Apologies to WIST followers via RSS or Atom feeds (or “Quotes of the Day” email people). During a recent upgrade to WordPress (10 July), I failed to reinstall / recreate the feed code that juggles includes the person who actually gave the quote, so that info has been missing.
I’m going to work on getting that back running today, so you may see some additional quotes passing through as I test it.
The greatest thing in family life is to take a hint when a hint is intended — and not to take a hint when a hint isn’t intended.
Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet
Vogue (15 Mar 1963)
And if you’re going to criticize me for not finishing the whole thing and tying it up in a bow for you, why, do us both a favor and write your own damn book, only have the decency to call it a romance instead of a history, because history’s got no bows on it, only frayed ends of ribbons and knots that can’t be untied. It ain’t a pretty package, but then it’s not your birthday that I know of so I’m under no obligation to give you a gift.
The arousing of faith — whether religious, political, or social, whether faith in a work, in a person, or in an idea — has always been the function of the great leaders of crowds. … To endow a man with faith is to multiply his strength tenfold.
Gustave LeBon (1841-1931) German psychologist
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, 2.3.1 (1895)
The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
New York Times (2 Jun 1969)
Such things will cease to be written when men perceive that truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.
John Dalberg, Lord Acton (1834-1902) British historian
“The Massacre of St Bartholomew,” North British Review (Oct 1869)
Referencing Catholic denial and revisionism over the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Usually elided to start with "Truth is ..."
Collected in The History of Freedom and Other Essays (1907)
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley (1849-1903) English poet, critic, editor
“Invictus” (1875)
There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Plays: Pleasant and Unpleasant, Vol. II, Preface (1898)
Full text.
It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.
Muhammad (570-632) Arabian merchant, prophet, founder of Islam [Mohammed]
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1011
When one is on a tight rope, the most dangerous course is to stop.
Henry Kissinger (b. 1923) German-American diplomat
White House Years, ch. 32 (1979)
Every artist was first an amateur.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Progress of Culture,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)
Full text.
The purpose of having an open mind is the same as having an open mouth, the object being eventually to close it on something solid. But one should never close either mind or mouth until the general circumstances of the moment make it reasonable to do so.
Steve Allen (1922-2000) American composer, entertainer, and wit.
(Attributed)
I love those who never preach but live the life according to their lights. Their lives are silent, yet most effective, testimonies. Therefore I cannot say what to preach, but I can say that a life of service and uttermost simplicity is the best preaching. A rose does not need to preach. It simply spreads its fragrance. The fragrance is its own sermon. If it had human understanding and if it could engage a number of preachers, the preachers would not be able to sell more rose than the fragrance itself could do. The fragrance of religious and spiritual life is much finer and subtler than that of the rose.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian philosopher and nationalist [Mahatma Gandhi]
Harijan (29 Mar 1935)
Full text.
Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
Table Talk: Essays On Men And Manners, “On the Pleasure of Painting” (1821-1822)
Full text.
Men are idolaters and want something to look at and kiss and hug, or throw themselves down before; they always did, they always will; and if you don’t make it out of wood, you must make it out of words.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
The Poet at the Breakfast Table (1872 )
If falsehood, like truth, had but one face, we should be better off, for we should take for certain the contrary of what the liar said. But the opposite of truth has a hundred thousand shapes and a limitless field.
[Si comme la verité, le mensonge n’avoit qu’un visage, nous serions en meilleurs termes : car nous prendrions pour certain l’opposé de ce que diroit le menteur. Mais le revers de la verité a cent mille figures, et un champ indefiny.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 9 “On Liars [Des Menteurs]” (1572) (1.9) (1595) [tr. Ives (1925)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:
If a lie had no more faces but one, as truth hath; we should be in farre better termes then we are: For, whatsoever a lier should say, we would take it in a contrarie sense. But the opposite of truth hath many-many shapes, and an undefinite field.
[tr. Florio (1603)]
If Falshood had, like Truth, but one Face only, we should be upon better Terms; for we should then take the contrary to what the Lyer says for certain Truth; but the Reverse of Truth has a hundred thousand Figures, and a Field indefinite without Bound or Limit.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]
If Falsehood had, like Truth, only one face, we should be upon better terms; for we should then take the contrary of what the liar should say for certain truth; but the reverse of truth has a hundred thousand forms, and a field without limits.
[tr. Friswell (1868)]
If falsehood had, like truth, but one face only, we should be upon better terms; for we should then take for certain the contrary to what the liar says: but the reverse of truth has a hundred thousand forms, and a field indefinite, without bound or limit.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]
If falsehood, like truth, had only one face, we would be in better shape. For we would take as certain the opposite of what the liar said. But the reverse of truth has a hundred thousand shapes and a limitless field.
[tr. Frame (1943)]
If a lie, like truth, had only one face we could be on better terms, for certainty would be the reverse of what the liar said. But the reverse side of truth has a hundred thousand shapes and no defined limits.
[tr. Screech (1987)]
If, like truth, falsehood had only one face, we would be better off. We could trust that the opposite of whatever a liar says is true. But the flip side of the truth is endless and has a hundred thousand faces.
[tr. HyperEssays (2023)]
“From now on I’m thinking only of me.”
Major Danby replied indulgently with a superior smile: “But, Yossarian, suppose everyone felt that way?”
“Then,” said Yossarian, “I’d certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn’t I?”
Joseph Heller (1923-1999) American novelist
Catch-22 (1961)
A certain critic — for such men, I regret to say, do exist — made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained ‘all the old Wodehouse characters under different names’. He has probably now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have outgeneralled this man by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.
P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) Anglo-American humorist, playwright and lyricist [Pelham Grenville Wodehouse]
Summer Lightning, Preface (1929)
A hungry man is not a free man.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech, Kasson, Minnesota (6 Sep 1952)
The truth is the kindest thing we can give folks in the end.
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
The Pearl of Orr’s Island, ch. 36 [Aunt Roxy] (1869)
(Source)
A humane and generous concern for every individual, his health and his fulfillment, will do more to soothe the savage heart than the fear of state-inflicted death, which chiefly serves to remind us how close we remain to the jungle.
Ramsey Clark (1927-2021) American lawyer, bureaucrat, statesman
Testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, New York Times (3 Jul 1968)
I am not altogether on anybody’s side, because nobody is altogether on my side, if you understand me.
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 2: The Two Towers, Book 3, ch. 4 “Treebeard” [Treebeard] (1954)
(Source)
I believe in Spinoza’s God, Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.
[Ich glaube an Spinozas Gott der sich in gesetzlicher Harmonie des Seienden offenbart, nicht an Gott der Sich mit Schicksalen und Handlungen der Menschen abgibt.]
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
Correspondence with Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein (1929)
(Source)
Response to Goldstein's telegram asking, "Do you believe in God?" following attacks on Einstein as being an atheist. Reported in the New York Times (25 Apr 1929).
Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.
Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986) Anglo-American columnist, journalist, author
(Attributed)
One should forgive one’s enemies, but not before they are hanged.
Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) German poet and critic
(Attributed, 1848)
Alt trans: "One must forgive one's enemies, but not before they are hanged."
For every man who lives without freedom, the rest of us must face the guilt.
Lillian Hellman (1905-1984) American playwright, screenwriter
The Watch on the Rhine (1941)
In a crowd every sentiment and act is contagious, and contagious to such a degree that an individual readily sacrifices his personal interest to the collective interest.
Gustave LeBon (1841-1931) German psychologist
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, 1.1 (1895)
A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
Travels With Charley: In Search of America, Part 1 (1962)
Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world’s estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences.
Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) American reformer, aboltionist, sufferagist
“On the Campaign for Divorce Law Reform” (1860)
Charity and loving-kindness are powerful defenses on the Day of Judgment.
The Talmud (AD 200-500) Collection of Jewish rabbinical writings
(Unreferenced)
JANE: I once went on holiday and pretended to be twins. It was amazing fun. I invented this mad, glamorous sister and went around really annoying everybody. And d’you know, I could get away with anything when I was my crazy twin Jane.
SALLY: But you’re Jane.
JANE: Kinda stuck. It’s a long story.
Steven Moffat (b. 1961) Scottish television writer, producer
Coupling, Ep. 2.9 “The Other End of the Line” (29 Oct 2001)
Nothing ever is done in this world until men are prepared to kill one another if it is not done.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Major Barbara, Act III [Undershaft] (1905)
Full text.
He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so.
Gold was opposed to segregation and equally opposed to integration. Certainly he did not believe that women or homosexuals should suffer persecution or discrimination. On the other hand, he was privately opposed to all equal rights amendments, for he certainly did not want members of either group associating with him on levels of equality or familiarity.
Joseph Heller (1923-1999) American novelist
Good as Gold (1976)
Nothing, of course, begins at the time you think it did.
Lillian Hellman (1905-1984) American playwright, screenwriter
An Unfinished Woman (1969)
What with your exercises, some reading, and a great deal of company, your day is, I confess, extremely taken up; but the day, if well employed, is long enough for everything; and I am sure you will not slattern away one moment of it in inaction.
Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #238 (8 Jan 1751)
(Source)
The golden rule of conduct, therefore, is mutual toleration, seeing that we will never all think alike and we shall see Truth in fragment and from different angles of vision. Conscience is not the same thing for all. Whilst, therefore, it is a good guide for individual conduct, imposition of that conduct upon all will be an insufferable interference with everybody’s freedom of conscience.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian philosopher and nationalist [Mahatma Gandhi]
Young India (23 Sep 1926)
Full text.
All that is worth remembering in life, is the poetry of it.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
Lectures on English Poets, #1 “On Poetry in General” (1818)
Full text.
I am now more proud of the title of American than I have ever been. […] We have shed our blood in the glorious cause in which we are engaged; and we are ready to shed the last drop in its defense. Nothing is above our courage, except only (with shame I speak it) except the courage to TAX ourselves.
James Madison (1751-1836) American statesman, political theorist, US President (1809-17)
Letter, Philadelphia (9 Jun 1782)
There’s a generous current in the American spirit. And if we can simply give voice to that once in a while, I think it’s a good message.
Fred Rogers (1928-2003) American educator, minister, songwriter, television host ["Mister Rogers"]
AP Interview
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Constitution of the United States, preamble (17 Sep 1787)
The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
“The Times Newspaper” Political Essays (1819)
We talk a great deal about patriotism. What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times? I venture to suggest that what we mean is a sense of national responsibility which will enable America to remain master of her power — to walk with it in serenity and wisdom, with self-respect and the respect of all mankind; a patriotism that puts country ahead of self; a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. The dedication of a lifetime — these are words that are easy to utter, but this is a mighty assignment. For it is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech, American Legion convention, New York City (27 Aug 1952)
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do. Wasting time is merely an occupation then, and a most exhausting one. Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen.
Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) English writer, humorist [Jerome Klapka Jerome]
“On Being Idle,” Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886)
(Source)
So long as you are a slave to the opinions of the many you have not yet approached freedom or tasted its nectar … But I do not mean by this that we ought to be shameless before all men and to do what we ought not; but all that we refrain from and all that we do, let us not do or refrain from merely because it seems to the multitude somehow honorable or base, but because it is forbidden by reason and the god within us.
Julian II (AD 331-363), Emperor of Rome (355-363) [Flavius Claudius Julianus; Julian the Apostate; Julian the Philosopher]
Oration VI, “To the Uneducated Cynics” (AD 362)
(Source)
Sometimes attributed to Marcus Aurelius.
SALLY: It’s a scientific fact that if you say “naked” three or more times, to any man, he has to cross his legs.
Steven Moffat (b. 1961) Scottish television writer, producer
Coupling, Ep. 2.8 “Naked” (22 Oct 2001)
I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. It might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
“…like captured fireflies” (1955)
Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.
Maya Angelou (1928-2014) American poet, memoirist, activist [b. Marguerite Ann Johnson]
Quoted USA Today (5 Mar 1988)
The idea is like the seed corn; it grows imperceptibly in secret. When I have invented or discovered the beginning of a song …, I shut up the book and go for a walk or take up something else; I think no more of it for perhaps half a year. Nothing is lost, though. When I come back to it again, it has unconsciously taken a new shape, and is ready for me to begin working at it.
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) German composer and pianist
Conversation with George Henschel
(Source)
Quoted in a letter to Herr and Frau von Herzogenberg in Max Kalbeck, ed., the Brahms-Gesellschaft collection of correspondence, Vol. 2 [tr. Bryant (1909)], as cited in John Alexander Fuller-Maitland, Brahms, ch. 3 (1911).
If you can keep your head when about you are losing theirs, it’s just possible you haven’t grasped the situation.
Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, Introduction (1957)
We often stand in need of hearing what we know full well.
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English writer and poet
Imaginary Conversations, “Lord Bacon and Richard Hooker” (1824-53)
‘Yes, sir,’ said Jeeves in a low, cold voice, as if he had been bitten in the leg by a personal friend.
P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) Anglo-American humorist, playwright and lyricist [Pelham Grenville Wodehouse]
Carry On, Jeeves (1925)
Laws are never as effective as habits.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech, New York City (28 Aug 1952)
If the people raise a great howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity-seeking. If they want peace, they and their relatives must stop the war.
William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) American military leader and author
Letter to Gen. Henry W. Halleck (4 Sep 1864)
