Title : "What's that thing, I think, Voltaire said — 'Not that I should succeed, but that my friends should fail'?"
link : "What's that thing, I think, Voltaire said — 'Not that I should succeed, but that my friends should fail'?"
"What's that thing, I think, Voltaire said — 'Not that I should succeed, but that my friends should fail'?"
Said Duncan Trussell, near the end of a new 3-hour Joe Rogan podcast.Voltaire?!
I love Duncan Trussell, who is also, and very obviously, Joe Rogan's favorite guest, but I think he's got the attribution wrong.
I associate it with Gore Vidal, but in the form "It is not enough to succeed; others must fail." No friends in that picture.
But Quote Investigator looked into a set of similar quotes, one of which was "It is not enough to succeed; one’s friends must fail."
I think it's better without dragging the friend relationship into the concept, but the oldest appearance of the approximate idea was: "Now that I’ve grown old, I realize that for most of us it is not enough to have achieved personal success. One’s best friend must also have failed."That's Somerset Maugham (quoted in 1959). There's an older appearance if you count this as the same thing: "In the misfortune of our best friends, we always find something which is not displeasing to us." That's La Rochefoucauld (in the 17th century). He also said, "We all have strength enough to bear the misfortunes of others."
Gore Vidal's name comes up in a 1973 NYT article by Wilfrid Sheed. Vidal is quoted saying "Every time a friend succeeds I die a little," and then Sheed goes on to credit La Rochefoucauld for the quote, "it is not enough to succeed; a friend must also fail."
The first use of the form that I think is best — "It is not enough to succeed; others must fail" — comes from Iris Murdoch in 1973.
Anyway, leave Voltaire out of it. He wouldn't say that. Would he?
Voltaire?!
I love Duncan Trussell, who is also, and very obviously, Joe Rogan's favorite guest, but I think he's got the attribution wrong.
I associate it with Gore Vidal, but in the form "It is not enough to succeed; others must fail." No friends in that picture.
But Quote Investigator looked into a set of similar quotes, one of which was "It is not enough to succeed; one’s friends must fail."
I think it's better without dragging the friend relationship into the concept, but the oldest appearance of the approximate idea was: "Now that I’ve grown old, I realize that for most of us it is not enough to have achieved personal success. One’s best friend must also have failed."That's Somerset Maugham (quoted in 1959). There's an older appearance if you count this as the same thing: "In the misfortune of our best friends, we always find something which is not displeasing to us." That's La Rochefoucauld (in the 17th century). He also said, "We all have strength enough to bear the misfortunes of others."
Gore Vidal's name comes up in a 1973 NYT article by Wilfrid Sheed. Vidal is quoted saying "Every time a friend succeeds I die a little," and then Sheed goes on to credit La Rochefoucauld for the quote, "it is not enough to succeed; a friend must also fail."
The first use of the form that I think is best — "It is not enough to succeed; others must fail" — comes from Iris Murdoch in 1973.
Anyway, leave Voltaire out of it. He wouldn't say that. Would he?
Thus articles "What's that thing, I think, Voltaire said — 'Not that I should succeed, but that my friends should fail'?"
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