WIST

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

Henry Kissinger (b. 1923) German-American diplomat
(Attributed)

The still small voice within you must always be the final arbiter when there is a conflict of duty.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian philosopher and nationalist [b. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi]
Young India (4 Aug 1920)

We cannot kindle when we will
The fire that in the heart resides,
The spirit bloweth and is still,
In mystery our soul abides; —
But tasks, in hours of insight willed,
Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
Morality, st. 1 (1852)
Full text.

In a man-to-man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in his magazine.

Erwin Rommel (1891-1944) German field marshal
Infanterie greift an (1937) [tr. Attacks, ed. L. Allen (1979)]

It is an old habit with theologians to beat the living with the bones of the dead.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer and orator
“Reply to Archdeacon Farrar” (fragment) (1890)

Full text.

Apologies for the silence this week — the H1N1 flu grabbed me and threw me down on the couch the past few days. I’m feeling much better, and so will be resuming with the regular WIST posts, starting … about … now.

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #103 (12 Mar 1751)

I don’t recommend being a bachelor, but it helps if you want to write.

Nelson Algren (1909–1981) American writer [b. Nelson Ahlgren Abraham]
(Attributed)

Doctrines are always vague; it would ruin a doctrine to define it, because then it could be analyzed, tested, criticised, and verified.

William Graham Sumner (1840-1910) American minister, sociologist, anthropologist.
“War” (1903), War and Other Essays [ed. A. Keller (1911)]

Religions must all be tolerated and the state has to keep an eye that none of them shall derogate the other, because here everyone must find his salvation in his own way.

[Die Religionen müssen alle toleriert werden und der Fiscal muß nur das Auge darauf haben, dass Keine der Andern abruch tue, denn hier muß ein jeder nach seiner Fasson selig werden.] 

Frederick II (1712-1786) King of Prussia (a.k.a. Frederick the Great)
Reply to his secretaries
On whether Catholic schools should be forbidden in Prussia, which was officially Lutheran.

Unreason and anti-intellectualism abominate thought. Thinking implies disagreement; and disagreement implies nonconformity; and nonconformity implies heresy; and heresy implies disloyalty – so, obviously, thinking must be stopped. But shouting is not a substitute for thinking and reason is not the subversion but the salvation of freedom.

Adlai Ewing Stevenson (1900-1965) American politician
A Call to Greatness (1954)

An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
(Attributed)

Dogma: A hard substance which forms in a soft brain.

Elbert Green Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, printer, businessman
The Roycroft Dictionary (1914)

Yet the will is free;
Strong is the soul, and wise, and beautiful;
The seeds of god-like power are in us still;
Gods are we, bards, saints, heroes, if we will!

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
“Written in Emerson’s Essays” (1849).
Full text.

Courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity, or, if it is insisted upon by a commander, irresponsibility.

Erwin Rommel (1891-1944) German field marshal
Letter (9 Nov 1942)
Quoted in B. H. Liddell Hart (ed), The Rommel Papers (1982)

As long as we love we will hope to live, and when the one dies that we love we will say: “Oh, that we could meet again,” and whether we do or not it will not be the work of theology. It will be a fact in nature. I would not for my life destroy one star of human hope, but I want it so that when a poor woman rocks the cradle and sings a lullaby to the dimpled darling, she will not be compelled to believe that ninety-nine chances in a hundred she is raising kindling wood for hell.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer and orator
What Must We Do to Be Saved?, ch. 11 (1880)
Full text.

I believe that we must find a way to bring ethical considerations to bear upon the direction of scientific development, especially in the life sciences. By invoking fundamental ethical principles, I am not advocating a fusion of religious ethics and scientific inquiry. Rather, I am speaking of what I call “secular ethics,” which embrace the principles we share as human beings: compassion, tolerance, consideration of others, the responsible use of knowledge and power. These principles transcend the barriers between religious believers and non-believers; they belong not to one faith, but to all faiths.

The Dalai Lama (b. 1935) Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader [The 14th Dalai Lama; b. Tenzin Gyatso]
“Our Faith in Science,” essay, New York times (12 Nov 2005)
Full text.

The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.

Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) French statesman and soldier
(Attributed)
In "Some General Comments, <i>Entre Nous</i> ...," <i>Time</i> (8 Dec 1967) (full text), reviewing the book, La Tragedie du General by Jean-Raymond Tournoux, collecting sayings and quotes by De Gaulle.

Nothing is more curious than the self-satisfied dogmatism with which mankind at each period of its history cherishes the delusion of the finality of its existing modes of knowledge.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
“John Dewey and His Influence” (1), The Philosophy of John Dewey [ed. P. Schlipp] (1939)

Time is the only critic without ambition.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
“On Critics,” Writers at Work, Fourth Series [ed. G. Plimpton] (1977)

The victim should have the right to end his life, if he wants. But I think it would be a great mistake. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope.

Stephen Hawking (b. 1942) English physicist, author
Press conference, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (14 Jun 2006)
Full text.

A cult is a religion with no power.

Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938) American writer
In Our Time, ch. 2 (1980)

Sometimes the path you’re on is not as important as the direction you’re heading.

Kevin Smith (b. 1970) American writer, film director, actor
(Attributed)

Music’s exclusive function is to structure the flow of time and keep order in it.

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) American composer
(Attributed)

In G. Szamosi, The Twin Dimensions: Inventing Time and Space (1986)

You will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and poet
“Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series (1841)

Dogmatism is the anti-Christ of learning.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Modes of Thought, 1.3 (1938)

In peace sons bury fathers, but in war fathers bury sons.

Herodotus (c.484-c.420 BC) Greek historian
Histories, Book 1, Ch. 87

To be effective a doctrine must not be understood, but has to be believed in. We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand. A doctrine that is understood is shorn of its strength.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
The True Believer, ch. 57 (1951)

Young people have many pleasures and many sorrows, because they only have themselves to think of, so every wish and every notion assume importance; every pleasure is tasted to the full, but also every sorrow ….

Herman Hesse (1877-1962)
Gertrude (1910) [tr. H. Rosner]

A timid man sees dangers that do not exist.

Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher
Moral Sayings, #688 [tr. D. Lyman, Jr (1862)]

If mankind had wished for what is right, they might have had it long ago.

William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
The Plain Speaker, “On the Pleasure of Hating” (1826)

I see nothing inconsistent between being proud of oneself and one’s ancestors and, at the same time, seeing oneself first and foremost a member of the commonwealth of all races and creeds.

Arthur Ashe (1943-1993) American athlete
Days of Grace : A Memoir (1994)

Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible at the beginning.

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) American composer
An Autobiography (1936)

If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it’s another nonconformist who doesn’t conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity.

Burton Hillis (d. 1977) American columnist, humorist [pseud. for Bill Vaughan]
(Attributed)

The great foe of democracy now and in the near future is plutocracy. Every year that passes brings out this antagonism more distinctly. It is to be the social war of the twentieth century. In that war militarism, expansion and imperialism will all favor plutocracy. In the first place, war and expansion will favor jobbery, both in the dependencies and at home. In the second place, they will take away the attention of the people from what the plutocrats are doing. In the third place, they will cause large expenditures of the people’s money, the return for which will not go into the treasury, but into the hands of a few schemers. In the fourth place, they will call for a large public debt and taxes, and these things especially tend to make men unequal, because any social burdens bear more heavily on the weak than on the strong, and so make the weak weaker and the strong stronger. Therefore expansion and imperialism are a grand onslaught on democracy.

William Graham Sumner (1840-1910) American minister, sociologist, anthropologist.
“The Conquest of the United States by Spain” (1899)
Full text.

If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to change. In my view, science and Buddhism share a search for the truth and for understanding reality. By learning from science about aspects of reality where its understanding may be more advanced, I believe that Buddhism enriches its own worldview.

The Dalai Lama (b. 1935) Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader [The 14th Dalai Lama; b. Tenzin Gyatso]
“Our Faith in Science,” editorial, New York times (12 Nov 2005)
Full text.

Illness is a convent which has its rule, its austerity, its silences, and its inspirations.

Albert Camus (1913-1960) Algerian-French novelist, essayist, playwright
Notebooks: 1942-1951, November 1942 [tr. J. O'Brien (1966)]

Once a doctrine, however irrational, has gained power in a society, millions of people will believe in it rather than feel ostracized and isolated.

Erich Fromm (1900-1980) American psychoanalyst and social philosopher
Psychoanalysis and Religion, ch. 3 (1950)

Being divorced is like being hit by a Mack truck. If you live through it, you start looking very carefully to the right and to the left.

Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Mary, Mary, ch. 1 (1960)

It is always a bad sign in an army when scapegoats are habitually sought out and brought to sacrifice for every conceivable mistake. It usually shows something very wrong in the highest command. It completely inhibits the willingness of junior commanders to make decisions, for they will always try to get chapter and verse for everything they do.

Erwin Rommel (1891-1944) German field marshal
(Dec. 1942), The Rommel Papers, 18 (ed. B. H. Liddell Hart) (1953)

In this country the Episcopalians have done some good, and I want to thank that church. Having on an average less religion than the others — on an average you have done more good to mankind. You preserved some of the humanities. You did not hate music; you did not absolutely despise painting, and you did not altogether abhor architecture, and you finally admitted that it was no worse to keep time with your feet than with your hands. And some went so far as to say that people could play cards, and that God would overlook it, or would look the other way. For all these things accept my thanks.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer and orator
What Must We Do to Be Saved?, ch. 8 (1880)
Full text.

In the real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning, day after day.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) American writer [Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald]
“Handle with Care,” Esquire (Mar 1936)

Many married couples separate because they quarrel incessantly; but just as many separate because they were never honest enough or courageous enough to quarrel when they should have.

Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986) Anglo-American columnist, journalist, author
Syndicated column, Chicago Daily News (1965)

Trust him no further than you can throw him.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English writer, physician
Gnomologia, #5286 (1732)

To a monster the norm must seem monstrous, since everyone is normal to himself.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
East of Eden (1952)

It is a waste of time to be angry about my disability. One has to get on with life and I haven’t done badly. People won’t have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.

Stephen Hawking (b. 1942) English physicist, author
“Return of the Time Lord,” interview by Emma Brockes, Guardian (27 Sep 2005)

Full text.

Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.

Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986) Anglo-American columnist, journalist, author
(Attributed)

There are few ironclad rules of diplomacy, but to one there is no exception. When an official reports that talks were useful, it can safely be concluded that nothing was accomplished.

John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
“The American Ambassador,” Foreign Service Journal (Jun 1969)

Divorce isn’t caused because 50% of marriages end in gayness.

Jon Stewart (b. 1962) American satirist, comedian, and television host. [b. Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz]
The Daily Show, Interview with William Bennett (6 Jun 2006)

Debating gay marriage. Context.

No writer who knows the great writers who did not receive the Prize can accept it other than with humility. There is no need to list these writers. Everyone here may make his own list according to his knowledge and his conscience.

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) American writer
Speech accepting the Nobel Prize (10 Dec 1954)

Full text.