You live through time, that little piece of time that is yours, but that piece of time is not only your own life, it is the summing-up of all the other lives that are simultaneous with yours. It is, in other words, History, and what you are is an expression of History, and you do not live your life, but somehow, your life lives you, and you are, therefore, only what History does to you.
Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989) American poet, novelist, literary critic
Band of Angels, ch. 6 (1955)
(Source)
This is sometimes cited to Warren's World Enough and Time (1950), but is not found there.
Often seen edited down:You live through that little piece of time that is yours, but that piece of time is not only your own life, it is the summing-up of all the other lives that are simultaneous with yours. [...] What you are is an expression of History.
Note that the narrator continues:That is what I have heard said, but we have to try to make sense of what we have lived, or what has lived us, and there are so many questions that cry for an answer, as children gather about your knee and cry for a sweetmeat. No, it would be better to change the comparison and say it is like children gathering about your knee to cry for a story, a bedtime story, and if you can tell the right story, then these children, then these questions, will sleep, and you can, too.
There were times that called for mindless, terror-filled panic, and times that called for measured, considered, thoughtful panic.
And the freedom of the mind, my friends, has served America well. The vigor of our political life, our capacity for change, our cultural, scientific, and industrial achievements, all derive from free inquiry, from the free mind — from the imagination, resourcefulness, and daring of men who are not afraid of new ideas. Most all of us favor free enterprise for business. Let us also favor free enterprise for the mind. For, in the last analysis, we would fight to the death to protect it.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-08-27), “The Nature of Patriotism,” American Legion Convention, Madison Square Garden, New York City
(Source)
In his infinite goodness, God invented rheumatism and gout and dyspepsia, cancers and neuralgia, and is still inventing new diseases. Not only this, but he decreed the pangs of mothers, and that by the gates of love and life should crouch the dragons of death and pain. Fearing that some might, by accident, live too long, he planted poisonous vines and herbs that looked like food. He caught the serpents he had made and gave them fangs and curious organs, ingeniously devised to distill and deposit the deadly drop. He changed the nature of the beasts, that they might feed on human flesh. He cursed a world, and tainted every spring and source of joy. He poisoned every breath of air; corrupted even light, that it might bear disease on every ray; tainted every drop of blood in human veins; touched every nerve, that it might bear the double fruit of pain and joy; decreed all accidents and mistakes that maim and hurt and kill, and set the snares of life-long grief, baited with present pleasure, — with a moment’s joy. Then and there he foreknew and foreordained all human tears. And yet all this is but the prelude, the introduction, to the infinite revenge of the good God. Increase and multiply all human griefs until the mind has reached imagination’s farthest verge, then add eternity to time, and you may faintly tell, but never can conceive, the infinite horrors of this doctrine called “The Fall of Man.”
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1884-01-20), “Orthodoxy,” Tabor Opera House, Denver, Colorado
(Source)
Published as its own book in 1884.
Religion has treated knowledge sometimes as an enemy, sometimes as a hostage; often as a captive and more often as a child; but knowledge has become of age and religion must either renounce her acquaintance , or introduce her as a companion and respect her as a friend.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 2, § 141 (1822)
(Source)
Just now, when every one is bound, under pain of a decree in absence convicting them of lèse-respectability, to enter on some lucrative profession, and labour therein with something not far short of enthusiasm, a cry from the opposite party, who are content when they have enough, and like to look on and enjoy in the meanwhile, savours a little of bravado and gasconade. And yet this should not be. Idleness so called, which does not consist in doing nothing, but in doing a great deal not recognized in the dogmatic formularies of the ruling class, has as good a right to state its position as industry itself.
Let the man who has acquired Enough not ask for more.
A house and acreage, a pile of bronze and gold coins,
Have never been able to lower the sick man’s fever
Or drive out his worries. The proprietor must be well
If he plans to enjoy the good things he’s gathered together.[Quod satis est cui contingit, nihil amplius optet.
Non domus et fundus, non aeris acervus et auri
Aegroto doniini deduxit corpore febres,
on animo curas; valeat possessor oportet,
Si conpertatis rebus bene cogitat uti.]Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 2 “To Lollius,” l. 46ff (1.2.46-50) (14 BC) [tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:He that hath once sufficient, let him wishe for no more:
Not howse nor grove, nor yet of gould, or silver ample store
Can rid the owners crasie corpes fro fellon shaking fever.
Nor can the mynd of man from carke, (for al their vigor) sever:
That owner needes must healthfull bee, and other men excel,
Which hauing riches competent, doth cast to use theim well.
[tr. Drant (1567)]Let him that has enough, desire no more.
Not House and Land, nor Gold and Silver Oare,
The Body's sickness, or the Mind's dispel,
To rellish wealth, the palat must be well.
[tr. Fanshawe; ed. Brome (1666)]He that hath got enough desires no more:
Did ever Lands, or heaps of Silver ease
The feav'rish Lord? Or cool the hot Disease?
Or free his Mind from Cares? He must have health,
He must be well, that would enjoy his wealth.
[tr. Creech (1684)]Blest with a competence, why wish for more?
Nor house, nor lands, nor heaps of labour'd ore
Can give their feverish lord one moment's rest,
Or drive one sorrow from his anxious breast:
The fond possessor must be blest with health,
Who rightly means to use his hoarded wealth.
[tr. Francis (1747)]Nathless who's rich, that is not satisfied? --
Who poor, but he whose wants are unsupplied?
Never did house, or land, or god afford
An hour's short respite to their sickening lord,
Sooth with soft balm the fever's throbbing smart,
Or pluck one rooted sorrow from the heart.
If health be wanting, riches quickly cloy;
'Tis vain to hoard, unless we can enjoy.
[tr. Howes (1845)]He, that has got a competency, let him wish for no more. Not a house and farm, nor a heap of brass and gold, can remove fevers from the body of their sick master, or cares from his mind. The possessor must be well, if he thinks of enjoying the things which he has accumulated.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]Having got
What will suffice you, seek no happier lot.
Not house or grounds, not heaps of brass or gold
Will rid the frame of fever's heat and cold.
Or cleanse the heart of care. He needs good health,
Body and mind, who would enjoy his wealth.
[tr. Conington (1874)]If you've enough, how vain to wish for more!
Nor house, nor lands, nor brass, nor golden store
Can of its fire the fevered frame relieve,
Or make the care-fraught spirit cease to grieve.
Sound, mind and body both, should be his health
To true account who hopes to turn his wealth.
[tr. Martin (1881)]If a sufficiency belong to any one, let him desire no more. A house and farm, a heap of brass and gold, have never removed fever from the sickly body of their possessor, nor cares from his mind. It is a necessity that their owner be sound in body and mind if he contemplate making a good use of his accumulated substance.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]But after all, enough is enough, and he who has enough is wise if he does not ask for more. A house, a farm, and a store of gold, these never drove the fever from their owner's aching body, or took the burden of care from his mind. Verily, the man of wealth must have good health if he would enjoy the fruit of all his labors.
[tr. Dana/Dana (1911)]He, to whose lot sufficient falls, should covet nothing more. No house or land, no pile of bronze or god, has ever freed the owner's sick body of fevers, or his sick mind of cares. The possessor must be sound in health, if he thinks of enjoying the stores he has gathered.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]But anyone who has enough should want no more.
No house and farm, no heap of copper and gold
can drive a fever from its owner's weakened flesh
Or his worries from his soul. He must be well
if he wants good use from everything he's gathered.
[tr. Fuchs (1977)]But having enough we should never want more. No house
In town, no land, no piles of gold and bronze,
Have ever freed a man's mind, or eased the fevers
Racking his body. To enjoy treasure you must be sound
In mind, stable in body.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]The man who has enough should be satisfied
With what he has. Prosperity is never
Going to be able to cure a body that's sick
Or a mind that's sick. You've got to be well if you want
To enjoy the things you own.
[tr. Ferry (2001)]But when one is blest with enough, one shouldn't long for more.
Possessing a house or farm or a pile of bronze and gold
has never been known to expel a fever from an invalid's body
or a worry from his mind. Unless the owner has sound health
he cannot hope to enjoy the goods he has brought together.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]But he who’s handed enough, shouldn’t long for more.
Houses and land, piles of bronze and gold, have never
Freed their owner’s sick body from fever, or his spirit
From care: if he wants to enjoy the goods he’s gathered
Their possessor must be well.
[tr. Kline (2015)]
From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable.
She felt that the day should not be bounced in on with rude energy, but carefully and delicately seduced into being, and children and animals were sadly impervious to reason on this matter.
Kerry Greenwood (b. 1954) Australian author and lawyer
Phryne Fisher No. 11, Away with the Fairies, ch. 1 (2001)
(Source)
FAUSTUS. Come, I think hell’s a fable.
MEPHISTOPHILES: Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind.
Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 2, sc. 1 (sc. 5), l. 573ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
The "B" text (1594; 1616) as a slight variance in Faust's line:FAUSTUS: I think hell's a mere fable.
MEPHISTOPHILES: Aye, think so still, till experience change thy mind.
I’m not going to tell you much more of the case, Doctor. You know a conjurer gets no credit once he has explained his trick; and if I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all.
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 4 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)
Can the man say, Fiat lux, Let there be light; and out of chaos make a world? Precisely as there is light in himself, will he accomplish this.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-12), “The Hero as Poet,” Home House, Portman Square, London
(Source)
Talking about Shakespeare and his creativity.
The lecture notes were collected by Carlyle into On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, Lecture 3 (1841).
We are unified both by hating in common and by being hated in common.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 243 (1955)
(Source)
What is the law? A thing that ought neither to be swayed by favor, nor be shattered by force, nor be corrupted by power.
[Quod enim est ius civile? Quod neque inflecti gratia neque perfringi potentia neque adulterari pecunia debeat.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Pro Caecina [For Aulus Caecina], ch. 26 / sec. 73 (c. 69 BC) [tr. @sentantiq (2013)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:For, indeed, what is the civil law? A thing which can neither be bent by influence, nor broken down by power, nor adulterated by corruption.
[tr. Yonge (1856)]How may we describe it? The law is that which influence cannot bend, nor power break, nor wealth corrupt.
[tr. Grose Hodge (Loeb) (1927)]
I dont know ov enny thing more remorseless, on the face ov the earth, than 7 per cent interest.
[I don’t know of anything more remorseless on the face of the earth than 7 percent interest.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1871-03 (1871 ed.)
(Source)
The first sign of corrupt morals is the banishing of truth.
[Le premier traict de la corruption des mœurs, c’est le bannissement de la verité]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 2, ch. 18 (2.18), “Of Giving the Lie [Du Démentir]” (1578–79) [tr. Screech (1987)]
(Source)
This essay (and this passage) appeared in the 1st (1580) edition, and was expanded in each succeeding edition.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:The first part of customs-corruption, is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Florio (1603)]The first step to the corruption of manners is banishing of truth.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]The first thing done in the corruption of manners is banishing truth.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]The first feature of corruption of morals is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Ives (1925)]The first feature in the corruption of morals is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Zeitlin (1934)]The first stage in the corruption of morals is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Frame (1943)]
HUCKLE: As far as we know, the sea was calm and empty.
THE DOCTOR: It may be calm, but it’s never empty.
Robert Banks Stewart (1931-2016) Scottish screenwriter, television producer, journalist
Doctor Who (1963), 13×01 “Terror of the Zygons,” Part 1 (1975-08-30)
(Source)
(Source (Video); dialog confirmed)
The writer whose words are going to be read by children has a heavy responsibility. And yet, despite the undeniable fact that the children’s minds are tender, they are also far more tough than many people realize, and they have an openness and an ability to grapple with difficult concepts which many adults have lost. Writers of children’s literature are set apart by their willingness to confront difficult questions.
Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
(Source)
It is not a bad thing that children should occasionally, and politely, put parents in their place.
[Il n’est pas mauvais que les enfants remettent de temps en temps, avec politesse, les parents à leur place.]
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954) French writer
My Mother’s House [La Maison de Claudine], “The Priest on the Wall [Le curé sur le mur]” (1922) [tr. Troubridge/McLeod (1949)]
(Source)
Kindness is invincible, if it be sincere and not hypocritical or a mere facade. For what can the most insulting of people do to you if you are consistently kind to him, and, when the occasion allows, gently advise him and quietly put him on the proper course at the very time when he is attempting to do you a mischief. “No, my son, we were born for something other than this; it is not I who am harmed, it is you, my son, who are causing harm to yourself.”
[τὸ εὐμενὲς ἀνίκητον, ἐὰν γνήσιον ᾖ καὶ μὴ σεσηρὸς μηδὲ ὑπόκρισις. τί γάρ σοι ποιήσει ὁ ὑβριστικώτατος, ἐὰν διατελῇς εὐμενὴς αὐτῷ καί, εἰ οὕτως ἔτυχε, πρᾴως παραινῇς καὶ μεταδιδάσκῃς εὐσχολῶν παῤ αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν ὅτε κακοποιεῖν σε ἐπιχειρεῖ: ῾μή, τέκνον: πρὸς ἄλλο πεφύκαμεν. ἐγὼ μὲν οὐ μὴ βλαβῶ, σὺ δὲ βλάπτῃ, τέκνον.᾿]
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 11, ch. 18 (11.18) (AD 161-180) [tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]
(Source)
Marcus' 9th point to remember when aggravated by another's actions. Graves comments, "The good Emperor, I am afraid, had too good an opinion of human nature in general."
Hard uses the same translation in their 2011 edition.
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Meekness is a thing unconquerable, if it be true and natural, and not affected or hypocritical. For how shall even the most fierce and malicious that thou shalt conceive, be able to hold on against thee, if thou shalt still continue meek and loving unto him; and that even at that time, when he is about to do thee wrong, thou shalt be well disposed, and in good temper, with all meekness to teach him, and to instruct him better? As for example; My son, we were not born for this, to hurt and annoy one another; it will be thy hurt not mine, my son.
[tr. Casaubon (1634)]Gentleness and Good Humour are invincible, provided they are of the right Stamp, without any thing of Hypocrisy, or Grimace. This is the way to Disarm the most Barbarous, and Savage: A constancy in Obliging Behaviour, will make the most Outragious Person asham'd of his Malice : The worst Body imaginable can't find in his heart to do you any Mischief, if you continue kind and unmov'd under ill Usage, if you strike in with the right opportunity for Advice; If when he is going to do you an ill Turn, you endeavour to recover his Understanding, and retrieve his Temper in such gentle Language as this. Prethee Child be quiet, Men were never made to worry one another; In earnest if you go on, my dear Friend, you'l have the worst on't; As for my part, I'm proof against every Thing, but my own Folly.
[tr. Collier (1701)]Meekness is invincible, where it is genuine, and sincere without hypocrisy. For, what can the most insolent do to you, if you steadfastly persist in kindness to him, and, upon occasion, mildly admonish and instruct him thus, at the very time he is attempting to do you an injury? “Don’t do so, my son! Nature formed us for a quite different conduct. You cannot hurt me; you hurt yourself, my son!”
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]Consider that benevolence is invincible, if it be genuine, without affectation or hypocrisy. For what can the most brutishly injurious person do to you, if you persevere in your kindness to them, and when an opportunity offers, tenderly admonish him, and at the very time when he is going to do you an injury, thus calmly instruct him: "Forbear, my son, we were formed by nature for quite a different purpose; you cannot injure me, but you hurt yourself my son."
[tr. Graves (1792)]Consider that a good disposition is invincible if it be genuine, and not an affected smile and acting a part. For what will the most violent man do to thee, if thou continuest to be of a kind disposition towards him, and if, as opportunity offers, thou gently admonishest him and calmly correctest his errors at the very time when he is trying to do thee harm, saying, Not so, my child: we are constituted by nature for something else: I shall certainly not be injured, but thou art injuring thyself, my child.
[tr. Long (1862)]Gentleness is invincible, provided it is of the right stamp, without anything of hypocrisy or malice. This is the way to disarm the most insolent, if you continue kind and unmoved under ill usage, if you strike in with the right opportunity for advice. If when he is going to do you an ill turn you endeavour to recover his undertsanding, and retrieve his temper by such language as this: I pray you, child, be quiet, men were never made to worry one another. I shall not be injured, but you are injuring yourself, child.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]Kindness is invincible if only it is honest, not fawning or insincere. What can the most aggressive do, if you keep persistently kind, and as ocasion offers gently remonstrate, and seize the moment when he is bent on mischief, for trying quietly to convert him to a better frame of mind. "Not so, my son, we are made for other ends; you cannot hurt me, you hurt yourself, my son."
[tr. Rendall (1898)]Meekness is invincible if it be genuine, without simper or hypocrisy. For what can the most insolent of men do to you, if you persist in civility towards him; and, if occasion offers, admonish him gently and deliberately, shew him the better way at the very moment that he is endeavouring to harm you? “Nay, my son; we were born for something better. No hurt can come to me; it is yourself you hurt, my son.”
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]Kindness is irresistible, be it but sincere and no mock smile or a mask assumed. For what can the most unconscionable of men do to thee, if thou persist in being kindly to him, and when a chance is given exhort him mildly and, at the very time when he is trying to do thee harm, quietly teach him a better way thus: Nay, my child, we have been made for other things. I shall be in no wise harmed, but thou art harming thyself, my child.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]Gentleness is invincible, if it be genuine and not sneering or hypocritical. For what can the most insolent do to you, if you continue gentle to him, and, if opportunity allows, mildly admonish him and quietly show him a better way at the very moment when he attempts to do you injury: "No, my child; we came into the world for other ends. It is not I that am harmed, but you are harmed, my child."
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]Kindness is irresistible, so long as it be genuine and without false smiles or duplicity. The most consummate impudence can do nothing, if you remain persistently kind to the offender, give him a gentle word of admonition when opportunity offers, and at the moment when he is about to vent his malice upon you bring him round quietly with "No, my son; it was not for this that we were made. I shall not be hurt; it is yourself you are hurting."
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]Kindness is invincible, provided it’s sincere -- not ironic or an act. What can even the most vicious person do if you keep treating him with kindness and gently set him straight -- if you get the chance -- correcting him cheerfully at the exact moment that he’s trying to do you harm. "No, no, my friend. That isn’t what we’re here for. It isn’t me who’s harmed by that. It’s you."
[tr. Hays (2003)]Kindness is invincible — if it is sincere, not fawning or pretense. What can the most aggressive man do to you if you continue to be kind to him? If, as opportunity arises, you gently admonish him and take your time to re-educate him at the very moment when he is trying to do you harm? "No, son, we were born for other purposes than this. There is no way that I can be harmed, but you are harming yourself, son."
[tr. Hammond (2006)]Kindness is unconquerable, so long as it is without flattery or hypocrisy. For what can the most insolent man do to you, if you continue to be kind to him and, if you have the chance, gently advise and calmly show him what is right at the very moment he is trying to harm you, saying: "No, my son. We were born for something else. I am certainly not harmed, but you bring harm to yourself?"
[tr. Needleman/Piazza (2008)]
In fact the whole antithesis between self and the rest of the world, which is implied in the doctrine of self-denial, disappears as soon as we have any genuine interest in persons or things outside ourselves. Through such interests a man comes to feel himself part of the stream of life, not a hard separate entity like a billiard-ball, which can have no relation with other such entities except that of collision.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 17 “The Happy Man” (1930)
(Source)
CALVIN: I think grown-ups just act like they know what they’re doing.
ADAM’S APPLE, n. A protuberance on the throat of a man, thoughtfully provided by Nature to keep the rope in place.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Adam’s Apple,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1881-05-05)
(Source)
Not collected in later books.
Popular revolt against materially strong rulers, on the other hand, may engender an almost irresistible power even if it foregoes the use of violence in the face of materially vastly superior forces. To call this “passive resistance” is certainly an ironic idea; it is one of the most active and efficient ways of action ever devised, because it cannot be countered by fighting, where there may be defeat or victory, but only by mass slaughter in which even the victor is defeated, cheated of his prize, since nobody can rule over dead men.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
The Human Condition, Part 5, ch. 28 “Power and the Space of Appearance” (1958)
(Source)
Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair
Where I sit.
There isn’t any
Other stair
Quite like
It.
I’m not at the bottom,
I’m not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
When We Were Very Young, “Halfway Down,” st. 1 (1924)
(Source)
MEDEA: I shall never accept the favors of friends of yours,
Nor take a thing from you, so you need not offer it.
There is no benefit in the gifts of a bad man.[ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: οὔτ᾽ ἂν ξένοισι τοῖσι σοῖς χρησαίμεθ᾽ ἂν
οὔτ᾽ ἄν τι δεξαίμεσθα, μηδ᾽ ἡμῖν δίδου:
κακοῦ γὰρ ἀνδρὸς δῶρ᾽ ὄνησιν οὐκ ἔχει.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 616ff (431 BC) [tr. Warner (1944)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:No use I of thy friends
Will make, nor aught accept; thy presents spare.
For nothing which the wicked man can give
Proves beneficial.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]I shall not use thy friends, nor will accept
Aught of thy treasures: give not me; the gifts
Of a bad man can bring no good with them.
[tr. Potter (1814)]Guest-friends of thine shall never profit me.
Nor will I aught of thee: proffer me nothing,
For there's no service in a bad man's gift.
[tr. Webster (1868)]I will have naught to do with friends of thine, naught will I receive of thee, offer it not to me; a villain's gifts can bring no blessing.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]I will neither use thy friends, nor will I receive aught; do not give to me, for the gifts of a bad man bring no assistance.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]Thy friends! — nothing will I of friends of thine.
No whit will I receive, nor offer thou.
No profit is there in a villain's gifts.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]The gifts of a bad man bring no good with them.
[tr. Morgan; Bartlett's (1903)]I will not seek thy friends. I will not take
Thy givings. Give them not. Fruits of a stem
Unholy bring no blessing after them.
[tr. Murray (1906)]Nothing would induce me to have dealings with your friends,
Nor to take any gift of yours; so offer none.
A lying traitor's gifts carry no luck.
[tr. Vellacott (1963)]I wouldn’t have any dealings with your friends,
Nor take what you gave, don’t bother offering.
“The gifts of an evil giver bring no gain.”
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]I will accept no help from your friends nor will I take anything from you, so do not offer it. The gifts of a base man bring no benefit.
[tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]I would not on any terms resort to friends of yours or accept anything from you; make me no such offer; gifts from wicked people bring only harm.
[tr. Davie (1996)]I need neither your money nor your friends. Gifts from an evil man are of no use at all to anyone.
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]We will not be making use of your friends;
I will not take anything from you; don’t give me anything.
The gift of a bad man brings no pleasure.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]I’ll accept no assistance from your friends,
nor anything from you. Don’t make the offer.
Gifts from a worthless man are without value.
[tr. Johnston (2008)]I would not use your friends nor take a thing from you, so do not give; the gifts of a bad man can do great harm.
[tr. Ewans (2022)]Neither would I make use of your xenoi, nor would I accept anything from you; cease to offer it. Gifts from a kakos man bring no benefit.
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]I will accept no help from your friends nor will I take anything from you, so do not offer it. The gifts of a dishonourable man bring no benefit.
[tr. Kovacs / Zhang / Rogak]
A consciousness of the fact that war means practically total destruction is the reason, I think, for the rising tide to prevent what seems such a senseless procedure. I understand that it is perhaps difficult for some people, whose lives have been lived with a sense of the need for military development, to envisage the possibility of being no longer needed. But the average citizen is beginning to think more and more of the need to develop machinery to settle difficulties in the world without destruction or the use of atomic bombs.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1961-12-20), “My Day”
(Source)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this.
[Ὁ δὲ καρπὸς τοῦ πνεύματός ἐστιν ἀγάπη χαρὰ εἰρήνη, μακροθυμία χρηστότης ἀγαθωσύνη, πίστις πραΰτης ἐγκράτεια· κατὰ τῶν τοιούτων οὐκ ἔστιν νόμος.]
The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Galatians 5: 22-23 [CEB (2011)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
[KJV (1611)]What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. There can be no law against things like that, of course.
[JB (1966)]On the other hand the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control; no law can touch such things as these.
[NJB (1985)]But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these.
[GNT (1992 ed.)]By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]
Money may be the husk of many things but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; acquaintance, but not friends; servants, but not loyalty; days of joy, but not peace or happiness.
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) Norwegian poet and playwright
(Attributed)
Widely cited to Ibsen, but I cannot find any actual citations for its origin. The furthest I was able to track back is a 1941 issue of Readers Digest.
The meaning and purpose of dancing is the dance. Like music, also, it is fulfilled in each moment of the course. You do not play a sonata in order to reach the final chord, and if the meaning of things were simply in ends, composers would write nothing but finales.
Alan Watts (1915-1973) Anglo-American philosopher, writer
The Wisdom of Insecurity, ch. 7 “The Transformation of Life” (1951)
(Source)
And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human.
William Gibson (b. 1948) American-Canadian speculative fiction novelist and essayist
Count Zero, ch. 2 (1986)
(Source)
My opinions indeed on Religious Subjects ought not to be of any consequence to any but myself.
John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1820-07-08) to Simon Miller
(Source)
The point is that when a nation silences criticism and dissent, it deprives itself of the power to correct its errors. The process of silencing need not be as savage as in Nazi Germany or in South Africa today; it is enough that an atmosphere be created where men prefer silence to protest. As has been observed of book-burning, it is not necessary to burn books, it is enough to discourage men from writing them.
Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1965-12-18), “The Problem of Dissent,” Saturday Review
(Source)
Reprinted in Freedom and Order, Part 6 (1966).
Sections of the essay (including this portion) were read into the Congressional Record, Senate Proceedings (1969-06-26), as part of a speech by former Senator Wayne Morse (D-Oregon) at the commencement of Fairleigh Dickinson University (1969-06-07); Morse's speech was read in by Senator Gary Hart (D-Colo.).
Extreme obedience assumes ignorance in the one who obeys; it assumes ignorance even in the one who commands; he does not have to deliberate, to doubt, or to reason; he has only to want.
[L’extrême obéissance suppose de l’ignorance dans celui qui obéit; elle en suppose même dans celui qui commande: il n’a point à délibérer, à douter, ni à raisonner; il n’a qu’à vouloir.]
Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 4, ch. 3 (4.3) (1748) [tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Other translations:Excessive obedience supposes ignorance in the person that obeys: the same it supposes in him that commands; for he has no occasion to deliberate, to doubt, to reason; he has only to will.
[tr. Nugent (1750)]Extreme obedience assumes ignorance in him who obeys; it assumes ignorance even in him who commands: he has no need to deliberate, to doubt, or to reason, he has only to will.
[tr. Stewart (2018)
Sit down before fact with an open mind. Be prepared to give up every preconceived notion. Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads, or you learn nothing. Don’t push out figures when the facts are going in the opposite direction.
Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) American naval engineer, submariner, US Navy Admiral
Speech (1954-03-16), “Administering a Large Military Development Project,” US Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
(Source)
For, to make deserts, God, who rules mankind,
Begins with kings, and ends the work by wind.[Car pour faire un désert, Dieu, maître des vivants,
Commence par les rois et finit par les vents.]Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Poem (1876), “The Vanished City [La Ville Disparue],” Legend of the Ages: New Series [La Légende des siècles: La Nouvelle Série], No. 4 (1877) [tr. Carrington (1885)]
(Source)
Violence breeds violence. Acts of violence committed in “justice” or in affirmation of “rights” or in defense of “peace” do not end violence. They prepare and justify its continuation.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1999), “The Failure of War,” Citizenship Papers (2003)
(Source)
MARCUS: Oh Portius, is there not some chosen curse,
Some hidden thunder in the stores of heav’n
Red with uncommon wrath to blast the man,
Who owes his greatness to his country’s ruin?Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Cato, Act 1, sc. 1, l. 20ff (1713)
(Source)
Of Julius Caesar and his overthrow of the Roman Republic.
CALISTA: That I must die! it is my only Comfort;
Death is the Privilege of human Nature,
And Life without it were not worth our taking;
Thither the Poor, the Pris’ner, and the Mourner,
Fly for Relief, and lay their Burthens down.Nicholas Rowe (1674-1718) English poet and dramatist
The Fair Penitent, Act 5, sc. 1, l. 137ff (1703)
(Source)
SIR THOMAS MORE: Grant them removed, and grant that this your noise
Hath chid down all the majesty of England;
Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding tooth ports and costs for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silent by your brawl,
And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
What had you got? I’ll tell you. You had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man,
For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Would feed on one another.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Sir Thomas More, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 55ff (c. 1592)
(Source)
Quelling rioting Englishmen who were demanding the expulsion of Flemish immigrants, noting that being part of pitiless mob violence makes one a target for future violence by others.
The play was written by Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle, with revisions and edits by multiple writers. This particular scene and monologue are in what is considered to be Shakespeare's own hand.
“I’ve never seen Death actually at work.”
“Not many have,” said Albert. “Not twice, at any rate.”
The anatomy of patriotism is complex. But surely intolerance and public irresponsibility cannot be cloaked in the shining armor of rectitude and righteousness. Nor can the denial of the right to hold ideas that are different — the freedom of man to think as he pleases. To strike freedom of the mind with the fist of patriotism is an old and ugly subtlety.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-08-27), “The Nature of Patriotism,” American Legion Convention, Madison Square Garden, New York City
(Source)
True eloquence consists in saying all that need be said and no more.
[La véritable éloquence consiste à dire tout ce qu’il faut, et à ne dire que ce qu’il faut.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶250 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]
(Source)
Present in the 1st (1665) edition. In manuscript it begins "L’éloquence est de ne dire que ce qu’il faut ..."
(Source (French)). Other translations:True Eloquence consists in saying whatever is requisite, and in not saying any more then what is requisite.
[tr. Davies (1669), ¶45]True Eloquence consists in Saying all that is Fit to be Said; and Leaving Out all that is not Fit to be Said.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶251]True eloquence consists in saying all that is proper, and nothing more.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶110]; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶236]True eloquence consists in saying what is proper, but nothing more.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶97]True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and nothing but what is necessary.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶262]True eloquence consists in saying all that should be, not all that could be said.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶250]True eloquence lies in saying everything one should say, but nothing that one should not.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶258]True eloquence consists in saying the right thing, and nothing more.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶250]True eloquence means saying all that is necessary and only what is necessary.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶250]True eloquence consists in saying all that is required and only what is required.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶250]True eloquence consists in saying, on the one hand all that we ought to say, on the other omitting what we ought not.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶250]
But when thoughts and words are collected and adjusted, and the whole composition at last concluded, it seldom gratifies the author, when he comes coolly and deliberately to review it, with the hopes which had been excited in the fury of the performance: novelty always captivates the mind; as our thoughts rise fresh upon us, we readily believe them just and original, which, when the pleasure of production is over, we find to be mean and common, or borrowed from the works of others, and supplied by memory rather than invention.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-03-02), The Adventurer, No. 138
(Source)
We are told by the Bible and by the churches that through this fall of man
“Sin and death entered the world.”
According to this, just as soon as Adam and Eve had partaken of the forbidden fruit, God began to contrive ways by which he could destroy the lives of his children. He invented all the diseases — all the fevers and coughs and colds — all the pains and plagues and pestilences — all the aches and agonies, the malaria and spores; so that when we take a breath of air we admit into our lungs unseen assassins; and, fearing that some might live too long, even under such circumstances, God invented the earthquake and volcano, the cyclone and lightning, animalcules to infest the heart and brain, so small that no eye can detect — no instrument reach. This was all owing to the disobedience of Adam and Eve!Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1884-01-20), “Orthodoxy,” Tabor Opera House, Denver, Colorado
(Source)
Published as its own book in 1884.
All the best sands of my life are somehow getting into the wrong end of the hourglass. If I could only reverse it! Were it in my power to do so, would I?
Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907) American writer, poet, critic, editor
“Leaves from a Notebook,” Ponkapog Papers (1903)
(Source)
We learn more quickly and bring back to mind more readily
The things we laugh at than those we respect and revere.[Discit enim citius, meminitque libentius ilud
Quod quis deridet, quam quod probat et veneratur.]Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 1 “To Augustus,” l. 262ff (2.1.262-263) (14 BC) [tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]
(Source)
On why he declines to write epic poetry: because he doubts his talents, and the public will remember only if it's a bad poem. Which is especially problematic if the poem is about someone (like Augustus) still alive.
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:A man may soner beare awaye and rather kepe in mynde
The thinge deryded, then that is prayse worthie in his kynde.
[tr. Drant (1567)]For Readers so malicious now are growne,
What's bad they'll con, what's good they let alone.
[tr. W. P.; ed. Brome (1666)]For what's derided by the Censuring Crowd,
Is thought on more than what is just and Good.
[tr. Creech (1684)]For quickly we discern,
With ease remember, and with pleasure learn,
Whate'er may ridicule and laughter move,
Not what deserves our best esteem and love.
[tr. Francis (1747)]For sooner caught and steadier to abide
On memory's tablet that which we deride,
Than what revere.
[tr. Howes (1845)]For one learns sooner, and more willingly remembers, that which a man derides, than that which he approves and venerates.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]For easier 'tis to learn and recollect
What moves derision than what claims respect.
[tr. Conington (1874)]For we learn quicker, gladlier recollect
What makes us laugh, than what commands respect.
[tr. Martin (1881)]The subject of our zeal sooner hears of, and is more inclined to remember, that which any one laughs at in the production than what he approves of and eulogizes.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]For a man learns more quickly and remembers more easily that which he laughs at, than that which he approves and reveres.
[E.g. (1907)]For one sooner learns
And easier remembers such concerns
As men deride that those men favor lend
And venerate.
[tr. A. F. Murison (1931); ed. Kramer, Jr. (1936)]For we all more quickly learn and easily remember
the poems we scorn than those we approve of and respect.
[tr. Fuchs (1977)]And writers of foolish poems often find
They're vividly and scornfully remembered.
[tr. Ferry (2001)]For a thing that causes merriment is always sooner learnt
and longer remembered than what commands respect and approval.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]Men remember more quickly, with greater readiness,
Things they deride, than those they approve and respect.
[tr. Kline (2015)]
Despotism can no more exist in a nation until the liberty of the press be destroyed, than night can happen before the sun is set.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 468 (1820)
(Source)
And how many loves have perished because, from pride, or spite, or diffidence, or that unmanly shame which withholds a man from daring to betray emotion, a lover, at the critical point of the relation, has but hung his head and held his tongue?
One ought not to pay any attention to Hitler’s recent line of talk about being the friend of the poor man, the enemy of plutocracy, etc etc. Hitler’s real self is in Mein Kampf, and in his actions. He has never persecuted the rich, except when they were Jews or when they tried actively to oppose him. He stands for a centralised economy which robs the capitalist of most of his power but leaves the structure of society much as before. The State controls industry, but there are still rich and poor, masters and men. Therefore, as against genuine Socialism, the moneyed class have always been on his side. This was crystal clear at the time of the Spanish civil war, and clear again at the time when France surrendered. Hitler’s puppet government are not working men, but a gang of bankers, gaga generals and corrupt right-wing politicians.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1941-02-19), “The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius,” Part 2 “Shopkeepers at War,” sec. 3, The Searchlight Books [ed. Fyvel and Orwell]
(Source)
I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes.
Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) English novelist
Frankenstein, Vol. 3, ch. 6 (1818)
(Source)
FAUSTUS: Stay, Mephistopheles, and tell me,
What good will my soul do thy lord?MEPHISTOPHILES: Enlarge his kingdom.
FAUSTUS: Is that the reason he tempts us thus?
MEPHISTOPHILES: Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.
[Misery loves company.]Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 2, sc. 1 (sc. 5), l. 477ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
Variants of the Latin translation:The same wording is used in the "B" text (1594; 1616), l. 427ff.
- It is a comfort to the wretched to have companions in misery.
- It is a comfort to the unfortunate to have had companions in woe.
- To the unhappy it is a comfort to have had company in misery.
- Solace of the wretched to have companions of pain.
“They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains,” he [Holmes] remarked with a smile. “It’s a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work.”
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 3, Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)
Published in novel form 1888-07.
The quotation is usually attributed to Scottish historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle, but is a misquote of what he says on the subject, in his History of Frederick the Great [Friedrich the Second], Vol. 1, Book 4, ch. 3 (1858–65) (emphasis mine):The good plan itself, this comes not of its own accord; it is the fruit of "genius" (which means transcendent capacity of taking trouble, first of all); given a huge stack of tumbled thrums, it is not in your sleep that you will find the vital centre of it, or get the first thrum by the end!
Thrums, by the way, are the ends of the warp threads in a loom which remain unwoven attached to the loom when the web is cut, or more loosely a collection of leftover thread or yarn.
The "infinite capacity" phrase is sometimes misattributed to Samuel Johnson.
See more discussion here.
Interestingly, Holmes, in the same story, earlier claims not to know Carlyle's works, though he here supposedly quotes him.
Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not the evil: it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that is.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-08), “The Hero as Prophet,” Home House, Portman Square, London
(Source)
The lecture notes were collected by Carlyle into On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, Lecture 2 (1841).
To bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while.
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1871-03 “Housekeer’s Guide” (1871 ed.)
(Source)
But there is in fact nobody who is so hostile to the Muses that he would not readily allow his own deeds to be immortalized in verse.
[Neque enim quisquam est tam aversus a Musis, qui non mandari versibus aeternum suorum laborum facile praeconium patiatur. ]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Pro Archia Poeta [For Archia the Poet], ch. 9 / sec. 20 (62 BC) [tr. Guinach (1962)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:For there was no one so disinclined to the Muses as not willingly to endure that the praise of his labours should be made immortal by means of verse.
[tr. Yonge (1856)]For there is nobody so averse to the Muses as not to suffer the eternal cry of their labour to be readily committed to verse.
[tr. M'Donogh Mahony (1886)]For indeed is there anyone so averse to the Muses who would not readily suffer (that) the eternal panegyric of his labors [should] be committed to verse.
[tr. Dewey (1916)]For indeed there is no man to whom the Muses are so distasteful that he will not be glad to entrust to poetry the eternal emblazonment of his achievements.
[tr. Watts (Loeb) (1923)]Indeed, there never was any one such a stranger to poetic feeling as not readily to allow the immortal advertisement of his deeds to be committed to verse.
[tr. Allcroft/Plaistowe (c. 1925)]There is no one so averse to the Muses that he would not readily submit to having an eternal monument of his own labors made in verse.
[tr. @sentantiq [Erik] (2016)]
A good marriage, if there are such, rejects the company and conditions of love; it strives to show forth those of friendship. It is a calm fellowship of life, full of fidelity, of trust, and of an endless number of useful and substantial mutual duties and obligations.
[Un bon mariage, s’il en est, refuse la compagnie & conditions de l’amour : il tasche à representer celles de l’amitié. C’est une douce societé de vie, pleine de constance, de fiance, & d’un nombre infiny d’utiles & solides offices, & obligations mutuelles.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 3, ch. 5 (3.5), “Of Some Verses of Virgil [Sur des vers de Virgile]” (1586) [tr. Ives (1925)]
(Source)
This essay (and passage) first appeared in the 2nd (1588) edition.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:A good marriage (if any there be) refuseth the company and conditions of love; it endevoureth to present those of amity. It is a sweete society of life, full of constancie, of trust, and an infinite number of profitable and solid offices, and mutuall obligations.
[tr. Florio (1603)]A good Marriage, if it be really so, rejects the Company and Conditions of Love and tries to represent those of Friendship. 'Tis a sweet Society of Life, full of Constancy, Trust, and an infinite Number of useful and solid Offices and mutual Obligations.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]A good marriage, if there be any such, rejects the company and conditions of love, and tries to represent those of friendship. ’Tis a sweet society of life, full of constancy, trust, and an infinite number of useful and solid services and mutual obligations.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]A good marriage, if there is such a thing, rejects the company and conditions of love. It tries to imitate those of friendship. It is a sweet bond of life, full of constancy, of trust, and of an infinite nuimber of useful and substantial services and mutual obligations.
[tr. Zeitlin (1934)]A good marriage, if such there be, rejects the company and conditions of love. It tries to reproduce those of friendship. It is a sweet association in life, full of constancy, trust, and an infinite number of useful and solid services and mutual obligations.
[tr. Frame (1943)]A good marriage (if there be such a thing) rejects the company and conditions of Cupid: it strives to reproduce those of loving-friendship. It is a pleasant fellowship for life, full of constancy, trust and an infinity of solid useful services and mutual duties.
[tr. Screech (1987)]
PILOT: Stop! Stop! You’re breaking the law!
THE DOCTOR: Bad laws were made to be broken.
Ian Stuart Black (1915–1997) British novelist, playwright, screenwriter
Doctor Who (1963), 04×07 “The Macra Terror,” Part 4 (1967-04-01)
(Source)
(Source (Video); dialog verified)
We think because we have words, not the other way around, and the greater our vocabulary, the greater our ability to think conceptually. The first people a dictator puts in jail are the writers, the teachers, the librarians — because these people are dangerous. They have enough vocabulary to recognize injustice and to speak out loudly about it. Let us have the courage to go on being dangerous people.
Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
(Source)
NARRATOR: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Phase 1, “Fit the 5th” (BBC radio) (1978-04-05)
(Source)
This passage, without change, appears in the second novelization, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, ch. 1 (1980).
Tell yourself, when you feel exasperated and out of all patience, that this mortal life endures but a moment; it will not be long before we shall one and all have been laid to rest.
[ὅταν λίαν ἀγανακτῇς ἢ καὶ δυσπαθῇς, ἀκαριαῖος ὁ ἀνθρώπειος βίος καὶ μετ᾿ ὀλίγον πάντες ἐξετάθημεν.]
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 11, ch. 18 (11.18) (AD 161-180) [tr. Staniforth (1964)]
(Source)
Marcus' 6th point to remember when aggravated by another's actions.
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:That whensoever thou doest take on grievously, or makest great woe, little doest thou remember then that a man's life is but for a moment of time, and that within a while we shall all be in our graves.
[tr. Casaubon (1634)]When you are most Angry and Gall'd, remember that Humane Life lasts but a Moment, and that we shall all of us very quickly , be laid in our Graves.
[tr. Collier (1701)]When your anger and resentment is highest, remember human life is but for a moment. We shall be all presently stretched out dead corpses.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]When you are excessively provoked and suffer some real injury, reflect that human life is but of a moment's duration, and that in a short time we shall all be laid in our tombes together.
[tr. Graves (1792)]Consider when thou art much vexed or grieved, that man's life is only a moment, and after a short time we are all laid out dead.
[tr. Long (1862)]When you are most angry and vexed remember that human life lasts but a moment, and that we shall all of us very quickly be laid in our graves.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]When sorely provoked and out of patience, remember that man's life is but for a moment; a little while, and we all lie stretched in death.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]When you are vexed or worried overmuch, remember that man’s life is but for a moment, and that in a little we shall all be laid to rest.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]When thou art above measure angry or even out of patience, bethink thee that man's life is momentary, and in a little while we shall all have been laid out.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]When you are highly indignant or actually suffering, that man's life is but a moment, and in a little we are one and all laid low in death.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]When you are annoyed beyond measure and losing all patience, remember that human life lasts but a moment, and that in a short while we shall all have been laid to rest.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed. and 2011 ed.)]When you lose your temper, or even feel irritated: that human life is very short. Before long all of us will be laid out side by side.
[tr. Hays (2003)]When you are high in indignation and perhaps losing patience, remember that human life is a mere fragment of time and shortly we are all in our grave.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]Whenever you are excessively disturbed or even suffering, remember that human life lasts only a moment and that in a short time we will all be laid out for burial.
[tr. Needleman/Piazza (2008)]Whenever you are really angry and upset, [remember] that human life is short and soon we will all be in the ground.
[tr. @sentantiq (2020)]
Always obey your parents, when they are present. This is the best policy in the long run, because if you don’t, they will make you. Most parents think they know better than you do, and you can generally make more by humoring that superstition than you can by acting on your own better judgment.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Essay (1882), “Advice to Youth”
(Source)
A satirical essay sometimes labeled as a speech to the Boston Saturday Morning Club (1882-04-15).
Administrivia: WIST by Email
I have become seriously dissatisfied by the number and type of advertisements showing up in the WIST-by-email feed (powered by Follow.It). I am testing out some alternatives which I will announce once I’m satisfied of their reliability and non-annoyingness.
The happy life is to an extraordinary extent the same as the good life. Professional moralists have made too much of self-denial, and in so doing have put the emphasis in the wrong place. Conscious self-denial leaves a man self-absorbed and vividly aware of what he has sacrificed; in consequence it fails often of its immediate object and almost always of its ultimate purpose. What is needed is not self-denial, but that kind of direction of interest outward which will lead spontaneously and naturally to the same acts that a person absorbed in the pursuit of his own virtue could only perform by means of conscious self-denial.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 17 “The Happy Man” (1930)
(Source)
Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
Essay (1891-02), “The Soul of Man Under Socialism,” Fortnightly Review, Vol. 49 (ns)
(Source)
The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress, was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons. Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your view destroys the whole matter, and places our President where kings have always stood.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1848-02-15) to William H. Herndon
(Source)
Lincoln understood Herndon to be proposing that the President, on their own initiative and judgment, was entitled to preemptively invade another country to repel an anticipated invasion. Herndon felt this principle justified Polk's sending of troops into disputed territory, which led to the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), though Polk didn't justify his actions in that way.
CALVIN: Isn’t it strange that evolution would give us a sense of humor? When you think about it, it’s weird that we have a physiological response to absurdity. We laugh at nonsense. We like it. We think it’s funny. Don’t you think it’s odd that we appreciate absurdity? Why would we develop that way? How does it benefit us?
HOBBES: I suppose if we couldn’t laugh at things that don’t make sense, we couldn’t react to a lot of life.
CALVIN: (after a pause) I can’t tell if that’s funny or really scary.
ADAGE, n. A hoary-headed platitude that is kicked along the centuries until nothing is left of it but its clothes. A “saw” which has worn out its teeth on the human understanding.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Adage,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1881-03-05)
(Source)
Not collected in later books. Instead, in The Cynic's Word Book (1906), he changed it to "Boned wisdom for weak teeth."
They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace —
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
They’ve great big parties inside the grounds.
“I wouldn’t be King for a hundred pounds,”
Says Alice.
A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
When We Were Very Young, “Buckingham Palace,” st. 4 (1924)
(Source)
MEDEA: I think the unjust man who can speak cleverly
incurs the greatest penalty for, feeling confident
to cloak injustice in fair speech,
he dares the utmost villainy.[ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: ἐμοὶ γὰρ ὅστις ἄδικος ὢν σοφὸς λέγειν
πέφυκε, πλείστην ζημίαν ὀφλισκάνει:
γλώσσῃ γὰρ αὐχῶν τἄδικ᾽ εὖ περιστελεῖν
τολμᾷ πανουργεῖν.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 580ff (431 BC) [tr. Ewans (2022)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:In my judgement, he
Who tramples on the laws, but can express
His thoughts with plausibility, deserves
Severest punishment: for that injustice
On which he glories, with his artful tongue.
That he a fair appearance can bestow,
He dares to practise.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]Th' injurious man, whose tongue
Flows with pernicious rhetoric, I hold
To merit the severest punishment.
For confident his speech can varnish o'er
The blackest deeds, his craft dares venture on them.
[tr. Potter (1814)]For him who does wrong and is wise to gloze it
I hold worth worser doom. For making sure
He'll show wrong gracious with his tongue, he's bold
To every crime.
[tr. Webster (1868)]To my mind, whoso hath skill to fence with words in an unjust cause, incurs the heaviest penalty; for such an one, confident that he can cast a decent veil of words o'er his injustice, dares to practise it.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]In my judgment, whatever man being unjust, is deeply skilled in argument, merits the severest punishment. For vaunting that with his tongue he can well gloze over injustice, he dares to work deceit.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]For in my sight the villain subtle-tongued
Getteth himself for gain exceeding loss,
Who, confident his tongue can gloze the wrong,
Becomes a bold knave.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]To me it seemeth, when
A crafty tongue is given to evil men
'Tis like to wreck, not help them. Their own brain
Tempts them with lies to dare and dare again,
Till .... [tr. Murray (1906)]I think that the plausible speaker
Who is a villain deserves the greatest punishment.
Confident in his tongue’s power to adorn evil,
He stops at nothing.
[tr. Warner (1944)]To me, a wicked man who is also eloquent
Seems the most guilty of them all. He’ll cut your throat
As bold as brass, because he knows he can dress up murder
In handsome words.
[tr. Vellacott (1963)]For me, the man who is a villain, but clever
In speech, would have to pay the highest fine;
Confident of cloaking his villainy in fine words,
He dares anything.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]To my mind, the plausible speaker who is a scoundrel incurs the greatest punishment. For since he is confident that he can cleverly cloak injustice with his words, his boldness stops at no knavery.
[tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]For in my eyes the criminal with a gift for speaking deserves the worst of punishments. So confident is he in his tongue’s ability to dress his foul thoughts in fair words, there is nothing he dares not do.
[tr. Davie (1996)]What I believe, for example is the more eloquent the misfit, the greater the punishment he deserves because, thinking that his eloquence and his pretty words will get him out of any injustice, he has the audacity to commit even greater evils.
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]In my opinion,
the unjust man who speaks so plausibly
brings on himself the harshest punishment.
Since he’s sure his tongue can hide injustice,
he dares anything.
[tr. Johnston (2008), l. 689ff]To my mind, whoever is naturally sophos in speaking but has no dikē deserves the heaviest punishment. Such a man boasts that he can cast a decent veil of words over his unjust deeds, and boldly proceeds to wickedness.
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]To my mind, the plausible speaker who is a scoundrel incurs the greatest punishment. For since he is confident that he can cleverly cloak injustice with his words, his boldness stops at no dishonesty.
[tr. Kovacs / Zhang / Rogak]
The appreciation of many things in which we are not proficient ourselves but which we have learned to enjoy is one of the important things to cultivate in modern education. The arts in every field — music, drama, sculpture, painting — we can learn to appreciate and enjoy. We need not be artists, but we should be able to appreciate the work of artists.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1958-11-05), “My Day”
(Source)
All baptised in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
[ὅσοι γὰρ εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε. οὐκ ἔνι Ἰουδαῖος οὐδὲ Ἕλλην, οὐκ ἔνι δοῦλος οὐδὲ ἐλεύθερος, οὐκ ἔνι ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ· πάντες γὰρ ὑμεῖς εἷς ἐστε ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ.]
The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Galatians 3: 27–28 [JB (1966)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
[KJV (1611)]Every one of you that has been baptised has been clothed in Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither slave nor freeman, there can be neither male nor female -- for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
[NJB (1985)]You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself. So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus.
[GNT (1992 ed.)]All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
[CEB (2011)]As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]
But this we can say with certainty: a government and a society that silences those who dissent is one that has lost its way. This we can say: that what is essential in a free society is that there should be an atmosphere where those who wish to dissent and even to demonstrate can do so without fear of recrimination or vilification.
Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1965-12-18), “The Problem of Dissent,” Saturday Review
(Source)
Reprinted in Freedom and Order, Part 6 (1966).
It is not the young people that degenerate: they are not spoilt till those of maturer age are already sunk into corruption.
[Ce n’est point le peuple naissant qui dégénere ; il ne se perd que lorsque les hommes faits sont déja corrompus.]
Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 4, ch. 5 (4.5) (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]
(Source)
On society's need to educate the young into a love for the republic.
(Source (French)). Other translations:It is not young people who degenerate; they are ruined only when grown men have already been corrupted.
[tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]It is not the rising people that degenerates ; it only declines when the fully-formed men are already corrupted.
[tr. Stewart (2018)]
Gilgamesh, where are you roaming?
You will never find the eternal life
that you seek. When the gods created mankind,
they also created death, and they held back
eternal life for themselves alone.
Humans are born, they live, and then they die,
this is the order that the gods have decreed.
But until the end comes, enjoy your life,
spend it in happiness, not despair.
Savor your food, make each of your days
a delight, bathe and anoint yourself,
wear bright clothes that are sparkling clean,
let music and dancing fill your house,
love the child who holds you by the hand,
and give your wife pleasure in your embrace.
That is the best way for a man to live.Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2100–1200 BC) Sumerian myth
Tablet 10, col. 3 [Siduri] [tr. Mitchell (2004)]
(Source)
Said by Siduri, the tavern keeper, to Gilgamesh, who was seeking for immortality after Enkidu's death. In some versions, this is said by the ferryman Urshanabi.
Other translations:Why, O Gish, does thou run about?
The life that thou seekest, thou wilt not find.
when the gods created mankind,
Death they imposed on mankind;
Life they kept in their power.
Thou, O Gish, fill thy belly,
Day and night do you rejoice,
Daily make a rejoicing!
Day and night a renewal of jollification!
Let thy clothes be clean,
Wash thy head and pour water over thee!
Care for the little one who takes hold of thy hand!
Let the wife rejoice in thy bosom!
[tr. Jastrow/Clay (1920)]Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to? You will never find the life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping. As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man.
[tr. Sandars (1960)]Gilgamesh, where are you wandering? The life that you are seeking all around you will not find. When the gods created mankind they fixed Death for mankind, and held back Life in their own hands. Now you, Gilgamesh, let your belly be full! Be happy day and night, of each day make a party, dance in circles day and night! Let your clothes be sparkling clean, let your head be clean, wash yourself with water! Attend to the little one who holds onto your hand, let a wife delight in your embrace. This is the [true] task of mankind.
[tr. Kovacs (1989)][...] Remember always, mighty king, that gods decreed the fate of all many years ago. They alone are let to be eternal, while we frail humans die as you yourself must someday do. What is best for us to do now to sing and dance. Relish warm food and cool drinks. Cherish children to whom your love gives life. Bathe easily, in sweet, refreshing waters. Play joyfully with your chosen wife. It is the will of the gods for you to smile on simple pleasure in the leisure time of your short days.
[tr. Jackson (1997)][...] But you, Gilgamesh, let your belly be full,
enjoy yourself always by day and by night!
Make merry each day,
dance and play day and night!
Let your clothes be clean,
let your head be washed, may you bathe in water!
Gaze on the child who holds your hand,
let your wife enjoy your repeated embrace!
[tr. George (1999)]What you want, you cannot have. You will not find a life that does not die. When maknind was created by the gods, they kept undying life for themselve; they gave death to man.
So, Gilgamesh, fill your stomach. Enjoy yourself. Take pleasure every day and every night in every way you can. Play. Dance. Refresh yourself with baths. Wash your hair. Put on clean clothes. Take your child's hand in yours and take your wife on your lap. That is life.
[tr. Harris (2001)]Thy constant grief shall never cease; nor mild
Thy life shall ever be if thou persist
Upon this foolish quest; thy deeds resist
The will of heaven's way's the gods bestowed
On us the ways of death with sorrow owed
To every living man; the gods reserved
Eternal life for their delight; -- unnerved
By this? This is the scheme of things, -- accept
Thy lot; enjoy the sun, thy children kept
In later years, and fleeting life today;
Remove thy needless burden; come what may.
[tr. Watson (2023)]
I have for some time thought that a few of our present day ills stem from this childish faith in the existence of perfect answers. It requires a degree of maturity to realize that all solutions are partial ones.
Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) American naval engineer, submariner, US Navy Admiral
Speech (1954-03-16), “Administering a Large Military Development Project,” US Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
(Source)
Men are still men. The despot’s wickedness
Comes of ill teaching, and of power’s excess, —
Comes of the purple he from childhood wears,
Slaves would be tyrants if the chance were theirs.[L’homme est homme toujours; les crimes du despote
Sont faits par sa puissance, ombre où son âme flotte,
Par la pourpre qu’il traîne et dont on le revêt,
Et l’esclave serait tyran s’il le pouvait.]Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Poem (1876), “The Vanished City [La Ville Disparue],” Legend of the Ages: New Series [La Légende des siècles: La Nouvelle Série], No. 4 (1877) [tr. Carrington (1885)]
(Source)
If you know even as little history as I do, it is hard not to doubt the efficacy of modern war as a solution to any problem except that of retribution — the “justice” of exchanging one damage for another.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1999), “The Failure of War,” Citizenship Papers (2003)
(Source)
And so, you see, simplicity
Requires that our lot
Be that we exit, when we must,
With only what we brought.Bruce Holland Rogers (b. 1958) American author [pseud. Hanovi Braddock]
“A Common Night,” Fantastic Alice (1995) [ed. Margaret Weis]
(Source)
HELENA: Things base and vile, holding no quantity,
Love can transpose to form and dignity.
Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind;
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
Nor hath Love’s mind of any judgment taste.
Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste.
And therefore is Love said to be a child
Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, sc. 1, ll. 238ff (1.1.238-245) (1605)
(Source)
There are men among us who use “patriotism” as a club for attacking other Americans. What can we say for the self-styled patriot who thinks that a Negro, a Jew, a Catholic, or a Japanese-American is less an American than he? That betrays the deepest article of our faith, the belief in individual liberty and equality which has always been the heart and soul of the American idea.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-08-27), “The Nature of Patriotism,” American Legion Convention, Madison Square Garden, New York City
(Source)
Our readiness to think ill of people without sufficiently examining the matter is based on laziness and pride. We want to find people guilty, we don’t want the bother of studying their crimes.
[La promptitude à croire le mal, sans l’avoir assez examiné, est un effet de l’orgueil et de la paresse: on veut trouver des coupables, et on ne veut pas se donner la peine d’examiner les crimes.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶267 (1665-1678) [tr. Kronenberger (1959)]
(Source)
Present in the 1st Edition. Variant: "... un effet de la paresse et de l'orguieil."
Another 1665 variant:La promptitude avec laquelle nous croyons le mal, sans l’avoir assez examiné, est un effet de la paresse et de l’orgueil.
[The readiness with which we believe evil, without having examined it sufficiently, is an effect of laziness and pride.]
Manuscript variant: "... est souvent un effet de paresse, qui se joint à l’orgueil [... is often an effect of laziness, combined with pride]."
(Source (French)). Other translations:A readiness to believe Ill, before we have duly Examined it, is the Effect of Laziness and Pride. Men are pleased to find Others to Blame and loth to give Themselves the Trouble of Enquiring, how far, and whether they are so, or not.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶268]A readiness to believe ill without examination is the effect of pride and laziness. We are willing to find people guilty, and unwilling to be at the trouble of examining into the accusation.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶245; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶250]A willingness to believe ill, without examination, is the effect of pride and idleness. We are ready to suppose guilt, but unwilling to be at the trouble of examining into the accusation.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶214]Readiness; to believe evil without sufficient examination is the result of pride and indolence. We wish to find people guilty, and we do not wish to give ourselves the trouble of examining into the crimes.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶278]A quickness in believing evil without having sufficiently examined it, is the effect of pride and laziness. We wish to find the guilty, and we do not wish to trouble ourselves in examining the crime.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶267]A ready belief of evil without examining the facts is a form of pride, or of indolence. We are anxious to ferret out criminals without taking the pains of examining their crimes.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶275]Readiness to believe evil without adequate inquiry is the result of pride and indolence. We like detecting criminals, but we dislike the labor of investigating crimes.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶267]The promptitude with which we will believe evil of others, without an adequate examination of the facts, is an effect of pride working with laziness. We wish to find the guilty men, and cannot be be bothered to study the crime.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶267]Readiness to believe the worst without adequate examination comes from pride and laziness; we want to find culprits but cannot be bothered to investigate the crimes.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶267]A readiness to believe evil without sufficient examination, it is an effect both of pride and of idleness. On the one hand, we desire to find other people guilty; and on the other, we do not wish to take the pains necessary to examine their crimes.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶267]
Does any intelligent man now believe that God made man of dust, and woman of a rib, and put them in a garden, and put a tree in the midst of it? Was there not room outside of the garden to put his tree, if he did not want people to eat his apples?
If I did not want a man to eat my fruit, I would not put him in my orchard.Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1884-01-20), “Orthodoxy,” Tabor Opera House, Denver, Colorado
(Source)
Power, like the diamond, dazzles the beholder, and also the wearer; it dignifies meanness; it magnifies littleness; to what is contemptible, it gives authority; to what is low, exaltation.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 20 (1820)
(Source)
To an impartial estimate it will seem clear that many of the wisest, most virtuous, and most beneficent parts that are to be played upon the Theatre of Life are filled by gratuitous performers, and pass, among the world at large, as phases of idleness. For in that Theatre, not only the walking gentlemen, singing chambermaids, and diligent fiddlers in the orchestra, but those who look on and clap their hands from the benches, do really play a part and fulfil important offices towards the general result. You are no doubt very dependent on the care of your lawyer and stockbroker, of the guards and signalmen who convey you rapidly from place to place, and the policemen who walk the streets for your protection; but is there not a thought of gratitude in your heart for certain other benefactors who set you smiling when they fall in your way, or season your dinner with good company?
Fascism, at any rate the German version, is a form of capitalism that borrows from socialism just such features as will make it efficient for war purposes.
Internally, Germany has a good deal in common with a Socialist state. Ownership has never been abolished, there are still capitalists and workers, and — this is the important point, and the real reason why rich men all over the world tend to sympathise with Fascism — generally speaking the same people are capitalists and the same people workers as before the Nazi revolution. But at the same time the State, which is simply the Nazi Party, is in control of everything. […]
But the idea underlying Fascism is irreconcilably different from that which underlies Socialism. Socialism aims, ultimately, at a world-state of free and equal human beings. It takes equality of human rights for granted. Nazism assumes just the opposite. The driving force behind the Nazi movement is the belief in human inequality, the superiority of Germans to all other races, the right of Germany to rule the world.George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1941-02-19), “The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius,” Part 2 “Shopkeepers at War,” sec. 1, The Searchlight Books [ed. Fyvel and Orwell]
(Source)
Phryne had never liked pain. It hurt.
Kerry Greenwood (b. 1954) Australian author and lawyer
Phryne Fisher No. 10, Death Before Wicket, ch. 7 (1999)
(Source)
MEPHISTOPHILES: Within the bowels of these elements,
Where we are tortur’d and remain for ever:
Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib’d
In one self place; for where we are is hell,
And where hell is, there must we ever be:
And, to conclude, when all the world dissolves,
And every creature shall be purified,
All places shall be hell that are not heaven.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 2, sc. 1 (sc. 5), l. 565ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
The same text is used in the "B" text (1594; 1616) at l. 515ff.
The End Times "world dissolves" comes from Isaiah 24:19. "Shall be purified" is a reference to Daniel 12:10.
“You don’t seem to give much thought to the matter in hand,” I said at last, interrupting Holmes’s musical disquisition.
“No data yet,” he answered. “It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgement.”Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 3, Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)
But suppose one could not point to this great benefit, suppose that the study of literature conferred only enjoyment: even then, I believe, you would agree that this form of mental relaxation broadens and enlightens the mind like no other. For other forms of mental relaxation are in no way suited to every time, age, and place. But the study of literature sharpens youth and delights old age; it enhances prosperity and provides a refuge and comfort in adversity; it gives enjoyment at home without being a hindrance in the wider world; at night, and when travelling, and on country visits, it is an unfailing companion.
[Quod si non hic tantus fructus ostenderetur et si ex his studiis delectatio sola peteretur, tamen, ut opinor, hanc animi adversionem humanissimam ac liberalissimam iudicaretis. Nam ceterae neque temporum sunt neque aetatum omnium neque locorum: haec studia adolescentiam acuunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium ac solacium praebent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Pro Archia Poeta [For Archia the Poet], ch. 7 / sec. 16 (62 BC) [tr. Berry (2000)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:Though, even if there were no such great advantage to be reaped from it, and if it were only pleasure that is sought from these studies, still I imagine you would consider it a most reasonable and liberal employment of the mind: for other occupations are not suited to every time, nor to every age or place; but these studies are the food of youth, the delight of old age; the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity; a delight at home, and no hindrance abroad; they are companions by night, and in travel, and in the country.
[tr. Yonge (1856)]But even if we had no promise of such great fruit as we have, if we were led to study merely for the sake of the pleasure afforded us by study itself, you would nevertheless, I think , come to the conclusion that this mental recreation was a most humane and liberal one. For there are other studies which belong neither to all times, nor to all ages, nor to all places; but these studies strengthen youth and divert age, adorn prosperity, and afford a refuge and a solace in adversity; are a pleasure to us at home, and no hindrance abroad; they spend the night and roam about and rusticate with us.
[tr. M'Donogh Mahony (1886)][...] Such studies nourish us in youth, and entertain us in old age; they embellish our prosperity, and provide for us a refuge and a solace in adversity ; they are a delight at home, yet no embarrassment abroad; they are with us throughout sleepless nights, on tedious journeys, in. our country retreats.
[tr. Harbottle (1897)]Even if this so great advantage should not be shown, and if delight only is sought from these studies, however, as I think, you should judge (that) this employment of the mind (is) most humane and liberal. For other (occupations) are (suited) neither (for) all times, Even if this so great advantage should not be shown, and if delight only is sought from these studies, however, as I think, you should judge (that) this employment of the mind (is) most humane and liberal. For other (occupations) are (suited) neither (for) all times, foster youth, delight old age, adorn prosperity, in adversity they offer refuge and comfort, they delight (us) at home, they do not hinder (us) outside [abroad], they pass the night with us, they travel abroad, they go to the country (with us).
[tr. Dewey (1916)]But let us for the moment waive these solid advantages; let us assume that entertainment is the sole end of reading; even so, I think you would hold that no mental employment is so broadening to the sympathies or so enlightening to the understanding. Other pursuits belong not to all times, all ages, all conditions; but this gives stimulus to our youth and diversion to our old age; this adds a charm to success, and offers a haven of consolation to failure. In the home it delights, in the world it hampers not. Through the night-watches, on all our journeying, and in our hours of country ease, it is our unfailing companion.
[tr. Watts (Loeb) (1923)]And yet if so great a profit were not held out to them, and if enjoyment only were sought from such studies, still, I fancy, you would decide that this is the mind's most refined and liberal relaxation. The other classes of enjoyment are not for every time or every age or every situation, but these pursuits are the food of youth and the charm of age; they are the ornament of prosperity, and lend a refuge and comfort to misfortune; at home they are a pleasure, abroad they are no hindrance; they are with us by night, upon our journeys, at our country seats.
[tr. Allcroft/Plaistowe (c. 1925)]But if such great fruit as this did not result, and if pleasure alone were sought from these studies, still in my opinion you should judge this relaxation of mind most refining and most liberalizing. For other relaxations are not suitable for every season, age, and place, but these studies nourish youth and delight old age; they are an ornament in prosperity, and furnish a refuge and a solace in adversity; they are a delight at home and not a hindrance abroad; they pass the night, travel afar, or go to the country with us.
[tr. Guinach (1962)]But if this clear profit [of studying literature] is not clear and if entertainment alone should be sought from these pursuits, I still believe that you would judge them the most humanizing and enlightening exercise of the mind. For other activities do not partake in all times, all ages, and all places -- reading literature sharpens us in youth and comforts us in old age. It brings adornment to our successes and solace to our failures. It delights when we are at home and creates no obstacle for us out in the world. It is our companion through long nights, long journeys, and months in rural retreats.
[tr. @sentantiq (2019)]
We do not find, of the Christian Religion either, that it always disdained the sword, when once it had got one.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-08), “The Hero as Prophet,” Home House, Portman Square, London
(Source)
On accusations of Islam being spread "by the sword."
The lecture notes were collected by Carlyle into On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, Lecture 2 (1841).
I see no marriages where the conjugal compatibility sooner fails than those that we contract upon the account of beauty and amorous desires; there should be more solid and constant foundation, and they should proceed with greater circumspection; this furious ardor is worth nothing.
[Je ne voy point de mariages qui faillent plustost, & se troublent, que ceux qui s’acheminent par la beauté, & desirs amoureux : Il y faut des fondemens plus solides, & plus constans, & y marcher d’aguet : cette bouillante allegresse n’y vaut rien. ]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 3, ch. 5 (3.5), “Of Some Verses of Virgil [Sur des vers de Virgile]” (1586) [tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]
(Source)
This essay (and passage) first appeared in the 2nd (1588) edition.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:I see no mariages faile sooner, or more troubled, then such as are concluded for beauties sake, and hudled up for amorous desires. There are required more solide foundations, and more constant grounds, and a more warie marching to it: this earnest youthly heate serveth to no purpose.
[tr. Florio (1603)]I see no Marriages where the conjugal Intelligence sooner fails, than those that we contract upon the account of Beauty and amorous Desires; there should be more solid and constant Foundation, and they should proceed with greater Cicumspection; this furious Ardour is worth nothing.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]I see no marriages that sooner are troubled and fail than those that progress by means of beauty and amorous desires. It needs more solid and stable foundations, and we need to go at it circumspectly; this ebullient ardor is no good for it.
[tr. Frame (1943)]I know no marriages which fail and come to grief more quickly than those which are set on foot by beauty and amorous desire. Marriage requires foundations which are solid and durable; and we must keep on the alert. That boiling rapture is no good at all.
[tr. Screech (1987)]
Do not forget you are like the rest of the world, and faulty yourself in a great many instances: that though you may forbear from some errors, it is not for want of inclination, and that nothing but cowardice, vanity, or some such base principle hinders you from sinning.
[καὶ αὐτὸς πολλὰ ἁμαρτάνεις καὶ ἄλλος τοιοῦτος εἷ: καὶ εἴ τινων δὲ ἁμαρτημάτων ἀπέχῃ, ἀλλὰ τήν γε ἕξιν ἐποιστικὴν ἔχεις, εἰ καὶ διὰ δειλίαν ἢ δοξοκοπίαν ἢ τοιοῦτό τι κακὸν ἀπέχῃ τῶν ὁμοίων ἁμαρτημάτων.]
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 11, ch. 18 (11.18) (AD 161-180) [tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]
(Source)
Marcus' 4th point to remember when aggravated by another's actions.
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Thou thyself doest transgress in many things, and art even such another as they are. And though perchance thou doest forbear the very act of some sins, yet hast thou in thyself an habitual disposition to them, but that either through fear, or vainglory, or some such other ambitious foolish respect, thou art restrained.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 11.16]Don't forget you are like the rest of the World, and Faulty your self in a great many Instances; That tho' you may forbear running Riot in some Cases, 'tis not for want of an Inclination: And that nothing but Cowardize, Vanity, or some such scandalous Principle, hinders you from breaking out.
[tr. Collier (1701)]You have many faults of your own, and are much such another. And, that, though you abstain from some such crimes, yet you have a like strong inclination; however from fear, or concern about your character, you abstain from them.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]Reflect that you yourself are guilty of many faults, and are in many respects like those that offend you. And though you abstain from some vicious acts, you have an habitual inclination to commit them, but are restrained by fear, a regard to character, or some other less virtuous motive, from further indulgence in them.
[tr. Graves (1792)]Consider that thou also doest many things wrong, and that thou art a man like others; and even if thou dost abstain from certain faults, still thou hast the disposition to commit them, though either through cowardice, or concern about reputation, or some such mean motive, thou dost abstain from such faults.
[tr. Long (1862)]You are like others, and often do wrong yourself. Even if you abstain from some forms of wrong, all the same you have the bent for wrongdoing, though cowardice or desire for popularity, or some other low motive keeps you from wrong of that kind.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]You yourself do often sin, and are no better than another. And, if you abstain from certain sins, still you have the disposition to commit them, even if through cowardice, fear for your character, or other meanness, you hold back.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]Thou too doest many a wrong thing thyself and art much as others are, and if thou dost refrain from certain wrong-doings, yet hast thou a disposition inclinable thereto even supposing that through cowardice or a regard for thy good name or some such base consideration thou dost not actually commit them.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]You yourself also often do wrong and are another such as they are, and that, even if you do abstain from some kinds of wrong action, at all events you have at least a proclivity to them, though cowardice or tenderness for your good name or some similar bad motive keeps you from offences like theirs.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]You yourself offend in various ways, and are no different from them. You may indeed avoid certain faults, yet the inclination is there nevertheless, even if cowardice or a regard for your reputation or some such ignoble motive has restrained you from imitating their misdeeds.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]You for your own part also commit many wrongs, and are just the same as they are; and that even if you do refrain from certain kinds of wrongdoing, you have at least the inclination to commit such wrongs, even if cowardice, or concern for your reputation, or some other vice of that kind, saves you from actually committing them.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]You've made enough mistakes yourself. You're just like them. Even if there are some you've avoided, you have the potential. Even if cowardice has kept you from them. Or fear of what people would say. Or some equally bad reason.
[tr. Hays (2003)]You yourself have many faults and are no different from them. If you do refrain from some wrongs you still have the proclivity to them, even if your restraint from wrongs like theirs is due to the fear or pursuit of public opinion, or some other such poor motive.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]Remember that you yourself are often mistaken, and so you are just like them; also that, even if you manage to refrain from doing some wrongs, you nevertheless have it in you to do such things, were it not for the fact that fear, thirst for reputation, or some other unworthy motive keeps you from doing what they do.
[tr. Needleman/Piazza (2008)]Consider that you for your own part also commit many wrongs, and are just the same as they are; and that even if you do refrain from certain kinds of wrongdoing, you have at least the inclination to commit such wrongs, even if cowardice, or concern for your reputation, or some other vice of that kind, saves you from actually committing them.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]
“No,” interrupted the doctor. “There is no peace and no rest in the development of material interests. They have their law, and their justice. But it is founded on expediency, and is inhuman; it is without rectitude, without the continuity and the force that can be found only in moral principle.”
Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) Polish-English novelist [b. Teodor Josef Konrad Korzeniowski]
Nostromo, Part 3 “The Lighthouse,” ch. 10 (1904)
(Source)
Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.
Donald E. Knuth (b. 1938) American computer scientist, mathematician, academic
Essay (1996), “Foreword” to Marko Petkovsek, Herbert Wilf and Doron Zeilberger, A = B (1996)
(Source)
The happy man is the man who lives objectively, who has free affections and wide interests, who secures his happiness through these interests and affections and through the fact that they, in turn, make him an object of interest and affection to many others.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 17 “The Happy Man” (1930)
(Source)
This has happened before in our history — in fact, it’s a pretty predictable reaction to fear. We get so rattled by some big Scary Thing — communism or crime or drugs or illegal aliens or terrorism — something that scares us so much, we think we can make ourselves safer by giving up some of our freedom. Now, not only does that not hold a drop of water as a logical proposition but it has consistently proved to be an illusion as a practical matter. Empirically, when you make yourself less free, you are not safe, you are just less free.
HOBBES: Van Gogh would’ve sold more than one painting if he’d put tigers in them.
ABATTOIR, n. A place where cattle slaughter kine. It is commonly placed at some distance from the haunts of our species, in order that they who devour the flesh may not be shocked by the site of blood.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Abattoir,” “Demon’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco News Letter (1875-12-11)
(Source)
Not collected in later books.
CHORUS: The fiercest anger of all, the most incurable
is that which rages in the place of dearest love.[ΚΥΚΛΩΨ: Δεινή τις ὀργὴ καὶ δυσίατος πέλει,
ὅταν φίλοι φίλοισι συμβάλωσ᾽ ἔριν.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 520ff (431 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1963)]
(Source)
Of the estrangement Jason and Medea. Some translations say this line is given by the chorus leader, not the chorus as a whole.
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:How sharp their wrath, how hard to be appeas'd
When friends with friends begin the cruel strife.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]When friends with friends at variance kindle strife,
Fierce is their anger and immedicable.
[tr. Potter (1814)]Terrible is that anger, and to assuage
Most difficult, when friends with friends join battle.
[tr. Webster (1868)]There is a something terrible and past all cure, when quarrels arise 'twixt those who are near and dear.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]Dreadful is that anger and irremediable, when friends with friends kindle strife.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]Awful is wrath, and past all balm of healing,
When they that once loved clash in feud of hate.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]Dire and beyond all healing is the hate
When hearts that loved are turned to enmity.
[tr. Murray (1906)]It is a strange form of anger, difficult to cure, when two friends turn upon each other in hatred.
[tr. Warner (1944)]A terrible thing is temper and knows no cure
When dear ones wrangle and fall to fighting each other.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]Terrible and hard to heal is the wrath that comes when kin join in conflict with kin.
[tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]Terrible is the anger and almost beyond cure, when strife severs those whom love once joined.
[tr. Davie (1996)]Friend against friend! An anger most implacable!
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]Anger is frightening and hard to remedy
when loved ones join in strife with loved ones.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]When members of a family fight like this,
rage pushes them beyond all compromise.
[tr. Johnston (2008)]It is a deinē anger and past all cure, whenever philoi fall to strife [eris] with philoi.
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]
If the use of leisure time is confined to looking at TV for a few extra hours every day, we will deteriorate as a people.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1958-11-05), “My Day”
(Source)
We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
[μὴ σκοπούντων ἡμῶν τὰ βλεπόμενα ἀλλὰ τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα· τὰ γὰρ βλεπόμενα πρόσκαιρα, τὰ δὲ μὴ βλεπόμενα αἰώνια.]
The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
2 Corinthians 4: 18 [KJV (1611)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:And so we have no eyes for things that are visible, but only for things that are invisible; for visible things last only for a time, and the invisible things are eternal.
[JB (1966)]What we aim for is not visible but invisible. Visible things are transitory, but invisible things eternal.
[NJB (1985)]For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.
[GNT (1992 ed.)]We don’t focus on the things that can be seen but on the things that can’t be seen. The things that can be seen don’t last, but the things that can’t be seen are eternal.
[CEB (2011)]We look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]
They are perfectly aware how little ground there can be to hope that men may be reasoned out of their errours, when in fact they were never reasoned into them, but adopted them from prejudice, passion, or policy.
Lyman Beecher (1775-1863) American minister, preacher, abolitionist
Sermon (1823-10-15), “The Faith Once Delivered to the Saints,” Worcester, Massachusetts
(Source)
However, it is the Part of a great Politician to make the Character of his People; to extinguish among them the Follies and Vices that he sees, and to create in them the Virtues and Abilities which he sees wanting. I wish I was sure that America has one such Politician, but I fear she has not.
John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1776-01-08) to Mercy Otis Warren
(Source)
The rich and respectable have always had their ways of making their discontent heard; the poor and unorganized must resort to protests and marches and demonstrations.
Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1965-12-18), “The Problem of Dissent,” Saturday Review
(Source)
Reprinted in Freedom and Order, Part 6 (1966).
MACBETH: I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on’t again I dare not.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 2, sc. 2, l. 66ff (2.2.66-67) (1606)
(Source)
Unfortunately, in real life there are no exact or final answers. In a job which must go ahead at a rapid pace we cannot withhold judgment “until all the facts are in.” Rarely is all the evidence at hand. Decisions must be made, and action taken, before complete knowledge can be acquired.
Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) American naval engineer, submariner, US Navy Admiral
Speech (1954-03-16), “Administering a Large Military Development Project,” US Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
(Source)
God bears with imperfect beings, even when they resist his goodness. We ought to imitate this merciful patience and endurance. It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.
François Fénelon (1651-1715) French Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet, writer [François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon]
Letter (1710-10-11) to Duchess de Montemart
(Source)
Sometimes misattributed to Joseph Addison.
This is a shortened version, from Selections from the Writings of Fénelon, Letter 37 [tr. Follen (1829)], of a passage given in Fénelon's Letters to Women, Letter 116 [tr. Lear (1921)] as:Sometimes even it is necessary to imitate God's dealings with souls, Who often so softens His rebuke that the person rebuked feels rather as though he were accusing himself than being accused. Anything like impatient reproof from being shocked at great faults becomes a very human correction, not that of grace.Our own imperfection makes us hasty to rebuke the imperfect, and it is a very subtle and ll-permeating self-love which cannot forgive the self-love of others. The stronger it is, the more critical the censor will be: there is nothing so irritating to a proud, self-willed mind, as the self-will of a neighbor; and another man's passions seem intolerably ridiculous and unbearable to one who is given up to his own. But he who is full oft he love of God, on the contrary, is full of forbearance, consideration, and indulgence. He waits and adapts himself, and goes softly, one step at a time: the less self-love he has, the more he tolerates that of others in order to heal it.
CATO: Curse on his virtues! they’ve undone his country.
Such popular humanity is treason.Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Cato, Act 4, sc. 4 (1713)
(Source)
Speaking of Caesar.
More particularly does the weakening of the legislative arm lead to encroachments by the executive upon legislative and judicial functions, and inevitably that encroachment is upon individual liberty. If we examine the fate of wrecked republics over the world we shall find first a weakening of the legislative arm.
Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) American engineer, bureaucrat, US President (1929-33)
The Challenge to Liberty, ch. 7 (1934)
(Source)
I think that it’s an honorable thing to change your mind occasionally. I don’t think it’s a sign of weakness or lack of integrity. I believe men are united by their doubts and separated by their convictions. Therefore, it’s a very good thing to have doubts. Doubts are the greatest spur to activity that I know of.
Peter Ustinov (1921-2004) English actor, author, director
Interview (1995-06-22) by Warren Allen Smith, Free Inquiry Magazine
(Source)
Not for the first time she reflected that there were many drawbacks to being a swordswoman, not least of which was that men didn’t take you seriously until you’d actually killed them, by which time it didn’t really matter anyway.
True patriotism, it seems to me, is based on tolerance and a large measure of humility.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-08-27), “The Nature of Patriotism,” American Legion Convention, Madison Square Garden, New York City
(Source)
Only the other day a gentleman was telling me of a case of special Providence. He knew it. He had been the subject of it. A few years ago he was about to go on a ship, when he was detained. He did not go, and the ship was lost with all on board.
“Yes,” I said, ” Do you think the people who were drowned believed in special Providence?” Think of the infinite egotism of such a doctrine. Here is a man that fails to go upon a ship with 500 passengers, and they go down to the bottom of the sea — fathers, mothers, children, and loving husbands and wives waiting upon the shores of expectation. Here is one poor little wretch that did not happen to go! And he thinks that God, the Infinite Being, interfered in his poor little withered behalf and let the rest all go. That is special Providence!Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1884-01-20), “Orthodoxy,” Tabor Opera House, Denver, Colorado
(Source)
Published as its own book in 1884.
The greatest friend of truth is Time, her greatest enemy is Prejudice, and her constant companion is Humility.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 158 (1820)
(Source)
Look at one of your industrious fellows for a moment, I beseech you. He sows hurry and reaps indigestion; he puts a vast deal of activity out to interest, and receives a large measure of nervous derangement in return. Either he absents himself entirely from all fellowship, and lives a recluse in a garret, with carpet slippers and a leaden inkpot; or he comes among people swiftly and bitterly, in a contraction of his whole nervous system, to discharge some temper before he returns to work. I do not care how much or how well he works, this fellow is an evil feature in other people’s lives. They would be happier if he were dead. They could easier do without his services in the Circumlocution Office, than they can tolerate his fractious spirits. He poisons life at the well-head. It is better to be beggared out of hand by a scapegrace nephew, than daily hag-ridden by a peevish uncle.
But there is a higher order of men so inspired with ardour, and so fortified with resolution, that the world passes before them without influence or regard: these ought to consider themselves as appointed the guardians of mankind: they are placed in an evil world, to exhibit publick examples of good life; and may be said, when they withdraw to solitude, to desert the station which Providence assigned them.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126
(Source)
Why is the goose-step not used in England? There are, heaven knows, plenty of army officers who would be only too glad to introduce some such thing. It is not used because the people in the street would laugh. Beyond a certain point, military display is only possible in countries where the common people dare not laugh at the army.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1941-02-19), “The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius,” Part 1 “England Your England,” sec. 2, The Searchlight Books [ed. Fyvel and Orwell]
(Source)
Part of Part 1, "England Your England" with the title "The Ruling Class" was previously published in Horizon (1940-12).
Though in reviewing the incidents of my Administration I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence, and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.
George Washington (1732–1799) American military leader, Founding Father, US President (1789–1797)
Letter (1796-09-17), “Farewell Address” [with J. Madison, A. Hamilton]
(Source)
Published in the American Daily Advertiser, Philadelphia (1796-09-19).
Love never dies of a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source, it dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illnesses and wounds, it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings, but never of natural death.
Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) Catalan-Cuban-French author, diarist
The Four-Chambered Heart (1959)
(Source)
Djuna to Rango.
FAUSTUS: Where are you damn’d?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: In hell.
FAUSTUS: How comes it, then, that thou art out of hell?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it
Think’st thou that I, who saw the face of God,
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells,
In being depriv’d of everlasting bliss?Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 1, sc. 3 (sc. 3), l. 317ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
The 1594 (1616) "B" text has the same dialog (l. 299ff).
It was easier to know it than to explain why I know it. If you were asked to prove that two and two made four, you might find some difficulty, and yet you are quite sure of the fact.
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 3 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)
We must keep ever in mind that a republic such as ours can exist only by virtue of the orderly liberty which comes through the equal domination of the law over all men alike, and through its administration in such resolute and fearless fashion as shall teach all that no man is above it and no man below it.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech (1903-09-07), “The Square Deal,” Labor Day, New York State Agricultural Association, New York State Fair, Syracuse
(Source)
In the meanest mortal there lies something nobler. The poor swearing soldier, hired to be shot, has his “honor of a soldier,” different from drill-regulations and the shilling a day. It is not to taste sweet things, but to do noble and true things, and vindicate himself under God’s Heaven as a god-made Man, that the poorest son of Adam dimly longs. Show him the way of doing that, the dullest day-drudge kindles into a hero. They wrong man greatly who say he is to be seduced by ease.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-08), “The Hero as Prophet,” Home House, Portman Square, London
(Source)
The lecture notes were collected by Carlyle into On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, Lecture 2 (1841).
Do you think that what I say each day on such a variety of topics could come to me if I did not cultivate my mind with learning, or that my mind could bear such a strain if I did not relax it by this same learning?
Indeed I confess that I have devoted myself to these interests. Let others be ashamed who have so buried themselves in books that they can offer nothing for the common enjoyment and can bring nothing forward into the light and the sight of men; but, gentlemen of the jury, why should I be ashamed, I who have lived so long in such a way that leisurely interests have never lured me nor pleasure called me nor sleep kept me from timely service to anyone?
Who, I ask, can censure me on this account, who can rightfully be angry at me, if I take as much time for the pursuit of these studies as is granted others to attend to their interests, to celebrate the festive days of the games, as much time as they devote to other pleasures and the relaxation of mind and body, as much time as others give to early-opening banquets, or even to throwing dice and playing ball?[An tu existimas aut suppetere nobis posse quod cotidie dicamus in tanta varietate rerum, nisi animos nostros doctrina excolamus, aut ferre animos tantam posse contentionem, nisi eos doctrina eadem relaxemus?
Ego vero fateor me his studiis esse deditum: ceteros pudeat, si qui se ita litteris abdiderunt, ut nihil possint ex his neque ad communem adferre fructum neque in aspectum lucemque proferre: me autem quid pudeat, qui tot annos ita vivo, iudices, ut a nullius umquam me tempore aut commodo aut otium meum abstraxerit aut voluptas avocarit aut denique somnus retardarit?
Qua re quis tandem me reprehendat aut quis mihi iure suscenseat, si, quantum ceteris ad suas res obeundas, quantum ad festos dies ludorum celebrandos, quantum ad alias voluptates et ad ipsam requiem animi et corporis conceditur temporum, quantum alii tribuunt tempestivis conviviis, quantum denique alveolo, quantum pilae, tantum mihi egomet ad haec studia recolenda sumpsero?]Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Pro Archia Poeta [For Archia the Poet], ch. 6 / sec. 12-13 (62 BC) [tr. Guinach (1962)]
(Source)
Cicero defends his reading and study habits.
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:Do you think it possible that we could find a supply for our daily speeches, when discussing such a variety of matters, unless we were to cultivate our minds by the study of literature; or that our minds could bear being kept so constantly on the stretch if we did not relax them by that same study?
But I confess that I am devoted to those studies, let others be ashamed of them if they have buried themselves in books without being able to produce anything out of them for the common advantage or anything which may bear the eyes of men and the light. But why need I be ashamed, who for many years have lived in such a manner as never to allow my own love of tranquility to deny me to the necessity or advantage of another or my fondness for pleasure to distract, or even sleep to delay my attention to such claims?
Who then can reproach me or who has any right to be angry with me, if I allow myself as much time for the cultivation of these studies as some take for the performance of their own business, or for celebrating days of festival and games, or for other pleasures, or even for the rest and refreshment of mind and body, or as others devote to early banquets, to playing at dice, or at ball?
[tr. Yonge (1856)]Do you think this can be afforded us as we speak every day in such a variety of cases, unless we abstract our minds from learning; or that our minds can bear such contention, unless we relax them from the same learning?
But I acknowledge I am devoted to these studies; the rest of my brethren may be ashamed if they withdraw from literature in such a manner as from it to be unable either to bear common fruit , or to bring it forth to light to be gazed on; but why am I to be ashamed that my sense of leisure has never led me to remain away in the hour of danger for convenience' sake, or pleasure never allured, or finally slumber never retarded me, who will thus continue to act for as many years as I live?
Why, indeed, should anyone blame me , or have a right to be angry with me if I employ , in the enumeration of these studies, as much time as is allowed to everyone else to attend to their own affairs, to celebrate the festal days of the games, to devote to other pleasures and to the rest of mind and body itself as much time as others devote to protracted banquets, or, in fine, to the gaming-table, or the javelin?
[tr. M'Donogh Mahony (1886)]Or do you suppose, either (that it) would be possible for us to have at hand, what we might utter daily, in such a variety of things [actions], unless we cultivated our minds by study, or (that) (our) minds could bear such great efforts, unless we relaxed them by the same study?
I indeed confess (that), I am given to these pursuits; let it shame others, if they hagve so buried themselves in letters, that they can neither bring nothing [anything] from these (studies), for the common advantage, nor to produce (anything) to view and to light. But why may I be ashamed, O judges who so many years live [have lived] so, that ever [never] either my leisure may have drawn me away or pleasure may have called (me) aside or in fine sleep may have kept (me) back from the emergency or the advantage of any one?
Wherefore who, pray, may reproach me, or who by right may be offended at me, if as much time as is conceded to others, for transacting their affairs, as much for celebrating festival days of games, as much for others pleasures, and for the rest itself of the mind and of the body; much as others devote to protracted banquets, as much in fine as to dice, as much as to ball playing.
[tr. Dewey (1916)]Do you think that I could find inspiration for my daily speeches on so manifold a variety of topics, did I not cultivate my mind with study, or that my mind could endure so great a strain, did not study too provide it with relaxation?
I am a votary of literature, and make the confession unashamed; shame belongs rather to the bookish recluse, who knows not how to apply his reading to the good of his fellows, or to manifest its fruits to the eyes of all. But what shame should be mine, gentlemen, who have made it a rule of my life for all these years never to allow the sweets of a cloistered ease or the seductions of pleasure or the enticements of repose to prevent me from aiding any man in the hour of his need?
How then can I justly be blamed or censured, if it shall be found that I have devoted to literature a portion of my leisure hours no longer than others without blame devote to the pursuit of material gain, to the celebration of festivals or games, to pleasure and the repose of mind and body, to protracted banqueting, or perhaps to the gaming-board? or to ball-playing?
[tr. Watts (Loeb) (1923)]Surely you do not believe that we can keep ourselves supplied with something to say every day on such a variety of topics, unless we thoroughly cultivate our minds by study? Surely you do not think that our minds could endure such strain unless we should give them the relaxation of the same study?
For my part I own that I am devoted to the pursuit of this. The rest of the world may be ashamed to have so buried themselves with literature as to be able neither to produce therefrom anything to the common profit, nor to bring it into sight and publicity. But why should I be ashamed , gentlemen of the jury, to have been living now so many years in such fashion, that neither has my love of retirement ever withdrawn me from any man's time of peril or season of advantage, nor has indulgence called me away, nor, in short, has sloth kept me back from it?
Who therefore, I pray, could find fault with me, or who could, with justice, be vexed with me, if I have myself appropriated to the resumption of such studies just so much out of my leisure hours as the rest of the world devotes to the transaction of their affairs, meeting of private engagements, or to attending the holidays of the Games, or to other indulgences and the mere rest of their minds and bodies? -- just so much time as some devote to lengthy dinners, or even to the dice-box and the tennis-ball?
[tr. Allcroft/Plaistowe (c. 1925)]How do you imagine I could find material for my daily speeches on so many different subjects if I did not train my mind with literary study, and how could my mind cope with so much strain if I did not use such study to help it unwind?
Yes, I for one am not ashamed to admit that I am devoted to the study of literature. Let others be ashamed if they have buried their heads in books and have not been able to find anything in them which could either be applied to the common good or brought out into the open and the light of day. But why should I be ashamed, gentlemen, given that in all the years I have lived my private pastimes have never distracted me, my own pleasures have never prevented me, and not even the need for sleep has ever called me away from helping anyone in his hour of danger or of need?
Who, then, can justly censure or reproach me if I allow myself the same amount of time for pursuing these studies as others set aside for dealing with their own personal affairs, celebrating festivals and games, indulging in other pleasures, and resting their minds and bodies, or as much as they devote to extended partying and to playing dice and ball?
[tr. Berry (2000)][...] I confess indeed that I am obsessed with studying literature. Let this fact shame others who do not know how to make use of their books so that they can’t provide anything from their reading to common profit or to make their benefit clear in sight.
Why, moreover, should I be ashamed when I have lived so many years in such a way that my hobby never prevented me from being useful to anyone at any time and its pleasure or sleepiness never distracted me or slowed me down? In what way, then, can anyone criticize me or censure me if I am discovered to have spent that very same amount of time in pursuing these studies as others do without blame in pursuing profit, or in celebrating festivals or games, in seeking the pleasure and rest of the body and mind, or dragging out hours in dining, gambling or ballgames?
[tr. @sentantiq (2019)]
Love iz sed tew be blind, but i kno lots ov phellows in love, who kan see twice az mutch in their sweethearts as i kan.
[Love is said to be blind, but I know lots of fellows in love who can see twice as much in their sweethearts as I can.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1870-12 (1870 ed.)
(Source)
The wine is the Master’s, but the guests are grateful to the butler.
לשקייה טיבותא למריה חמר /
חַמְרָא לְמָרֵיהּ, טֵיבוּתָא לְשָׁקְיֵיהּThe Talmud (AD 200-500) Collection of Jewish rabbinical writings
Babylonian Talmud, Bava Kamma 92b
Aramaic Proverb.
(Source (Hebrew)).The wine is the master's, but those who drink the wine are grateful to the butler.
[Theosophical Review, Vol. 26, No. 155 (1900-07-15)]The wine is the master’s, but the serving-man is thanked for it.
[tr. Source (1906)]The wine is the master's the thanks the butler's.
[tr. Hasas (1929)]The wine is the master's, but the gratitude is the pourer's.
[tr. Pomeranz (2016)]The wine is the master's, but the appreciation goes to the one who poured it.
[tr. Shachter]While the wine belongs to its owner, the gratitude is given to the one who pours it.
[tr. Koren-Steinsaltz]The wine is the master’s, but the gratitude is the pourer’s.
[Sefaria Community]
If you’d be belov’d, make yourself amiable.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1744 ed.)
(Source)
ROMANA: You mean you didn’t believe his story?
THE DOCTOR: No.
ROMANA: But he had such an honest face.
THE DOCTOR: Romana, you can’t be a successful crook with a dishonest face, can you?
Robert Holmes (1926-1986) British television screenwriter
Doctor Who (1963), 16×01 “The Ribos Operation,” Part 2 (1978-09-09)
(Source)
We seek peace — enduring peace. More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars — yes, an end to this brutal, inhuman, and thoroughly impractical method of settling the differences between governments.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Speech (1945-04-13), Jefferson Day (undelivered)
(Source)
Roosevelt died the day before this speech was to be delivered by radio.
Particularly dangerous are old men who retain the memory of past events, but do not remember how often they have repeated them. I have known some very amusing tales to become most tiresome when told by some gentlemen whose whole audience has been sated with them a hundred times.
[Sur tout les vieillards sont dangereux, à qui la souvenance des choses passees demeure, et ont perdu la souvenance de leurs redites. J’ay veu des recits bien plaisants, devenir tres-ennuyeux, en la bouche d’un Seigneur, chascun de l’assistance en ayant esté abbreuvé cent fois.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 9 (1.9), “Of Liars [Des Menteurs]” (1572) [tr. Cohen (1958)]
(Source)
This essay was included in the 1st (1580) edition, and expanded in 1588 and 1595. This particular passage was added for the 1595 edition.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Above all, old men are dangerous, who have onelie the memorie of things past left them, and have lost the remembrance of their repetitions. I have heard some very pleasant reports become most irkesome and tedious in the mouth of a certaine Lord, forsomuch as all the by-standers had manie times beene cloyed with them.
[tr. Florio (1603)]But above all, old Men, who yet retain the Memory of things past, and forget how often they have told them, are most dangerous Company for this fault; and I have known Stories from the Mouth of a Man of very great Quality, otherwise very pleasant in themselves, become very troublesome, by being a hundred times repeated over and over again.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]But, above all, old men who retain the memory of things past, and forget how often they have told them, are dangerous company; and I have known stories from the mouth of a man of very great quality, otherwise very pleasant in themselves, become very wearisome by being repeated a hundred times over and over again to the same people.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]Above all, old men are in danger, who retain remembrance of past things and have lost remembrance of their twice-told stories I have known some really amusing tales to become very tiresome in the mouth of a man of the world, every one present having heard them poured out a hundred times.
[tr. Ives (1925)]Old men especially are dangerous, whose memory of things past remains, but who have lost the memory of their repetitions. I have seen some very amusing stories become very boring in the mouth of one nobleman, everyone present having been sated with them a hundred times.
[tr. Frame (1943)]Old men are particularly vulnerable: they remember the past but forget that they have just told you! I have known several amusing tales become boring in one gentleman’s mouth: his own people have had their fill of it a hundred times already.
[tr. Screech (1987)]The most dangerous are the elderly who have kept their recollections of the past but have lost track of their sharing them. I know of pleasant tales told by a certain gentleman that turned quite boring after each member of his audience had been regaled with it a hundred times.
[tr. HyperEssays (2025)]
NARRATOR: And then one day, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change a girl sitting on her own in a small cafe in Rickmansworth suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all this time, and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place. This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything. Sadly however, before she could get to a phone to tell anyone, the Earth was unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass and so the idea was lost forever.
Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Phase 1, “Fit the 2nd” (BBC Radio) (1978-03-15)
(Source)
Though in the second radio episode, when adapted into the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979), this passage was moved into the Introduction:And then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change a girl sitting on her own in a small cafe in Rickmansworth suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all this time, and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place. This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything.
Sadly however, before she could get to a phone to tell anyone, a terrible stupid catastrophe occurred, and the idea was lost forever.
Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always explaining things to them.
[Les grandes personnes ne comprennent jamais rien toutes seules, et c’est fatigant, pour les enfants, de toujours et toujours leur donner des explications.]
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) French writer, aviator
Le Petit Prince [The Little Prince], ch. 1 (1943) [tr. Wood (1945)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Other translation:Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again.
[tr. Howard (2000)]
It is better to do nothing than to do harm. Half the useful work in the world consists of combating the harmful work.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 16 “Effort and Resignation” (1930)
(Source)
War is when the government tells you who the bad guy is. Revolution is when you decide that for yourself.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
(Spurious)
Not found in the recorded works of Franklin, nor of Napoleon Bonaparte (to whom it is also attributed).The number of variants is an indicator this is an unconfirmed attribution:The term "bad guy" is an Americanism from the early 20th Century (the OED dates it to 1932; Dictionary.com to the early 1920s). But even if one uses the "enemy" variant, this sounds unlike either Franklin or Napoleon.
- "... who the enemy is" or "... who your enemy is."
- "... you figure it out ..."
The quotation is occasionally attributed to Susan Sarandon. While she did use it (e.g., at a pro-Palestinian speech), she attributed it in turn to Napoleon.
- Despite his skeptical nature, Franklin did not speak out against propagandistic influences on war (or revolution). Indeed, he was a skilled, if subtle, propagandist himself. Nor did he object to "government" in general (he would have attacked "the Crown" or "Parliament") nor any war that the British government had declared.
- Napoleon, as self-appointed Emperor of France (and war-maker, though most of his conquests were a result of other countries declaring war on him) would not have made the first half of this phrase, as he was the government. Nor, as one whose regime depended on propaganda, would he have suggested people decide for themselves who the true enemy is.
- Neither man, as a rule, wrote their various aphorisms in the second person ("you"). At most they might have used "one"; more often, it would have been "a man" or some third person construction.
A Fault, once denied, is twice committed.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 93 (1732)
(Source)
CALVIN: I think nighttime is dark so you can imagine your fears with less distraction.
INCORPORATION, n. The act of uniting several persons into one fiction called a corporation, in order that they may be no longer responsible for its actions. A, B and C are a corporation. A robs, B steals and C (it is necessary that there be one gentleman in the concern) cheats. It is a plundering, thieving, swindling corporation. But A, B and C, who have jointly determined and severally executed every crime of the corporation, are blameless. It is wrong to mention them by name when censuring their acts as a corporation, but right when praising.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Incorporation,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1885-10-03)
(Source)
Not collected in later books.
MEDEA: O Zeus, why did you give men certain ways
to recognize false gold, when there’s no mark,
no token stamped on the human body,
to indicate which men are worthless.[ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: ὦ Ζεῦ, τί δὴ χρυσοῦ μὲν ὃς κίβδηλος ᾖ
τεκμήρι᾽ ἀνθρώποισιν ὤπασας σαφῆ,
ἀνδρῶν δ᾽ ὅτῳ χρὴ τὸν κακὸν διειδέναι
οὐδεὶς χαρακτὴρ ἐμπέφυκε σώματι;]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 516ff (431 BC) [tr. Johnston (2008)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:Wherefore, O Jove, didst thou instruct mankind
How to distinguish by undoubted marks
Counterfeit gold, yet in the front of vice
Impress no brand to shew the tainted heart?
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]O Jove, why hast thou given us certain proof
To know adulterate gold, but stamp'd no mark,
Where it is needed most, on man's base metal?
[tr. Potter (1814)]Oh Zeus why hast thou given mankind sure test
To know the spurious gold, while upon men
Is no mark born whereby to tell a knave?
[tr. Webster (1868)]O Zeus! why hast thou granted unto man clear signs to know the sham in gold, while on man's brow no brand is stamped whereby to gauge the villain's heart?
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]O Jove, why I pray hast thou given to men certain proofs of the gold which is adulterate, but no mark is set by nature on the person of men by which one may distinguish the bad man.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]O Zeus, ah wherefore hast thou given to men
Plain signs for gold which is but counterfeit,
But no assay-mark nature-graven shows
On man's form, to discern the base withal?
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]O great God, shall gold withal
Bear thy clear mark, to sift the base and fine,
And o'er man's living visage runs no sign
To show the lie within, ere all too late?
[tr. Murray (1906)]O God, you have given to mortals a sure method
Of telling the gold that is pure from the counterfeit;
Why is there no mark engraved upon men's bodies
By which we could know the true ones from the false ones?
[tr. Warner (1944)]O Zeus! Why have you given us clear signs to tell
True gold from counterfeit; but when we need to know
Bad men from good, the flesh bears no revealing mark?
[tr. Vellacott (1963)]Zeus, why did you give to men clear signs
To distinguish counterfeit gold from true, but as for
Humans, no stamp is impressed on their bodies
By which the bogus ones can be discerned?
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]O Zeus, why, when you gave to men sure signs of gold that is counterfeit, is there no mark on the human body by which one could identify base men?
[tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]O Zeus, why is it you have given men clear ways of testing whether gold is counterfeit but, when it comes to men, the body carries no stamp of nature for distinguishing bad from good?
[tr. Davie (1996)]Oh Zeus! You gave such obvious signs for men to tell the difference between genuine gold and fake and yet you gave not a hint for people to tell who’s a good man and who an evil one!
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]Oh Zeus! Why have you given us a clear test
of gold to tell which is counterfeit
but of men — where to identify an evil one would be useful —
there is no such mark on his body?
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]Oh Zeus, why have you given us clear signs to tell if gold has been adulterated, but tehre's no sign upon the body of a man by which we can find out who's evil?
[tr. Ewans (2022)]Why, Zeus? Why did you give to men clear ways of knowing the counterfeited gold, while on men’s body no brand [kharaktēr] is stamped by which to know the kakos?
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]O Zeus, why, when you gave to men sure signs of gold that is counterfeit, is there no mark on the human body by which one could identify bad men?
[tr. Kovacs / Zhang / Rogak]
Being offended is a natural consequence of leaving the house.
Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) American journalist, essayist
Interview (2021-02-17), BBC Newsnight
(Source (Video), at the 1:23 mark)
I think the women of this country, if they face the fact of the present situation, will agree with me that this is a time for action — not for war, but for mobilization of every bit of peace machinery. It is also a time for facing the fact that you cannot use a weapon, even though it is the weapon that gives you greater strength than other nations, if it is so destructive that it practically wipes out large areas of land and great numbers of innocent people.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1954-04-16), “My Day”
(Source)
On the Hydrogen Bomb.
If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fulness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no good whatever.
[Ἐὰν ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων λαλῶ καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, γέγονα χαλκὸς ἠχῶν ἢ κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον. καὶ ἐὰν ἔχω προφητείαν καὶ εἰδῶ τὰ μυστήρια πάντα καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γνῶσιν καὶ ἐὰν ἔχω πᾶσαν τὴν πίστιν ὥστε ὄρη μεθιστάναι, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, οὐθέν εἰμι. κἂν ψωμίσω πάντα τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μου καὶ ἐὰν παραδῶ τὸ σῶμά μου ἵνα καυχήσωμαι, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, οὐδὲν ὠφελοῦμαι.]
The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 [JB (1966)]
(Source)
Various editions note that the final "if" varies between manuscripts as to whether it's to give up the body to be burned, or to do so to boast.
See Coffin (2004).
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
[KJV (1611)]Though I command languages both human and angelic -- if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains -- if I am without love, I am nothing. Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned -- if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.
[NJB (1985)]I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains -- but if I have no love, I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned -- but if I have no love, this does me no good.
[GNT (1992 ed.)]If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels but I don’t have love, I’m a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and I know all the mysteries and everything else, and if I have such complete faith that I can move mountains but I don’t have love, I’m nothing. If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I’ve done but I don’t have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever.
[CEB (2011)]If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast[a] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]
Short as life is, we make it still shorter by the careless waste of time.
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
(Attributed)
The earliest reference to this translation I find, with no citation, is in Maturin Ballou, Edge-Tools of Speech (1886). Nineteenth Century books of quotations such as this often paraphrase passages, especially in translation, so it is altogether possible this particular wording was crafted by Ballou.
It is impossible not to notice how little the proponents of the ideal of competition have to say about honesty, which is the fundamental economic virtue, and how very little they have to say about community, compassion, and mutual help.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1988), “Economy and Pleasure,” What Are People For? (1990)
(Source)
VELLUM: There is nothing more requisite in business than dispatch.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
The Drummer, Act 5, sc. 1 (1716)
(Source)
O eloquent, just, and mighty Death! whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared, thou hast done; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised: thou hast drawn together all the far stretchèd greatness, all the pride, cruelty and ambition of man, and covered it all over with those two narrow words, Hic jacet!
Walter Raleigh (c. 1552-1618) English statesman, soldier, writer, explorer
The Historie of the World, in Five Bookes, Book 5, ch. 6, sec. 12 (1614)
(Source)
Penultimate paragraph of the work. The Latin hic jacet means "here lies," as in an tomb's epitaph.
GLOUCESTER: We have seen the best of our time. Machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders follow us disquietly to our graves.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
King Lear, Act 1, sc. 2, l. 118ff (1.2.118-121) (1606)
(Source)
You have the effrontery to be squeamish, it thought at him. But we were dragons. We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless, and terrible. But this much I can tell you, you ape — the great face pressed even closer, so that Wonse was staring into the pitiless depths of his eyes — we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it morality.
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 8, Guards! Guards! (1989)
(Source)
The dragon mentally speaking to Wonse.
I am not sure that, historically, there has been another powerful nation that has been trusted as the United States is trusted today. It is something new under the sun when the proudest nations on earth have not only accepted American leadership in the common defense effort, but have also welcomed our troops and bases on their territory.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-08-27), “The Nature of Patriotism,” American Legion Convention, Madison Square Garden, New York City
(Source)
Even the acquisition of knowledge is often much facilitated by the advantages of society: he that never compares his notions with those of others, readily acquiesces in his first thoughts, and very seldom discovers the objections which may be raised against his opinions; he, therefore, often thinks himself in possession of truth, when he is only fondling an errour long since exploded. He that has neither companions nor rivals in his studies, will always applaud his own progress, and think highly of his performances, because he knows not that others have equalled or excelled him. And I am afraid it may be added, that the student who withdraws himself from the world, will soon feel that ardour extinguished which praise or emulation had enkindled, and take the advantage of secrecy to sleep, rather than to labour.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126
(Source)
The whole family of pride and ignorance are incestuous, and mutually beget each other.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 443 (1820)
(Source)
One cannot see the modern world as it is unless one recognises the overwhelming strength of patriotism, national loyalty. In certain circumstances it can break down, at certain levels of civilisation it does not exist, but as a positive force there is nothing to set beside it. Christianity and international Socialism are as weak as straw in comparison with it. Hitler and Mussolini rose to power in their own countries very largely because they could grasp this fact and their opponents could not.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1941-02-19), “The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius,” Part 1 “England Your England,” sec. 1, The Searchlight Books [ed. Fyvel and Orwell]
(Source)
Part of Part 1, "England Your England" with the title "The Ruling Class" was previously published in Horizon (1940-12).
But it happens further quite naturally that men who believe too firmly in their theories, do not believe enough in the theories of others. So the dominant idea of these despisers of their fellows is to find others’ theories faulty and to try to contradict them. […] They make experiments only to destroy a theory, instead of to seek the truth. At the same time, they make poor observations, because they choose among the results of their experiments only what suits their object, neglecting whatever is unrelated to it, and carefully setting aside everything which might tend toward they idea they wish to combat.
[Mais il arrive encore tout naturellement que ceux qui croient trop à leurs théories ne croient pas assez à celles des autres. Alors l’idée dominante de ces contempteurs d’autrui est de trouver les théories des autres en défaut et de chercher à les contredire. […] Ils ne font des expériences que pour détruire une théorie, au lieu de les faire pour chercher la vérité. Ils font également de mauvaises observations, parce qu’ils ne prennent dans les résultats de leurs expériences que ce qui convient à leur but, en négligeant ce qui ne s’y rapporte pas, et en écartant bien soigneusement tout ce qui pourrait aller dans le sens de l’idée qu’ils veulent combattre.]
Claude Bernard (1813-1878) French physiologist, scientist
An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine [Introduction à l’Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale], ch. 3 (1865) [tr. Greene (1957)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Other translation:But it still happens quite naturally that those who believe too strongly in their own theories don't believe enough in those of others. The dominant idea of these detractors of others is to find flaws in other people's theories and to try to contradict them. [...] They conduct experiments only to disprove a theory, instead of doing so to seek the truth. They also make flawed observations because they only select from the results of their experiments what suits their purpose, neglecting what is irrelevant, and carefully disregarding anything that might support the idea they want to refute.
[Google Translate]
Neither struck her as particularly experienced. The night would degenerate into the usual problems with an orgy: where to put what and where and when, and how to find room for one’s elbows.
Kerry Greenwood (b. 1954) Australian author and lawyer
Phryne Fisher No. 10, Death Before Wicket, ch. 7 (1999)
(Source)
FAUSTUS: Tell me what is that Lucifer thy lord?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: Arch-regent and commander of all spirits.
FAUSTUS: Was not that Lucifer an angel once?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: Yes, Faustus, and most dearly lov’d of God.
FAUSTUS: How comes it, then, that he is prince of devils?
MEPHISTOPHILIS: O, by aspiring pride and insolence;
For which God threw him from the face of heaven.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 3, sc. 3 (sc. 3), l. 306ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
The lines appear the same in the "B" text (1594; 1616), l. 288ff.
My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it. […] “But the Solar System!” I protested.
“What the deuce is it to me?” he interrupted impatiently; “you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.”Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 2, Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)
Watson speaking of and with Holmes. Published in novel form 1888-07.
Life can mean nothing worth meaning, unless its prime aim is the doing of duty, the achievement of results worth achieving.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech (1903-09-07), “The Square Deal,” Labor Day, New York State Agricultural Association, New York State Fair, Syracuse
(Source)
His Religion is not an easy one: with rigorous fasts, lavations, strict complex formulas, prayers five times a day, and abstinence from wine, it did not “succeed by being an easy religion.” As if indeed any religion, or cause holding of religion, could succeed by that! It is a calumny on men to say that they are roused to heroic action by ease, hope of pleasure, recompense, — sugar-plums of any kind, in this world or the next! In the meanest mortal there lies something nobler.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-08), “The Hero as Prophet,” Home House, Portman Square, London
(Source)
Speaking of Muhammad and Islam.
The lecture notes were collected by Carlyle into On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, Lecture 2 (1841).
Keep thou from the Opportunity, and God will keep thee from the Sin.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1744 ed.)
(Source)
Every Man must seriously set himself to root out his Passions, Prejudices and Attachments, and to get the better of his private Interest. The only reputable Principle and Doctrine must be that all Things must give Way to the public.
John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1776-04-16) to Mercy Otis Warren
(Source)
There are few men, that would dare to publish the secret requests they make to God.
[Il est peu d’hommes qui ozassent mettre en evidence les requestes secrettes qu’ils font à Dieu.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 56 (1.56), “Of Prayers [Des prieres]” (1572-1580) [tr. Florio (1603)]
(Source)
This passage was in the 1st (1580) edition.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Few men durst publish the secret petitions they make to God.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]There are few men who dared publish to the world the prayers they make to Almighty God.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]There are few men who would dare to exhibit openly the secret petitions which they make to God.
[tr. Ives (1925)]There are few men who would dare place in evidence the secret requests they make of God.
[tr. Frame (1943)]Not many men would care to submit to view the secret prayers they make to God.
[tr. Screech (1987)]
THE DOCTOR: It’s very, very old. Perhaps even older.
Marc Platt (b. 1953) British novelist and playwright
Doctor Who (1963), 26×02 “Ghost Light,” Part 2 (1989-10-11)
(Source)
The gods either have power or they have not. If they have not, why pray to them? If they have, then instead of praying to be granted or spared such-and-such a thing, why not rather pray to be delivered from dreading it, or lusting for it, or grieving over it? Clearly, if they can help a man at all, they can help him in this way.
[Ἤτοι οὐδὲν δύνανται οἱ θεοὶ ἢ δύνανται. εἰ μὲν οὖν μὴ δύνανται, τί εὔχῃ; εἰ δὲ δύνανται, διὰ τί οὐχὶ μᾶλλον εὔχῃ. διδόναι αὐτοὺς τὸ μήτε φοβεῖσθαί τι τούτων μήτε ἐπιθυμεῖν τινος τούτων μήτε λυπεῖσθαι ἐπί τινι τούτων, μᾶλλον ἤπερ τὸ μὴ παρεῖναί τι τούτων ἢ τὸ παρεῖναι; πάντως γάρ, εἰ δύνανται συνεργεῖν ἀνθρώποις, καὶ εἰς ταῦτα δύνανται συνεργεῖν.]
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 9, ch. 40 (9.40) (AD 161-180) [tr. Staniforth (1964)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Either the Gods can do nothing for us at all, or they can still and allay all the distractions and distempers of thy mind. If they can do nothing, why doest thou pray? If they can, why wouldst not thou rather pray, that they will grant unto thee, that thou mayst neither fear, nor lust after any of those worldly things which cause these distractions and distempers of it? Why not rather, that thou mayst not at either their absence or presence, be grieved and discontented: than either that thou mayst obtain them, or that thou mayst avoid them? For certainly it must needs be, that if the Gods can help us in anything, they may in this kind also.
[tr. Casaubon (1634)]Either the Gods have power to assist us, or they have not. If they have not, what does praying to them signifie? If they have, why don't you rather pray that they would Discharge your Desires, than Satisfie them; and rather set you above the Passion of Fear, than keep away the Thing you are afraid of? For if the Gods can help us, no doubt they can help us to be Wiser.
[tr. Collier (1701), 9.42]Either the Gods have no power at all [to aid men in any thing;] or they have power. If, then, they have no power, why do you pray? But if they have power, why don’t you chuse to pray to them to enable you, neither to fear any of these things, [which are not in our own power] nor desire any of them, nor be grieved about any of them; rather than for the having them, or the not having them. For, most certainly, if they can aid men at all, they can also aid them in this.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]Either the Gods have power to assist mankind, or they have not. If they have not, why do you pray to them? If they have that power, why do you not rather pray, "that they would enable you neither to fear nor to desire any thing; nor to be more grieved fro the want, than for the possession of it?" For, certainly, if they have the power to co-operate with the endeavours of men, they can do it in this respect.
[tr. Graves (1792)]Either the gods have no power or they have power. If, then, they have no power, why dost thou pray to them? But if they have power, why dost thou not pray for them to give thee the faculty of not fearing any of the things which thou fearest, or of not desiring any of the things which thou desirest, or not being pained at anything, rather than pray that any of these things should not happen or happen? for certainly if they can co-operate with men, they can co-operate for these purposes.
[tr. Long (1862)]Either the gods have power to assist us, or they have not. If they have not, what does praying to them help you? If they have, why do you not rather pray that they would remove your fears and moderate your desires, and rather keep you from grieving for any of these things, than keep away one thing and grant another? For if the gods can help us, no doubt they can help us to be wiser.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]The gods either have power, or they have not. If they have not, why pray at all? If they have, why not pray for deliverance from teh fear, or the desire, or the pain, which the thing causes, rather than for the withholding or the giving of the particular thing? Assuredly, if they can help men at all, this is the way of help.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]Either the Gods have power or they have none. If they have no power, why do you pray? If they have power, why do you not choose to pray to them for power neither to fear, nor to desire, nor to be grieved over any of these external things, rather than for their presence or their absence? Surely, if the Gods can aid man at all, they can aid him in this.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]Either the Gods have no power or they have power. If they have no power, why pray to them? But if they have power, why not rather pray that they should give thee freedom from fear of any of these things and from lust for any of these things and from grief at any of these things [rather] than that they should grant this or refuse that. For obviously if they can assist men at all, they can assist them in this.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]The gods are either powerless or powerful. If then they are powerless, why do you pray? But if they are powerful, why not rather pray them for the gift to fear none of these things, to desire none of them, to sorrow for none of them, rather than that any one of them should be present or absent? For surely if they can co-operate with man, they can co-operate to these ends.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]The gods either lack power or they have power. If they are powerless, why do you pray to them? But if they have power, why do you not pray to them to grant you the ability neither to fear any of these things nor to desire them, nor to be distressed by them, rather than praying that some of them should fall to you and others not? For surely, if the gods have any power to help human beings, they can help them in this.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]Either the gods have power or they don't. If they don't, why pray? If they do, then why not pray for something else instead of for things to happen or not to happen? Pray not to feel fear. Or desire. Or grief. If they gods can do anything, they can surely do that for us.
[tr. Hays (2003)]Either the gods have power or they do not. Now, if they have no power, why pray? If they do have power, why not pray for their gift of freedom from all worldly fear, desire, or regret, rather than for the presence or absence of this or that? Certainly, if the gods can cooperate with men, they can cooperate to these ends.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]Either the gods have power or they do not. If they do not, why do you pray? But if they do have power, why aren't you praying that they give you the power not to fear, crave, or be troubled by a thing, rather than pryaing to have that thing or not have it? For if the gods can work with us, then surely they can work with us toward this end.
[tr. Needleman/Piazza (2008)]The gods either lack power or they have power. Now if they are powerless, why do you pray to them? But if they have poer, why do you not pray to them to gran you the ability neither to fear any of these things nor to desire them, nor to be distressed by them, rather than praying that some of them should fall to you and others not? For surely, if the gods have any power to help human beings, they can help them in this.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]
The fact is, my sweet, every mother spends her time, so soon as her children are out of her sight, in imagining dangers for them. Perhaps it is Armand seizing the razors to play with, or his coat taking fire, or a snake biting him, or he might tumble in running and start and absess on his head, or he might drown himself in a pond. A mother’s life, you see, is one long succession of dramas, now soft and tender, now terrible. Not an hour but has its joys and fears.
[En effet, mon ange, durant le jour, toutes les mères inventent des dangers. Dès que les enfants ne sont plus sous leurs yeux, c’est des rasoirs volés avec lesquels Armand a voulu jouer, le feu qui prend à sa jaquette, un orvet qui peut le mordre, une chute en courant qui peut faire un dépôt à la tête, ou les bassins où il peut se noyer. Comme tu le vois, la maternité comporte une suite de poésies douces ou terribles. Pas une heure qui n’ait ses joies et ses craintes.]
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
Letters of Two Brides [Mémoires de deux jeunes mariées], Part 1, letter 45 (1840) [tr. Scott (1897)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Other translation:To tell the truth, my dearest, during the daytime all mothers invent dangers as soon as the children are out of sight. There are razors for Armand to play with, fire to catch his jacket, a slow-worm to bite him, a fall to bump his head, and ponds to tumble into. So you see that maternity is a series of poems, sweet or terrible as the case may be. There's not an hour which does not have its joys and fears.
[tr. Wormeley (1842), Memoirs of Two Young Married Women]
All our affections are at the mercy of death, which may strike down those whom we love at any moment. It is therefore necessary that our lives should not have that narrow intensity which puts the whole meaning and purpose of our life at the mercy of accident. For all these reasons the man who pursues happiness wisely will aim at the possession of a number of subsidiary interests in addition to those central ones upon which his life is built.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 15 “Impersonal Interests” (1930)
(Source)
“How long does getting thin take?” Pooh asked anxiously.
A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
Winnie-the-Pooh, ch. 2 “Pooh Goes Visiting” (1926)
(Source)
While stuck in Rabbit's hole.
The aim of totalitarian education has never been to instill convictions but to destroy the capacity to form any.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
The Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 13 “Ideology and Terror” (1951)
(Source)
No one can use this new destructive weapon without destroying innumerable innocent people. It would not be only our enemies that would condemn us, it would be our own conscience.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1954-04-16), “My Day”
(Source)
On the Hydrogen Bomb.
MEDEA: And furthermore we are women, unable to perform noble deeds, but most skillful architects of every sort of harm.
[ΜΉΔΕΙΑ:Πρὸς δὲ καὶ πεφύκαμεν
γυναῖκες, ἐς μὲν ἔσθλ᾽ ἀμηχανώταται,
κακῶν δὲ πάντων τέκτονες σοφώταται.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 407ff (431 BC) [tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]
(Source)
Euripides presses his thumb on the scales a little bit heavily here.
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:Altho' by nature form'd
Without a genius apt for virtuous deeds.
We women are in mischiefs most expert.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]Nature form'd our sex to good
Of slight capacity, but to revenge
Of ready and inventive subtlety.
[tr. Potter (1814)]We women too art born
Most profitless indeed to noble works,
But cunningest devisers of all harms.
[tr. Webster (1868)]We women, though by nature little apt for virtuous deeds, are most expert to fashion any mischief.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]Besides also we women are, by nature, to good actions of the least capacity, but the most cunning inventors of every ill.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]Yea, our woman-nature 'tis --
Say they -- to be most helpless for all good,
But fashioners most cunning of all ill.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]And God hath made thee woman, things most vain
For help, but wondrous in the paths of pain.
[tr. Murray (1906)]And women, though most helpless in doing good deeds,
Are of every evil the cleverest of contrivers.
[tr. Warner (1944)]We were born women -- useless for honest purposes,
But in all kinds of evil skilled practitioners.
[tr. Vellacott (1963)]And what is more,
We're women, quite unable to manage good
But none more skilled when it comes to doing harm.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]And furthermore we are women, unable to perform great deeds of valor, but most skillful architects of every evil.
[tr. Kovacs (Perseus)]What's more, we are women, quite helpless in doing good but surpassing any master craftsman in working evil.
[tr. Davie (1996)]We women might be awful at doing something good but we are very competent when we’re doing something evil. No one is better than us.
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]And besides we are
women, most helpless for the good,
but skilled craftsmen of all that is evil.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]Besides, we possess a woman’s nature --
powerless to perform fine noble deeds,
but very skilled in every form of evil.
[tr. Johnston (2008)]Also we were born as women, very helpless when it comes to doing good, but very wise creators of all kinds of harm.
[tr. Ewans (2022)]And more than this, we are women, naturally most helpless [amēkhanai], when it comes to noble deeds [esthla], but for all evils [kaka] we are most skilled [sophai] contrivers.
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]
Be under obligation to no one — the only obligation you have is to love one another. Whoever does this has obeyed the Law. The commandments, “Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not desire what belongs to someone else” — all these, and any others besides, are summed up in the one command, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” If you love others, you will never do them wrong; to love, then, is to obey the whole Law.
[Μηδενὶ μηδὲν ὀφείλετε εἰ μὴ τὸ ἀλλήλους ἀγαπᾶν· ὁ γὰρ ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἕτερον νόμον πεπλήρωκεν. τὸ γὰρ ” Οὐ μοιχεύσεις, Οὐ φονεύσεις, Οὐ κλέψεις, Οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις”, καὶ εἴ τις ἑτέρα ἐντολή, ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ ἀνακεφαλαιοῦται [ἐν τῷ] ” Ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν.” ἡ ἀγάπη τῷ πλησίον κακὸν οὐκ ἐργάζεται· πλήρωμα οὖν νόμου ἡ ἀγάπη.]
The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Romans 13: 8-9 [GNT (1992 ed.)]
(Source)
The list of commandments is from Exodus 20:13-15 (Deut. 5:17-19), Exodus 20:17 (Deut. 5:21). The summary to love your neighbor is first found in Leviticus 19:18.
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
[KJV (1611)]Avoid getting into debt, except the debt of mutual love. If you love your fellow men you have carried out your obligations. All the commandments: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and so on, are summed up in this single command: You must love your neighbour as yourself. Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour; that is why it is the answer to every one of the commandments.
[JB (1966)]The only thing you should owe to anyone is love for one another, for to love the other person is to fulfil the law. All these: You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet, and all the other commandments that there are, are summed up in this single phrase: You must love your neighbour as yourself. Love can cause no harm to your neighbour, and so love is the fulfilment of the Law.
[NJB (1985)]Don’t be in debt to anyone, except for the obligation to love each other. Whoever loves another person has fulfilled the Law. The commandments, Don’t commit adultery, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t desire what others have, and any other commandments, are all summed up in one word: You must love your neighbor as yourself. Love doesn’t do anything wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is what fulfills the Law.
[CEB (2011)]Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]
The Spirit of Commerce, Madam, which even insinuates itself into Families, and influences holy Matrimony, and thereby corrupts the Morals of Families as well as destroys their Happiness, it is much to be feared is incompatible with that purity of Heart, and Greatness of soul which is necessary for an happy Republic.
John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1776-04-16) to Mercy Otis Warren
(Source)
It is clear that the monarch who, through bad counsel or negligence, ceases to see that the laws are executed can easily repair the damage: he has only to get a new counsellor, or correct his own negligence. But when, in a popular government, the laws have ceased to be executed, since this can result only from corruption of the republic, the state is already undone.
[Il est clair encore que le monarque qui, par mauvais conseil ou par négligence, cesse de faire exécuter les loix, peut aisément réparer le mal ; il n’a qu’à changer de conseil, ou se corriger de cette négligence même. Mais lorsque, dans un gouvernement populaire, les loix ont cessé d’être exécutées, comme cela ne peut venir que de la corruption de la république, l’état est déja perdu.]
Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 3, ch. 3 (1748) [tr. Stewart (2018)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Other translations:Clear it is also that a monarch, who through bad advice or indolence ceases to enforce the execution of the laws, may easily repair the evil: he has only to follow other advice; or to shake off this indolence. But when in popular government, there is a suspension of the laws, as this can proceed only from the corruption of the republic, the state is certainly undone.
[tr. Nugent (1750)]It is also clear that the monarch who ceases to see to the execution of the laws, though bad counsel or negligence, may easily repair the damage; he has only to change his counsel or correct his own negligence. But in a popular government when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost.
[tr. Cohler/Miller/Stone (1989)]
The first step toward accomplishing anything is to have a goal. Goals are set by people and not by organizations. At some point, sooner or later, organizations lend their names to a project, but the concept and the initial work is always started by an individual.
Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) American naval engineer, submariner, US Navy Admiral
Speech (1954-03-16), “Administering a Large Military Development Project,” US Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
(Source)
Progress is the stride of God.
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
(Attributed)
Widely attributed to Hugo, but I cannot find a primary source for it. In a few places it is cited to his William Shakespeare (1864), but not in the two English translations I could find for it, nor could I identify it in the French.
The earliest attribution to Hugo I found was in Day's Collacon (1884), without citation. If this is a loose paraphrase of something in William Shakespeare, I have not tracked it down.
Variants:
- Progress is the stride of God himself.
- Progress is the stride of God, and God never takes a step backward.
Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1988), “Economy and Pleasure,” What Are People For? (1990)
(Source)
Cunning is only the mimic of discretion, and may pass upon weak men in the same manner as vivacity is often mistaken for wit, and gravity for wisdom.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1711-11-17), The Spectator, No. 225
(Source)
KING: What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?
QUEEN: Mad as the sea and wind when both contend
Which is the mightier.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Hamlet, Act 4, sc. 1, l. 6ff (4.1.6-8) (c. 1600)
(Source)
And I have always said that I have much more faith in an agnostic or an atheist who helps an old lady across the road than the man who is racing to church and pretends not to see her.
Peter Ustinov (1921-2004) English actor, author, director
Interview (1995-06-22) by Warren Allen Smith, Free Inquiry Magazine
(Source)
Virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea.
[Les vertus se perdent dans l’intérêt, comme les fleuves se perdent dans la mer.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶171 (1665-1678) [tr. Whichello (2016)]
(Source)
Present in the 1st (1665) edition, which began the maxim with "Toutes les vertus se perdent [All virtues are lost] ...."
(Source (French)). Other translations:All the Virtues men so much pretend to, are swallow'd up in Interest, as Rivers lose their names when they fall into the Sea.
[tr. Davies (1669), ¶3]Vertues are lost in Interest, as Rivers are swallowed up in the Sea.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶172]The virtues are lost in interest, as rivers are in the sea.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶448; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶165]The virtues are lost in interest, as rivers are lost in the sea.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶174]As rivers are lost in the sea so are virtues in self.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶171]Virtues lose themselves in selfish motives like rivers in the sea.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶171]Our virtues lose themselves in selfishness as rivers are lost in the sea.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶171]Our virtues are drowned in self-interest, as the rivers flow into the sea.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶171]Virtues are swallowed up by self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶171]The virtues lose themselves in self-interest like rivers in the sea.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶171]
But though learning may be conferred by solitude, its application must be attained by general converse. He has learned to no purpose, that is not able to teach; and he will always teach unsuccessfully, who cannot recommend his sentiments by his diction or address.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126
(Source)
As I write, highly civilised human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.
They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are “only doing their duty”, as the saying goes. Most of them, I have no doubt, are kind-hearted law-abiding men who would never dream of committing murder in private life. On the other hand, if one of them succeeds in blowing me to pieces with a well-placed bomb, he will never sleep any the worse for it. He is serving his country, which has the power to absolve him from evil.George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1941-02-19), “The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius,” Part 1 “England Your England,” sec. 1, The Searchlight Books [ed. Fyvel and Orwell]
(Source)
Part of Part 1, "England Your England" with the title "The Ruling Class" was previously published in Horizon (1940-12).
I might be swimming in a crystal pool
I might be wooing some delicious dame
I might be drinking something long and cool
I can’t imagine why I play this game.A. P. Herbert (1890-1971) English humorist, novelist, playwright, politician [Alan Patrick Herbert; pseud. Albert Haddock]
“Ninth Wicket,” st. 1, l. 13ff, Mild and Bitter (1935)
(Source)
Originally published in Punch.
FAUSTUS: I see there’s virtue in my heavenly words:
Who would not be proficient in this art?
How pliant is this Mephistophilis,
Full of obedience and humility!
Such is the force of magic and my spells:
No, Faustus, thou art conjuror laureat,
That canst command great Mephistophilis:
Quin regis Mephistophilis fratris imagine.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 1, sc. 3 (sc. 3), l. 270ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)
After ordering Mephistophiles to leave and change his form into something less hideous. The Latin reads "Return, Mephistopheles, in the shape of a friar" (which he had already ordered, in English, in the immediately preceding lines).
The B-text (1594; 1616) omits the last three lines from the A-text.
You see, I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 2 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)
Published in novel form 1888-07. See also "The Five Orange Pips."
In that strange island Iceland, — burst up, the geologists say, by fire from the bottom of the sea; a wild land of barrenness and lava; swallowed many months of every year in black tempests, yet with a wild gleaming beauty in summertime; towering up there, stern and grim, in the North Ocean with its snow jokuls, roaring geysers, sulphur-pools and horrid volcanic chasms, like the waste chaotic battle-field of Frost and Fire; — where of all places we least looked for Literature or written memorials, the record of these things was written down.
No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-05), “The Hero as Divinity,” Home House, Portman Square, London
(Source)
The lecture notes were collected by Carlyle into On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, Lecture 1, (1841).
The Thibet priests have methods of their own of discovering what Man is Greatest, fit to be supreme over them. Bad methods: but are they so much worse than our methods, — of understanding him to be always the eldest-born of a certain genealogy? Alas, it is a difficult thing to find good methods for!
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-05), “The Hero as Divinity,” Home House, Portman Square, London
(Source)
Contrasting the role and selection of the Grand Lama (Dalai Lama) with that of the Pope.
The lecture notes were collected by Carlyle into On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, Lecture 1, (1841).
To know a person’s religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 215 (1955)
(Source)
We are all motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is, the more he is inspired by glory.
[Trahimur omnes studio laudis et optimus quisque maxime gloria ducitur.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Pro Archia Poeta [For Archia the Poet], ch. 11 / sec. 26 (62 BC) [tr. Guinach (1962)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:We are all influenced by a desire of praise, and the best men are the most especially attracted by glory.
[tr. Yonge (1856)]We are all drawn away by an eagerness after praise, and even the very least of men is most led by fame.
[tr. M'Donogh Mahony (1886)]We are all drawn on by a desire of praise, and each best one is led chiefly by glory.
[tr. Dewey (1916)]Ambition is an universal factor in life, and the nobler a man is, the more susceptible is he to the sweets of fame.
[tr. Watts (Loeb) (1923)]We are all drawn on by the pursuit of praise, and all the best of us are so led by glory in the highest degree.
[tr. Allcroft/Plaistowe (c. 1925)]We are all motivated by the desire for praise, and the best people are the ones who are most attracted by glory.
[tr. Berry (2000)]
The miser prays God for the vain and superfluous preservation of his hoard; the ambitious man, for success and the achievement of his desires; the thief uses God to help him overcome the dangers and difficulties which obstruct his nefarious designs or else thanks God when he finds it easy to slit the gizzard of some passer-by. At the foot of the mansion which they are about to climb into and blow up, men say their prayers, while their purposes and hopes are full of cruelty, lust, and greed.
[L’avaricieux le prie pour la conservation vaine & superflue de ses thresors : l’ambitieux pour ses victoires, & conduite de sa fortune : le voleur l’employe à son ayde, pour franchir le hazard & les difficultez, qui s’opposent à l’execution de ses meschantes entreprinses : ou le remercie de l’aisance qu’il a trouvé à desgosiller un passant. Au pied de la maison, qu’ils vont escheller ou petarder, ils font leurs prieres, l’intention & l’esperance pleine de cruauté, de luxure, & d’avarice.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 56 (1.56), “Of Prayers [Des prieres]” (1572-1580) [tr. Screech (1987)]
(Source)
Most of the passage appeared in the 1st (1580) edition; the last example (the military assault) appeared in the 3rd (1595) edition.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:The covetous man sueth and praieth unto him for the vaine encrease and superfluous preservation of his wrong-gotten treasure. The ambitious, he importuneth God for the conduct of his fortune, and that he may have the victorie of all his desseignes. The theefe, the pirate, the murtherer, yea and the traitor, all call upon him, all implore his ayde, and all solicite him, to give them courage in their attempts, constancie in their resolutions, to remove all lets and difficulties, that in any sorte may withstand their wicked executions, and impious actions; or give him thanks, if they have had good successe; the one if he have met with a good bootie, the other if he returne home rich, the third if no man have seene him kill his enemie, and the last, though he have caused any execrable mischiefe. The Souldier, if he but go to besiege a cottage, to scale a Castle, to robbe a Church, to Pettard a gate, to force a religious house, or any villanous act, before he attempt-it, praieth to God for his assistance, though his intents and hopes be full-fraught with crueltie, murther, covetise, luxurie, sacriledge, and all iniquitie.
[tr. Florio (1603)]The covetous man prays for the vain and superfluous preservation of his riches; the ambitious, for victory and the conduct of his fortune; the thief calls God to his assistance to deliver him from the dangers and difficulties that obstruct his wicked designs; or returns him thanks for the facility he has met with in cutting a traveller's throat. At the door of the house they are going to storm, or break into by force of a petard, they fall to prayers for success, having their intention and hopes full of cruelty, avarice, and luxury.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]The covetous man prays for the conservation of his vain and superfluous riches; the ambitious for victory and the good conduct of his fortune; the thief calls Him to his assistance, to deliver him from the dangers and difficulties that obstruct his wicked designs, or returns Him thanks for the facility he has met with in cutting a man’s throat; at the door of the house men are going to storm or break into by force of a petard, they fall to prayers for success, their intentions and hopes of cruelty, avarice, and lust.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]The avaricious man prays to him for the vain and superfluous of his riches; the ambitious man for his triumphs and the guidance of his passion; the thief employs him for aid in overcoming the risk and difficulties which impede the execution of his evil enterprises, or thanks him for the ease with which a traveler has had his throat cut. At the wall of the house they are about to scale or blow up, they say their prayers, their purpose and hope being full of cruelty, lust, greed.
[tr. Ives (1925)]The miser prays to him for the vain and superfluous conservation of his treasures; the ambitious man, for his victories and the guidance of this passion; the thief uses his help to pass through the risks and difficulties that oppose the execution of his wicked enterprises, or thanks him for having found it easy to cut a passer-by's throat. Standing beside the house they are going to scale or blow up, they say their prayers, with their intention and hopes full of cruelty, lust, and avarice.
[tr. Frame (1943)]
ROMANA: Please, please, can we do just one thing at a time?
THE DOCTOR: First things first?
ROMANA: Exactly.
THE DOCTOR: But not necessarily in that order.
John Flanagan (b. 1944) English writer, actor
Doctor Who (1963), 18×02 “Meglos,” Part 1 (1980-09-27) [with Andrew McCulloch]
(Source)
(Source (Video) at 1:11).
Almost always elided as "First things first, but not necessarily in that order."
Nobody who has not been in the interior of a family can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be.
To ignore our opportunities for knowledge, imperfect as they are, is like going to the theatre and not listening to the play. The world is full of things that are tragic or comic, heroic or bizarre or surprising, and those who fail to be interested in the spectacle that it offers are forgoing one of the privileges that life has to offer.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 15 “Impersonal Interests” (1930)
(Source)
A courageous Foe is better than a cowardly Friend.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 56 (1732)
(Source)
We refuse sympathy and intimacy with people, as if we waited for some better sympathy and intimacy to come. But whence and when? To-morrow will be like to-day. Life wastes itself whilst we are preparing to live. Our friends and fellow-workers die off from us. Scarcely can we say we see new men, new women, approaching us. We are too old to regard fashion, too old to expect patronage of any greater or more powerful. Let us suck the sweetness of those affections and consuetudes that grow near us. These old shoes are easy to the feet.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Prudence,” Essays: First Series, No. 7
(Source)
Based on a lecture (winter 1837–1838), Boston, the seventh in his course on "Human Culture."
CALVIN: Everybody seeks happiness! Not me, though! That’s the difference between me and the rest of the world! Happiness isn’t good enough for me! I demand euphoria!
OBLIVION, n. The state or condition in which the wicked cease from struggling and the dreary are at rest. Fame’s eternal dumping ground. Cold storage for high hopes. A place where ambitious authors meet their works without pride and their betters without envy. A dormitory without an alarm clock.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Oblivion,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
(Source)
Originally published in the "Cynic's Word Book" column in the New York American (1904-09-27), and the "Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Examiner (1903-10-28).