'Tis a hydra's head contention; the more they strive the more they may: and as Praxiteles did by his glass, when he saw a scurvy face in it, brake it in pieces; but for that one he saw many more as bad in a moment.

Robert Burton

Robert Burton

Related Quotes

He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

— Robert Burton

Contentions fierce, Ardent, and dire, spring from no petty cause.

— Sir Walter Scott

When individuals approach one another with deep purposes on both sides they seldom come at once to the matter which they have most at heart. They dread the electric shock of a too sudden contact with it.

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

Stir up the hornets. [Fr., Irriter les freslons.]

— Francois Rabelais

In excessive altercation, truth is lost. [Lat., Nimium altercando veritas amittitur.]

— Syrus (Publilius Syrus)