WIST

Jackson, Robert H. -- American Commmunications v. Douds (1950)

Dave — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:29:19 +0000

Intellectual freedom means the right to re-examine much that has been long taken for granted. A free man must be a reasoning man, and he must dare to doubt what a legislative or electoral majority may most passionately assert.

Justice Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice
American Commmunications v. Douds (1950)

Hubbard, Kin -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:28:06 +0000

Some fellows get credit for being conservative when they are only stupid.

Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
(Attributed)

Friedman, Milton -- Capitalism and Freedom, Introduction (1962)

Dave — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:23:58 +0000

The great threat to freedom is the concentration of power.

Milton Friedman (1912-2006) American economist, intellectual
Capitalism and Freedom, Introduction (1962)

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord -- The Lady of Shalott, Part 4, st. 6 (1832)

Dave — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:19:23 +0000

Who is this? And what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they crossed themselves for fear,
All the Knights at Camelot;
But Lancelot mused a little space
He said, “She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott.”

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) English poet
The Lady of Shalott, Part 4, st. 6 (1832)

Herbert, George -- Jacula Prudentum, #343 (1651)

Dave — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:02:55 +0000

He that lies with dogs, riseth with fleas.

George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, #343 (1651)

Hopper, Grace -- Speech (1981)

Dave — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:28:10 +0000

From then on, when anything went wrong with a computer, we said it had bugs in it.

Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992) American admiral, computer scientist, educator
Speech (1981)

On the removal of a large moth from the Harvard Mark I experimental computer (9 Sep 1947). There are, however, earlier examples of the term "bug" for mechanical glitches and computer problems.

Barrie, James -- The Contemporary Review (1891)

Dave — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:54:04 +0000

The best of our fiction is by novelists who allow that it is as good as they can give, and the worst by novelists who maintain that they could do much better if only the public would let them.

Sir James Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist
The Contemporary Review (1891)

Pascal, Blaise -- Pensees, 82 (1670) [tr. Trotter (1931)]

Dave — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:53:15 +0000

The most powerful cause of error is the war existing between the senses and reason.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) French scientist and philosopher
Pensees, 82 (1670) [tr. Trotter (1931)]

Terence -- Heauton Timoroumenos [The Self-Tormentor], Act 4, sc. 5, l. 48 (l. 796)

Dave — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:52:37 +0000

Extreme law is often extreme injustice.

[Ius summum saepe summa est malitia.]

Terence (186?-159 BC) Roman dramatist [Publius Terentius Afer]
Heauton Timoroumenos [The Self-Tormentor], Act 4, sc. 5, l. 48 (l. 796)

Alt. trans.:

"The highest law is often the greatest wrong."
"Extreme justice is often extreme malice."
"Rigorous law is often rigorous injustice."

Mill, John Stuart -- On Liberty, ch. 1 (1859)

Dave — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:50:09 +0000

So natural to mankind is intolerance in whatever they really care about, that religious freedom has hardly anywhere been practically realized, except where religious indifference, which dislikes to have its peace disturbed by theological quarrels, has added its weight to the scale.

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) English philosopher and economist
On Liberty, ch. 1 (1859)

Humboldt, Wilhelm von -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:03:09 +0000

I am more and more convinced that our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.

Baron Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835) German philologist, diplomat
(Attributed)

Goethe, Johann von -- (18 September 1823), in P. Eckermann, Conversations with Goethe, 1835-1848 [tr. Oxenford (1850)]

Dave — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:31:45 +0000

It is not enough to take steps which may some day lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
(18 September 1823), in P. Eckermann, Conversations with Goethe, 1835-1848 [tr. Oxenford (1850)]

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard’s Almanack (Aug 1751)

Dave — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:31:02 +0000

‘Tis a great Confidence in a Friend to tell him your Faults, greater to tell him his.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Aug 1751)

Holmes, Sr., Oliver Wendell -- The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

Dave — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:28:37 +0000

Even in common people, conceit has the virtue of making them cheerful; the man who thinks his wife, his baby, his house, his horse, his dog, and himself severally unequalled, is almost sure to be a good-humored person, though liable to be tedious at times.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

Full text.

Balzac, Honoré de -- Illusions perdues, Vol. 1 “Un grand homme de province à Paris,” Part 1 (1839)

Dave — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:17:01 +0000

What is Art, monsieur, but Nature concentrated?

[Qu'est-ce que l'Art, monsieur? C'est la Nature concentrée.]

Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
Illusions perdues, Vol. 1 “Un grand homme de province à Paris,” Part 1 (1839)

Lost Illusions, Vol. 1 "A Distinguished Provincial at Paris" Full text.