[Ads-l] Loving Humanity and Hating People

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Excellent Dostoyevsky citation, Ben.

Here is a version of the sentiment written in German in 1832 by Ludwig
Börne who was describing the attitude of the poet Lord Byron.

Year: 1832
Title: Briefe aus Paris
Author: Ludwig Börne
Volume 2
Publisher: Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg, Germany
Database: deutschestextarchiv.de

http://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/show/boerne_paris02_1832
http://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/view/boerne_paris02_1832/?hl=Byron&p=192

[Begin excerpt]
Byron haßte die Menschen, weil er die Menschheit, das Leben, weil er
die Ewigkeit liebte.
[End excerpt]

[Begin translation]
Byron hated men because he loved mankind, life, because he loved eternity.
[End translation]

Garson


On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 3:07 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> "The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular."
> Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880, transl. by Constance
> Garnett, 1912)
>
>
> On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 2:19 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Edna St. Vincent Millay's 1919 play "Aria da Capo" has the line "I love
>> humanity but I hate people."  The idea must be older than that.  Can anyone
>> point me to earlier variants on this quotation?
>>
>>
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org