He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-05-19), The Idler, No. 57
(Source)
Quoting his friend, Sophron (Wisdom, Prudence), who prefers old, tested ways to new ones.
Quotations about:
risk-averse
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A timid man sees dangers that do not exist.
Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 688 [tr. Lyman (1862)]
HAMLET:Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Hamlet, Act 3, sc. 1, l. 84ff (3.1.84-90) (c. 1600)
(Source)
"Fardels" = "burdens"
The more men have to lose, the less willing they are to venture.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) American political philosopher and writer
Common Sense, “Of the Present Ability of America” (14 Feb 1776)
He that will not sail till all Dangers are over, must never put out to Sea.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 2353 (1732)
(Source)
And, to conclude, he that leaveth nothing to Chance will do few things ill, but he will do very few things.
George Savile, Marquis of Halifax (1633-1695) English politician and essayist
“Of Caution and Suspicion,” Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections (1750)
(Source)
Sometimes incorrectly attributed to Edward Wood, Earl of Halifax (1881-1959).
