WIST Quotations

Ericsson, Graham -- “Right and Rigor” (2001)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Just because the other person is obviously, blindingly wrong, doesn’t mean we can be sloppy in our arguments against him. All we do in that case is strengthen his position and weaken our own.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
“Right and Rigor” (2001)

Ericsson, Graham -- “Right and Rigor” (2001)

Dave — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:02:50 +0000

Expediency is the first refuge of scoundrels.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
“Right and Rigor” (2001)

See Johnson.

Ericsson, Graham -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The road to hell is paved with religious conservatives? Nah, probably not. I’ve no doubt, though, that there are a few being used to fill in the potholes.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
(Attributed)

Ericsson, Graham -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Do what you need to do.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
(Attributed)

Ericsson, Graham -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

History is unchanging truths veiled in ever-changing circumstances.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
(Attributed)

Ericsson, Graham -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

There are none so blind as those who think they can see.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
(Attributed)

Ericsson, Graham -- A View from Eighteen, ch. 1 (2011)

Dave — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:14:12 +0000

A century from now, nobody will know which way I drove to work, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have to keep my eyes on the road.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
A View from Eighteen, ch. 1 (2011)

Ericsson, Graham -- Fragments Few and Free (1999)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Anger is a corpse in the closet: the longer locked up, the greater the stink when brought out.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Fragments Few and Free (1999)

Ericsson, Graham -- Fragments Few and Free (1999)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

We don’t have any enemies. Just friends we wish wouldn’t call so often.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Fragments Few and Free (1999)

Ericsson, Graham -- Fragments Few and Free (1999)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

To say, “You’re angry over such a little thing,” is like saying, “The fire started with just a little match.” It may well be true, but it does nothing to alleviate the present situation.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Fragments Few and Free (1999)

Ericsson, Graham -- Heaven and Earth (2002)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

There is no good cause for religious persecution. No convert is true who comes to the faith through pain and fear. All persecution does is plant seeds of doubt amongst the hearts of the faithful as to the truth of their cause.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Heaven and Earth (2002)

Ericsson, Graham -- Heaven and Earth (2002)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Poverty, when voluntary, is quite probably a virtue. But few can blame those subjected to it involuntarily for wishing to be done with it.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Heaven and Earth (2002)

Ericsson, Graham -- Heaven and Earth (2002)

Dave — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:47:11 +0000

Church and state are drawn to each other like moths and flame, and when they are, it’s always about power — power over the population, power over souls. power over votes. But religious and political leaders alike should remember what happens when the moth and flame finally get together.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Heaven and Earth (2002)

Ericsson, Graham -- Heaven and Earth (2002)

Dave — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:49:37 +0000

There’s always a temptation for the Church to try and take on the power of the state. There are all those souls to save, don’t you know, and all those rules to pass to make sure they are. But politics, statecraft, lawmaking, power brokering — those engines all run on compromise, and compromise is the worst enemy of principle, which is, after all, what the Church is supposed to be about to be about. It’s hard to be a moral compass when you keep turning from your course.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Heaven and Earth (2002)

Ericsson, Graham -- Heaven and Earth (2002)

Dave — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:59:35 +0000

Religious leaders too often think that if they just got the government to pay for their programs, they could do so much more good. But they should also know too well from bitter experience that big donors often have strings attached to their donations, and Uncle Sam is the biggest donor of all. Accept his money, even if he seems to be nodding in agreement with you, and sooner or later you’ll find you’ve compromised away your mission and become too dependent on his largesse to get it back. Churches should keep away from the state, not just for the good of the state, but for their own good as well.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Heaven and Earth (2002)

Ericsson, Graham -- Heaven and Earth (2002)

Dave — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:09:20 +0000

The powerful — be they church leaders or politicians — always seem to forget the one lesson of history: everything changes. The party in power today is not going to be the party in power in a decade, or next year. The group you made a gentleman’s agreement with this election cycle is going to be a completely different group, with different demands, next one. And yet, the powerful insist on trying to weaken the rules that keep them from being still more powerful, as if that could fend off the day of their fall — and the rise of others, probably their opponents, who will operate under the same weakened rules and ugly precedents. Unfortunately, in those sorts of payback situations, nobody’s a winner.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Heaven and Earth (2002)

Ericsson, Graham -- Heaven and Earth, ch. 2 (2002)

Dave — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:09:27 +0000

I am less concerned about my relationship with God in the afterlife than I am in my relationship with him in this one.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Heaven and Earth, ch. 2 (2002)

Ericsson, Graham -- Into a New Day (2008)

Dave — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:29:37 +0000

Where religion speaks of the heart and soul, and of what happens before we’re born and after we die, and why, then agreeing or disagreeing with it is a matter of personal taste, spirit, and judgment. Where it speaks of the objective, of the real world, of what evidence of our eyes should be accepted or rejected, it is worth no more than anyone else spouting off at a cocktail party.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Into a New Day (2008)

Ericsson, Graham -- Into a New Day (2008)

Dave — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:26:24 +0000

The rule of law should not suspended whenever it is convenient or urgent. It is at times when we are most tempted, most compelled to ignore the law that we should should be most reliant upon it, and consider most carefully the consequences of ignoring it. The law is there precisely to keep us from making mistakes when it is convenient or urgent to act.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Into a New Day (2008)

Ericsson, Graham -- Into a New Day (2008)

Dave — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 03:50:10 +0000

Imposed virtues are not virtuous — they are conformist.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Into a New Day (2008)

Ericsson, Graham -- My So-Called Deep Thoughts (2002)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Aesthetics are not morality. Don’t confuse Taste for Truth, Icky for Evil, or Preference for Perfection.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
My So-Called Deep Thoughts (2002)

Ericsson, Graham -- Tangled Web (2004)

Dave — Wed, 10 Mar 2004 17:02:57 +0000

Usually, I’m not really asking advice. I’m asking approval.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Tangled Web (2004)

Ericsson, Graham -- Tangled Web (2004)

Dave — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:07:48 +0000

Anyone who says the computer always gets things right is trying to sell you a computer.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Tangled Web (2004)

Ericsson, Graham -- Tangled Web (2004)

Dave — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 20:44:50 +0000

Too many moral busy-bodies have confuse impertinent with important.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Tangled Web (2004)

Ericsson, Graham -- The Crisis of the Day (2004)

Dave — Mon, 31 May 2004 10:52:13 +0000

Silence is not damage control. Silence is standing by hoping that if you don’t pay attention to the fires and the water rushing into the hold, it will all magically go away. Swift, forthright, honest communication: that’s damage control. Because what’s usually damaged most in a crisis is trust, and you can only be trusted if you show yourself trustworthy.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
The Crisis of the Day (2004)

Ericsson, Graham -- Thoughts Like Leaves (28 Jul. 2002)

Dave — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 18:25:20 +0000

You may autopsy a body all day long, but you’ll never learn what sort of jokes he liked.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
Thoughts Like Leaves (28 Jul. 2002)

Ericsson, Graham -- What Have You Done To Me Lately?, ch. 1 (2014)

Dave — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 17:29:32 +0000

We so want heroes, and we want to think that someone who is good and inspirational in some ways is good and inspirational in all ways — a dubious proposition even in modern times, let along fifty, a hundred, two hundred years ago or more. Which then lets us exercise that other instinctive desire: we so want villains ….

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
What Have You Done To Me Lately?, ch. 1 (2014)

Ericsson, Graham -- What Have You Done To Me Lately?, ch. 1 (2014)

Dave — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 13:59:34 +0000

Heroism is a model. It is worthwhile to the extent that it is useful. Humans are all full of glory and garbage, and to dwell too long on one or the other robs us of that very humanity.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
What Have You Done To Me Lately?, ch. 1 (2014)

Ericsson, Graham -- What Have You Done To Me Lately?, ch. 5 (2014)

Dave — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 15:57:53 +0000

If we need fear to keep us safe, we also need to apply reason to fear to make sure it’s serving us, not the other way around.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist
What Have You Done To Me Lately?, ch. 5 (2014)