Laudator Temporis Acti

Anthony Trollope, Dr. Wortle's School (1881), Part II, Chapter VI, conversation between Mr. Peacocke (first speaker) and Lord Carstairs:

'There are sorrows which must be hidden, which it is better to endeavour to bury by never speaking of them, by not thinking of them, if that were possible.'

'Is it as bad as that?' the lad asked.

'It is bad enough sometimes. But never mind. You remember that Roman wisdom—"Dabit Deus his quoque finem." And I think that all things are bearable if a man will only make up his mind to bear them. Do not tell anyone that I have complained.'

'Who—I? Oh, never!'

'Not that I have said anything which all the world might not know; but that it is unmanly to complain.'

See also Anthony Trollope, The Vicar of Bullhampton (1870), Chapter LXVIII:

'Have you no feeling that, though it may be hard with you here,'—and the Vicar, as he spoke, struck his breast,—'you should so carry your outer self, that the eyes of those around you should see nothing of the sorrow within? That is my idea of manliness, and I have ever taken you to be a man.'

Related posts: On Keeping a Stiff Upper Lip; Grosse Seelen Dulden Still; Hiding Troubles; Nietzsche on Emotional Incontinence; Buckled Lips; Emotional Incontinence; Euripidea; Hostile Laughter; Hostile Laughter in Euripides' Medea; Icy Laughter; Notes to Myself; On Concealing One's Misfortunes; Quotations about Complaints.