[Ads-l] Japanese (?) proverb

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

JL's excerpt may be slightly garbled. The book by French author Henry
de Montherlant appears to refer to "another quarter of an hour".

Year: 1962
Book: Dream
Author: Henry de Montherlant
Publisher: Weidenfeld and Nicolson,
Quote Page 85
Database: Google Snippet View; data may be inaccurate; must be
verified with hardcopy or scans

[Begin extracted text]
Remembering the Japanese proverb: 'Victory belongs to him who can hold
out another quarter of an hour,' she modified it thus: 'Victory
belongs to him who can bear to be insulted for another quarter of an
hour.'
[End extracted text]

A French military manual translated into English in 1917 also refers
to a "quarter of an hour longer". The adage below about "complete
victory" is enclosed in quotation marks; hence, it probably was
already in circulation. I conjecture that this remark about 15 minutes
was derived from the family of sayings about bravery and "two/five
minutes".

Year: 1917
Title: Manual of the Chief of Platoon of Infantry
Comment: This translation of the main portion of the French "Manuel du
Chef de Section d'infanterie", Edition of January 1917, is published
for the information of all concerned
Publisher: Headquarters American Expeditionary Forces
Quote Page 11
Database: HathiTrust

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112088069809
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112088069809?urlappend=%3Bseq=17

[Begin excerpt – check for typos]
In dark hours, when discouragement appears, officers and
non-commissioned officers act in unity in order to drive it from the
company: they remind all that whatever happens, one must never
despair, that there is no good reason why the enemy should not be
quite as much reduced and depressed as anybody else, that in war,
fortune has most sudden returns for those who do not give up and that
a "complete victory belongs to him who can suffer one quarter of an
hour longer than the other".
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Aug 27, 2018 at 12:48 AM Mark Mandel <mark.a.mandel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I should hope not! What kind of structure is "another of an hour"?
>
> Mark
>
>
> On Sun, Aug 26, 2018, 9:00 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > From Peter Quennell's 1962 translation of Henry de Montherlant's 1922
> > novel, _The Dream_ (p.85):
> >
> > "Remembering the Japanese proverb: 'Victory belongs to him who can hold
> > out another of an hour.'"
> >
> > The sentiment sounds vaguely familiar, but I don't see this formulation on
> > the Net.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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