discretion is the better part of the valor
Yue1011
if possible, I'd like to know the origin of this proverb. Thanks in advance.
N.Mitchum
-----
> What's your understanding of the proverb? Can you provide one or two example ,
> if possible, I'd like to know the origin of this proverb. Thanks in advance.
A live dog is better than a dead lion.
Run away today, and live to fight another day.
Caution is sometimes the best course, even if it seems cowardly;
by retreating today, you may prepare a victory tomorrow.
In one form and another the proverb dates back to the ancient
world, but it was Shakespeare who gave us the modern wording,
more or less, in *Henry IV, Pt. 1* ("The better part of valour is
discretion").
----NM
Donna Richoux
> Yue1011 wrote:
> -----
> > What's your understanding of the proverb? Can you provide one or two
> > example , if possible, I'd like to know the origin of this proverb.
>
> A live dog is better than a dead lion.
> Run away today, and live to fight another day.
>
> Caution is sometimes the best course, even if it seems cowardly;
> by retreating today, you may prepare a victory tomorrow.
>
> In one form and another the proverb dates back to the ancient
> world, but it was Shakespeare who gave us the modern wording,
> more or less, in *Henry IV, Pt. 1* ("The better part of valour is
> discretion").
A couple of additional points. One is that the header has an extra
"the," it should be "Discretion is the better part of valor."
Second, my understanding is that "the better part" means "the larger
part, the most part." Otherwise you might think it means "the good
part."
So, a paraphrase could be, "Being careful is a large part of being
brave," or something like that, anyway. Precisely what "discretion"
meant to Shakespeare would require some research. But that is more or
less what people mean when they say it -- usually when they are ready to
give up and run away.
Best wishes --- Donna Richoux
Bob Cunningham
said:
[ . . . ]
>So, a paraphrase could be, "Being careful is a large part of being
>brave," or something like that, anyway. Precisely what "discretion"
>meant to Shakespeare would require some research. But that is more or
>less what people mean when they say it -- usually when they are ready to
>give up and run away.
He who fights and runs away
Lives to fight another day.
-- from an old Keenan Wynne movie
But now I see in Bartlett's that a similar thought was expressed by
Menander, Tertulian, Erasmus, and Anonymous (1594). (That must be
before Anonymous turned to writing dirty books.)
The movie lines appear almost exactly as part of a quotation from
Goldsmith, _The Art of Poetry on a New Plan_ (1761). (Maybe the match
would be more nearly exact if I remembered better the movie lines):
For he who fights and runs away
May live to fight another day;
But he who is in battle slain
Can never rise and fight again.
Mark Barratt
Yue1011 <yue...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:19990725114931...@ng-fb1.aol.com...
> What's your understanding of the proverb? Can you provide one or two
example ,
advance.
a) The second occurrence of "the" in the subject line is erroneous.
b) Valor (valour in UK) = bravery, boldness, heroic attitude.
Otherwise, a good question. Shakespeare uses a version of this, in the
mouth of Falstaff in Henry V, IIRC. Falstaff, when he says this, is
running away from a battle and abandoning his friends, so Shakespeare
is obviously inviting us to interpret "discretion" as "cowardice."
The proverb makes no sense if you give "discretion" its most common
modern meaning, which is close in meaning to "tact." I have always
assumed that by "discretion," Shakespeare meant something like "fine
judgement," similar (but not identical) to its sense in the phrase "at
your discretion." There is perhaps some overlap with the word
"discrimination."
Any pedants with copies of "Compleat Works of Shakspear" are free to
differ.
Mark Barratt