A Quote by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

The real beggar is indeed the true and only king.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Quote Topics

Beggar Indeed King Only Real True

Quote Author

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
German - Critic
January 22, 1729 - February 15, 1781

A beggar's mistake harms no one but the beggar. A king's mistake, however, harms everyone but the king. Too often, the measure of power lies not in the number who obey your will, but in the number who suffer your stupidity.

R. Scott Bakker

Costis followed, telling himself that it wasn't true that he and the king and even the stone under their feet were nothing but tissue, transparently thin, and that for a moment, the only real thing in the universe had been there on the parapet with the king.

Megan Whalen Turner

I would rather be a beggar and spend my money like a king, than be a king and spend money like a beggar.

Robert Green Ingersoll

HAMLET [...] we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service, two dishes, but to one table; that's the end. CLAUDIUS Alas, alas. HAMLET A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. CLAUDIUS What dost thou mean by this? HAMLET Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.

William Shakespeare

It is not the thinker who is the true king of men, as we sometimes hear it proudly said. We need one who will not only show, but be the Truth; who will not only point, but open and be the Way; who will not only communicate thought, but give, because He is the Life. Not the rabbi's pulpit, nor the teacher's desk, still less the gilded chairs of earthly monarchs, least of all the' tents of conquerors, are the throne of the true king. He rules from the cross.

Alexander MacLaren

You know your real nature [to be divine]. You are the king and play you are a beggar. . . . It is all fun. Know it and play. That is all there is to it. Then practice it. The whole universe is a vast play.

Swami Vivekananda

The whole world is in revolt. Soon there will be only five Kings left--the King of England, the King of Spades, The King of Clubs, the King of Hearts, and the King of Diamonds.

Farouk of Egypt

Bachchan has been in the film industry over 35 years and he is the real king. There are many who are around for 15-20 years and like to call themselves king. There is only one king and he is Amitabh Bachchan

Akshay Kumar

To me there is no difference whether president, beggar, or king.

Dalai Lama

The resurrection is the revelation to chosen witnesses of the fact that Jesus who died on the cross is indeed king - conqueror of death and sin, Lord and Savior of all. The resurrection is not the reversal of a defeat but the proclamation of a victory. The King reigns from the tree. The reign of God has indeed come upon us, and its sign is not a golden throne but a wooden cross.

Lesslie Newbigin

For a beggar to live at court is not so much as the King to dwell with him in his cottage.

William Gurnall

Treasures and armies do not make a king. A true king is a king within himself.

Rumi

Who was the fool, who the wise man, beggar or king? Whether poor or rich, all's the same in death.

Jacoby Shaddix

Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim, When King Cophetua loved the beggar-maid!

William Shakespeare

In a democracy, every ordinary citizen is effectively a king--but a king in a constitutional democracy, a monarch who decides only formally, whose function is merely to sign off on measures proposed by an executive administration. This is why the problem with democratic rituals is homologous to the great problem of constitutional monarchy: how to protect the dignity of the king? How to maintain the appearance that the king effectively makes decisions, when we all know this not to be true?