All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
Sun-Tzu (fl. 6th C. AD) Chinese general and philosopher [a.k.a. Sun Wu]
The Art of War, ch. 1
Alt trans.: "A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective."
It takes great courage to back truth unacceptable to our times. There’s punishment for it, and it’s usually crucifixion.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
East of Eden (1952)
I have written this Poem from immediate Dictation, twelve or sometimes twenty or thirty lines at a time, without Premeditation and even against my Will; the Time it has taken in writing was thus render’d Non Existent, and an immense Poem Exists which seems to be the Labor of a long life, all produc’d without Labor or Study.
William Blake (1757-1827) English poet, mystic, artist
Letter to his patron Thomas Butts (25 Apr 1803)
Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Mar 1756)
I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure, unless built upon truth and justice, therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects.
Napoleon Hill (1883-1970) American author, motivational writer
Think and Grow Rich (1938)
Full text.
Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)
A very great part of the mischiefs that vex this world arises from words.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Anglo-Irish statesman, orator, philosopher
Letter to Richard Burke (c. 1795)
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
Derek Bok (b. 1930) American lawyer, educator
(Attributed)
Also attributed to Andy McIntyre.
Envy is the sincerest form of flattery.
We can bear to be deprived of everything but our self-conceit.
DREAM: Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 3. Dream Country, # 19 “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1990)
(Source)
Administrivia: And a Happy New Year!
This week has been a bit spotty with WIST, as I’ve been in a flurry of holiday/vacation travel and activities. I’m going to be taking a week off from WIST until after the New Year, since the coming week will be even more harried (and likely less connected).
Thank you all for your support and reading of this little hobby of mine. I’ll be doing a more official tally in the New Year, but I’ve added probably a good thousand quotes to the list, and had a great time doing so.
Here’s hoping you and yours have a wonderful holiday season, and that the new year brings you both joy and illuminating words to ponder.
True love ennobles and dignifies the material labors of life; and homely services rendered for love’s sake have in them a poetry that is immortal.
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Household Papers and Stories, Part 2, ch. 4 (1864)
He that knows how to make those he converses with easy, without debasing himself to low and servile Flattery, has found the true Art of living in the World, and being both welcome and valued everywhere.
John Locke (1632-1704) English philosopher
Some Thoughts Concerning Education, #143 (1693)
The sophist sneers: Fool, take
Thy pleasure, right or wrong!
The pious wail: Forsake
A world these sophists throng!
Be neither saint nor sophist-led, but be a man.Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
Empedocles on Etna, Act I, sc. ii (1852)
Full text.
Every man has a retirement picture in which he does those things he never had time to do — makes journeys, reads the neglected books he always pretended to have read.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
East of Eden (1952)
If you are a Christian, you are a minister. This proposition is absolutely basic to any understanding of the Christian movement. A non-ministering Christian is a contradiction in terms. The Christian faith is not made up of spectators listening to professionals, and it is not for individuals who are seeking, primarily, to save their own souls. It is necessarily made up of persons who are called to serve as representatives of Christ in the world, and to serve means to minister. Ministry is intrinsic to the Christian life. Ministry is not something added or means to an end; it is central and ineradicable.
D. Elton Trueblood (1900-1994) American author, educator, theologian [David Elton Trueblood]
“You Are a Minister”
I like life. It’s something to do.
Ronnie Shakes (1947-1987) American comedian [Ronald Michael Sakele]
(Attributed)
Envy […] desires not so much its own happiness as another’s misery.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #183 (Dec 1751)
(Source)
No one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
“On Taste,” Sketches and Essays (1839)
CYNICAL CAT: Little one, I would like to see anyone — prophet, king or God — persuade a thousand cats to do anything at the same time.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 3. Dream Country, # 18 “A Dream of a Thousand Cats” (1990-08)
(Source)
Destiny leads the willing, but drags the unwilling.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #1275 (1732)
(Source)
See Seneca the Younger.
We are interested in others when they are interested in us.
Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 16 [tr. Lyman (1862)]
I have seen a man of genius who made one think if other men were like him, cooperation were impossible. Must we always talk for victory, and never once for truth, for comfort, and joy?
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Table Talk,” American Life, lecture, Boston (1864-12-18)
(Source)
Speaking of Thoreau's style of conversation. Originally a Journal entry of 29 Feb 1856. Also part of the lecture "Social Aims".
History shows that there are no invincible armies and that there never have been.
Josef Stalin (1879-1953) Georgian revolutionary and Soviet dictator
“Comrades! Citizens! Brothers and sisters! Men of our army and navy!”, Radio Address (3 Jul 1941)
A few weeks after the invasion of the USSR by Germany. Full text.
We, in some unknown Power’s employ,
Move on a rigorous line;
Can neither, when we will, enjoy,
Nor, when we will, resign.Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
“Stanzas in Memory of the Author of ‘Obermann'”, s. 34 (1852)
Humor is a social lubricant that helps us get over some of the bad spots.
Steve Allen (1922-2000) American composer, entertainer, and wit.
(Attributed)
A gloomy morning. On all sides a depressing outlook, and within, disgust with self.
Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881) Swiss philosopher, poet, critic
Journal (26 Apr 1968) [tr. Mrs. H. Ward (1887)]
Eloquence is the power to translate a truth into language perfectly intelligible to the person to whom you speak.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Eloquence,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)
What is essential in war is victory, not prolonged operations.
Sun-Tzu (fl. 6th C. AD) Chinese general and philosopher [a.k.a. Sun Wu]
The Art of War, ch. 2
The profession of book-writing makes horse-racing seem like a solid, stable business.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, Preface (1976)
Steinbeck often used this phrase; it's first quoted in Newsweek (24 Dec 1962)
If others could only see us as we think we are.
Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist
Abe Martin’s Back Country Sayings (1917)
The salvation of America and of the human race depends on the next Election, if we believe the newspapers.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1848-10)
Pray for thy Enemy, for if thou beest a good Man thyself, thou canst not but rejoice to see thy worst Enemy become a good Man, too.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, # 878 (1725)
(Source)
Here’s the way I look at it. President Bush has uranium-tipped bunker busters and I have puns. I think he’ll be okay.
Jon Stewart (b. 1962) American satirist, comedian, and television host. [b. Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz]
Interview, Rolling Stone (2006-10-31)
(Source)
On political satire.
Knowledge is indivisible. When people grow wise in one direction, they are sure to make it easier for themselves to grow wise in other directions as well. On the other hand, when they split up knowledge, concentrate on their own field, and scorn and ignore other fields, they grow less wise — even in their own field.
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
The Roving Mind (1983)
It is of great advantage that man should know his station, and not erroneously imagine that the whole Universe exists only for him.
Maimonides (1135-1204) Spanish Jewish philosopher, scholar, astronomer, physician [Moses ben Maimon, Rambam, רמב״ם]
The Guide for the Perplexed, 3.12 (AD 1190) [tr. M Friedlander (1904)]
How rare, men with the character to praise
a friend’s success without a trace of envy.Aeschylus (525-456 BC) Greek dramatist (Æschylus)
Agamemnon, l. 818 [tr. R. Fagles (1975)]
Almost every sect of Christianity is a perversion of its essence, to accommodate it to the prejudices of the world.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
“On the Causes of Methodism,” The Round Table (1817)
Everything.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 4. Season of Mists, # 21 “A Prologue” (1990-11)
(Source)
The greater the tension, the greater is the potential. Great energy springs from a correspondingly great tension of opposites.
Carl Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologist
“Paracelsus as a Spiritual Phenomenon,” introduction (1942), Alchemical Studies [tr. R. Hull (1967)]
We are all children of one and the same God and, therefore, absolutely equal.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian philosopher and nationalist [Mahatma Gandhi]
Harijan (2 Feb 1934)
The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values.
William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
“The Training of Reason” (1918)
In A. C. Benson (ed.), Cambridge Essays on Education (1918)
Nothing so dates a man as to decry the younger generation.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech, University of Wisconsin, Madison (8 Oct 1952)
This is a pleasant surprise, Archie. I would not have believed it. That of course is the advantage of being a pessimist; a pessimist gets nothing but pleasant surprises, an optimist nothing but unpleasant.
Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Fer-de-Lance, ch. 1 [Wolfe] (1934)
He that will have the Kernel, must crack the Shell.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #2348 (1732)
(Source)
I suppose if you had to choose just one quality to have that would be it: vitality.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)
In A. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days, 25.2 (1965)
The real existence of an enemy upon whom one can foist off everything evil is an enormous relief to one’s conscience. You can then at least say, without hesitation, who the devil is; you are quite certain that the cause of your misfortune is outside, and not your own attitude.
Carl Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologist
“General Aspects of Dream Psychology” (1916) [tr. R. Hull (1960)]
Whatever barriers we put up are gone. Even if it’s just momentary. We are judging people by not the color of their skin, but the content of their character. You know, all this talk about “These guys are criminal masterminds. They’ve gotten together and their extraordinary guile and their wit and their skill …” It’s, it’s — it’s a lie. Any fool can blow something up. Any fool can destroy. But to see these guys, these firefighters and these policemen and people from all over the country, literally with buckets, rebuilding … that’s extraordinary. And that’s why we have already won … they can’t … it’s light. It’s democracy. They can’t shut that down.
Jon Stewart (b. 1962) American satirist, comedian, and television host. [b. Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz]
The Daily Show (2001-09-20)
(Source)
Monologue on "September 11, 2001."
Don’t you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don’t you believe in telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? — in life after death?
No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.
One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved negation, burst out “Don’t you believe in anything?”
“Yes,” I said. “I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I’ll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.”Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
The Roving Mind (1983)
For country ’tis a sweet and seemly thing
To die.[Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.]
Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Odes [Carmina], Book 3, Ode 2, l. 13
Alt trans:
- "Sweet and glorious it is to die for our country." [J. C. Elgood, The Works of Horace]
We cannot evade life’s course, but we can school ourselves to be superior to fortune and also to look unflinchingly upon the most painful things.
Herman Hesse (1877-1962) German-born Swiss poet, novelist, painter
Gertrude (1910) [tr. H. Rosner]
To persevere, trusting in what hopes he has,
Is courage in a man. The coward despairs.Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Heracles, l. 100 [tr. W. Arrowsmith (1956)]
Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, does not value gifts and honors as much as he values this — that there should be growth in the essentials of all religions. Growth in essentials can be done in different ways, but all of them have as their root restraint in speech, that is, not praising one’s own religion, or condemning the religion of others without good cause. And if there is cause for criticism, it should be done in a mild way. But it is better to honor other religions for this reason. By so doing, one’s own religion benefits, and so do other religions, while doing otherwise harms one’s own religion and the religions of others. Whoever praises his own religion, due to excessive devotion, and condemns others with the thought “Let me glorify my own religion,” only harms his own religion. Therefore contact (between religions) is good. One should listen to and respect the doctrines professed by others.
Ashoka (c. 269-232 BC) Indian Buddhist emperor [Asoka, Piyadasi]
Edicts, Girnar version (256 BC)
