QuoteProject
Is there not some chosen curse, some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man who owes his greatness to his country's ruin!
Joseph Addison
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote expresses disdain for those who achieve greatness at the expense of their country and its people.

Joseph Addison's quote highlights the moral corruption of individuals who climb the ladder of success by betraying their nation. It suggests that there are unseen consequences, possibly divine retribution, for those who exploit the misfortunes of their homeland to gain power and prestige, emphasizing the idea that true greatness should not come from the suffering of others.

Themes

GreatnessBetrayalCountryMoralityConsequences

In practice

Example use cases

During a speech on patriotism, this quote could emphasize the importance of integrity over personal gain.

More from Joseph Addison

Unbounded courage and compassion join'd, Tempering each other in the victor's mind, Alternately proclaim him good and great, And make the hero and the man complete.
Joseph AddisonRead
Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.
Joseph AddisonRead
Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life.
Joseph AddisonRead
Admiration is a very short lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it still be fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual succession of miracles rising up to its view.
Joseph AddisonRead
It is impossible for us, who live in the latter ages of the world, to make observations in criticism, morality, or in any art or science, which have not been touched upon by others. We have little else left us but to represent the common sense of mankind in more strong, more beautiful, or more uncommon lights.
Joseph AddisonRead
An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.
Joseph AddisonRead

Similar quotes

We are all prisoners but some of us are in cells with windows and some without.
Khalil GibranRead
I've always believed in the adage that the secret of eternal youth is arrested development.
Alice Roosevelt LongworthRead
Man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.
Albert CamusRead
The existence of any evil anywhere at any time absolutely ruins a total optimism.
George SantayanaRead
I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there's a pair of us? Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell one's name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog!
Emily DickinsonRead
See the good in people and help them.
Mahatma GandhiRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.