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DEFEAT --- DEFECTS --- DEFENSE
DEFIANCE --- DELAY

.
.
.

DEFEAT

see: "COMPETITION"
see: "CONQUEST"
see: "FAILURE"
see: "GIVING UP"
see: "LOSING"
see: "QUITTING"
see: "SURRENDER"


The middle way is no way at all. If we finally fail
in this great and glorious contest, it will be by
bewildering ourselves in groping for the middle
way.
--John Adams (1735—1826)
First VP and second President of the United States.
Letter to Gen. Horatio Gates [1776].

How is the mighty fallen[.]
--Bible
Apocrypha, "Maccabees" 9:21

One of the first businesses of a sensible man
is to know when he is beaten, and to leave off
fighting at once.
--Samuel Butler (1835—1902)
English novelist, essayist, and critic.
_The Note-Books of Samuel Butler_, ed. Henry Festing Jones [1907]

Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never,
never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty —
never give in, except to convictions of honor and
good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to
the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
--Winston Churchill (1874—1965)
British Conservative statesman and
Prime Minister [1940—1945, 1951—1955].
Speech at Harrow School [29 October 1941].

A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself
within. The essential causes of Rome's decline lay in her people, her morals,
her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling
taxes, her consuming wars.
--Will Durant (1885—1981)
American philosopher and writer.
_Caesar and Christ_ [1944], epilogue

The war situation has developed not
necessarily to Japan's advantage.
--Emperor Hirohito (1901—1989)
Emperor of Japan from 1926.
Announcing Japan's surrender [15 August 1945].

I've pretty much made up my mind that the South
have achieved their independence & I am almost
ready to hope spring will see an end ... Believe me,
we never shall lick 'em ... I think before long the
majority will say that we are vainly working to effect
what never happens - the subjugation (for that is it)
of a great civilized nation. We shan't do it — at least
the Army can't.
--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841—1935)
Justice of the United States Supreme Court,
legal historian, and philosopher.
In M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004];
Cohan & Major explain:
The 21-year-old Holmes had almost been killed at the Battle
of Antietam on 15 Sept., and his letter reflects the sense of
despondency that had overcome the North at this stage of
the war.

There is no defeat except from within.
--Elbert Hubbard (1859—1915)
American editor, publisher, and author who
died in the sinking of the "Lusitania."
_The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard_, p.13
comp. by Elbert Hubbard II [1927].

The greatest test of courage on earth is
to bear defeat without losing heart.
--Robert Green Ingersoll (1833—1899)
American politician and orator know as "the great agnostic."
_Col. R. G. Ingersoll's Famous Speeches Complete_ [1906]

Not in the clamor of the crowded street,
Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng,
But in ourselves are triumph and defeat.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
"The Poets" [1876]

Every defeat is a Waterloo unless you have battalions of energy
in reserve. Disraeli's first speech was a failure. When the old
peers of England shook their double chins at him, he replied
quietly, 'The day will come when you will be glad to hear me.'
--John Homer Miller (1839—1913)
American poet.
"Why We Act That Way"

He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
--Napoleon I (1769—1821)
Emperor of France [1804—1815].

Those who are prepared to die for
any cause are seldom defeated.
--Jawaharlal Nehru (1889—1964)
Indian statesman.

Defeat doesn't finish a man — quit does. A man is not
finished when he is defeated. He's finished when he
quits.
--Richard Nixon (1913—1994)
American Republican statesman, President [1969—1974].
In William Safire _Before the Fall_ [1975].

It's easy to do anything in victory. It's in
defeat that a man reveals himself.
--Floyd Patterson (1935—2006)
American heavyweight boxer.
In _Your Chinese Horoscope_, p. 327, Diamond Pocket Books.

The real disgrace of poverty is not in owning
to the fact but in declining to struggle against
it.
--Thucydides (c.460—c.400 B.C.)
Greek historian of Athens.
"Pericles' Funeral Oration"

It's a terrible shame for me — I came back,
still alive, without having won the war.
(On returning to Japan after surviving for
28 years in the jungles of Guam before
surrendering to the Americans in 1972.)
--Shoichi Yokoi (1915—1997)
Japanese soldier.
In "Independent" [26 September 1997].

-

Let others cheer the winning man,
There's one I hold worth while;
'Tis he who does the best he can,
Then loses with a smile.
Beaten he is, but not to stay
Down with the rank and file;
That man will win some other day,
Who loses with a smile.
--anon.

-----

debacle (noun)[di-'bah-kl]
A sudden rush of water and debris such as results from
dam failure or the breaking up of river ice in the spring;
any sudden, total collapse or rout.

insuperable [in-SOO-pur-uh-bul], adjective:
Incapable of being passed over, surmounted, or
overcome; insurmountable.
Ex.: Once the Soviet Union acquired the bomb, in 1949,
proposals for nuclear disarmament were rejected on
grounds that the character of the Soviet regime posed
an insuperable obstacle.
--Jonathan Schell,
_The Gift of Time_



DEFECTS

.
.

see: "FAULTS"
see: "FLAWS"
see: "QUIRKS"


How good it would be if we could learn to be rigorous
in judgment of ourselves, and gentle in our judgment
of our neighbors! In remedying defects, kindness works
best with others, sternness with ourselves. It is easy to
make allowances for our faults, but dangerous; hard to
make allowances for others' faults, but wise.
--Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858—1901)
American clergyman.

-

A man's personal defects will commonly have with the rest
of the world precisely that importance which they have to
himself. If he makes light of them, so will other men.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
_English Traits_ [1856] "Cockayne"


We believe that the defects of so many perverse and
so many frivolous people, who make up society, are
organic, and society is a hospital of incurables.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.

-

Bear patiently with the Defects of others,
and labor to amend thy own.
--Thomas Fuller (1654—1734)
English writer and physician.
Comp., _Introductio ad Prudentiam_ 389 [1731]

If we had no defects ourselves, we should not take
so much pleasure in noting those of others.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.

The only nice thing about being imperfect is the joy
it brings to others.
--Doug Larson

Affection endeavors to correct natural defects, and
has always the laudable aim of pleasing, though it
always misses it.
--John Locke (1632—1704)
English political and educational philosopher.

We can talk frankly about our defects only
to those who recognize our qualities.
--Andrι Maurois (1885—1967)
(pseudonym of Ιmile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog)
French author.

Heaven have mercy on us all — Presbyterians and
Pagans alike — for we are all somehow dreadfully
cracked about the head, and sadly need mending.
--Herman Melville (1819—1891)
American novelist and poet.
_Moby Dick_ [1851], ch. 17 "The Ramadan"

When the defects of others are perceived with
so much clarity, it is because one possesses
them oneself.
--Jules Renard (1864—1910)
French novelist and dramatist.
_Journal_ [October 1908]

-

If a deformed newborn baby has a cropped and
inflated right ear — crazed women will seize the
land.
--anon.,
quoted in A Leo Oppenheim {ed.} _Texts From Cuneiform Sources_
v. 4 E. Leichty _The Omen Series: Shumma Izbu_ [1970], p.194.



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DEFENSE

.
.

see "WAR & PEACE" for related links


For major military liabilities, such as might arise
under the Covenant of the League of Nations or the
Treaty of Locarno, we are but ill-prepared ... We
alone among the Great Powers ... have neglected
our defences to the point of taking serious risks.
--British army chief of staff, annual review, 1932.

Education is the cheap defense of nations.
--Edmund Burke (1729—1797)
Irish-born Whig politician and man of letters.

^

Edward Drinker Cope (1840—1897)
American paleontologist.

A Quaker, Cope refused to take a gun with him on his
fossil-hunting forays, despite the fact that these led
him into territories populated with hostile Indians.
On one occasion, finding himself surrounded by a
distinctly unfriendly band, Cope distracted his captors
from their murderous intentions by removing and
putting back his false teeth. Enthralled by this
performance, they made him do it over and over
again and eventually released him unharmed.

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.]

^

The Mohammedan Conquest of India is probably the
bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging
tale, for its evident moral is that civilization
is a precarious thing, whose delicate complex of
order and liberty, culture and peace may at any
time be overthrown by barbarians invading from
without or multiplying within. The Hindus had
failed to organize their forces for the protection
of their frontiers and their capitals, their wealth
and their freedom, from the hordes of Scythians,
Huns, Afghans and Turks hovering about India's
boundaries and waiting for national weakness to
let them in. For four hundred years (600-1000 A.D.)
India invited conquest; and at last it came... The
bitter lesson that may be drawn from this tragedy
is that eternal vigilance is the price of civilization.
A nation must love peace, but keep its powder dry.
--Will [William James] Durant (1885—1981)
& Ariel Durant (1898—1981)
American husband and wife writing collaborators whose
_Story of Civilization_ 11 vol. [1935—1975], established
them among the best known writers of popular
philosophy and history. {EB}
_Our Oriental Heritage_ [1935]

He who defends everything defends nothing.
--Frederick II [Frederick the Great] (1712—1786)
King of Prussia [1740—1786].

The best armor is to keep out of range.
--Italian Proverb

If a madman were to come into this room with
a stick in his hand, no doubt we should pity
the state of his mind; but our primary consideration
would be to take care of ourselves. We should
knock him down first and pity him afterwards.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.

For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders
you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things
which a prince must guard against.
--Niccolς Machiavelli (1469—1527)
Florentine statesman and political philosopher.

I learned [as a youth] that when I defended my
rights by open rebellion my father relented, but
when I remained meek and submissive he only cursed
and beat me the more.
--Mao Zedong (1893—1976)
Chinese Marxist theorist, soldier and statesman who
led his nation's communist revolution.
In Edgar Snow's _Red Star Over China_ [1961], Chapter 4, Section 1.

There is no record in history of a nation
that ever gained anything valuable by
being unable to defend itself.
--H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880—1956)
American journalist and literary critic.

The best apology against false accusers is silence and
sufferance, and honest deeds set against dishonest
words.
--John Milton (1608—1674)
English poet.

It is the habit of every aggressor nation to
claim that it is acting on the defensive.
--Jawaharlal Nehru (1889—1964)
Indian statesman.

Whoever fights monsters should see to it
that in the process he does not himself
become a monster. When you look long
into an abyss, the abyss also looks back
into you.
--Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844—1900)
German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture.
_Beyond Good and Evil_ [1885-1886], pt. IV

He is safe from danger who is
on his guard even when safe.
--Publilius Syrus (85—43 B.C.)
Latin writer of mimes who was originally a slave.
_Maxims_

There is a homely old adage which runs: 'Speak
softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.' If
the American nation will speak softly and yet
build and keep at a pitch of the highest training
a thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe Doctrine
will go far.
--Theodore Roosevelt (1858—1919)
American Republican statesman and President [1901—1909].
In a speech at the Minnesota State Fair [2 September 1901].

If one comes to kill you, make
haste and kill him first.
--Talmud (A.D.1st—6th cent.)
Rabbinical writings.

We must take care always to keep ourselves, by suitable
establishments, in a respectable defensive posture.
--George Washington (1732—1799)
American general and commander-in-chief of the
colonial armies in the American Revolution [1775—1783]
and first president of the United States [1789—1797].

^

John Wesley (1703—1791)
British religious leader.

At a stormy meeting a ruffian raised his hand to strike
John Wesley on the head, but as he brought it down he
checked his blow and murmured, 'What soft hair he has!'

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.]

^

Now, it's quite simple to defend yourself against
a man armed with a banana. First of all you force
him to drop the banana; then, second, you eat the
banana, thus disarming him. You have now rendered
him helpless.
--"Monty Python" (television show)

-

When sexual assaults started rising in Orlando, Fla.,
in 1966, police officers noticed women were arming
themselves, so they launched a firearms safety course
for them. Over the next 12 months, sexual assaults
plummeted by 88 percent, burglaries fell by 25 percent
and not one of the 2,500 women who took the course
fired a gun in a confrontation.

And that, says a new brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme
Court by police officers and prosecutors in a controversial
gun-ban dispute, is why gun ownership is important and
should be available to individuals in the United States.

[...]

The brief notes when the Georgia town of Kennesaw
decided to require all residents, with exceptions for
conscientious objectors, to keep a firearm at home,
home burglaries fell from 66 to 26 to 11 in consecutive
years.

In Orlando, the deterrence to criminals who simply knew
that their victims may have a gun and may know how to
use it and may be willing to do just that had a significant
impact, because while Orlando's rapes were plummeting,
assaults were up 5 percent across the state and 7 percent
nationally.

-- Bob Unruh,
"Who'da thunk? Guns best crime deterrent after all"
[28 February 2008]

-

-----

aegis [EE-jis], noun:
1. Protection; support.
2. Sponsorship; patronage.
3. Guidance, direction, or control.
4. A shield or protective armor; -- applied in mythology to the shield of Zeus.

bulwark (noun) ['bUl-wκrk or 'bκl-wκrk]
A solid structure or wall raised for defense. In nautical
terms, it's a breakwater or the part of a ship's side above
the upper deck provided with a gangplank for passengers to
board. By extension, a bulwark is anything that protects
one from danger or unpleasantness.

carapace (noun) ['kζ-rκ-peys]
(1) A hard outer covering or exoskeleton, such as the shell
of a turtle or lobster;
(2) any protective covering like a turtle shell, literal or figurative.

escarp (noun)
A steep artificial slope in front of a fortification.
Synonyms: protective embankment, scarp, escarpment

impregnable [im-PREG-nuh-buhl], adjective:
1. Not capable of being stormed or taken by assault;
unconquerable; as, an impregnable fortress.
2. Difficult or impossible to overcome or refute
successfully; beyond question or criticism; as,
an impregnable argument.

panoply (noun) ['pζ-nκ-plee or -pli]
A full suit of armor; an impressive array
of something rich and lustrous.

redoubt (noun)
1. A small and usually temporary defensive fortification.
2. A defended position or protective barrier.
3. A secure place of refuge or defense; a stronghold.
Ex.: Evicting the intruders from their mountain redoubts with
ground forces alone was beginning to look like a protracted
and expensive task.
--"Kashmir's violent spring,"
_The Economist_, [29 May 1999]

sentinel [SEN-tuhn-uhl], noun, verb:
1. to stand guard and watch
2. a person stationed to keep watch and guard



DEFIANCE

.
.

Damn the torpedoes — full speed ahead!
--David [Glasgow] Farragut (1801—1870)
Amercan admiral who achieved fame
for his Union naval victories during
the American Civil War [1861-1865];
the ranks of vice-admiral and admiral
were created for him.
(At the battle of Mobile Bay [5 August 1864].)

-

I know what you are thinking. Did he fire six shots or
only five? Well, to tell you the truth, I've kinda lost
track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the
most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow
your head clear off, you've gotta ask yourself one
question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
--Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink, and Dean Riesner
"Dirty Harry" [1971 film], spoken by Clint Eastwood
in the role of "Dirty" Harry Callaghan, a San Francisco
police detective as he pointed his gun at a downed
robber whose own gun was lying within reach. In the
1983 film "Sudden Impact," Eastwood said, "Go ahead,
make my day!" to another trapped gunman. (Q)

-

The bigger they come, the harder they fall.
--Bob Fitzsimmons (1863—1917)
British boxer.
When asked by a newspaper reporter if he could
defeat the much heavier James J. Jeffries [9 June 1899].
(Fitzsimmons lost.)

Nuts!
--Anthony McAuliffe (1898—1975)
American general.
Replying to the German demand for surrender
at Bastogne, Belgium [22 December 1944].

The man who seeks to do what is good and genuine, must avoid
what is bad and be ready to defy the opinions of the mob, nay,
even to despise it and its misleaders.
--Arthur Schopenhauer (1788—1860)
German philosopher.
"The Wisdom of Life" in
_Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer_, tr. T. Bailey Saunders [1851].

If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot,
Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame,
I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime,
Or I'll so maul you and your toasting-iron,
That you shall think the devil has come from hell.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.

The bold defiance of a woman is the certain sign of her shame,
when she has once ceased to blush, it is because she has too
much to blush for.
--Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Pιrigord (1754—1838)
French statesman.



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DELAY

.
.


see: "IDLENESS"
see: "INACTIVITY"
see: "LAZINESS"
see: "NEGLECT"
see: "PROCRASTINATION"
see: "REST"
see: "WAITING"


Never do today what you can put off till
tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light
as to what is best to be done.
--Aaron Burr (1756—1836)
American third vice-president [1801—1805]
who was tried and acquitted of treason in 1807.
In A. Michael Coleman
_Collection Management Handbook_, p. 18 [203].

By the streets of 'by and by,' one arrives at the house of 'never.'
--Miguel de Cervantes (1547—1616)
Spanish novelist.
In Tryon Edwards _A Dictionary of Thoughts_ [1908], p. 445.

Where duty is plain delay is both foolish and
hazardous; where it is not, delay may be both
wisdom and safety.
--Tryon Edwards (1809—1894)
American theologian.
In _A Dictionary of Thoughts_, [1908].

You can never do a kindness too soon because
you never know how soon it will be too late.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
In Edward R. Drachman
_You Decide!: Controversial Global Issues_, p. 168 [2003].

He that riseth late must tread all day, and shall
scarce overtake his business at night.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.

Away with delay!
The chance of great fortune is short-lived.
--Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus (c. 26—102)
Latin epic poet.
In Tom Morris
_The Art of Achievement: Mastering the 7 Cs of Success in Business and Life_ [2002].

[D]elay is preferable to error.
--Thomas Jefferson (1743—1826)
American statesman and president [1801—1809].
Letter to George Washington [16 May 1792].
In _The Writings of Thomas Jefferson _, p. 338;
published by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States [1904].

Nothing...will ever be attempted if all possible
objections must first be overcome.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
_Rasselas_ [1759]

Do not delay,
Do not delay: the golden moments fly!
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
_The Masque of Pandora_ [1875]

Meet the disorder in its outset. Medicine may be too
late, when the disease has gained ground through
delay.
--Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso] (43 B.C.—18 A.D.)
Roman poet.
In _A New Dictionary of Quotations from the Greek, Latin, and Modern Languages_
[1869, J. B. Lippincott & Co.], p. 371.

The greatest remedy for anger is delay.
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.— 65 A.D.)
Roman philosopher and poet.
_On Anger_ {De Ira}
In William Braxton _On Desire:Why We Want What We Want_[2005], p. 243.


end page



| DANCING - DAY | DEATH - PAGE 1 (A-G) | DEATH - PAGE 2 (H-Z) | DEBATE - DEEDS | DECEPTION | DEFEAT - DELAY | DEMOCRACY | DENIAL - DESIRE | DESPAIR - DICKENS (CHARLES) | DICTIONARY - DILIGENCE | DINNER - DISABILITY | DISAGREEMENT - DISGUISE | DISHONESTY - DOCTORS | DOGS | (ON) DOING GOOD - DREAMS | DRESS - DRUNKENNESS | DUELS - DUTY |
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G |
| Return Home | The Credits | The Cast | Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | The End | The Reviews | Photos |
 
     



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