It is the victor who writes the history and counts the dead, and to the vanquished in such a struggle there only remains the dull memory of an unnumbered and unwritten sorrow.
William Butler (1838-1910) Irish British Army officer, writer, adventurer
Charles George Gordon, ch. 1 (1891)
(Source)
Quotations about:
winner
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The history is right perhaps, but let us not forget, it was written by the victors.
[L’histoire est juste peut-être, mais qu’on ne l’oublie pas, elle a été écrite par les vainqueurs.]
Alexis Guignard, comte de Saint-Priest (1805-1851) French diplomat and historian
History of Royalty [Histoire de la Royauté] (1842)
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It’s easy to do anything in victory. It’s in defeat that a man reveals himself.
Floyd Patterson (1935-2006) American professional boxer
(Attributed)
(Source)
Quoted in Gay Talese, Fame and Obscurity: Portraits (1970).
No victor believes in chance.
[Kein Sieger glaubt an den Zufall.]
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
The Gay Science [Die fröhliche Wissenschaft], Book 3, § 258 (1882) [tr. Kaufmann (1974)]
(Source)
Also known as La Gaya Scienza, The Joyful Wisdom, or The Joyous Science.
(Source (German)). Alternate translations:
No conqueror believes in chance.
[tr. Common (1911)]
No victor believes in chance.
[tr. Nauckhoff (2001)]
The trouble with being number one in the world — at anything — is that it takes a certain mentality to attain that position in the first place, and that is something of a driving, perfectionist attitude, so that once you do achieve number one, you don’t relax and enjoy it.
SON: Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry VI, Part 3, Act 2, sc. 5, l. 55 (2.5.55) (1591)
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