But banish care, it’s no time for it now — on with the dance, let joy be unconfined is my motto, whether there’s any dance to dance or any joy to unconfine ….
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
“The American Claimant,” ch. 2 (1892)
On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
No sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto III “The Eve of Waterloo” (1816)
To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman and reformer
Where Do We Go from Here>, 3.2 (1967)
There are few, very few, that will own themselves in a mistake, though all the World sees them to be in downright nonsense.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English writer and churchman
The Tatler #63 (Sep 1709)
A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.
W. H. Auden (1907-1973) American poet [Wystan Hugh Auden]
“Squares and Oblongs” (1948)
Thought when sober, said when drunk.
Other Authors and Sources
English saying
Father of all! in every age,
Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet
In every clime adored,
By saint, by savage, and by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!
“The Universal Prayer” (1738)
More undertakings fail for want of spirit than for want of sense.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
“On Manners,” The Round Table (1817)
He who sings, prays twice.
[Qui cantat, bis orat.]
Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Christian church father, philosopher, saint [b. Aurelius Augustinus]
(Attributed)
Sometimes cited to Sermon 336, but this text is not found there. Often given as "Qui bene cantat bis orat" (properly, "He who sings well prays twice.")The closest found in Augustine's work (CCL 39, per here) is:
"For he who sings praise, does not only praise, but also praises joyfully; he who sings praise, not only sings, but also loves Him whom he is singing about/to/for. There is a praise-filled public proclamation in the praise of someone who is confessing/acknowledging God, in the song of the lover there is love."
"[Qui enim cantat laudem, non solum laudat, sed etiam hilariter laudat; qui cantat laudem, non solum cantat, sed et amat eum quem cantat. In laude confitentis est praedicatio, in cantico amantis affectio...]"
Alternate: "The one who sings praise, not only praises, but also praises joyfully; the one who sings praise, not only sings, but also loves Him for whom he sings. In the praise by one who confesses the Divine Being, praise actually is a public profession; and in the song of the lover is affection for the Beloved."
“Was that the truth, Cluracan?”
“All of it except the sword-fight with the palace guard, which I threw in to add verisimilitude, excitement, and local color to an otherwise bald and insipid narrative.”
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British fabulist
The Sandman, Vol. 8, World’s End, “Cluracan’s Tale” [Innkeeper and Cluracan] (#52) (1993)
Experience is a good school. But the fees are high.
Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) German poet and critic
(Attributed)
The Sting of a Reproach is the Truth of it.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English writer, physician
Gnomologia, #4769 (1732)
Reason is our soul’s left hand, faith her right;
John Donne (1572-1631) English poet
By thee we reach divinity.
Letter to the Countess of Bedford (1610)
Understanding human needs is half the job of meeting them.
Adlai Ewing Stevenson (1900-1965) American politician
Speech, Columbus, Ohio (3 Oct 1952)
In a world that operates largely at random, coincidences are to be expected, but any one of them must always be mistrusted.
Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Champagne for One, ch. 5 [Wolfe] (1958)
I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
Letter to a Baptist minister (17 Jul 1953)
Whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English writer and churchman
Gulliver’s Travels, 2.7 (1726)
If you’d be not forgotten
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher
As soon as you are dead and rotten,
Either write things worth reading,
or do things worth the writing.
Poor Richard’s Almanack (May 1738)
The pursuit of perfection, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and light. He who works for sweetness and light, works to make reason and the will of God prevail. He who works for machinery, he who works for hatred, works only for confusion. Culture looks beyond machinery, culture hates hatred; culture has one great passion, the passion for sweetness and light.
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
Culture and Anarchy, ch. 1 “Sweetness and Light” (1869)
Full text.
There is not an idea that cannot be expressed in 200 words. But the writer must know precisely what he wants to say. If you have nothing to say and want badly to say it, then all the words in all the dictionaries will not suffice.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Letter to Mrs. Blumberg (27 Sep 1977)
I’ve made a change in how Bible verses are quoted in WIST. Whereas before I had Bible quotes falling underneath “Other Authors and Sources,” I’ve now designated “Bible” as an “author” in the database, allowing easier grouping and finding of quotations from there. (One could arguably assert various “authors” within the Bible, especially in the New Testament, but I’m not going to take it to that detail; the authorship is associated with the book cited and is subject to whatever scholarship the reader cares to accept.)
I’m also trying to be more diligent about citing the translation in use, since that can have a lot of influence on how the ideas are presented (or even whether folks consider them “valid”). I’m generally not citing source links, as the reader may have their preference. The three I use, for different reasons:
There are other Holy Books / Scripture out there which I still have lumped under “Other,” mostly because the number of quote I have from them is relatively small. As I see a need, I’ll break them out into their own “author” categories.
The best safeguard against fascism is to establish social justice to the maximum possible extent.
Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) English historian
The Toynbee-Ikeda Dialogue: Man Himself Must Choose, ch. 8 (1976)
“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
The Bible (14th C BC - 2nd C AD) Christian sacred scripture
Matthew 6:1-6 (NIV)
KJV: "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
"Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
His uncertainty forces the enthusiast to puff up his truths, of which he feels none too sure, and to win proselytes to his side in order that his followers may prove to himself the value and trustworthiness of his own convictions. … Only when convincing someone else does he feel safe from gnawing doubts.
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologist
“The Relations between the Ego and the Unconscious” (1.2) (1928) [tr. Hull (1953)]
There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.
Sun-Tzu (fl. 6th C. AD) Chinese general and philosopher [a.k.a. Sun Wu]
The Art of War
Nothing we use or hear or touch can be expressed in words that equal what is given by the senses.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
“Civil Disobedience,” New Yorker (12 Sep 1970)
Don’t make excuses — make good!
Elbert Green Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, printer, businessman
A Thousand and One Epigrams (1911)
Wherever there are in any country uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been extended as to violate natural right. The earth is given as a common stock for man to labor and live on.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) US President (1801-09)
Letter to James Madison (28 Oct 1785)
The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loved to paint … but is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.
C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer and scholar [Clive Staples Lewis]
The Screwtape Letters, rev. ed., Introduction (1942, 1982)
And surely one of the best rules in conversation is, never to say a thing which any of the company can reasonably wish had been left unsaid ….
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English writer and churchman
Hints Toward an Essay on Conversation (1709)
The stars are dead. The animals will not look.
W. H. Auden (1907-1973) American poet [Wystan Hugh Auden]
We are left alone with our day, and the time is short, and
History to the defeated
May say Alas but cannot help nor pardon.
“Spain,” l. 101-104 (1937)
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Other Authors and Sources
Dave Lebling, Zork (1977)
It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas.
If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. You never learn anything new. You become a crotchety old person convinced that nonsense is ruling the world. (There is, of course, much data to support you.)
On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish useful ideas from the worthless ones. If all ideas have equal validity then you are lost, because then, it seems to me, no ideas have any validity at all.
Carl Sagan (1934-1996) American scientist and writer
“The Burden of Skepticism,” Pasadena lecture (1987)
Failure: A man who has blundered but is not able to cash in on the experience.
Elbert Green Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, printer, businessman
The Roycroft Dictionary (1914)
So give to the poor; I’m begging you, I’m warning you, I’m commanding you, I’m ordering you.
Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Christian church father, philosopher, saint [b. Aurelius Augustinus]
Sermon 61, para. 13
In some sources / arrangements, cited as Sermon 11. Full text.Alt trans.:
- "Give then to the poor; I beg, I advise, I charge, I command you. "
- "Therefore, give to the poor. I beg you, I admonish you, I charge you, I command you to give." [tr. Schopp, Deferrari (1951)]
“I must confess, I have always wondered what lay beyond life, my dear.”
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British fabulist
“Yeah, everybody wonders. And sooner or later everybody gets to find out.”
The Sandman, Vol. 6, Fables and Reflections, “Distant Mirrors – Three Septembers and a January” [Norton I and Death] (#31) (1991)
Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
Aesop (620?-560? BC) Legendary Greek storyteller
“The Wolf and the Lamb,” Fables [tr. Jacobs (1894)]
ALBANY: Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
King Lear, I.iv.369 (1605)
Man cannot live without an enduring faith in something indestructible within him.
Franz Kafka (1883-1924) Austrian writer
(Attribute)
In Max Brod, introduction to Gustav Janouch, Conversations with Kafka (1953) [tr. Rees] Alt trans: "Man cannot live long without a steady faith in something indestructible within him, though both faith and the indestructible thing may remain permanently concealed from him."
Ignorance is stubborn and prejudice dies hard.
Adlai Ewing Stevenson (1900-1965) American politician
Address, United Nations (1 Oct 1963)
I would appreciate it if they would call a halt on all their devoted efforts to find a way to abolish war or eliminate disease or run trains with atoms or extend the span of human life to a couple of centuries, and everybody concentrate for a while on how to wake me up in the morning without my resenting it. It may be that a bevy of beautiful maidens in pure silk yellow very sheer gowns, barefooted, singing Oh, What a Beautiful Morning and scattering rose petals over me would do the trick, but I’d have to try it.
Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Before Midnight, ch. 20 [Archie] (1955)
Other people’s appetites easily appear excessive when one doesn’t share them.
André Gide (1869-1951) French author, Nobel laureate
The Counterfeiters, 3.1 (1925) [tr. Bussy (1951)]
Poverty must have many satisfactions, else there would not be so many poor people.
Don Herold (1889-1966) American humorist, author
(Attributed)
Fame is a bee
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) American poet
It has a song —
It has a sting –
Ah, too, it has a wing.
“Fame is a bee”
What is the course of the life
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
Of mortal men on the earth?—
Most men eddy about
Here and there—eat and drink,
Chatter and love and hate,
Gather and squander, are raised
Aloft, are hurl’d in the dust,
Striving blindly, achieving
Nothing; and, then they die—
Perish; and no one asks
Who or what they have been,
More than he asks what waves
In the moonlit solitudes mild
Of the midmost Ocean, have swell’d,
Foam’d for a moment, and gone.
“Rugby Chapel,” st. 6 (1867)
Full text.
You accept certain unlovely things about yourself and manage to live with them. The atonement for such an acceptance is that you make allowances for others — that you cleanse yourself of the sin of self-righteousness.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Working and Thinking on the Waterfront (1969)
The beginning of all is to have done with falsity — to eschew falsity as death eternal.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Journal (23 Jun 1870)
In every age of transition men are never so firmly bound to one way as when they are about to abandon it, so that fanaticism and intolerance reach their most intense forms just before tolerance and mutual acceptance come to be the natural order of things.
Bernard Levin (b. 1928) British journalist, critic, satirist
The Pendulum Years: Britain and the Sixties, ch. 4 (1970)
When the enemy is at ease, be able to weary him; when well fed, to starve him; when at rest, to make him move. Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you.
Sun-Tzu (fl. 6th C. AD) Chinese general and philosopher [a.k.a. Sun Wu]
The Art of War
Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one single deed from which we could never recover; we would remain the victims of its consequences forever, not unlike the sorcerer’s apprentice who lacks the magic formula to break the spell.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
The Human Condition, ch. 33 (1958)
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