Quotes About Comparison

The defects of great men are the consolation of the dunces.

A man should always consider ... how much more unhappy he might be than he is.

Men ... always think that something they are going to get is better than what they have got.

The tulip is, among flowers, what the peacock is among birds. A tulip lacks scent, a peacock has an unpleasant voice. The one takes pride in its garb, the other in its tail.

Only with a new ruler do you realize the value of the old.

You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends.

It is not enough to succeed, a friend must fail.

Love is like the wild-rose briar; Friendship is like the holly-tree. The holly is dark when the rose briar blooms, But which will bloom most constantly?

Forsake not an old friend, for the new is not comparable to him; a new friend is as new wine.

Men of genius are the worst possible models for men of talent.

Sometimes men come by the name of genius in the same way that certain insects come by the name of centipede - not because they have a hundred feet, but because most people can't count above fourteen.

We Germans will never produce another Goethe, but we may produce another Caesar.

Man is a dog's ideal of what God should be.

The world is more exacting than God himself.

The Ethiop gods have Ethiop lips, Bronze cheeks, and woolly hair; The Grecian gods are like the Greeks, As keen-eyed, cold and fair.

The good should be grateful to the bad - for providing the world with a basis for comparison.

The dullard's envy of brilliant men is always assuaged by the suspicion that they will come to a bad end.

A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants, and how much more unhappy he might be than he really is.

Infatuation is when you think that he's as sexy as Robert Redford, as smart as Henry Kissinger, as noble as Ralph Nader, as funny as Woody Allen, and as athletic as Jimmy Conners. Love is when you realize that he's as sexy as Woody Allen, as smart as Jimmy Conners, as funny as Ralph Nader, as athletic as Henry Kissinger, and nothing like Robert Redford-but you'll take him anyway.

The man of pleasure, by a vain attempt to be more happy than any man can be, is often more miserable than most men.

It is comparison that makes men happy or miserable.

To argue over who is the more noble is nothing more than to dispute whether dirt is better for making bricks or for making mortar.

It is more comfortable to feel that we are a slight improvement on a monkey than such a fallin' off fr'm th' angels.

Every man in the world is better than someolne else and not as good as someone else.