own maxims and proverbs, and how to present them. (Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Nor again [does this please me], that we ought to carry nothing to excess; since 'tis our duty to hate the wicked at least to the very extreme.
[tr. Buckley (1850)]No do I like the saying, Do nothing excessively. Bad men should be hated excessively.
[tr. Jebb (1873)]Nor do I approve of the saying "nothing in excess": we are bound to hate bad men excessively.
[tr. Rhys Roberts (1924)]Nor do I approve the maxim "Nothing in excess," for one cannot hate the wicked too much."
[tr. Freese (1926)]Neither is "nothing in excess" [satisfying to me]. For one must tate to excess at least those who are evil.
[tr. Bartlett (2019)][I do not] commend the saying “nothing in excess” because one must hate evil men to the extreme.
[tr. @sentantiq (2019)]
The politics of the university are so intense because the stakes are so low.
Wallace Sayre (1905-1972) U.S. political scientist, academic
Sayre’s Third Law
One of several formulations of the same sentiment, which has also been attributed to Richard Neustadt, Jesse Unruh, Henry Kissinger ("University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small"), Charles Philip Issawi ("In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake. That is why academic politics are so bitter"), Lawrence Peter, C.P. Snow, and others, with antecedents by Samuel Johnson and Woodrow Wilson. Most of the attributions come in the early-mid 1970s, though Herbert Kaufman, a colleague, claimed Sayres had used the phrase for decades.
See also Quote Investigator, Quote Verifier, and Wikipedia for more discussion.
