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Grocott & Ward, comps. Grocott’s Familiar Quotations, 6th ed. 189-?.

Half

Fools, not to know that half exceeds the whole!
Addison from Hesiod, Book I. Verse 40; Spectator No. 195; and Valpy’s edition, translated by Elton.

[A maxim often used by the ancients to recommend moderation. Hesiod advised his brother to prefer a friendly accommodation to an expensive lawsuit. “Agree with thine adversary quickly,” says St. Matthew, Chapter v. 25; see also Banks’s Translation of Hesiod, 76.]

Nothing is more true in political arithmetic, than that the same people with half a country is more valuable than the whole.
Spectator, No. CC.

He was no fool
Who said the half is better than the whole.
Armstrong.—A Day, Line 177.