To conquer without risk is to triumph without glory.

This maxim is commonly attributed to Pierre Corneille and is generally traced to his tragedy *Le Cid* (1636), a play preoccupied with honor, reputation, and the moral weight of heroic action. In the drama’s chivalric world, public esteem depends not merely on winning but on the manner of winning—especially the willingness to face danger and stake one’s life or standing. The line circulates widely in English as a distilled aphorism from the play’s rhetoric of honor, often detached from its specific speakers and scene in later quotation tradition.

The saying argues that achievement derives its moral and social value from the hazards endured to obtain it. A victory gained with no real stakes—no possibility of loss, sacrifice, or failure—may still be a “triumph,” but it lacks “glory,” the public esteem attached to courage under pressure. Implicitly, the quote distinguishes mere success from honorable success: glory is not the outcome alone but the demonstrated character revealed by risk. In modern terms, it critiques easy wins and celebrates endeavors where difficulty and uncertainty make accomplishment meaningful.

1) “A vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire.”
2) “To win without risk is to triumph without glory.”
3) “He who conquers without danger wins without glory.”