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Weakness quotes

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“this cult of the future is not only a weakness but a cowardice of the age.” G. K. Chesterton, “What's Wrong with the World” - 1910

“White Fang knew the law well: to oppress the weak and obey the strong.” Jack London, “White Fang” - 1906

“The superior man thinks of virtue; the small man thinks of comfort.” Confucius, “Analects”

“The people who have no weaknesses are terrible; there is no way of taking advantage of them.” Anatole France, “The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard” - 1881

“Ah me, how weak a thing the heart of woman is!” William Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar” - 1623

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” George R. R. Martin, “A Game of Thrones” - 1996

“Strength is the outcome of need; security sets a premium on feebleness.” H. G. Wells, “The Time Machine” - 1895

“In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride.” Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” - 1791

“If there is disturbance in the camp, the general's authority is weak.” Sun Tzu, “The Art of War” - 5th century BC

“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.” Samuel Johnson, “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia” - 1759

“Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed.” Blaise Pascal, “Pensées” - 1670

“Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness and dies by chance.” Jean-Paul Sartre, “Nausea” - 1938

“A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and life is after all a chain.” William James, “The Varieties of Religious Experience” - 1902

“it is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.” Charlotte Brontë, “Jane Eyre” - 16 October 1847

“our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise.” Charles Dickens, “Great Expectations” - 1861

“Love is a possible strength in an actual weakness.” Thomas Hardy, “Far from the Madding Crowd” - 1874

“in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.” Sun Tzu, “The Art of War” - 5th century BC

“As one grows weaker one is less susceptible to suffering. There is less hurt because there is less to hurt.” Jack London, “The Star Rover” - 1915

“Many are the strange chances of the world, . . . and help oft shall come from the hands of the weak when the Wise falter.” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Silmarillion” - 1977

“We might also call vertigo the intoxication of the weak. Aware of his weakness, a man decides to give in rather than stand up to it.” Milan Kundera, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” - 1984

“Frailty, thy name is woman!” William Shakespeare, “Hamlet” - 1623

“The very qualities I love you for are the ones that will always make you a failure.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, “This Side of Paradise” - 1920

“So cowards fight when they can fly no further; so doves do peck the falcon's piercing talons; so desperate thieves, all hopeless of their lives, breathe out invectives 'gainst the officers.” William Shakespeare, “Henry VI, Part 3” - 1595

“It was like trying to make a move at chess when you were already mated.” George Orwell, “1984” - 1949

“The reason the beasts give among themselves is that Man is the weakest and most defenseless of all living things, and it is unsportsmanlike to touch him.” Rudyard Kipling, “The Jungle Book” - 1894

“His bondage had softened him. Irresponsibility had weakened him. He had forgotten how to shift for himself. The night yawned about him.” Jack London, “White Fang” - 1906

“No conclusions can be more agreeable to scepticism than such as make discoveries concerning the weakness and narrow limits of human reason and capacity.” David Hume, “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding” - 1748

“Undoubtedly philosophers are in the right, when they tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison.” Jonathan Swift, “Gulliver's Travels” - 1726

“They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force—nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.” Joseph Conrad, “Heart of Darkness” - 1899

“And how are the other weak ones to blame, because they could not endure what the strong have endured?” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” - 1880

“Poor fool! in whose petty estimation all things are little.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “The Sorrows of Young Werther” - 1774

“As the births of living creatures, at first are ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time.” Francis Bacon, “The Essays of Francis Bacon” - 1597

“For myself, I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation.” Ulysses S. Grant, “Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant” - 1885

“A weak mind does not accumulate force enough to hurt itself; stupidity often saves a man from going mad.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., “The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table” - 1858

“Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings, who think themselves good because they have crippled paws!” Friedrich Nietzsche, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” - 1891

“I know you. In wickedness the haughty man and the weakling meet. But they misunderstand one another.” Friedrich Nietzsche, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” - 1891

“Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind.” W. Somerset Maugham, “Of Human Bondage” - 1915

“I find I am much prouder of the victory I obtain over myself, when, in the very ardour of dispute, I make myself submit to my adversary's force of reason, than I am pleased with the victory I obtain over him through his weakness.” Michel de Montaigne, “The Essays of Michel de Montaigne” - 1580

“This was no time to go wobbly.” Margaret Thatcher, “The Downing Street Years” - 1993

“Everywhere the weak execrate the powerful, before whom they cringe; and the powerful beat them like sheep whose wool and flesh they sell.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“But habit is a great deadener.” Samuel Beckett, “Waiting for Godot” - 1953

“Flowers are weak creatures. They are naïve. They reassure themselves as best they can. They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons .” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “The Little Prince” - 1943

“She is very clever, too clever for a woman. She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness. It is the feet of clay that make the gold of the image precious.” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

“Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.” Jane Austen, “Emma” - 1815

“Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride—where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation.” Jane Austen, “Pride and Prejudice” - 28 January 1813

“we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” - 2000

“Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked this easily — weak people, in other words — they stand no chance against his powers!” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” - 2003

“It is the way of weakened minds to see everything through a black cloud. The soul forms its own horizons; your soul is darkened, and consequently the sky of the future appears stormy and unpromising.” Alexandre Dumas, “The Count of Monte Cristo” - 1845

“FRIENDSHIP, n. A ship big enough to carry two in fair weather, but only one in foul.” Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil's Dictionary” - 1906

“Under the new conditions of perfect comfort and security, that restless energy, that with us is strength, would become weakness.” H. G. Wells, “The Time Machine” - 1895

Related topics

strength women reason pride love foolishness suffering power comfort greatness chance vanity defeat force passion madness life mind knowledge fate

Related authors

William Shakespeare (3)
Jack London (3)
Jane Austen (2)
Oscar Wilde (2)
J. K. Rowling (2)
H. G. Wells (2)
Friedrich Nietzsche (2)
Sun Tzu (2)
Blaise Pascal (2)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1)
George R. R. Martin (1)
Charlotte Brontë (1)
George Orwell (1)
Charles Dickens (1)
G. K. Chesterton (1)
Rudyard Kipling (1)
David Hume (1)
Benjamin Franklin (1)
Jonathan Swift (1)
Confucius (1)

Related sources

The Time Machine (2)
White Fang (2)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (2)
The Art of War (2)
Pensées (2)
Hamlet (1)
Julius Caesar (1)
Pride and Prejudice (1)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1)
The Importance of Being Earnest (1)
This Side of Paradise (1)
Henry VI, Part 3 (1)
A Game of Thrones (1)
Jane Eyre (1)
1984 (1)
What's Wrong with the World (1)
The Jungle Book (1)
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1)
Gulliver's Travels (1)