Victory was to be bought so dear as to be almost indistinguishable from defeat.
A Cadmean victory
A Cadmean victory has come to mean a victory in which the victor suffers as much as the loser.
Never have so few, lost so much, so stupidly, so fast.
This much have I learned: A man's life weighs more than glory, and a price paid in blood is a heavy reckoning.
I paid too heavy a price for perestroika.
Poor Martin. Geek or no, committing his soul to eternal damnation was a helluva price to pay for six minutes.
In this world people have to pay an extortionate price for any exceptional gift whatever.
I do not buy repentance at so heavy a cost as a thousand drachmae.
Any victory would be dear at such a price.
One has to look at my life story to see what I've done. I've paid a heavy price that many people don't realize.
Slight was the thing I bought, small was the debt I thought, Poor was the loan at best - God! but the interest!
Let us not envy some men their accumulated riches; their burden would be too heavy for us; we could not sacrifice, as they do, health, quiet, honor and conscience, to obtain them: It is to pay so dear from them that the bargain is a loss.