Thomas Jefferson used the phrase "wolf by the ear" several times:
But, as it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.
- Jefferson to John Holmes, (discussing slavery and the Missouri question), April 22, 1820[1]
[W]e have the wolf by the ear and feel the danger of either holding or letting him loose.
- Jefferson to Lydia Huntley Sigourney, July 18, 1824[2]
"Wolf by the ears" is a phrase attributed to the emperor Tiberius by the biographer Suetonius: "The cause of his hesitation was fear of the dangers which threatened him on every hand, and often led him to say that he was 'holding a wolf by the ears.'"[3] Jefferson owned a 1718 edition of Suetonius's works.[4]
- Anna Berkes, 5/31/07
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