Men are not against you, they are merely for themselves.
Gene Fowler (1890-1960) American journalist, author, and dramatist. [b. Eugene Devlan]
Skyline: A Reporter’s Reminiscence of the 1920s, ch. 8 (1961)
(Source)
I worried that I was going to have to be primarily a writer. Why worry, you might ask? Well, although it is true that one feels fantastic when one has finished a writing task, it is mostly horrible while one is doing it. You will see therefore that writing, ghastly at the time but great afterwards, is exactly the opposite of sex. All that keeps one going is the knowledge that one will feel good when it’s all over.
Stephen Fry (b. 1957) British actor, writer, comedian
The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography, Part 2 “Comedy” (2010)
(Source)
Often paraphrased: "Writing is ghastly at the time, but great afterwards, exactly the opposite of sex."
The instant we admit that a book is too sacred to be doubted, or even reasoned about, we are mental serfs. It is infinitely absurd to suppose that a god would address a communication to intelligent beings, and yet make it a crime, to be punished in eternal flames, for them to use their intelligence for the purpose of understanding his communication. If we have the right to use our reason, we certainly have the right to act in accordance with it, and no god can have the right to punish us for such action.
A man my age is willing to accept almost anything. After the initial shock of astonishment that comes each morning when I wake up and discover that I’m still alive, I can face the day with an open mind.
A revengeful knave will do more than he will say; a grateful one will say more than he will do.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 441 (1820)
(Source)
You could read Kant by yourself, if you wanted; but you must share a joke with someone else.
But unfortunately the truth about atrocities is far worse than that they are lied about and made into propaganda. The truth is that they happen. The fact often adduced as a reason for scepticism — that the same horror stories come up in war after war — merely makes it rather more likely that these stories are true.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1942-08), “Looking Back on the Spanish War, ch. 2, New Road (1943-06)
(Source)
BARABAS:Religion
Hides many mischiefs from suspicion.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Jew of Malta, Act 1, sc. 2, ll. 282-283 (c. 1590)
(Source)
Planning to send his daughter, Abigail, as a penitent to the nunnery that his confiscated house has been turned to, so that she can recover his treasure left hidden there.
And what are you that, missing you,
I should be kept awake
As many nights as there are days
With weeping for your sake?Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
Poem (1921-10-31), “The Philosopher,” st. 1, Ainslee’s Magazine, Vol. 48, No. 3
(Source)
First collected in A Few Figs from Thistles (1922).
SGANARELLE: Have you no fears about returning here? It was here, Sir, that you killed that Commander, six months ago.
DON JUAN: Why should I be afraid? Didn’t I kill him properly?
[SGANARELLE: Et n’y craignez-vous rien, monsieur, de la mort de ce commandeur que vous tuâtes il y a six mois?
DON JUAN: Et pourquoi craindre? ne l’ai-je pas bien tué?]
Molière (1622-1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
Don Juan [Dom Juan], Act 1, sc. 2 (1665) [tr. Wilbur (2001)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Other translations:SGANAREL: And are you under no Apprehensions, Sir, about the Death of the Governor you kill'd six Months ago?
D. JOHN: And why Apprehensions? did'nt I kill him fairly?
[tr. Clitandre (1672)]SGAN.: And you have no fear, sir, for the consequences of the death of that Commander whom you killed six months ago?
D. JU.: Why should I be afraid? Did I not kill him honourably?
[tr. Van Laun (1876)]SGAN.: And have you no fear, sir, abouit the death of that commandant you killed six months ago?
JU.: What fear can I have? Did I not kill him properly?
[tr. Wall (1879)]SGAN.: And have you no apprehensions, Monsieur, from the death of the Commander you killed six months ago?
D. JUAN: Why should I be afraid? Did I not kill him honourably?
[tr. Waller (1904)]SGANARELLE: And have you nothing to fear, sir, from the death of the Commandant whom you killed here six months ago?
DON JUAN: And what should I fear? Was n't he fairly killed?
[tr. Page (1908)]SGANARELLE: And have you nothing to fear, sir, here, from the death of that Commander you killed six months ago?
DON JUAN: And why fear? Didn I kill him properly?
[tr. Frame (1967)]
Government by the people means that the people have the right to do their own thinking and to do their own speaking about their public servants. They must speak truthfully and they must not be disloyal to the country, and it is their highest duty by truthful criticism to make and keep the public servants loyal to the country.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Essay (1918-04-06), “Citizens or Subjects?” Kansas City Star
(Source)
Regarding a bill which had just passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would fine and imprison any one who used "contemptuous or slurring language about the President."
This passage was added to later editions of his essay, "Lincoln and Free Speech,", as printed in The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, vol. 21, The Great Adventure, ch. 7 (1925). It does not appear in the original version of the essay or book.
But thare iz lots ov pholks who kant see enny phun in enny thing, yu couldn’t fire a joke into them with a double barrell gun, 10 paces off, they go thru life az sollum az a cow. Menny people think it iz beneath their dignity to relish a joke, sutch people are simply fools, and dont seem to kno it.
[But there are lots of folks who can’t see any fun in anything; you couldn’t fire a joke into them with a double-barrel gun, ten paces off; they go through life as solemn as a cow. May people think it is beneath their dignity to relish a joke; such people are simply fools, and don’t seem to know it.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1875-04 “Fun” (1875 ed.)
(Source)
Man is certainly mad. He cannot fashion a worm, and he fashions gods by dozens.
[L’homme est bien insensé: Il ne sçauroit forger un ciron, & forge des Dieux à douzaines.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 2, ch. 12 (2.12), “Apology for Raymond Sebond [Apologie de Raimond de Sebonde]” (1573) [tr. Zeitlin (1934)]
(Source)
This essay appeared in the 1st (1580) edition, and was expanded for each edition after that. This passage first appeared in the 3rd (1595) edition.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Oh sencelesse man, who can not possibly make a worme, and yet will make Gods by dozens.
[tr. Florio (1603)]Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a flea, and yet gods by dozens.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by dozens.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]Man is indeed mad. He could not fashion a worm, and he fashions gods by the dozen.
[tr. Ives (1925)]Man is certainly crazy. He could not make a mite, and he makes gods by the dozens.
[tr. Frame (1943)]Man is quite insane. He wouldn't know how to create a maggot, and he creates gods by the dozen.
[ed. Rat (1958)]Man is indeed out of his mind. He cannot even create a fleshworm, yet creates gods by the dozen.
[tr. Screech (1987)]
Injustice is a kind of blasphemy. Nature designed rational beings for each other’s sake: to help — not harm — one another, as they deserve. To transgress its will, then, is to blaspheme against the oldest of the gods.
[Ὁ ἀδικῶν ἀσεβεῖ: τῆς γὰρ τῶν ὅλων φύσεως κατεσκευακυίας τὰ λογικὰ ζῷα ἕνεκεν ἀλλήλων, ὥστε ὠφελεῖν μὲν ἄλληλα κατ̓ ἀξίαν βλάπτειν δὲ μηδαμῶς, ὁ τὸ βούλημα ταύτης παραβαίνων ἀσεβεῖ δηλονότι εἰς τὴν πρεσβυτάτην τῶν θεῶν.]
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 9, ch. 1 (9.1) (AD 161-180) [tr. Hays (2003)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:He that is unjust, is also impious. For the nature of the universe, having made all reasonable creatures one for another, to the end that they should do one another good; more or less according to the several persons and occasions but in nowise hurt one another: it is manifest that he that doth transgress against this her will, is guilty of impiety towards the most ancient and venerable of all the deities. For the nature of the universe, is the nature the common parent of all, and therefore piously to be observed of all things that are, and that which now is, to whatsoever first was, and gave it its being, hath relation of blood and kindred.
[tr. Casaubon (1634)]To play the Knave is to Rebel against Religion, all sort of Injustice is no less then High Treason against Heaven: For since the Nature, or Soul of the Universe has made Rational Creatures for mutual Service, and Support Made them that they should Assist, and Oblige each other, according to the Regards of Circumstance, and Merit; but never do any body any Harm: The Case standing thus, he that crosses upon this Design, is Prophane in his Contradiction , and Outrages the most Antient Deity. For the Nature of the Universe is the Cause of it , and that which gives it Being. Thus all things are one Family, suited , and as it were of Kin to each other.
[tr. Collier (1701)]He who does an injury is guilty of impiety. For, since the nature of the whole has formed the rational animals for one another; each for being useful to the other according to his merit, and never hurtful; he who transgresses this her will, is thus guilty of impiety against the most ancient and venerable of the Gods. For the nature of the whole is the nature of all things which exist; and things which exist, are a-kin to their causes.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]He that acts unjustly, acts impiously. For God, or the Universal Nature, having produced all rational creatures to be mutually serviceable to each other, according to their respective merits, and by no means to injure each other; he who violates this first principle of nature, prophanely insults the most antient of all Deities. For this Universal Nature is the cause of all things that exist which are connected with each other by mutual friendship and alliance.
[tr. Graves (1792)]He who acts unjustly acts impiously. For since the universal nature has made rational animals for the sake of one another, to help one another according to their deserts, but in no way to injure one another, he who transgresses her will is clearly guilty of impiety towards the highest divinity.
[tr. Long (1862)]Injustice is no less than high treason against heaven. For since the nature of the universe has made rational creatures for mutual service and support, but never to do anybody any harm, since the case stands thus: he that crosses upon this design is profane, and outrages the most ancient Deity.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]To be unjust is to sin. By Nature rational beings have been constituted for one another's sake, each to help each according to its worth, and in wise to hurt: and he who transgresses the will of Nature, sins -- to wit, against the primal deity.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]He who does injustice commits impiety. For since universal Nature has formed the rational animals for one another; each to be useful to the other according to his merit, and never hurtful; he who transgresses this her will is clearly guilty of impiety against the most ancient and venerable of the Gods.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]Injustice is impiety. For in that the Nature of the Universe has fashioned rational creatures for the sake of one another with a view to mutual benefit based upon worth, but by no means for harm, the transgressor of her will acts with obvious impiety against the most venerable of Deities.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]Whosoever does injustice commits sin; for Universal Nature having made reasonable creatures for the sake of one another, to benefit each other according to desert but in no wise to do injury, manifestly he who transgresses her will sins against the most venerable of the gods, because Universal Nature is a nature of what is, and what is is related to all that exists.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]Injustice is a sin. Nature has constituted rational beings for their own mutual benefit, each to help his fellows according to their worth, and in no wise to do them hurt; and to contravene her will is plainly to sin against this eldest of all the deities.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]Whoever commits injustice acts irreverently; for since universal nature has created rational creatures for the sake of one another, to benefit their fellows according to their deserts and in no wise to do them harm, it is plain that one who offends against her will is guilty of irreverence towards the most venerable of gods.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.); tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]Injustice is sin. When universal Nature has constituted rational creatures for the sake of each other -- to benefit one another as deserved, but never to harm -- anyone contravening her will is clearly guilty of sin against the oldest of the gods: because universal Nature is the nature of ultimate reality, to which all present existence is related.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]
The fanatics have another name for fetuses. They call them the pre-born. Now we’re getting creative. If you accept pre-born, I think you would have to say that, at the moment of birth, we go instantly from being pre-born to being pre-dead. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Technically, we’re all pre-dead.
George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
Book (2004), When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, “Euphemisms: Political-Interest Groups,” “A Bunny in the Oven?”
(Source)
(Source (Audiobook); dialogue verified)
You will need to know the difference between Friday and a fried egg. It’s quite a simple difference, but an important one. Friday comes at the end of the week, whereas a fried egg comes out of a chicken. Like most things, of course, it isn’t quite that simple. The fried egg isn’t properly a fried egg until it’s been put in a frying pan and fried. This is something you wouldn’t do to a Friday, of course, though you might do it on a Friday. You can also fry eggs on a Thursday, if you like, or on a cooker. It’s all rather complicated, but it makes a kind of sense if you think about it for a while.
Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humourist, screenwriter
The Salmon of Doubt, Part 1 “Life,” “For Children Only” (2002) [ed. Peter Guzzardi]
(Source)
The mind is a strange machine which can combine the materials offered to it in the most astonishing ways, but without materials from the external world it is powerless.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 11 “Zest” (1930)
(Source)
That which thou are ashamed to do in the Sight of Men for the Turpitude of it; thou shouldest be more ashamed to do in the Sight of the Angels, and even of God himself, when thou art alone.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 2, # 2324 (1727)
(Source)
CALVIN’S DAD: Why is it I can recall a cigarette ad jingle from 25 years ago, but I can’t remember what I just got up to do?
Winnie-the-Pooh sat down at the foot of the tree, put his head between his paws and began to think.
“If there’s a buzzing-noise, somebody’s making a buzzing-noise, and the only reason for making a buzzing-noise that I know of is because you’re a bee.”
Then he thought another long time, and said: “And the only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey.”
And then he got up, and said: “And the only reason for making honey is so I can eat it.” So he began to climb the tree.A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
Winnie-the-Pooh, ch. 1 “We Are Introduced” (1926)
(Source)
What is going on in the Un-American Activities Committee worries me primarily because little people have become frightened and we find ourselves living in the atmosphere of a police state, where people close doors before they state what they think or look over their shoulders apprehensively before they express an opinion.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1947-10-29), “My Day”
(Source)
NURSE:Surely this doth bind,
Through all ill days, the hurts of humankind,
When man and woman in one music move.[ΤΡΟΦΌΣ: ἥπερ μεγίστη γίγνεται σωτηρία,
ὅταν γυνὴ πρὸς ἄνδρα μὴ διχοστατῇ.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 14ff (431 BC) [tr. Murray (1906)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:Hence bliss supreme arises, when the bond
Of concord joins them.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]This is the state of firmest happiness,
When from the husband no discordant will
The wife estranges.
[tr. Potter (1814)]In which the better part of safety lies
That the woman should not differ from the man.
[tr. Webster (1868)]The greatest safeguard this when wife and husband do agree.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]Which is the surest support of conjugal happiness, when the wife is not estranged from the husband.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]Which is the chief salvation of the home,
When wife stands not at variance with her lord.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]This is indeed the greatest salvation of all --
For the wife not to stand apart from the husband.
[tr. Warner (1944)]Happy is the house
Where the man and the woman love and are faithful.
[tr. Jeffers (1946)]And in a marriage that's the saving thing,
When a wife obediently accepts her husband's will.
[tr. Vellacott (1963)]This, to my mind, is a woman’s greatest safety:
Not to take the opposite side from her husband.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]This it is that most rescues life from trouble, when a woman is not at variance with her husband.
[tr. Kovacs (1994)]This is what keeps a marraige intact more than anything, when a husband can count on complete support from his wife.
[tr. Davie (1996)]That, you see, is how a woman earns her security: never argue with your husband!
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]This is what brings the greatest stability at home:
when a woman does not challenge her husband.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]That’s when life is most secure and safe,
when woman and her husband stand as one.
[tr. Johnston (2008)]This provides the greatest security,
when a wife doesn't oppose her husband.
[tr. Kovacs / Kitzinger (2016)]That is the best security,
when the wife does not quarrel with her husband.
[tr. Ewans (2022)]This is the greatest safety [sōtēriā], when wife does not stand apart from husband.
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]
Every group of six or more has its inner circle, its outer circle, and its hangers-on.
Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 6 (1963)
(Source)
To love, or to have loved, is enough. Ask for nothing more. There is no other pearl to be found in life’s shadowy convolutions. To love is an achievement.
[Aimer ou avoir aimé, cela suffit. Ne demandez rien ensuite. On n’a pas d’autre perle à trouver dans les plis ténébreux de la vie. Aimer est un accomplissement.]
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Part 5 “Jean Valjean,” Book 6 “The White Night,” ch. 2 (5.6.2) (1862) [tr. Donougher (2013)]
(Source)
Concluding the chapter of the wedding of Marius and Cosette.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:To love or to have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life. To love is a consummation.
[tr. Wilbour (1862); tr. Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]To love or to have loved is sufficient; ask nothing more after that. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life, for love is a consummation.
[tr. Wraxall (1862)]To love, or to have loved, -- this suffices. Demand nothing more. There is no other pearl to be found in the shadowy folds of life. To love is a fulfilment.
[tr. Hapgood (1887)]To love or to have loved is all-sufficing. We must not ask for more. No other pearl is to be found in the shadowed folds of life. To love is an accomplishment.
[tr. Denny (1976)]
Eating grapes with a knife and fork is not what one would call refined. It is what one would call ludicrous.
Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1993-03-07)
(Source)
See also Miss Manners (1979).
KING RICHARD: For within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court, and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be feared, and kill with looks,
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life
Were brass impregnable; and humored thus,
Comes at the last and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell, king!William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Richard II, Act 3, sc. 2, l. 165ff (3.2.165-175) (1595)
(Source)
Brothers shall fight
and fell each other,
And sisters’ sons
shall kinship stain;
Hard is it on earth,
with mighty whoredom;
Axe-time, sword-time,
shields are sundered,
Wind-time, wolf-time,
ere the world falls;
Nor ever shall
each other spare.[Brœðr munu berjask
ok at bǫnum verða,
munu systrungar
sifjum spilla;
hart er í heimi,
hórdómr mikill;
skeggǫld, skálmǫld
— skildir ru klofnir —
vindǫld, vargǫld,
áðr verǫld steypisk;
mun engi maðr
ǫðrum þyrma.]Poetic Edda (800-1100) Old Norse anonymous collection of poems
Völuspá [Prophecy of the Völva; Prophecy of the Seeress] (AD 961) [tr. Bellows (1936); st. 45]
(Source)
The time of Ragnarok. Narrated by Heiðr.
(Source (Old Norse)). Other translations:Brethren will fight and slay each other;
Kindred will spurn their consanguinity;
Hard will be the world:
Many the adulteries.
A bearded age: an age of swords:
Shields will be cloven.
An age of winds; an age of wolves.
Till the world shall perish
There will not be one that will spare another.
[tr. Turner (1836), st. 44]Brothers shall fight, and slay each other; cousins shall kinship violate. The earth resounds, the giantesses flee; no man will another spare.
Hard is it in the world, great whoredom, an axe age, a sword age, shields shall be cloven, a wind age, a wolf age, ere the world sinks.
[tr. Thorpe (1866)]; st. 45-46]Brother will fight brother and be his slayer,
sister's sons will violate the kinship-bond;
hard it is in the world, whoredom abounds,
axe-age, sword-age, shields are cleft asunder,
wind-age, wolf-age, before the world plunges headlong
no man will spare another.
[tr. Larrington (2014), st. 45]Brothers will battle and slay each other,
cousins will break the bonds of kin;
it’s harsh in the world, great whoredom,
axe-age, sword-age -- shields are cloven --
wind-age, wolf-age, before the world collapses;
no one will show mercy to another.
[tr. Pettit (2023); st. 44]
In the nature of things, those who have not property, and see their neighbors possess much more than they think they need, cannot be favorable to laws made for the protection of property. When this class becomes numerous, it glows clamorous. It looks on property as its prey and plunder, and is naturally ready, at all times, for violence and revolution.
Daniel Webster (1782-1852) American statesman, lawyer, orator
Speech (1820-12-22), “First Settlement of New England,” Plymouth, Massachusetts
(Source)
On the bicentennial of the Pilgrims' landing in the New World.
The Obligation of Subjects to the Soveraign, is understood to last as long, and no longer, than the power lasteth, by which he is able to protect them. For the right men have by Nature to protect themselves, when none else can protect them, can by no Covenant be relinquished. […] The end of Obedience is Protection; which, wheresoever a man seeth it, either in his own, or in anothers sword, Nature applyeth his obedience to it, and his endeavour to maintaine it.
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) English philosopher
Leviathan, Part 2 “Of Common-wealth,” ch. 21 “Of the Liberty of Subjects” (1651)
(Source)
Administrivia: To DB, or Not to DB
I’ve been doing some work on moving WIST into its own database, to hopefully improve performance. This post is both a test of the system, and an ask to let me know if you run into any weird problems.
Thanks!
The trouble with unimaginable horrors was that they were only too easy to imagine …
Strange! that no one has ever been persecuted by the church for believing God bad, while hundreds of millions have been destroyed for thinking him good. The orthodox church never will forgive the Universalist for saying “God is love.” It has always been considered as one of the very highest evidences of true and undefiled religion to insist that all men, women and children deserve eternal damnation. It has always been heresy to say, “God will at last save all.”
I feel like I was walking across Nevada, like the pioneers, carrying a lot of stuff I need, but as I go along I have to keep dropping off things. I had a piano once but it got swamped at a crossing of the Platte. I had a good frypan but it got too heavy and I left it in the Rockies. I had a couple ovaries but they wore out around the time we were in the Carson Sink. I had a good memory but pieces of it keep dropping off, have to leave them scattered around in the sage brush, on the sand hills.
Official war propaganda, with its disgusting hypocrisy and self-righteousness, always tends to make thinking people sympathize with the enemy.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1942-08), “Looking Back on the Spanish War, ch. 2, New Road (1943-06)
(Source)
BARABAS: No, Abigail, things past recovery
Are hardly cur’d with exclamations.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Jew of Malta, Act 3, sc. 1, l. 237ff (c. 1590)
(Source)
One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.
Charles M. Blow (b. 1970) American journalist, commentator, columnist
Essay (2012-09-19), “I Know Why the Caged Bird Shrieks,” New York Times
(Source)
Stranger, pause and look;
From the dust of ages
Lift this little book,
Turn the tattered pages,
Read me, do not let me die!
Search the fading letters, finding
Steadfast in the broken binding
All that once was I!Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
“The Poet and His Book,” st. 6, Second April (1921)
(Source)
SGANARELLE: But one has to believe in something; what is it that you believe? […]
DON JUAN: I believe that two and two are four, Sganarelle, and that four and four are eight.
[SGANARELLE: Mais encore faut-il croire en quelque chose dans le monde : qu’est-ce donc que vous croyez? […]
DON JUAN: Je crois que deux et deux sont quatre, Sganarelle, et que quatre et quatre sont huit.]
Molière (1622-1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
Don Juan [Dom Juan], Act 3, sc. 1 (1665) [tr. Wilbur (2001)]
(Source)
This passage, where belief in folk spirits and bogeymen (or, alternately, math) is conflated with religious belief, was dropped from later performances, and is sometimes not included in text versions of the play (e.g., Clitandre (1672)).
(Source (French)). Other translations:SGAN: People must believe something in this world. What do you believe? [...]
D JU: I believe that two and two are four, Sganarelle, and that twice four are eight.
[tr. Van Laun (1876)]SGAN: One must believe in something here below. What do you believe in? [...]
JU: Well, I believe that two and two make four, Sganarelle, and that four and four make eight.
[tr. Wall (1879)]SGAN: Now just tell me (for one must believe something) in what do you believe? [...]
D. JUAN: I believe two and two make four, Sganarelle, and that four and four are eight.
[tr. Waller (1904)]SGANARELLE: But at least a man must believe in something here below. Now what do you believe in? [...]
DON JUAN: I believe that two and two make four, Sganarelle, and that twice four is eight.
[tr. Page (1908)]SGANARELLE: A person must have faith in something. What do you believe? [...]
DON JUAN: I believe, Sganarelle, that two and two are four and four and four are eight.
[tr. Bermel (1987)]
In a self-governing country the people are called citizens. Under a despotism or autocracy the people are called subjects. This is because in a free country the people are themselves sovereign, while in a despotic country the people are under a sovereign. In the United States the people are all citizens, including its President. The rest of them are fellow citizens of the President. In Germany the people are all subjects of the Kaiser. They are not his fellow citizens, they are his subjects.
This is the essential difference between the United States and Germany, but the difference would vanish if we now submitted to the foolish or traitorous persons who endeavor to make it a crime to tell the truth about the Administration when the Administration is guilty of incompetence or other shortcomings. Such an endeavor is itself a crime against the nation. Those who take such an attitude are guilty of moral treason of a kind both abject and dangerous.Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Essay (1918-04-06), “Citizens or Subjects?” Kansas City Star
(Source)
Regarding a bill which had just passed the Senate Judiciary Committee which would fine and imprison any one who used "contemptuous or slurring language about the President."
This passage was added to later editions of his essay, "Lincoln and Free Speech,", as printed in The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, vol. 21, The Great Adventure, ch. 7 (1925). It does not appear in the original version of the essay or book.
So glorious is the recovery of liberty that in regaining liberty we must not shrink even from death.
[Ita praeclara est recuperatio libertatis ut ne mors quidem sit in repetenda libertate fugienda.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 10, ch. 9 / sec. 20 (10.9/10.20) (43-02 BC) [tr. Ker (Loeb) (1926)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:The recovery of freedom is so splendid a thing that we must not shun even death when seeking to recover it.
[tr. Yonge (1903)]So glorious is the reclamation of freedom that not even death should be avoided when freedom must be regained.
[tr. @sentantiq (2017)]
A good karakter is allwuss gained bi inches, but iz often lost in one chunk.
[A good character is always gained by inches, but is often lost in one chunk.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1875-04 (1875 ed.)
(Source)
Government is competent when all who compose it work as trustees for the whole people. It can make constant progress when it keeps abreast of all the facts. It can obtain justified support and legitimate criticism when the people receive true information of all that government does.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Speech (1937-01-20), Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C.
(Source)
THE DOCTOR: But you can’t rule the world in hiding. You’ve got to come out on the balcony sometimes and wave a tentacle, if you’ll pardon the expression.
Robert Banks Stewart (1931-2016) Scottish screenwriter, television producer, journalist
Doctor Who (1963), 13×01 “Terror of the Zygons,” Part 4 (1975-09-20)
(Source (Video); dialog verified)
Variants:
- "Well, you can't rule the world in hiding. You've got to come out onto the balcony sometimes and wave a tentacle, if you'll pardon the expression."
- "Well, you can't rule the world in hiding. You've got to come out, onto the balcony sometimes -- and wave a tentacle."
- "You can't rule the world in hiding. You've got to come out on the balcony sometimes and wave a tentacle."
Men are born for the sake of each other. So either teach or tolerate.
[Οἱ ἄνθρωποι γεγόνασιν ἀλλήλων ἕνεκεν: ἢ δίδασκε οὖν ἢ φέρε.]
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 8, ch. 59 (8.59) (AD 161-180) [tr. Hammond (2006)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:All men are made one for another: either then teach them better, or bear with them.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 8.56]Men are born to be serviceable to one another, therefore either Reform the World, or bear with it.
[tr. Collier (1701); Collier/Zimmern (1887)]Men were formed for each other. Teach them better, then, or bear with them.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]Men were born for the service and benefit of each other. Eitehr teach them this obvious truth, or bear with their ignorance.
[tr. Graves (1792), 8.57]Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then, or bear with them.
[tr. Long (1862)]Men exist for one another. Teach them then, or bear with them.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]Men were created the one for the other. Teach them better then, or bear with them.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]Mankind have been created for the sake of one another. Either instruct therefore or endure.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]Men have come into the world for the sake of one another. Either instruct them then or bear with them.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]Men exist for each other. Then either improve them, or put up with them.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]Human beings are here for the sake of one another; either instruct them, then, or put up with them.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]People exist for one another. You can instruct or endure them.
[tr. Hays (2003)][Human beings have come into the world for the sake of one another; either instruct them, then, or put up with them.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]Men were created for one another; either teach them, or endure them.
[ed. Taplin (2016)]
People assume you sit in a room, looking pensive and writing great thoughts. But you mostly sit in a room looking panic-stricken and hoping they haven’t put a guard on the door yet.
Here’s all you need to know about men and women: Women are crazy and men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid. It’s not the only reason, but it’s a big one. And by the way, if you don’t think men are stupid, check the newspaper. […] And if you don’t think women are crazy, ask a man. That’s the one thing men aren’t stupid about: they know for sure, way deep down in their hearts, that women are straight-out fucking nuts.
George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
Book (2004), When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, “Guys & Dolls: Part 1”
(Source)
The more things a man is interested in, the more opportunities of happiness he has, and the less he is at the mercy of fate, since if he loses one thing he can fall back upon another. Life is too short to be interested in everything, but it is good to be interested in as many things as are necessary to fill our days. We are all prone to the malady of the introvert, who, with the manifold spectacle of the world spread out before him, turns away and gazes only upon the emptiness within.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 11 “Zest” (1930)
(Source)
If it were enough, to repent the last Day of thy Life; yet how canst thou be sure to do that; unless thou doest it this very Day? Since this Day may be (for ought thou knowest) thy last.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 2, # 2305 (1727)
(Source)
I yesterday passed a whole afternoon in the churchyard, the cloisters, and the church, amusing myself with the tombstones and inscriptions that I met with in those several regions of the dead. Most of them recorded nothing else of the buried person, but that he was born upon one day, and died upon another: the whole history of his life being comprehended in those two circumstances, that are common to all mankind. I could not but look upon these registers of existence, whether of brass or marble, as a kind of satire upon the departed persons; who had left no other memorial of them, but that they were born and that they died. They put me in mind of several persons mentioned in the battles of heroic poems, who have sounding names given them, for no other reason but that they may be killed, and are celebrated for nothing but being knocked on the head.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1711-03-30), “Thoughts in Westminster Abbey,” The Spectator, No. 26
(Source)
You, sir, are an anarchist, and Miss Manners is frightened to have anything to do with you.
It is true that questioning the table manners of others is rude. But to overthrow the accepted conventions of society, on the flimsy grounds that you have found them silly, inefficient and discomforting, is a dangerous step toward destroying civilization.Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1981-04-11)
(Source)
Mocking people who make a huge fuss when correcting someone on how they are misusing their fork at the table.
Collected in Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Part 3 "Basic Civilization," "Table Manners" (1983).
KING RICHARD: For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings —
How some have been deposed, some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed,
Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed,
All murdered.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Richard II, Act 3, sc. 2, l. 160ff (3.2.160-165) (1595)
(Source)
Cannon-balls may aid the truth,
But thought’s a weapon stronger;
We’ll win our battles by its aid; —
Wait a little longer.Charles Mackay (1814-1889) Scottish poet, journalist, song writer
Poem (1846-01-22), “The Good Time Coming,” st. 1 , London Daily News
(Source)
Originally published under the title "Wait a Little Longer." First collected in Voices from the Crowd and Other Poems (1846).
The old ladies sitting on the side porch waved and called out to him, and he waved back at them. They sat like a bunch of ancient crows on a branch. Time was shooting them down, one by one.
You may drive out Nature with a pitchfork, yet she will ever hurry back, and, ere you know it, will burst through your foolish contempt in triumph.
[Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret,
Et mala perrumpet furtim fastidia victrix.]Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 10 “To Aristius Fuscus,” l. 24ff (1.10.n) (20 BC) [tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]
(Source)
Horace trying to persuade his citified friend Aristius that a more natural setting in the countryside is better.
Variants of "expellas furca" (driving with a pitchfork) were a common Roman expression.
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:The citizens thinkes nature base, and arte is their desier.
Tushe, expulse nature with a forke yet she will still retire,
But chefely, if that she be euill she tarries then no space,
The victris hath a swifte recourse by stealthe unto her place.
[tr. Drant (1567)]Drive Nature with a Pitch-fork out, shee'l back
Victorious (spite of State) by'a secret Track.
[tr. R. F.; ed. Brome (1666)]Strive to expel strong Nature, 'tis in vain,
With doubled force she will return again,
And conquering rise above the proud disdain.
[tr. Creech (1684)]For Nature, driven out with proud disdain,
All-powerful goddess, will return again;
Return in silent triumph, to deride
the weak attempts of luxury and pride.
[tr. Francis (1747)]Thus, chase her out of doors -- do what you will --
Nature renews the charge and triumphs still;
spurs the weak barriers which caprice would lay
Athwart her course, and boldly bursts her way.
[tr. Howes (1845)]You may drive out nature with a fork, yet still she will return, and, insensibly victorious, will break through [men’s] improper disgusts.
[tr. Smart/Buckley 1853)]Drive Nature forth by force, she'll turn and rout
The false refinements that would keep her out.
[tr. Conington (1874)]Turn Nature, neck-and-shoulders, out of door.
She'll find her way to where she was before;
And imperceptibly in time subdue
Wealth's sickly fancies, and her tastes untrue.
[tr. Martin (1881)]You shall expel nature with a fork, yet will it always return and, by imperceptibly breaking through injurous aversions, show itself the conquerer.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]Drive Nature out with a pitchfork. She'll be back again.
She'll outwit and break through absurd contempt! She will win!
[tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]Thrust nature out with a pitchfork -- she'll come back,
and gradually she'll win, breaking through your fancy fakes.
[tr. Fuchs (1977)]Push out Nature with a pitchfork, she’ll always come back,
And our stupid contempt somehow falls on its face before her.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]Drive Nature out with a pitchfork, she'll come right back,
Victorious over your ignorant confident scorn.
[tr. Ferry (2001)]Expel nature with a fork; she’ll keep on trotting back.
Relax -- and she'll break triumphantly through your silly refinements.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]Drive Nature off with a pitchfork, she’ll still press back,
And secretly burst in triumph through your sad disdain.
[tr. Kline (2015)]
But what impressed me then, and has impressed me ever since, is that atrocities are believed in or disbelieved in solely on grounds of political predilection. Everyone believes in the atrocities of the enemy and disbelieves in those of his own side, without ever bothering to examine the evidence.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1942-08), “Looking Back on the Spanish War, ch. 2, New Road (1943-06)
(Source)
FERNEZE: Excesse of wealth is cause of covetousnesse:
And covetousnesse, oh ’tis a monstrous sinne.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Jew of Malta, Act 1, sc. 2, l. 124ff (c. 1590)
(Source)
The Governor of Malta, having just appropriated Barabas' entire estate to help pay off the Turks.
I shall die, but that is all that I shall do for Death; I am not on his pay-roll.
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
Poem (1934), “Conscientious Objector,” l. 8, Wine from These Grapes, sec. 4
(Source)
SGANARELLE: But when a great lord is a wicked man, it is a terrible thing.
[Mais un grand seigneur méchant homme est une terrible chose.]
Molière (1622-1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
Don Juan [Dom Juan], Act 1, sc. 1 (1665) [tr. Waller (1904)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Other translations:But a great Lord, a wicked Man, is a terrible thing.
[tr. Clitandre (1672)]If a great lord is a wicked man it is a terrible thing.
[tr. Van Laun (1876)]But if a great lord is also a wicked man, it is a terrible thing.
[tr. Wall (1879)]But a wicked nobleman is a terrible thing.
[tr. Page (1908)]But a great lord who is a wicked man is a terrible thing.
[tr. Frame (1967)]But a wicked nobleman is a frightening master.
[tr. Bermel (1987)]But a great lord who's a wicked man is a frightening thing.
[tr. Wilbur (2001)]
Sometimes rendered "What a terrible thing to be a great lord, yet a wicked man," though I could not find a good source for that phrasing, which is also attributed to Carlos Castañeda.
I shall support every official from the President down who does well, and shall oppose every such official who does ill. I shall not put the personal comfort of the President or of any other public servant above the welfare of the country.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Essay (1918-05), “Lincoln and Free Speech,” Metropolitan Magazine, Vol. 47, No. 6
(Source)
On censorship actions by the Wilson Administration taken against critics of its handling of war efforts.
Reprinted in Appendix C of his The Great Adventure (1918), and as ch. 7 of that book in Vol. 21 of The Works of Theodore Roosevelt (1925), The Great Adventure.
The man who haz sworn not to forgiv haz uttered the wust oath he kan take.
[The man who has sworn not to forgive has uttered the worst oath he can take.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1875-04 (1875 ed.)
(Source)
The life of the dead resides in the memory of the living
[Vita enim mortuorum in memoria est posita vivorum.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 9, ch. 5 / sec. 10 (9.5/9.10) (43-02-04 BC) [tr. Zetzel (2009)]
(Source)
Calling on the Senate to memorialize Servius Sulpicius Rufus, who died during the Senate-sponsored embassy to Mark Antony in Mutina.
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.
[ed. Hoyt (1896)]For the life of the dead consists in the recollection cherished of them by the living.
[tr. Yonge (1903)]The dead live in the memory of the living.
[ed. Harbottle (1906)]For the life of the dead is set in the memory of the living.
[tr. Ker (Loeb) (1926)]For the life of the dead lies in the memory of the living.
[tr. Manuwald (2007)]
Money and Man a mutual Friendship show:
Man makes false Money, Money makes Man so.Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1742 ed.)
(Source)
The relations between us in those latter days were peculiar. He was a man of habits, narrow and concentrated habits, and I had become one of them. As an institution I was like the violin, the shag tobacco, the old black pipe, the index books, and others perhaps less excusable.
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1923-03), “The Adventure of the Creeping Man,” The Strand Magazine, Vol 65
(Source)
Watson on his relationship with Holmes.
Knaves and Hipocrates see through the Whole sistem at once. I will take the People their own way says one of these, I will serve them without Pay, I will give them money, I will make them beleive that I am perfectly disinterested untill I gain their Confidence and exite their enthusiasm. then I will Carry that Confidence and Enthusiasm to markett and will sell it for more than all I give them, and all their Pay would have amounted to — si populus vult decipi decipiatur [if the people want to be deceived, they will be deceived].
John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter (1785-09-10) to John Jebb
(Source)
Spelling as written by Adams.
My business, my art, is to live my life. If anyone forbids me to talk about it according to my own sense, experience and practice, let him also command an architect to talk about buildings not according to his own standard but his next-door neighbour’s, according to somebody else’s knowledge not his own.
[Mon mestier & mon art, c’est vivre. Qui me defend d’en parler selon mon sens, experience & usage : qu’il ordonne à l’architecte de parler des bastimens non selon soy, mais selon son voisin, selon la science d’un autre, non selon la sienne.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 2, ch. 6 (2.6), “Of Practice [De l’exercitation]” (1574?) [tr. Screech (1987)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:My arte and profession, is to live. Who forbids mee to speake of it, according to my sense, experience, and custome? Let him appoint the Architect to speake of buildings, not according to himselfe, but his neighbours, according to anothers skill, and not his owne.
[tr. Florio (1603)]My art and business is to live. He that forbids me to speak according to my own sense, experience, and practice, may as well enjoin an architect to speak of buildings not in his own style, but in his neighbour's; not according to his own science, but according to another man's.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]My trade and art is to live; he that forbids me to speak according to my own sense, experience, and practice, may as well enjoin an architect not to speak of building according to his own knowledge, but according to that of his neighbor; according to the knowledge of another, and not according to his own.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]My profession and my art is living. Whoever forbids me to speak of this according to my perceptions, experience, and habit, let him bid the architect talk about buildings, not according to his own ideas, but according to those of his neighbour; according to another's knowledge, not according to his own.
[tr. Ives (1925)]My trade and my art is to live. He that forbids me to speak of it according to my own sense, experience, and practice, let him command an architect to speak of buildings not in his own style but his neighbour's, according to another man's knowledge, not according to his own.
[tr. Zeitlin (1934)]My trade and my art is living. He who forbids me to speak about it according to my sense, experience, and practice, let him order the architect to speak of buildings not according to himself but according to his neighbor; according to another man’s knowledge, not according to his own.
[tr. Frame (1943)]Living is my job and my art.
[ed. Rat (1958)]Living is my work, and my art. Let anyone who forbids me to speak of it according to my understanding, experience, and practice order an architect to speak of his buildings according, not to himself, but to his neighbor; according to his knowledge, not his own.
[tr. Atkinson/Sices (2012)]
SARAH JANE: You’re serious, aren’t you?
THE DOCTOR: About what I do, yes. Not necessarily the way I do it.
Robert Holmes (1926-1986) British television screenwriter
Doctor Who (1963), 11×01 “The Time Warrior,” Part 3 (1973-12-29)
(Source)
(Source (Video)). Often Sarah Jane's line is misquoted as "Doctor, are you serious?"
Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on to say, “Why were things of this sort ever brought into the world?” The student of nature will only laugh at you; just as a carpenter or a shoemaker would laugh, if you found fault with the shavings and scraps from their work which you saw in the shop.
[Σίκυος πικρός; ἄφες. βάτοι ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ; ἔκκλινον. ἀρκεῖ, μὴ προσεπείπῃς: τί δὲ καὶ ἐγένετο ταῦτα ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ; ἐπεὶ καταγελασθήσῃ ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπου φυσιολόγου, ὡς ἂν καὶ ὑπὸ τέκτονος καὶ σκυτέως γελασθείης καταγινώσκων ὅτι ἐν τῷ ἐργαστηρίῳ ξέσματα καὶ περιτμήματα τῶν κατασκευαζομένων ὁρᾷς.]
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 8, ch. 50 (8.50) (AD 161-180) [tr. Staniforth (1964)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Is the cucumber bitter? set it away. Brambles are in the way? avoid them. Let this suffice. Add not presently speaking unto thyself, What serve these things for in the world? For, this, one that is acquainted with the mysteries of nature, will laugh at thee for it; as a carpenter would or a shoemaker, if meeting in either of their shops with some shavings, or small remnants of their work, thou shouldest blame them for it.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 8.48]Does your Cucumber taste bitter? Let it alone. Are there Brambles in your way? Avoid them then. Thus far you are well: But then don't ask what does the World with such stuff as this is? This is to be too Bold, and Impertinent; And a Natural Philosopher would laugh at you: This Expostulation is just as Wise as it would be to find fault with a Carpenter for having Saw-dust, or a Taylor Shreds in his Shop.
[tr. Collier (1701)]Is the cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there thorns in the way? Walk aside. That is enough. Don’t be adding; “Why were such things in the universe?” A naturalist would laugh at you, as would a carpenter, too, or a shoe-maker, if you were finding fault, because shavings and parings of their Works are lying about in their work-houses.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]Is the cucumber which you are eating, bitter? let it alone. Are there thorns int he path where you are walking? avoid them. This is sufficient for your particular purpose. But do not peevishly ask, "why are such things permitted in the world?" For a naturalist would laugh at you; and with as much reason as a carpenter or a tailor would do, if you should blame them for having shavings or shreds in their respective shops.
[tr. Graves (1792), 8.49]A cucumber is bitter -- Throw it away. -- There are briers in the road -- Turn aside from them. -- This is enough. Do not add, And why were such things made in the world? For thou wilt be ridiculed by a man who is acquainted with nature, as thou wouldst be ridiculed by a carpenter and shoemaker if thou didst find fault because thou seest in their workshop shavings and cuttings from the things which they make.
[tr. Long (1862)]Does your cucumber taste bitter? Let it alone. Are there brambles in your way? Avoid them then. Thus far you are well. But, then, do not ask what does the world with such things as this, for a natural philosopher would laugh at you. This expostulation is just as wise as it would be to find fault with a carpenter for having saw-dust, or a tailor shreds in his shop.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]The gourd is bitter: drop it then! There are brambles in the path: then turn aside! It is enough. Do not go on to argue, Why pray have these things a place int he world? The natural philosopher would laugh at you, just as a carpenter or cobbler would laugh, if you began finding fault because you saw chips or parings lying about their shop.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]Is the gourd bitter? Put it from you. Are there thorns in the way? Walk aside. That is enough. Do not add, “Why were such things brought into the world?” The naturalist would laugh at you, just as would a carpenter or a shoemaker, if you began fault-finding because you saw shavings and parings from their work strewn about the workshop.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]The gherkin is bitter. Toss it away. There are briars in the path. Turn aside. That suffices, and thou needest not to add: Why are such things found in the world? For thou wouldst be a laughing stock to any student of nature; just as thou wouldst be laughed at by a carpenter and a cobbler if thou tookest them to task because in their shops are seen sawdust and parings from what they are making.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]The cucumber is bitter? Put it down. There are brambles in the path? Step to one side. That is enough, without also asking: "Why did these things come into the world at all?" Because the student of Nature will ridicule the question, exactly as a carpenter or cobbler would laugh at you if you found fault because you see shavings and clippings from their work in their shops.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]The cucumber is bitter? Cast it aside. There are brambles in the path? Step out of the way. That will suffice, and you need not ask in addition, "Why did such things ever come into the world?" For anyone who has made a study of nature would laugh at you, just as a carpenter or shoemaker would laugh at you if you criticised them because you could see in their workshop the shavings or parings form what they were working on.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out.
There are brambles in the path? Then go around them.
That's all you need to know. Nothing more. Don't demand to know "why such things exist." Anyone who understands the world will laugh at you, just as a carpenter would if you seemed shocked at finding sawdust in his workshop, or a shoemaker at scraps of leather left over from work.
[tr. Hays (2003)]A bitter cucumber? Throw it away. Brambles in the path? Go round them. That is all you need, without going on to ask, "So why are these things in the world anyway?" That question would be laughable to a student of nature, just as any carpenter or cobbler would laugh at you if you objected to the sight of shavings or off-cuts from their work on the shop floor.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]The cucumber is bitter? Then cast it aside. There are brambles in the path? Step out of the way. That will suffice, and you need not ask in addition, "Why did such things ever come into the world?" For anyone who has made a study of nature would laugh at you, just as a carpenter or shoemaker would laugh at you if you criticized them because you could see in their workshop the shavings or parings from the items that they were working on.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]
They say rather than cursing the darkness, one should light a candle. They don’t mention anything about cursing a lack of candles.
George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
Book (2004), When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, “Bits and Pieces”
(Source)
Many voices are heard as we face a great decision. Comfort says, “Tarry a while.” Opportunism says, “This is a good spot.” Timidity asks, “How difficult is the road ahead?” […] If I know aught of the spirit and purpose of our Nation, we will not listen to Comfort, Opportunism, and Timidity. We will carry on.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Speech (1937-01-20), Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C.
(Source)
If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 10 “Is Happiness Still Possible?” (1930)
(Source)
Be not hasty to marry; it’s better to have one Plough going than two Cradles: and more Profit to have a Barn filled, than a Bed.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 2, # 2225 (1727)
(Source)
CALVIN: Miss Wormwood, I have a question about this math lesson.
TEACHER: Yes?
CALVIN: Given that, sooner or later, we’re all just going to die, what’s the point of learning about integers?
TEACHER: Turn to page 83, class.
CALVIN: (sulking) Nobody likes us “big picture” people.
I have never liked the idea of an Un-American Activities Committee. I have always thought that a strong democracy should stand by its fundamental beliefs and that a citizen of the United States should be considered innocent until he is proved guilty.
If he is employed in a government position where he has access to secret and important papers, then for the sake of security he must undergo some special tests. However, I doubt whether the loyalty test really adds much to our safety, since no Communist would hesitate to sign it and he would be in good standing until he was proved guilty. So it seems to me that we might as well do away with a test which is almost an insult to any loyal American citizen.Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1947-10-29), “My Day”
(Source)
On the House Un-American Activities Committee.
CHORUS: Many are the forms of what is unknown.
Much that the gods achieve is surprise.
What we look for does not come to pass;
God finds a way for what none foresaw.
Such was the end of this story.[ΧΟΡΟΣ: πολλαὶ μορφαὶ τῶν δαιμονίων,
πολλὰ δ᾽ ἀέλπτως κραίνουσι θεοί:
καὶ τὰ δοκηθέντ᾽ οὐκ ἐτελέσθη,
τῶν δ᾽ ἀδοκήτων πόρον ηὗρε θεός.
τοιόνδ᾽ ἀπέβη τόδε πρᾶγμα.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Helen [Ἑλένη], l. 1688ff, final lines (412 BC) [tr. Lattimore (1956)]
(Source)
See here for more discussion about Euripides' "standard" choral coda.
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:With various hands the gods dispense our fates;
Now show'ring various blessings, which our hopes
Dared not aspire to; now controuling ills
We deem'd inevitable: thus the god
To these hath giv'n an end exceeding thought.
Such is the fortune of this happy day.
[tr. Potter (1783)]A thousand shapes our varying fates assume
The gods perform what least expect,
And oft the things for which we fondly hoped
Come not to pass; but Heaven still finds a clue
To guide our steps through live's perplexing maze,
And thus doth this important business end.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]Many are the forms of things connected with the deities, and many things the Gods perform contrary to our expectations. But those things which we looked for are not accomplished; but the God hath brought to pass things not looked for. Thus has this matter turned out.
[tr. Buckley (1850)]Many are the forms of divinities, and many things the gods bring to pass unhoped for. And what was expected has not been fulfilled; for what was not expected, a god finds a way. Such was the result of this action.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]Many are the forms the heavenly will assumes; and many a thing God brings to pass contrary to expectation: that which was looked for is not accomplished, while Heaven finds out a way for what we never hoped; e'en such has been the issue here.
[tr. Coleridge (alt.)]O the works of the Gods -- in manifold wise they reveal them:
Manifold things unhoped for the Gods to accomplishment bring.
And the things that we looked for, the Gods deign not to fulfil them;
And the paths undiscerned of our eyes, the Gods unseal them.
So fell this marvelous thing.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1912)]In diverse ways the gods fulfil
The secret purpose of their will.
We say, this thing shall surely be,
And lo! it cometh not. We say
This is denied by destiny;
God findeth out a way.
So hath this story's strange conclusion shown,
The secrets of the gods rest still unknown.
[tr. Sheppard (1925)]Many indeed the shapes and changes are
of heavenly beings. Many things the gods
achieve beyond our judgment. What we thought
is not confirmed, and what we thought not god
contrives. And so it happens in this story.
[tr. Warner (1951)]The gods reveal themselves in many forms,
Bring many matters to surprising ends.
The things we thought would happen do not happen;
The unexpected God makes possible:
And this is what has happened here to-day.
[tr. Vellacott (1954)]Heaven has many faces.
The gods bring to pass many things we never hoped for,
While what we wait to see happen ... never does.
And for what we never even dreamed could be,
God finds a way.
And so it happened here today.
[tr. Meagher (1986)]Many are the forms the plans of the gods take and many the things they accomplish beyond men's hopes. What men expect does not happen; for the unexpected heaven finds a way. And so it has turned out here today.
[tr. Davie (2002)]Many are the forms the heavenly will assumes; and many a thing God brings to pass contrary to expectation: that which was looked for is not accomplished, while Heaven finds out a way for what we never hoped; e'en such as been the issue here.
[tr. Athenian Society (2006)]The deeds of the gods take many forms.
And gods often perform deeds even beyond our hopes.
Our wishes might not be granted but the gods will find ways of achieving what we never thought was achievable.
Such was the path of our story.
[tr. Theodoridis (2011)]Divinities take many shapes;
the gods accomplish things surpassing hope.
Expected things don’t come to pass;
and God finds ways for unexpected things.
And that’s how this affair turned out.
[tr. Ambrose et al. (2018)]Many are the forms of divinities, and many things the gods bring to pass unhoped for. And what was expected has not reached a telos; for what was not expected, a god finds a way. Such was the result of this action.
[tr. Coleridge / Helen Heroization Team]
Well now, you rich! Lament, weep for the miseries that are coming to you. Your wealth is rotting, your clothes are all moth-eaten. All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be a witness against you and eat into your body. It is like a fire which you have stored up for the final days. Can you hear crying out against you the wages which you kept back from the labourers mowing your fields? The cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord Sabaoth.
On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you went on eating to your heart’s content. It was you who condemned the upright and killed them; they offered you no resistance.[Ἄγε νῦν οἱ πλούσιοι, κλαύσατε ὀλολύζοντες ἐπὶ ταῖς ταλαιπωρίαις ὑμῶν ταῖς ἐπερχομέναις. ὁ πλοῦτος ὑμῶν σέσηπεν καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια ὑμῶν σητόβρωτα γέγονεν, ὁ χρυσὸς ὑμῶν καὶ ὁ ἄργυρος κατίωται καὶ ὁ ἰὸς αὐτῶν εἰς μαρτύριον ὑμῖν ἔσται καὶ φάγεται τὰς σάρκας ὑμῶν ὡς πῦρ. ἐθησαυρίσατε ἐν ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις. ἰδοὺ ὁ μισθὸς τῶν ἐργατῶν τῶν ἀμησάντων τὰς χώρας ὑμῶν ὁ ἀπεστερημένος ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν κράζει, καὶ αἱ βοαὶ τῶν θερισάντων εἰς τὰ ὦτα κυρίου Σαβαὼθ εἰσεληλύθασιν.
ἐτρυφήσατε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐσπαταλήσατε, ἐθρέψατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σφαγῆς, κατεδικάσατε, ἐφονεύσατε τὸν δίκαιον· οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται ὑμῖν.]The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
James 5: 1-6 [NJB (1985)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
[KJV (1611)]Now an answer for the rich. Start crying, weep for the miseries that are coming to you. Your wealth is all rotting, your clothes are all eaten up by moths. All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be your own sentence, and eat into your body. It was a burning fire that you stored up as your treasure for the last days. Labourers mowed your fields, and you cheated them -- listen to the wages that you kept back, calling out; realise that the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you went on eating to your heart's content. It was you who condemned the innocent and killed them; they offered you no resistance.
[JB (1966)]And now, you rich people, listen to me! Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches have rotted away, and your clothes have been eaten by moths. Your gold and silver are covered with rust, and this rust will be a witness against you and will eat up your flesh like fire. You have piled up riches in these last days. You have not paid any wages to those who work in your fields. Listen to their complaints! The cries of those who gather in your crops have reached the ears of God, the Lord Almighty.
Your life here on earth has been full of luxury and pleasure. You have made yourselves fat for the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent people, and they do not resist you.
[GNT (1992 ed.)]Pay attention, you wealthy people! Weep and moan over the miseries coming upon you. Your riches have rotted. Moths have destroyed your clothes. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you. It will eat your flesh like fire. Consider the treasure you have hoarded in the last days. Listen! Hear the cries of the wages of your field hands. These are the wages you stole from those who harvested your fields. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of heavenly forces.
You have lived a self-satisfying life on this earth, a life of luxury. You have stuffed your hearts in preparation for the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who doesn’t oppose you.
[CEB (2011)]Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure during the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]
Nice people made the best Nazis.
Or so I have been told. My mother was born in Munich in 1934, and spent her childhood in Nazi Germany surrounded by nice people who refused to make waves. When things got ugly, the people my mother lived alongside chose not to focus on “politics,” instead busying themselves with happier things. They were lovely, kind people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away.Naomi Shulman (contemp.), American writer, essayist, editor
Essay (2016-11-17), “No Time To Be Nice: Now Is Not the Moment to Remain Silent,” WBUR, National Public Radio
(Source)
This is a revised version of the following, more commonly-seen quotation, which I have seen suggested was an earlier iteration of the above on her Facebook account (though it does not appear to be posted there any longer):Nice people made the best Nazis. My mom grew up next to them. They got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way when things got ugly and focused on happier things than “politics.” They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away. You know who weren’t nice people? Resisters.
The earliest quotation I can find of this earlier version is from 2016-11-13 (followed by these two from 2016-11-22).
The Man who offers a City or Burrough to serve them for nothing, offers a Bribe to every Elector, and the answer should be Sir you affront me. — I want a service which is worth something, I am able and willing to Pay for it. I will not lay myself under any obligation to you by accepting your Gift. I will owe you no gratitude any further than you serve me faithfully the obligation and Gratitude Shall be from you to me, and if you do not do your Duty to me I will be perfectly free to call you to an account and to punish you and if you will not accept of Pay for your service you shall not serve me —
John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter (1785-09-10) to John Jebb
(Source)
In every group of intimidated people, each thinks “I will rebel,” but each waits for the others.
Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1963)
(Source)
You’ve landed the winning number in the lottery: love in matrimony. You’ve won the big prize, look after it well, keep it under lock and key, don’t squander it, adore each other, and never mind the rest. Believe what I’m telling you. It’s good sense. Good sense cannot lie. Be a religion to each other. Every man has his own way of adoring God. Heavens above! the best way to adore God is to love your wife.
[Vous avez chipé à la loterie le bon numéro, l’amour dans le sacrement ; vous avez le gros lot, gardez-le bien, mettez-le sous clef, ne le gaspillez pas, adorez-vous, et fichez-vous du reste. Croyez ce que je dis là. C’est du bon sens. Bon sens ne peut mentir. Soyez-vous l’un pour l’autre une religion. Chacun a sa façon d’adorer Dieu. Saperlotte ! la meilleure manière d’adorer Dieu, c’est d’aimer sa femme.]
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Part 5 “Jean Valjean,” Book 6 “The White Night,” ch 2 (5.6.2) (1862) [tr. Donougher (2013)]
(Source)
Toast by M. Gillenormand at the wedding of Marius and Cosette.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:You have filched the good number in the lottery, a love-match; you have the highest prize, take good care of it, put it under lock and key, don’t squander it, worship each other, and snap your fingers at the rest. Believe what I tell you. It is good sense. Good sense cannot lie. Be a religion to each other. Every one has his own way of worshipping God. Zounds! the best way to worship God is to love your wife.
[tr. Wilbour (1862)]You have drawn the good number in the lottery, love in the sacrament. You have the prize number, so keep it carefully under lock and key. Do not squander it. Adore each other, and a fig for the rest. Believe what I tell you, then, for it is good sense, and good sense cannot deceive. Be to one another a religion, for each man has his own way of adoring God. Saperlotte! the best way of adoring God is to love one’s wife.
[tr. Wraxall (1862)]You have filched the winning number in the lottery; you have gained the great prize, guard it well, keep it under lock and key, do not squander it, adore each other and snap your fingers at all the rest. Believe what I say to you. It is good sense. And good sense cannot lie. Be a religion to each other. Each man has his own fashion of adoring God. Saperlotte! the best way to adore God is to love one's wife.
[tr. Hapgood (1887)]You have drawn the winning number in the lottery and you must treasure it. Each must be a religion to the other. We all have our own way of worshipping God, but the best of all, Heaven knows, is to love one’s wife.
[tr. Denny (1976)]You have filched the good number in the lottery, a love match; you have the big prize, take good care of it, put it under lock and key, don't squander it, worship each other, and snap your fingers at the rest. Believe what I tell you. It is good sense. Good sense cannot lie. Be a religion to each other. Everyone has his own way of worshiping God. The best way to worship God is to love your wife.
[tr. Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]
If I solve my dispute with my neighbor by killing him, I have certainly solved the immediate dispute. If my neighbor was a scoundrel, then the world is no doubt better for his absence. But in killing my neighbor, though he may have been a terrible man who did not deserve to live, I have made myself a killer — and the life of my next neighbor is in greater peril than the life of the last.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Speech (1968-02-10), “A Statement Against the War in Vietnam,” Kentucky Conference on the War and the Draft, University of Kentucky
(Source)
Collected in The Long-Legged House, Part 2 (1971).
I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1712-09-06), The Spectator, No. 477
(Source)
DEAR MISS MANNERS: When does a gentleman offer his arm to a lady as they are walking down the street together?
GENTLE READER: Strictly speaking, only when he can be practical assistance to her. That is, when the way is steep, dark, crowded, or puddle-y. However, it is rather a cozy juxtaposition, less compromising than walking hand in hand, and rather enjoyable for people who are fond of each other, so Miss Manners allows some leeway in interpreting what is of practical assistance. One wouldn’t want a lady to feel unloved walking down the street, any more than one would want her to fall of the curb.
KING RICHARD: Not all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the balm off from an anointed king.
The breath of worldly men cannot depose
The deputy elected by the Lord.
For every man that Bolingbroke hath pressed
To lift shrewd steel against our golden crown,
God for His Richard hath in heavenly pay
A glorious angel. Then, if angels fight,
Weak men must fall, for heaven still guards the right.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Richard II, Act 3, sc. 2, l. 55ff (3.2.55) (1595)
(Source)
Richard makes his case for the Divine Right of Kings. He is then immediately informed that the non-angelic armies he was counting on to fight Bolingbroke aren't coming.
The smallest effort is not lost,
Each wavelet on the ocean tost
Aids in the ebb-tide or the flow;
Each rain-drop makes some floweret blow;
Each struggle lessens human woe.Charles Mackay (1814-1889) Scottish poet, journalist, song writer
Poem (1856?), “The Old and the New,” st. 45, Ballads and Lyrical Poems
(Source)
In order to subdue his subjects, the Prince labours to blind them. Conscious of the unlawfulness of his own designs, and sensible of what he has to fear from clear-sighted men, he endeavours to deprive the people of every means of acquiring knowledge.
How many crafty devices have not Princes employed to oppose the progress of learning? Some banish science out of their dominions; others prohibit their subjects from traveling into foreign countries; others again divert the people from reflecting, by continually entertaining them with feasts and shews, or keeping up among the the spirit of gaming; and all stand up against men of spirit, who dedicate either their voices or their pen to defend the cause of liberty.[Persuadés d’ailleurs combien il est commode de régner sur un peuple abruti, ils [les princes] s’efforcent de le rendre tel. Que d’obstacles n’opposent-ils pas au progrès des lumières? Les uns bannissent les lettres de leurs Etats; les autres défendent à leurs sujets de voyager; d’autres empêchent le peuple de réfléchir, en l’amusant continuellement par des parades, des spectacles, des fêtes, ou en le livrant aux fureurs du jeu. Tous s’élèvent contre les sages qui consacrent leur voix et leur plume à défendre la cause de la liberté.]
Jean-Paul Marat (1743-1793) French physician, political theorist, scientist, journalist
The Chains of Slavery (Les Chaînes de L’Esclavage, ch. 40 “Of Ignorance” (1774) [Beckett ed. (1774)]
(Source)
Source (French)). Other translations:As sovereigns are persuaded of the convenience of ruling an ignorant people, they try to make it so. What won’t they do to prevent the progress of knowledge? Some banish anyone scholarly from their nation; others ban their subjects from traveling; others don't give the people the time to think, constantly amusing them with parades, shows, festivals, or by delivering them over to the passion for games. All of them denounce the wise who give their voice and pen to defend the cause of freedom.Convinced, moreover, how convenient it is to reign over a stupefied people, they [princes] strive to make them so. How many obstacles do they not place in the way of progress of enlightenment? Some banish letters from their states; others forbid their subjects from traveling; others prevent the people from thinking, by continually amusing them with parades, spectacles, festivals, or by delivering them to the furies of gambling. All rise up against the wise men who devote their voice and their pen to defending the cause of liberty.
[Google Translate]
I like bats much better than bureaucrats. I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of “Admin.” The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid “dens of crime” that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
The Screwtape Letters, Preface to the 1961 edition (1961)
(Source)
You don’t fight fascism because you’re going to win. You fight fascism because it is fascist.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) French philosopher and writer
(Attributed)
Variant:You don’t fight fascism because you are going to win, you fight fascism because it is fascism.
The phrase is widely attributed to Sartre, but with no citations, and I can find no primary source of his using it. There are some indications that the phrase was actually coined by his friend, the Spanish painter Fernando Gerassi.
The phrase's origin appears to be centered on a discussion in Satre's The Roads to Freedom [Les chemins de la liberté], Book 2 The Reprieve [Le sursis] (1943, pub. 1945) [tr. Sutton (1947)], in this area (English, French) of the novel. French-American academic John "Tito" Gerassi's Talking with Sartre (2009) has two references to the quotation. Gerassi's father, Fernando, was represented in Sartre's novel by the character Gomez, where Sartre was represented by Mathieu.
In his Preface Gerassi writes:In the novel, Sartre has my father say, "You don't fight fascism because you're going to win. You fight fascism because it is fascist."
Later in the book, during an interview Gerassi held with Sartre in January 1971, there is this exchange:GERASSI: And that great conversation when Mathieu goes down to see Gomez when he comes across from the front to buy planes or whatever, and Gomez tells him that the Repuyblic has lost. Mathieu can't understand why, in that case, is Gomez going back to fight. Gomez answers that one doesn't fight fascism because one is going to win, one fights fascism because it is fascist. A great response.
SARTRE: Precisely. That's Mathieu and Gomez, but not Sartre and Fernando at that point. I put those words in Gomez's mouth precilselyi because I believed them, but of course in the novel Mathieu had not evolved into a man of action yet, as he does in the third volume. But that's me, as much as Gomez, or your father. I was -- and am today -- absolutely committed to the proposition that one must always fight the fascists. ...
In Tony Monchinski (ed.), Unrepentant Radical Educator: The Writings of John Gerassi, Part 3, ch. 16 "The Politics of the Word and the World" (2009), Monchinski quotes from an interview with John Gerassi (unknown date):The people who went to Spain expected to die. Sartre confronted my father and asked, "So, any chance you're going to win in span?" "Oh, no, we've lost," my father replied. "Wait," continued Sartre, "You've said that with such assurance. You know you're going to lose?" "Of course. We know we're going to lose. Franco's going to win. It's fait accompli." And Satre said, "But you're going back to Spain?" "Of course." "You're crazy, why go back if you know you're going to lose?" And my father answered, "You don't fight fascism because you're going to win. You fight fascism because they're fascists."
Does all of the above indicate that the phrase (a) came from Fernando Gerassi, as (b) publicized by John Gerassi, but associated with the conversation partner, the much more famous Sartre? If anyone can point to a more specific attribution to Sartre, I am welcome to hearing about it.
Deliver us, we beseech thee, in our several callings, from the service of mammon, that we may do the work which thou givest us to do, in truth, in beauty, and in righteousness, with singleness of heart as thy servants, and to the benefit of our fellow men.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Episcopal Church of the United States, The Book of Common Prayer, “Prayers,” “For Every Man in His Work” (1928 ed.)
(Source)
It has long been a grave question whether any government, not too strong for the liberties of its people, can be strong enough to maintain its own existence, in great emergencies. […]
We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us.Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1864-11-10), “Response to a Serenade,” Washington, D. C.
(Source)
Speech given from a White House window to a group of Pennsylvanians celebrating his re-election.
MACHIAVEL: I count Religion but a childish Toy,
And hold there is no sinne but Ignorance.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Jew of Malta, Act 1, Prologue (c. 1590)
(Source)
This speech is often considered the Prologue, but differs from the Prologue at Court and the Prologue to the Stage, and in some editions is set apart from Act 1, in others simply at the beginning of it.
The character Machiavel, who only appears in this prologue, is Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian author of The Prince, whose cut-throat, godless, political pragmatism were considered anathema to the English.
PIERROT:I love
Humanity; but I hate people.Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
Play (1920), Aria da Capo
(Source)
Millay's comment on the socialist movement.
DON LOUIS: No, no, birth is nothing where virtue is not. […] Know that a man of noble birth who leads an evil life is a monster in nature; virtue is the prime title of nobility; I care much less for the name a man signs than for the deeds he does; and I should feel more esteem for the son of a porter who was a true man, than for the son of a king who lived as you do.
[Non, non, la naissance n’est rien où la vertu n’est pas. […] Apprenez enfin qu’un gentilhomme qui vit mal est un monstre dans la nature ; que la vertu est le premier titre de noblesse ; que je regarde bien moins au nom qu’on signe, qu’aux actions qu’on fait, et que je ferais plus d’état du fils d’un crocheteur, qui serait honnête homme, que du fils d’un monarque qui vivrait comme vous.]
Molière (1622-1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
Don Juan [Dom Juan], Act 4, sc. 6 (1665) [tr. Page (1908)]
(Source)
Don Louis (Don Luis) speaking to his son, Don Juan.
(Source (French)). Other translations:No, no; Birth is nothing, where there's no Virtue. [...] Know, in short, that a Gentleman who lives ill, is a Monster in nature, that Virtue is the prime Title to Nobility, that I look much less upon the Name we subscribe, than the Actions that we perform, and that I shou'd value more being the Son of a Porter, who was an honest Man, than the Son of a Monarch who liv'd as you do.
[tr. Clitandre (1672)]No, no! Rank is nothing without virtue. [...] Know, finally, that a nobleman who leads a wicked life is a monster in nature; that virtue is the prime badge of nobility; that I regard much less the name which a man bears than the actions which he commits, and that I should value more highly a porter's son who was an honest man, than a monarch's son who led such a life as yours.
[tr. Van Laun (1876)]No, no; birth is nothing where virtue is not. [...] Know that a man of noble blood who leads a bad life is a monster in nature, and that virtue is the first title to nobility. I look less to the name that is signed, than to the actions; and I should be more proud of being the son of an honest porter than that of a monarch who lived your life.
[tr. Wall (1879)]No, no; where virtue is wanting birth does not signify anything. [...] Know, indeed, that a man of noble blood who leads a bad life is an unnatural monster; that virtue is the chief title to nobility; that I regard far less the name which one signs than the actions which one performs; and that I would rather be the son of a porter and honest than the son of a monarch and like you.
[tr. Waller (1904)]No, no, birth means nothing without virtue. [...] A nobleman who lives by evil is a natural monster. The first title to nobility is rectitude. For me the name a man signs counts for much less than the actions he performs, and I esteem a farm-laborer's honest son more highly than a king's son who lives as you do.
[tr. Bermel (1987)]
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) American poet, biographer
(Attributed)
(Source)
Recalled by journalist Ralph McGill from a 1951 conversation with Sandburg, in a October 1959 syndicated column. In a 1966 column about Sandburg's 88th birthday, he quoted it as:Time is the coin of your life. You spend it. Do not allow others to spend it for you.
For more information on the background and origin of this quotation see Quote Origin: Time Is the Coin of Your Life. It Is the Only Coin You Have – Quote Investigator®.
We hold that our loyalty is due solely to the American Republic, and to all our public servants exactly in proportion as they efficiently and faithfully serve the Republic. Our opponents, in flat contradiction of Lincoln’s position, hold that our loyalty is due to the President, not the country; to one man, the servant of the people, instead of to the people themselves. In practice they adopt the fetishism of all believers in absolutism; for every man who parrots the cry of “stand by the President,” without adding the proviso “so far as he serves the Republic” takes an attitude as essentially unmanly as that of any Stuart Royalist who championed the doctrine that the King could do no wrong. No self-respecting and intelligent freeman can take such an attitude.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Essay (1918-05), “Lincoln and Free Speech,” Metropolitan Magazine, Vol. 47, No. 6
(Source)
On censorious actions by the Wilson Administration taken against critics of its handling of war efforts.
Reprinted in Appendix C of his The Great Adventure (1918), and as ch. 7 of that book in Vol. 21 of The Works of Theodore Roosevelt (1925), The Great Adventure.
States function as smoothly as they do, because the greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility, and desires nothing better than to be told what to do. Provided the rulers do not interfere with its material comforts and its cherished beliefs, it is perfectly happy to let itself be ruled.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Essay (1927-10), “A Note on Eugenics,” Proper Studies (1927)
(Source)
Huxley was somewhat sympathetic to eugenicist arguments, though pessimistic about addressing them. He used this observation as an argument against eugenic attempts to "improve" humanity, because increasing the "superior" part of the population would disrupt states and society through their increased ambition. The passage continues:The socially efficient and the intellectually gifted are precisely those who are not content to be ruled, but are ambitious either to rule or to live in an anti-social solitude. A state with a population consisting of nothing but these superior people could not hope to last for a year.
An abridged version of the essay appeared in Vanity Fair (1927-10), but did not include this passage.
The taint hidden in selflessness is that selflessness is the only moral justification of ruthlessness.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 142 (1955)
(Source)
And if now (but may the immortal gods avert the omen!) that worst of fates shall befall the republic, then, as brave gladiators take care to perish with honor, let us too, who are the chief men of all countries and nations, take care to fall with dignity rather than to live as slaves with ignominy.
[Quodsi iam, quod di omen avertant! fatum extremum rei publicae venit, quod gladiatores nobiles faciunt, ut honeste decumbant, faciamus nos principes orbis terrarum gentiumque omnium, ut cum dignitate potius cadamus quam cum ignominia serviamus.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 3, ch. 14 / sec. 35 (2.14/3.35.3) (44-12-20 BC) [tr. Yonge (1903)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:But if already -- may the Gods avert the omen! -- the State has been brought to its latest pass, let us, the leaders of the world and of all nations, do what stout gladiators do to die with honour, let us fall with dignity rather than serve with ignominy. [tr. Ker (Loeb) (1926)]If -- may the Gods avert the omen! -- the final episode in the history of the Res publica has arrived, let us behave like champion gladiators: they meet death honorably; let us, who stand foremost in the world and all nations, see to it that we fall with dignity rather than serve with ignominy.
[tr. Manuwald (2007)]But if, may the Gods avert the omen, final fate has come to the State, let us, leaders of the world and all nations, do what noble gladiators do to die with dignity: let us fall on our sword rather than serve with ignominy.
[tr. Wiseman]
Helth is like munny, we never hav a true idea ov its value untill we lose it.
[Health is like money; we never have a true idea of its value until we lose it.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1875-05 (1875 ed.)
(Source)
Six days shalt thou labor and do all thou art able, And on the seventh — holystone the decks and scrape the cable.
Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1815-1882) American lawyer, politician, sailor, writer
Two Years Before the Mast, ch. 3 “Ships Duties — Tropics” (1840)
(Source)
Dana refers to this rubric about the endless labor aboard a sailing ship as the "Philadelphia Catechism."
First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him.
Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) American writer, futurist, fabulist
Lecture (1973-06-22), Santa Barbara Writers Conference, Cate School, Carpenteria, California
(Source)
Quoted in Barnaby Conrad, The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction, ch. 13 "Motivation" (1990). Conrad was one of the founders of the SBWC.
A flash of inspiration struck him with all the force and brilliance that ideas have when they’re travelling through beer.
That familiarity produces neglect, has been long observed. The effect of all external objects, however great or splendid, ceases with their novelty; the courtier stands without emotion in the royal presence; the rustick tramples under his foot the beauties of the spring with little attention to their colours or their fragrance; and the inhabitant of the coast darts his eye upon the immense diffusion of waters, without awe, wonder, or terrour.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1753-06-26), The Adventurer, No. 67
(Source)
’Mid hopes and fears and passion’s stormy strife
Think, every day that dawns, the last of life:
Thus shall each hour that lengthens nature’s treat,
By coming unexpected, come more sweet.[Inter spem curamque, timores inter et iras,
Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum:
Grata superveniet quae non sperabitur hora.]Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 4 “To Albius Tibullus,” l. 12ff (1,4.12-14) (20 BC) [tr. Howes (1845)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:Twixte hope to have, and care to kepe, twixte feare and wrathe, awaye
Consumes the time: eche daye that cummes thinke it the latter daye,
The hower that cummes unloked for shall cum more welcum ay.
[tr. Drant (1567)]When thou'rt tost up and down' twixt hope and care,
Enflam'd with anger and shrunk up with fear:
As soon as such a day is overpast,
Comfort thy self, that that's to be the last:
When an hour comes that brings thee joy and bliss,
If unexpected, Oh! how grateful is!
[tr. A. B.; ed. Brome (1666)]Whilst mid'st strong hopes and fears thy time doth wast,
Think every rising Sun will be thy last;
And so the grateful unexpected Hour
Of Life prolong'd, when come, will please the more.
[tr. Creech (1684)]By hope inspir'd, deprest with fear,
By passion warm'd, perplext with care,
Believe that every morning's ray
Hath lighted up thy latest day;
Then, if to-morrow's sun be thine,
With double lustre shall it shine.
[tr. Francis (1747)]In the midst of hope and care, in the midst of fears and disquietudes, think every day that shines upon you is the last. [Thus] the hour, which shall not be expected, will come upon you an agreeable addition.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]Let hopes and sorrows, fears and angers be,
And think each day that dawns the last you'll see;
For so the hour that greets you unforeseen
Will bring with it enjoyment twice as keen.
[tr. Conington (1874)]'Twixt hopes and tremors, fears and frenzies passed,
Regard each day as though it were thy last.
So shall chance seasons of delight arise.
And overtake thee with a sweet surprise.
[tr. Martin (1881)]Unswayed then either by hopes or fears, by apprehensive or angry feelings, regard each day, as it shines upon you, as your last. death will one day come upon you acceptably because unexpectedly.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]Amid hopes and cares, amid fears and passions, believe that every day that has dawned is your last. Welcome will come to you another hour unhoped for.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]Between your hopes
And cares, between your rages and fears, believe
That each day's down is the last to shine upon you:
The unhoped-for hours will be welcome.
[tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]Among men’s cares and hopes, their fears and rages,
count as your last each morning that illuminates the sky:
then the next day, unhoped for, will always please you.
[tr. Fuchs (1977)]Live with hope and with fear, with worry and with angry passion,
But expect every hour to be your last:
Days come even more delightful, unexpected.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]Between hope and discouragement, fears, and angers, and such,
Treat every new day as the last you're going to have,
Then welcome the next as unexpectedly granted.
[tr. Ferry (2001)]In a world torn by hope and worry, dread and anger,
imagine every day that dawns is the last you'll see;
the hour you never hoped for will prove a happy surprise.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]Beset by hopes and anxieties, indignation and fear,
Treat every day that dawns for you as the last.
The unhoped-for hour’s ever welcome when it comes.
[tr. Kline (2015)]
Nothing is so pleasing to these gods as the butchery of unbelievers. Nothing so enrages them, even now, as to have some one deny their existence.
Old age is not an accomplishment; it is just something that happens to you despite yourself, like falling downstairs.
The cruellest lies are often told in silence. A man may have sat in a room for hours and not opened his teeth, and yet come out of that room a disloyal friend or a vile calumniator.
People forget that a soldier anywhere near the front line is usually too hungry, or frightened, or cold, or, above all, too tired to bother about the political origins of the war.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1942-08), “Looking Back on the Spanish War, ch. 1, New Road (1943-06)
(Source)
Why were there so few? Was it that perilous to oppose evil? Was it really impossible to help? Was it really impossible to resist organized, systemitized, legalized cruelty and murder by showing concern for the victims, for one victim? Let us remember: What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.
It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
W. L. Watkinson (1838-1925) English Methodist minister and preacher [William Lonsdale Watkinson]
Sermon (1907), “The Invincible Strategy,” The Supreme Conquest and other Sermons Preached in America, Sermon 14
(Source)
The sermon was written around Romans 12:21 ("Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.").
Often attributed as a Chinese proverb, or a quotation from Confucius or Eleanor Roosevelt.
For more information on this quote's origin and variations, see:See also Kennedy (1960), Pratchett (1993), and Carlin (2004).
- Quote Origin: Better to Light a Candle Than to Curse the Darkness – Quote Investigator®
- Eleanor Roosevelt: "It's Better to Light a Candle than to Curse the Darkness." Quote or No Quote? Professor Buzzkill
The American people have this lesson to learn: That where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
Speech (1886-04-16), “Strong to Suffer, and Yet Strong to Strive,” Israel Bethel Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C.
(Source)
This new understanding undermines the old admiration of worldly success as such. We are beginning to abandon our tolerance of the abuse of power by those who betray for profit the elementary decencies of life.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Speech (1937-01-20), Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C.
(Source)
The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.
[La plus grande chose du monde c’est de sçavoir estre à soy.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 38 (1.38), “Of Solitude [De la solitude]” (1572) [tr. Frame (1943), 1.39]
(Source)
Present in the 1st (1580) edition.
Some translators use the 1588 sequence of chapters, not the 1595, and so identify this as ch. 39.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:The greatest thing of the world, is for a man to know how to be his owne.
[tr. Florio (1603)]The greatest thing in the world is for a person to know that he is his own master.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]The greatest thing in the world is for a man to know that he is his own.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.
[tr. Ives (1925), 1.39]The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be oneself.
[ed. Rat (1958), 1.39]The greatest thing in the world is to know how to live to yourself
[tr. Screech (1987)]The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.
[tr. Atkinson/Sices (2012)]
So maybe it’s not the politicians who suck; maybe it’s something else. Like the public. That would be a nice realistic campaign slogan for somebody: “The public sucks. Elect me.” Put the blame where it belongs: on the people.
Because if everything is really the fault of politicians, where are all the bright, honest, intelligent Americans who are ready to step in and replace them? Where are these people hiding? The truth is, we don’t have people like that. Everyone’s at the mall, scratching his balls and buying sneakers with lights in them. And complaining about the politicians.George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
Book (2001), Napalm & Silly Putty, “Don’t Blame the Leaders”
(Source)
(Source (Audio)). The audiobook version is trivially different (emphasis added):So maybe it's not the politicians who suck; maybe it's something else. Like the public. That would be a nice realistic campaign slogan for somebody, wouldn't it? "The public sucks. Elect me." Put the blame where it belongs: on the people.
Because if everything is really the fault of politicians, then where are all the bright, honest, intelligent Americans who are ready to step in and replace them? Where are these people hiding? The truth is, we don't have people like that. Everyone's at the mall, scratching his balls and buying sneakers with lights in them. And complaining about the politicians.
A sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not to be endured with patient resignation.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 10 “Is Happiness Still Possible?” (1930)
(Source)
Dare not to be guilty of ill Things, tho’ thou wert sure to be secret and unpunished. Conscience will sit upon it, and that is Witness, Jury, Judge, and Executioner.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 2, # 2216 (1727)
(Source)
The odd thing about these television discussions designed to “get all sides of the issue” is that they do not feature a spectrum of people with different views on reality. Rather, they frequently give us a face-off between those who see reality and those who have missed it entirely. In the name of objectivity, we are getting fantasy-land.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (1987-03), “Killing the Messenger,” The Progressive
(Source)
Collected in Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? (1991).
All struggles
Are essentially
power struggles.
Who will rule,
Who will lead,
Who will define,
refine,
confine,
design,
Who will dominate.
All struggles
Are essentially
power struggles,
and most
are no more intellectual
than two rams
knocking their heads together.
I know the American People are much attached to their Government; — I know they would suffer much for its sake; — I know they would endure evils long and patiently, before they would ever think of exchanging it for another. Yet, notwithstanding all this, if the laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property, are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affections from the Government is the natural consequence; and to that, sooner or later, it must come.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1838-01-27), Young Men’s Lyceum, Springfield, Illinois
(Source)
CALVIN: I wonder why people are never content with what they have.
HOBBES: Are you kidding? Your fingernails are a joke, you’ve got no fangs, you can’t see at night, your pink hides are ridiculous, your reflexes are nil, and you don’t even have tails! Of course people aren’t content!
CALVIN: Forget I said anything.
HOBBES: Now if tigers weren’t content, that would be something to wonder about.
The one man who should never attempt an explanation of a poem is its author. If the poem can be improved by the author’s explanations it never should have been published, and if the poem cannot be improved by its author’s explanations the explanations are scarcely worth reading.
Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982) American poet, writer, statesman
Poems, “Author’s Note” (1938)
(Source)
The film industry is a great industry, with infinite possibilities for good and bad. Its primary purpose is to entertain people. On the side, it can do many other things. It can popularize certain ideals, it can make education palatable. But in the long run, the judge who decides whether what it does is good or bad is the man or woman who attends the movies. In a democratic country I do not think the public will tolerate a removal of its right to decide what it thinks of the ideas and performances of those who make the movie industry work.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1947-10-29), “My Day”
(Source)
On the House Un-American Activities Committee and Hollywood blacklisting.
Writing is a sweet and marvelous reward, but a reward for what? In the course of the night it became clear to me, as plain as a children’s show-and-tell lesson, that it is a reward for serving the devil. This descent down to the dark powers, this unleashing of ghosts by nature bound, these questionable embraces and whatever else may be going on down there, none of it remembered as one writes stories in the sunlight up above. Perhaps there are also different ways of writing, but I only know this one; at night, when fear keeps me from sleeping, I only know this one.
America has not yet changed because so many think it need not change, but this is the illusion of the damned.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Essay (1968), “A Testament of Hope,” Playboy magazine (1969-01)
(Source)
Collected in James Melvin Washington (ed.), A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr., Part 3, ch. 48 (1986).
There was another man, however, called Ananias. He and his wife, Sapphira, agreed to sell a property; but with his wife’s connivance he kept back part of the proceeds, and brought the rest and presented it to the apostles.
“Ananias,” Peter said “how can Satan have so possessed you that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the money from the land? While you still owned the land, wasn’t it yours to keep, and after you had sold it wasn’t the money yours to do with as you liked? What put this scheme into your mind? It is not to men that you have lied, but to God.”
When he heard this Ananias fell down dead. This made a profound impression on everyone present.[Ἀνὴρ δέ τις Ἁνανίας ὀνόματι σὺν Σαπφίρῃ τῇ γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπώλησεν κτῆμα καὶ ἐνοσφίσατο ἀπὸ τῆς τιμῆς, συνειδυίης καὶ τῆς γυναικός, καὶ ἐνέγκας μέρος τι παρὰ τοὺς πόδας τῶν ἀποστόλων ἔθηκεν.
εἶπεν δὲ ὁ Πέτρος, Ἁνανία, διὰ τί ἐπλήρωσεν ὁ Σατανᾶς τὴν καρδίαν σου, ψεύσασθαί σε τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον καὶ νοσφίσασθαι ἀπὸ τῆς τιμῆς τοῦ χωρίου; οὐχὶ μένον σοὶ ἔμενεν καὶ πραθὲν ἐν τῇ σῇ ἐξουσίᾳ ὑπῆρχεν; τί ὅτι ἔθου ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῦτο; οὐκ ἐψεύσω ἀνθρώποις ἀλλὰ τῷ θεῷ.
ἀκούων δὲ ὁ Ἁνανίας τοὺς λόγους τούτους πεσὼν ἐξέψυξεν, καὶ ἐγένετο φόβος μέγας ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς ἀκούοντας.]The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Acts 5: 1-5 [JB (1966)]
(Source)
In verses 6-11, Peter asks Sapphira about the proceeds, and she backs Ananias' story, at which point, confronted with the truth, she drops dead, too, also impressing everyone present.
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
[KJV (1611)]There was also a man called Ananias. He and his wife, Sapphira, agreed to sell a property; but with his wife's connivance he kept back part of the price and brought the rest and presented it to the apostles.
Peter said, 'Ananias, how can Satan have so possessed you that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land? While you still owned the land, wasn't it yours to keep, and after you had sold it wasn't the money yours to do with as you liked? What put this scheme into your mind? You have been lying not to men, but to God.'
When he heard this Ananias fell down dead. And a great fear came upon everyone present.
[NJB (1985)]But there was a man named Ananias, who with his wife Sapphira sold some property that belonged to them. But with his wife's agreement he kept part of the money for himself and turned the rest over to the apostles.
Peter said to him, “Ananias, why did you let Satan take control of you and make you lie to the Holy Spirit by keeping part of the money you received for the property? Before you sold the property, it belonged to you; and after you sold it, the money was yours. Why, then, did you decide to do such a thing? You have not lied to people -- you have lied to God!”
As soon as Ananias heard this, he fell down dead; and all who heard about it were terrified.
[GNT (1992 ed.)]However, a man named Ananias, along with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. With his wife’s knowledge, he withheld some of the proceeds from the sale. He brought the rest and placed it in the care and under the authority of the apostles.
Peter asked, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has influenced you to lie to the Holy Spirit by withholding some of the proceeds from the sale of your land? Wasn’t that property yours to keep? After you sold it, wasn’t the money yours to do with whatever you wanted? What made you think of such a thing? You haven’t lied to other people but to God!”
When Ananias heard these words, he dropped dead. Everyone who heard this conversation was terrified.
[CEB (2011)]But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property; with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
“Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to us but to God!”
Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard of it.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]
So while our art cannot, as we wish it could, save us from wars, privation, envy, greed, old age, or death, it can revitalize us amidst it all.
Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) American writer, futurist, fabulist
Zen in the Art of Writing, Preface (1994)
(Source)
There is something powerful in the whispering of obscenities, about those in power. There’s something delightful about it, something naughty, secretive, forbidden, thrilling. It’s like a spell, of sorts. It deflates them, reduces them to the common denominator where they can be dealt with.
Margaret Atwood (b. 1939) Canadian writer, literary critic, environmental activist
The Handmaid’s Tale, ch. 34 (1986)
(Source)
No tyranny is more cruel than the one practiced in the shadow of the laws and under color of justice — when, so to speak, one proceeds to drown the unfortunate on the very plank by which they had saved themselves.
[Il n’y a point de plus cruelle tyrannie que celle que l’on exerce à l’ombre des lois et avec les couleurs de la justice, lorsqu’on va, pour ainsi dire, noyer des malheureux sur la planche même sur laquelle ils s’étaient sauvés.]
Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline [Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence], ch. 14 “Tiberius” (1734, 1748 ed.) [tr. Lowenthal (1965)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Other translations:No tyranny can have a severer effect that that which is exercised under the appearance of laws, and with the plausible colours of justice, when the executors of cruel power would, if we may use the expression, drown the unhappy wretches on the very plank that before saved them admidst the troubled waves.
[tr. B--- (1734)]There is no tyranny more cruel than that which is perpetrated under the color of the laws and in the name of justice -- when, so to speak, one is drawn down and drowned by means of the very plank which should have borne him up and saved his life.
[tr. Baker (1882)]There is no tyranny more cruel than that which is exercised within the shade of the law and with the colours of justice.
[E.g.]
Many of us have beliefs that aren’t really genuine; we just think they’re genuine. We think individualism is genuine. We think laissez faire is genuine. We don’t really want it. Big business bemoans government interference. It would be horrified if the government, for example, did away with patent laws.
Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Interview (1970-02) by John A. Garraty, “American Nationalism,” Interpreting American History: Conversations with Historians, Part 1, ch. 4 (1970)
(Source)
There’s only one person who needs a glass of water oftener than a small child tucked in for the night, and that’s a writer sitting down to write.
Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 7 (1966)
(Source)
Surely the idea of a “limited war” is one of the most dangerously self-deceiving verbal gimmicks ever invented. For though war makes use of reason, as a weapon, it is not reasonable in nature. Its nature is the nature of pride and anger. It follows the brute logic of violent emotion, which points directly toward the use of the greatest available power.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Speech (1968-02-10), “A Statement Against the War in Vietnam,” Kentucky Conference on the War and the Draft, University of Kentucky
(Source)
Collected in The Long-Legged House, Part 2 (1971).
In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow,
Thou’rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow ,
Hast so much wit, and mirth, and spleen about thee,
There is no living with thee, nor without thee.Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1711-05-18), The Spectator, No. 68
(Source)
Addison's translation of Martial's Epigram 12.47.
Part of the skill of saying no is to shut up afterward and not babble on, offering material for an argument.
Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (2014-11-04)
(Source)
GAUNT: This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessèd plot, this earth, this realm, this England ….William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Richard II, Act 2, sc. 1, l. 45ff (2.1.45-56) (1595)
(Source)
Keep, Galileo, to thy thought,
And nerve thy soul to bear;
They may gloat o’er the senseless words they wring
From the pangs of thy despair:
They may veil their eyes, but they cannot hide
The sun’s meridian glow;
The heel of a priest may tread thee down,
And a tyrant work thee woe;
But never a truth has been destroyed:
They may curse it, and call it crime;
Pervert and betray, or slander and slay
Its teachers for a time.
But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.Charles Mackay (1814-1889) Scottish poet, journalist, song writer
Poem (1847), “Eternal Justice,” st. 4
(Source)
Mackay's book Voices from the Mountain was published in 1847. The earliest rendition of the poem I can find in a publication is from The Harbinger, Vol. 5, No. 13 (1847-09-04).
People love stories, I love them, but stories are like gods, they care little for the human beings in their care.
Lev Grossman (b. 1969) American novelist and journalist
The Bright Sword, Book 4 [Guinevere] (2024)
(Source)
The critics panned Spillane, but he didn’t care. He said, “Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar.” He said he never had a character who drank cognac or had a mustache, because he didn’t know how to spell those words. He said, “I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends.”
Mickey Spillane (1918-2006) American crime novelist [Frank Morrison Spillane]
In Garrison Keillor, post (2012-03-09), Writers Almanac, American Public Media
(Source)
I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels.
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Appendix (1845)
(Source)
The building is literally lined with flags. I could never understand the exact connection between the flag and a bunch of politicians.
Why a political speaker’s platform should be draped in flags, any more than a factory where men work, or an office building, is beyond me.Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Article (1924-06-25), “Rogers Sees Harrison as Rival Monologuist,” New York Times, Democratic Convention Article 3, New York City
(Source)
Variant (labeled 1924-06-23):I could never understand the exact connection between the flag and a bunch of politicians. It's beyond me why a political speaker's platform should be draped in flags, any more than a factory where honest men work.
GWENDOLEN: On an occasion of this kind it becomes more than a moral duty to speak one’s mind. It becomes a pleasure.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 2 (1895)
(Source)
I never read the proclamations of generals before battle, the speeches of fuehrers and prime ministers, the solidarity songs of public schools and left-wing political parties, national anthems, Temperance tracts, papal encyclicals and sermons against gambling and contraception, without seeming to hear in the background a chorus of raspberries from all the millions of common men to whom these high sentiments make no appeal.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1941-09), “The Art of Donald McGill,” Horizon Magazine
(Source)
AMYRUS: Let Earth and Heaven his timeless death deplore,
For both their worths shall equal him no more.Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
Tamburlaine the Great, Part 2, Act 5, sc. 3 (c. 1587)
Final lines of the play. More on Timur (Tamerlane, Tamburlaine).
Ah! Up then from the ground sprang I
And hailed the Earth with such a cry
As is not heard save from a man
Who has been dead, and lives again.
About the trees my arms I wound;
Like one gone mad I hugged the ground;
I raised my quivering arms on high;
I laughed and laughed into the sky.
One form of servility consists in a slavish attitude — of the kind incompatible with self-respecting manliness — toward any person who is powerful by reason of his office or position. Servility may be shown by a public servant toward the profiteering head of a large corporation, or toward the anti-American head of a big labor organization. It may also be shown in peculiarly noxious and un-American form by confounding the President or any other official with the country and shrieking “stand by the President” without regard to whether, by so acting, we do or do not stand by the country.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Essay (1918-05), “Lincoln and Free Speech,” Metropolitan Magazine, Vol. 47, No. 6
(Source)
On censorship actions by the Wilson Administration taken against critics of its handling of war efforts.
Reprinted in Appendix C of his The Great Adventure (1918), and as ch. 7 of that book in Vol. 21 of The Works of Theodore Roosevelt (1925), The Great Adventure
One ov the most perfekt viktorys yu kan achieve over enny man, iz to beat him in politeness.
[One of the most perfect victories you can achieve over any man, is to beat him in politeness.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1875-07 “2 Fakts” (1875 ed.)
(Source)
You know the insolence of Antonius; you know his friends, you know his whole household. To be slaves to lustful, wanton, debauched, profligate, drunken gamblers, is the extremity of misery combined with the extremity of infamy.
[Nostis insolentiam Antoni, nostis amicos, nostis totam domum. libidinosis, petulantibus, impuris, impudicis, aleatoribus, ebriis servire, ea summa miseria est summo dedecore coniuncta.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 3, ch. 14 / sec. 35 (2.14/3.35.1) (44-12-20 BC) [tr. Yonge (1903)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:You know Antonius' insolence, you know his friends, you know his whole household. Slavery under men lustful, wanton, foul, unchaste, gamblers and drunkards, this is the utmost misery allied with the utmost disgrace.
[tr. Ker (Loeb) (1926)]You know Antonius' insolence, you know his friends, you now his whole retinue. To be slave to libertines, bullies, foul profligates, gamblers, drunkards, that is the ultimate misery joined with the ultimate in dishonour.
[tr. Manuwald (2007)]
You will be careful, if you are wise;
How you touch Men’s Religion, or Credit, or Eyes.Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1742 ed.)
(Source)
Every man calls barbarous anything he is not accustomed to.
[Chacun appelle barbarie, ce qui n’est pas de son usage.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 30 (1.30), “Of Cannibals [Des Cannibales]” (1578) [tr. Screech (1987), 1.31]
(Source)
Some translators use the 1588 sequence of chapters, not the 1595, and so identify this as ch. 31.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Men call that barbarisme which is not common to them.
[tr. Florio (1603)]Every one gives the title of barbarism to everything that is not in use in his own country.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]Everyone gives the denomination of barbarism to what is not the custom of his country.
[tr. Friswell (1868)]Every one gives the title of barbarism to everything that is not in use in his own country.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]Every one calls "barbarism" whatever he is not accustomed to.
[tr. Ives (1925), 1.31]Each man calls barbarism whatever is not his own practice.
[tr. Frame (1943)]Everyone calls barbarism what is not customary to him.
[ed. Rat (1958), 1.31]Everyone calls what he is not accustomed to barbarity.
[tr. Atkinson/Sices (2012)]
What has died does not fall out of the universe; and if it remains here, it is also transformed here and resolved into its constituent parts, which are the elements of the universe and of yourself. And these elements themselves are transformed and utter no complaint.
[Ἔξω τοῦ κόσμου τὸ ἀποθανὸν οὐ πίπτει. εἰ ὧδε μένει καὶ μεταβάλλει ὧδε καὶ διαλύεται εἰς τὰ ἴδια, ἃ στοιχεῖά ἐστι τοῦ κόσμου καὶ σά. καὶ αὐτὰ δὲ μεταβάλλει καὶ οὐ γογγύζει.]
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 8, ch. 18 (8.18) (AD 161-180) [tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Whatsoever dieth and falleth, however and wheresoever it die and fall, it cannot fall out of the world. here it have its abode and change, here also shall it have its dissolution into its proper elements. The same are the world's elements, and the elements of which thou dost consist. And they when they are changed, they murmur not; why shouldest thou?
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 8.16]Whatever drops out of Life, is catch't up somewhere, for the World loses nothing. Within this Circumference of Corporeity, all things have their several Formes, and Revolutions ; And here 'tis likewise that they return into Element, and first Principle ; Under which Notion those of the World and your own, are the very same; And all these last Changes are made without the least Repining : And why then should the same Matter that lyes quiet in an Element, Grumble in a Man?
[tr. Collier (1701)]What dies is not gone out of the verge of the universe. If that which is dissolved stays here, and is changed, it returns to those elements, of which the world and you too consist. These too are changed, and don’t murmur at it.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]Nothing that dies, is lost to the universe, or annihilated. But, if it remains here, it undergoes some change, and is resolved into its proper elements. Now the same elements which compose the rest of the world make a part of your person; yet those undergo many changes, and do not murmur or repine.
[tr. Graves (1792)]That which has died falls not out of the universe. If it stays here, it also changes here, and is dissolved into its proper parts, which are elements of the universe and of thyself. And these too change, and they murmur not.
[tr. Long (1862)]Whatever drops out of life is somewhere, for the world loses nothing. If it stays here, it also changes here, and is dissolved into its proper parts, which are elements of the universe and of yourself. And these two change and do not complain.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]That which dies does not drop out of the universe. Here it bides, and here too it changes and is dispersed into its elements, the rudiments of the universe and of yourself. And they too change, and murmur not.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]That which dies falls not out of the Universe. If then it stays here, here too it suffers a change, and is resolved into those elements of which the world, and you too, consist. These also are changed, and murmur not.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]That which dies is not cast out of the Universe. As it remains here, it also suffers change here and is dissolved into its own constituents, which are the elements of the Universe and thy own. Yes, and they too suffer change and murmur not.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]What dies does not fall outside the Universe. If it remains here and changes here, it is also resolved here into the eternal constituents, which are elements of the Universe and of yourself. And the elements themselves change and make no grievance of it.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]That which dies does not drop out of the world. Here it remains; and here too, therefore, it changes and is resolved into its several particles; that is, into the elements which go to form the universe and yourself. They themselves likewise undergo change, and yet from them comes no complaint.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]What dies doesn’t vanish. It stays here in the world, transformed, dissolved, as parts of the world, and of you. Which are transformed in turn -- without grumbling.
[tr. Hays (2003)]What dies does not pass out of the universe. If it remains here and is changed, then here too it is resolved into the everlasting constituents, which are the elements of the universe and of you yourself. These too change, and make no complaint of it.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]What has died does not fall out of the universe; and if it remains here, it is also transformed here and resolved into its own constituents, which are the elements of the universe and of yourself. And these elements themselves are transformed and utter no complaint.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]
In the midst of all my bitching, you might’ve noticed that I never complain about politicians. I leave that to others. And there’s no shortage of volunteers; everyone complains about politicians. Everyone says they suck.
But where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky; they don’t pass through a membrane from a separate reality. They come from American homes, American families, American schools, American churches, and American businesses. And they’re elected by American voters. This is what our system produces, folks. This is the best we can do. Let’s face it, we have very little to work with. Garbage in, garbage out.
Ignorant citizens elect ignorant leaders, it’s as simple as that. And term limits don’t help. All you do is get a brand new bunch of ignorant leaders.George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
Book (2001), Napalm & Silly Putty, “Don’t Blame the Leaders”
(Source)
(Source (audio)). The audiobook version is trivially different (emphasis added):In the midst of all my bitching, you might've noticed that I never complain about politicians. I leave that to other people. There's no shortage of volunteers; everyone complains about politicians. Everyone says they suck.
But where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky; they don't pass through a membrane from a separate reality. They come from American homes, American families, American schools, American churches, and American businesses. And they're elected by American voters. This is what our system produces, folks. This is the best we can do. Let's face it, we have very little to work with in this country. Garbage in, garbage out.
Ignorant citizens elect ignorant leaders, it's as simple as that. And term limits don't help. All you do is get a brand new bunch of ignorant leaders.
Any pleasure that does no harm to other people is to be valued.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 10 “Is Happiness Still Possible?” (1930)
(Source)
All the conditions of happiness are realized in the life of the man of science. He has an activity which utilizes his abilities to the full, and he achieves results which appear important not only to himself but to the general public, even when it cannot in the smallest degree understand them. In this he is more fortunate than the artists. When the public cannot understand a picture or a poem, they conclude that it is a bad picture or a bad poem. When they cannot understand the theory of relativity they conclude (rightly) that their education has been insufficient. Consequently Einstein is honored while the best painters are (or at least were) left to starve in garrets, and Einstein is happy while the painters are unhappy. Very few men can be genuinely happy in a life involving continual self-assertion against the skepticism of the mass of mankind, unless they can shut themselves up in a coterie and forget the cold outer world. The man of science has no need of a coterie, since he is thought well of by everybody except his colleagues. The artist, on the contrary, is in the painful situation of having to choose between being despised and being despicable. If his powers are of the first order, he must incur one or the other of these misfortunes — the former if he uses his powers, the latter if he does not.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 10 “Is Happiness Still Possible?” (1930)
(Source)
When thou art in the Company of Ladies behave civilly, and shew good Breeding. They will easily pardon a Man’s Want of Sense, but rarely his Want of Manners.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 2, # 2214 (1727)
(Source)
Legislators do not merely mix metaphors: they are the Waring blenders of metaphors, the Cuisinarts of the field. By the time you let the head of the camel into the tent, opening a loophole big enough to drive a truck through, you may have thrown the baby out with the bathwater by putting a Band-Aid on an open wound, and then you have to turn over the first rock in order to find a sacred cow.
CALVIN: Some days you get up and you already know that things aren’t going to go well. They’re the type of days when you should just give in, put your pajamas back on, make some hot chocolate, and read comic books in bed with the covers up until the world looks more encouraging.
One thing is sure — none of the arts flourishes on censorship and repression. And by this time it should be evident that the American public is capable of doing its own censoring.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1947-10-29), “My Day”
(Source)
CHORUS: Why have the sons of Priam
Received each his portion in chambers of quiet earth,
When reasonable words could have solved the quarrel for Helen?
Now they live deep in the lap of Death;
And flames leaping like Zeus’s thunderbolt
Have levelled their walls with dust.[ΧΟΡΟΣ: ᾇ Πριαμίδος γᾶς ἔλαχον θαλάμους,
ἐξὸν διορθῶσαι λόγοις
1160σὰν ἔριν, ὦ Ἑλένα.
νῦν δ᾽ οἳ μὲν Ἅιδᾳ μέλονται κάτω,
τείχεα δὲ φλογμὸς ὥστε Διός ἐπέσυτο φλόξ,
ἐπὶ δὲ πάθεα πάθεσι φέρεις
† ἀθλίοις συμφοραῖς αἰλίνοις.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Helen [Ἑλένη], l. 1158ff, Stasimon 1, Antistrophe 2 (412 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1954), Strophe 2]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:Outrageous to destroy
The spear hath desolation spread,
With slaughter stain'd the widow'd bed,
And desolated Troy.
Yet well might Reason's suasive charms
Have made each warring foe a friend:
But many in the shock of arms
To Pluto's dreary realms descend;
Fires, like the flames of Jove, the walls surround,
And Ilium's ramparts smoke upon the ground.
[tr. Potter (1783), Antistrophe 2]Hence from her home departs each Phrygian wife,
O Helen, when the cruel strife
Which from thy chamors arose,
One conference might have closed: now myriads dwell
With Pluto in the shades of Hell,
And flames, as when Jove's vengeance throws
The bolt, have caught her towers and finished Ilion's woes.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]Which left the dwellings of the land of Priam, when it was in their power to decide by words the strife concerning thee, O Helen. But now they indeed are the care of Hades below, and fire, like the lightning of Jove, has fallen on their walls.
[tr. Buckley (1850)]By it [strife] they won as their lot bed-chambers of Priam's earth, when they could have set right by discussion the strife over you, O Helen. And now they are below in Hades' keeping, and fire has darted onto the walls like the bolt of Zeus.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]The maidens of the land of Priam left their bridal bowers, though arbitration might have put thy quarrel right, O Helen. And now Troy's sons are in Hades' keeping in the world below, and fire hath darted on her walls, as darts the flame of Zeus.
[tr. Coleridge (alt.)]Lo, how its storm o'er homes of Ilium brake,
Yea, though fair words might once have wrought amending,
Helen, of wrong, of quarrel for thy sake!
Now are her sons in depths of Hades lying;
Flame o'er her walls leapt, like Zeus' levin-glare.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1912)]So to Priam's people came
Madness in the midst of ease,
Lust of battle. No man sought
Peace by suasion. Still they fought
For Helen's sake, and still from Greece
Thronged the fighters. Low they lie.
Death has won the victory.
The bolt of Zeus struck home. The towers of Troy
Perished for Helen's sake. Yet Helen hath no joy.
[tr. Sheppard (1925)]It was that fate came to the homes
of Priam's land when, Helen, that strife of yours
still could have bene set aright by argument.
And now there are some in Hades' power
below, and upon the walls, like the flame of the lightning,
the fire has crept.
[tr. Warner (1951)]By hate they won the chambers of Priam's city;
they could have solved by reason and words
the quarrel, Helen, for you.
Now these are given to the Death God below.
On the walls the flame, as of Zeus, lightened and fell.
[tr. Lattimore (1956)]They received each one his portion of Trojan earth to slumber in, when reasoned argument might have solved the dispute you roused, Helen. Now they lie deep in Hades' lap, and Troy's walls, as if struck by Zeus' fiery thunderbolt, lie levelled.
[tr. Davie (2002)]This time the Trojans won
The boxes, underground --
They could have talked,
Settled their quarrel over you, Helen,
With words.
Now they march in the ranks of Death,
While searing flames destroy their walls --
Downed by a force like
Zeus' lightning.
[tr. A. Wilson (2007)]War, Helen, brought them their death on Priam’s land, when they argued about you, yet they could have resolved their differences about you with words alone.
Now they are in the hands of Hades!
Flames, shot like arrows from Zeus have spread across their towers.
[tr. Theodoridis (2011)]Strife it was that won them chambers in Priam’s soil
They could have straightened out with words,
your quarrel, O Helen, ah!
As things are, Hades below welcomes them
and a deadly fire, like Zeus’, swept over the walls of Troy.
[tr. Ambrose et al. (2018), Antistrophe B]By it they won as their lot bed-chambers of Priam’s earth, when they could have set right by discussion the strife [eris] over you, O Helen. And now they are below in Hādēs’ keeping, and fire has darted onto the walls like the bolt of Zeus.
[tr. Coleridge / Helen Heroization Team]
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. […] Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.
[Τοῦ δὲ πλήθους τῶν πιστευσάντων ἦν καρδία καὶ ψυχὴ μία, καὶ οὐδὲ εἷς τι τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῷ ἔλεγεν ἴδιον εἶναι ἀλλ᾽ ἦν αὐτοῖς ἅπαντα κοινά. […] οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐνδεής τις ἦν ἐν αὐτοῖς· ὅσοι γὰρ κτήτορες χωρίων ἢ οἰκιῶν ὑπῆρχον, πωλοῦντες ἔφερον τὰς τιμὰς τῶν πιπρασκομένων καὶ ἐτίθουν παρὰ τοὺς πόδας τῶν ἀποστόλων, διεδίδετο δὲ ἑκάστῳ καθότι ἄν τις χρείαν εἶχεν.]
The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Acts 4: 32, 34-35 [KJV (1611)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed for his own use anything that he had, as everything they owned was held in common. [...] None of their members was ever in want, as all those who owned land or houses would sell them, and bring the money from them, to present it to the apostles; it was then distributed to any members who might be in need.
[JB (1966)]The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, as everything they owned was held in common. [...] None of their members was ever in want, as all those who owned land or houses would sell them, and bring the money from the sale of them, to present it to the apostles; it was then distributed to any who might be in need.
[NJB (1985)]The group of believers was one in mind and heart. None of them said that any of their belongings were their own, but they all shared with one another everything they had. [...] There was no one in the group who was in need. Those who owned fields or houses would sell them, bring the money received from the sale, and turn it over to the apostles; and the money was distributed according to the needs of the people.
[GNT (1992 ed.)]The community of believers was one in heart and mind. None of them would say, “This is mine!” about any of their possessions, but held everything in common. [...] There were no needy persons among them. Those who owned properties or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds from the sales, and place them in the care and under the authority of the apostles. Then it was distributed to anyone who was in need.
[CEB (2011)]Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. [...] There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]
Writing sustains me. But wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that it sustains this kind of life? Which does not, of course, mean that my life is any better when I don’t write. On the contrary, at such times it is far worse, wholly unbearable, and inevitably ends in madness. This, of course only on the assumption that I am a writer even when I don’t write — which is indeed the case; and a non-writing writer is, in fact, a monster courting insanity.
In a word, a free government — that is, a government constantly subject to agitation — cannot last if it is not capable of being corrected by its own laws.
[En un mot, un gouvernement libre, c’est-à-dire toujours agité, ne saurait se maintenir s’il n’est, par ses propres lois, capable de correction.]
Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline [Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence], ch. 8 (1734, 1748 ed.) [tr. Lowenthal (1965)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Other translations:In a word, a free government, that is to say, one for ever in motion, cannot support itself, unless its own laws are capable of correcting the disorders of it.
[tr. B--- (1734)]In a word, a free government -- that is to say, one which is constantly agitated -- can never maintain itself if it is not, by its own laws, capable of correction.
[tr. Baker (1882)]
Few of us write great novels; all of us live them.
Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 7 (1963)
(Source)
We have come to depend obsessively on an enormous capability of violence — for security, for national self-esteem, even for economic stability.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Speech (1968-02-10), “A Statement Against the War in Vietnam,” Kentucky Conference on the War and the Draft, University of Kentucky
(Source)
Collected in The Long-Legged House, Part 2 (1971).
Upon the whole, a contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1714-07-30), The Spectator, No. 574
(Source)
It is, indeed, a trial to maintain the virtue of humility when one can’t help being right.
Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1999-02-02)
(Source)
GAUNT: His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last,
For violent fires soon burn out themselves;
Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short;
He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes;
With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder;
Light vanity, insatiate cormorant,
Consuming means, soon preys upon itself.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Richard II, Act 2, sc. 1, l. 37ff (2.1.37-44) (1595)
(Source)
The prophecies of Nostradamus consist of upwards of a thousand stanzas, each of four lines, and are to the full as obscure as the oracles of old. They take so great a latitude, both as to time and space, that they are almost sure to be fulfilled somewhere or other in the course of a few centuries.
Charles Mackay (1814-1889) Scottish poet, journalist, song writer
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, “Fortune-Telling” (1841)
(Source)
The Cool Stuff Theory of Literature states that all literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool, and the reader will enjoy the work to the degree that the reader and writer agree about what’s cool — and this functions all the way from the external trappings to deepest level of theme and to the way the writer uses words.
Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
Interview (2003-02-03) by Chris Olson, Strange Horizons
(Source)
Brust says the idea was taken from advice given by Gene Wolfe.
It’s a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one’s life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than “Try to be a little kinder.”
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
(Attributed)
(Source)
Quoted in Huston Smith, "Aldous Huxley -- A Tribute," The Psychedelic Review, Vol. 1, No. 3 (1964) (the Aldous Huxley Memorial Issue).
A variant is in Laura Huxley's biography of her husband, This Timeless Moment: A Personal View of Aldous Huxley, "One Never Loves Enough" (1968). She identified it as coming from a "public talk" not long before his death:It is a little embarrassing that, after forty-five years of research and study, the best advice I can give to people is to be a little kinder to each other.
Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
Essay (1891-02), “The Soul of Man Under Socialism,” The Fortnightly Review, Vol. 49
(Source)
If Enterprise is afoot, Wealth accumulates whatever may be happening to Thrift; and if Enterprise is asleep, Wealth decays, whatever Thrift may be doing.
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
“Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies,
But keep your fancy free.”
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
“The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
‘Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue.”
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, ’tis true, ’tis true.A. E. Housman (1859-1936) English scholar and poet [Alfred Edward Housman]
A Shropshire Lad, No. 13 (1896)
(Source)
Quimby was eventually killed by a disgruntled poet during an experiment conducted in the palace grounds to prove the disputed accuracy of the proverb “The pen is mightier than the sword,” and in his memory it was amended to include the phrase “only if the sword is very small and the pen is very sharp.”
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 2, The Light Fantastic (1986)
(Source)
See Bulwer-Lytton (1839).
And be careful about calling them Common People. Nobody wants to be called Common People, especially common people.
He wants for ever, who would more acquire;
Set certain limits to your wild desire.[Semper avarus eget; certum voto pete finem.]
Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 2 “To Lollius,” l. 56ff (1.2.56) (20 BC) [tr. Francis (1747)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:The Carle wantes aye, let thou thy drift to no excesse extende.
[tr. Drant (1567)]The Cov'tous alwayes want: your pray'rs design
To some fixt mark.
[tr. Fanshawe; ed. Brome (1666)]Desires are endless, till you fix the end.
[tr. "Dr. W."; ed. Brome (1666)]The Greedy want, to Wishes fix an End.
[tr. Creech (1684)]Draw some fix'd line where your desires may rest:
Th' insatiate miser ever is distress'd.
[tr. Howes (1845)]The covetous man is ever in want; set a certain limit to your wishes.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]The miser's always needy: draw a line
Within whose bound your wishes to confine.
[tr. Conington (1874)]A miser's always poor. A bound assign
To what you want, then keep within the line.
[tr. Martin (1881)]The avaricious man ever wants. Put a fixed limit on your desires.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]The covetous is ever in want: aim at a fixed limit for your desires.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]The miser is always in need; draw a boundary line
Around your desires.
[tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]Greedy men are always poor: set limits to desire.
[tr. Fuchs (1977)]The greedy never have enough: never want too much
For yourself.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]The avaricious man always feels poor;
Set limits to what your desires make you long for.
[tr. Ferry (2001)]The greedy are never content; fix an end to your longings.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]The greedy always want: set fixed limits to longing.
[tr. Kline (2015)]
Society has always to demand a little more from human beings than it will get in practice. It has to demand faultless discipline and self-sacrifice, it must expect its subjects to work hard, pay their taxes, and be faithful to their wives, it must assume that men think it glorious to die on the battlefield and women want to wear themselves out with child-bearing. The whole of what one may call official literature is founded on such assumptions.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1941-09), “The Art of Donald McGill,” Horizon Magazine
(Source)
TAMBURLAINE: Your births shall be no blemish to your fame;
For virtue is the fount whence honour springs,
And they are worthy she investeth kings.
I know what my heart is like
Since your love died:
It is like a hollow ledge
Holding a little pool
Left there by the tide,
A little tepid pool,
Drying inward from the edge.
But you were so utterly devoid of sense, that throughout the whole of your speech you were disputing with yourself, saying things which not only were inconsistent with each other, but involved direct contradiction and opposition, so that the contest was not so much between you and me as between Antonius and Antonius.
[Tam autem eras excors, ut tota in oratione tua tecum ipse pugnares, non modo non cohaerentia inter se diceres, sed maxime disiuncta atque contraria, ut non tanta mecum quanta tibi tecum esset contentio.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 2, ch. 8 / sec. 18 (2.8/2.18.7) (44-10-24 BC) [tr. King (1877)]
(Source)
Addressing Mark Antony (Marcus Antonius).
(Source (Latin)). Other translations:But you are so senseless that throughout the whole of your speech you were at variance with yourself; so that you said things which had not only no coherence with each other, but which were most inconsistent with and contradictory to one another; so that there was not so much opposition between you and me as there was between you and yourself.
[tr. Yonge (1903)]And so void of sense were you that throughout your speech you were at war with yourself, were making not only inconsistent statements, but statements so entirely disjointed and contrary to one another that the contest was not so much with me as with yourself.
[tr. Ker (Loeb) (1926)]Really, your speech was demented, it was so full of inconsistencies. From beginning to end, you were not merely incoherent but glaringly self-contradictory: indeed you contradicted yourself more often than you contradicted me.
[tr. Grant (1971 ed.)]So obtuse were you that throughout your entire speech you were at issue with yourself, making statements that were not merely incoherent but actually inconsistent and incompatible: the result was that you seemed to be not so much in dispute with me as with yourself.
[tr. Berry (2006)]But your speech was so senseless that throughout it you struggled only against yourself and said things that not only made no internal sense but were self-contradictory and inconsistent; in the end it was not so much a clash with me as with yourself.
[tr. McElduff (2011)]But you were so stupid that in your whole speech you were fighting yourself; not only were your statements inconsistent, but so extremely disjoint and contrary that the argument was not so much with me as with yourself, against yourself.
[tr. Wiseman]
He who expekts to be praized every time he duz a virtewous thing will soon git tired of the bizzness.
[He who expects to be praised every time he does a virtuous thing will soon get tired of the business.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1875-07 (1875 ed.)
(Source)
One good Husband is worth two good Wives; for the scarcer things are the more they’re valued.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1742 ed.)
(Source)
Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.
Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) American writer
(Attribute)
Widely and credibly attributed to L'Amour, but I was unable to find any citations to the source.
The worst illiterate is the political illiterate. He hears nothing, sees nothing, takes no part in political life. He doesn’t seem to know that the cost of living, the price of beans, of flour, of rent, of medicines all depend on political decisions. He even prides himself on his political ignorance, sticks out his chest and says he hates politics. He doesn’t know, the imbecile, that from his political non-participation comes the prostitute, the abandoned child, the robber and, worst of all, corrupt officials, the lackeys of exploitative multinational corporations.
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) German poet, playwright, director, dramaturgist
(Attributed)
A chewy quote that is widely attributed to Brecht, but no actual citation has been found.
He that falls obstinate in his courage — Si succiderit, de genu pugnat — he who, for any danger of imminent death, abates nothing of his assurance; who, dying, yet darts at his enemy a fierce and disdainful look, is overcome not by us, but by fortune; he is killed, not conquered.
The most valiant are sometimes the most unfortunate.
There are defeats more triumphant than victories.[Celuy qui tombe obstiné en son courage, si succiderit, de genu pugnat. Qui pour quelque danger de la mort voisine, ne relasche aucun point de son asseurance, qui regarde encores en rendant l’ame, son ennemy d’une veuë ferme & desdaigneuse, il est battu, non pas de nous, mais de la fortune: il est tué, non pas vaincu: les plus vaillans sont par fois les plus infortunez. Aussi y a-il des pertes triomphantes à l’envy des victoires.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 30 (1.30), “Of Cannibals [Des Cannibales]” (1578) [tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]
(Source)
The Latin phrase is from Seneca, De Provdentia [On Providence], 1.2. It means "If his legs fail him he fights on his knees."
Note this was inserted into this passage only in the final, 1595, edition, as was the final sentence (defeats greater than victories). The most-valiant/most-unfortunate sentence was an addition in the 1588 edition.
As examples of the concluding sentence, he goes on to compare great victories (Salamis, Plataea, Mycale, Sicily) to the "defeat" of Leonidas and his Spartans at Thermopylae.
Some editions use the 1588 sequence of chapters, not the 1595, and so identify this as ch. 31.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Hee that obstinately faileth in his courage, Si succiderit, de genu pugnat. He that in danger of imminent death, is no whit danted in his assurednesse; he that in yeelding up his ghost beholdeth his enemie with a scornefull and fierce looke, he is vanquished, not by us, but by fortune: he is slaine, but not conquered. The most valiant, are often the most unfortunate. So are there triumphant losses in envie of victories.
[tr. Florio (1603)]He that falls obstinate in his courage -- Si succiderit, de genu pugnat; -- he who, for any danger of imminent death, abates nothing of his assurance; who, dying, yet darts at his enemy a fierce and disdainful look, is overcome not by us, but by fortune; he is killed, not conquered; the most valiant are sometimes the most unfortunate. There are defeats more triumphant than victories.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]The man who falls obstinately courageous, si succiderit, de genu pugnat. He who does not flinch, be he in ever such imminent danger of death, and who, when giving up the ghost, looks his enemy in the face with a stern and disdainful countenance, he is conquered not by us, but by fortune; nay, he is killed, not conquered; the most valiant being sometimes the most unfortunate. There are actually some defeats which may compare even with victories for triumph.
[tr. Friswell (1868)]He who falls persistent in his will, si succiderit, de genu pugnat. He who abates no whit of his firmness and confidence for any danger form death not far away; he who, while yielding up his soul, still gazes at his foe with an unshrinking and disdainful eye -- he is beaten, not by us, but by fortune; he is killed, not conquered. The most valiant are sometimes the most unfortunate. So too there are defeats no less triumphant than victories.
[tr. Ives (1925)]He who falls obstinate in his courage, if he has fallen, he fights on his knees [Seneca]. He who relaxes none of his assurance, no matter how great the danger of imminent death; who, giving up his soul, still looks firmly and scornfully at his enemy -- he is beaten not by us, but by fortune; he is killed, not conquered.
The most valiant are sometimes the most unfortunate. Thus there are triumphant defeats that rival victories.
[tr. Frame (1943), 1.31]He who falls with a firm courage, "will, though fallen, fight on his knees." The man who yields no jot to his steadfastness for any threat of imminent death, who, as he yields up his soul, still gazes on his enemy with a firm and disdainful eye, is beaten not by us but by fortune; he is killed but he is not vanquished. The most valiant are sometimes the most unfortunate.
There are defeats, therefore, that are as splendid as victories.
[tr. Cohen (1958)]The man who is struck down but whose mind remains steadfast, "si succiderit, de genu pugnat," the man who relaxes none of his mental assurance when threatened with imminent death and who faces his enemy with inflexible scorn as he gives up the ghost is beaten by Fortune not by us: he is slain but not vanquished. Sometimes it is the bravest who may prove most unlucky. So there are triumphant defeats rivalling victories.
[tr. Screech (1987), 1.31]The man who falls, persevering in his courage, si succiderit, de genu pugnat. A man who does not relax any of his assurance despite the imminence of death -- who still gazes firmly and disdainfully at his enemy as he gives up the ghost -- is defeated not by us but by fortune'; he has been slain, not vanquished. Sometimes the most valiant are the most ill-fortuned. Thus there are triumphant defeats, rivaling victories.
[tr. Atkinson/Sices (2012)]
One of the more pretentious political self-descriptions is “Libertarian”. People think it puts them above the fray. It sounds fashionable and, to the uninitiated, faintly dangerous. Actually, it’s just one more bullshit political philosophy.
George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
Book (2001), Napalm & Silly Putty, “Short Takes”
(Source)
The man who underestimates himself is perpetually being surprised by success, whereas the man who overestimates himself is just as often surprised by failure. The former kind of surprise is pleasant, the latter unpleasant. It is therefore wise to be not unduly conceited, though also not too modest to be enterprising.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 10 “Is Happiness Still Possible?” (1930)
(Source)
Thou needest not fear all the Devils in Hell so much as a false Friend; and let me tell thee, such are very common.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 2169 (1725)
(Source)
The great quadrennial national circus is upon us: three rings, cast of thousands, red, white, and blue balloons by the ton, red, white, and blue bullshit by the hour, confusion, exhaustion, alcohol, and the fate of the nation.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (1988-08), “Unconventional Wisdom,” Ms magazine
(Source)
Collected in Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? (1991).
CHORUS: Fools who fain would carve a name
Of honour in the fields of fame,
Valiant in the press of war,
Men and fighters — fools they are!
How shall death and wounds and shame
Heal the world’s distrated life?
Vain endeavour! Strife of strife
Misbegotten bringeth no release,
Nor by conquest shall man conquer peace.[ΧΟΡΟΣ: ἄφρονες ὅσοι τὰς ἀρετὰς πολέμῳ
λόγχαισί τ᾽ ἀλκαίου δορὸς
κτᾶσθε, πόνους ἀμαθῶς θνα-
τῶν καταπαυόμενοι:
εἰ γὰρ ἅμιλλα κρινεῖ νιν
αἵματος, οὔποτ᾽ ἔρις
λείψει κατ᾽ ἀνθρώπων πόλεις]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Helen [Ἑλένη], l. 1151ff, Stasimon 1, Antistrophe 2 (412 BC) [tr. Sheppard (1925)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:Think you, fond men, whose martial pride
Glows 'midst the bleeding ranks of war,
By the couragous spear
The strife of mortals to decide?
Vain are your thoughts: should rage abhor'd
That glories in the purple flood,
The contest only end with blood,
Unsheath'd through angry states would flame the sword.
[tr. Potter (1783)]Frantic are ye who seek renown
Amid the horrors of th' embattled field,
Who masking guile beneath a laurel crown
With nervous arm the falchion wield,
Not slaughtered thousands can your fury state.
If still success the judgment guide,
If bloody battle right and wrong decide,
Incessant strive must vex each rival state.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]Foolish ye, as many as obtain [the renown of] valor by war, foolishly resting form the toils of mortals in the spears of valiant war. For if the contest of blood is to determine [men's quarrels], never will strife leave the cities of men.
[tr. Buckley (1850)]You are fools, who try to win a reputation for virtue through war and marshalled lines of spears, senselessly putting an end to mortal troubles; for if a bloody quarrel is to decide it, strife will never leave off in the towns of men.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]O fools! all ye who try to win the meed of valour through war and serried ranks of chivalry, seeking thus to still this mortal coil, in senselessness; for if bloody contests are to decide, there will never be any lack of strife in the towns of men.
[tr. Coleridge (alt.)]Madmen, all ye who strive for manhood's guerdons
Battling with shock of lances, seeking ease
Senselessly so from galling of life's burdens!
Never, if blood be arbitress of peace,
Strife between towns of men shall find an ending.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1912)]Madness it is to attempt to find virtue in war
and the blades of the spear in the fight,
so ignorantly to relieve the misfortunes of men.
For if a contest of blood is the arbiter, then there will always
be strife in the cities of men.
[tr. Warner (1951)]You who in earnest ignorance
Would check the deeds of lawless men,
And in the clash of spear on spear
Gain honour -- you are all stark mad!
If men, to settle each dispute
Must needs compete in bloodshed, when
Shall violence vanish, hate be soothed,
Or men and cities live in peace?
[tr. Vellacott (1954), Strophe 2]Mindless, all of you, who in the strength of spears
and the tearing edge win your valors
by war, thus stupidly trying
to halt the grief of the world.
For if bloody debate shall settle
the issue, never again
shall hate be gone out of the cities of men.
[tr. Lattimore (1956)]What fools you are, all who seek to gain honour in war and the clash of spear on spear, stupidly trying to solve men’s troubles by death! If they are to be settled by contest of blood, never will strife end among the cities of men.
[tr. Davie (2002)]You are mad,
You men
Who think that war's
The proof of manhood,
Squabbling with spears and lances --
A futile way
To solve man's problems.
If we settle things
By seeing who can bleed the most,
War will always
Haunt our cities.
[tr. A. Wilson (2007)]Men! What fools they are when they look for glory with spears on the harsh battlefield!
How foolish your efforts to end men’s pains through slaughter!
If it is blood you wish to be the judge of right or wrong in the arguments between men, then war will never leave the cities.
[tr. Theodoridis (2011)]You are fools who would acquire virtue in war
and sharpened point of mighty spear --
stupidly coming to terms with toil -- but your death is the price.
And if a conflict of blood decide, then the strife never will
forsake the cities of mankind.
[tr. Ambrose et al. (2018)]You are fools, who try to win a reputation for virtue [aretē] through war and marshalled lines of spears, senselessly putting an end to mortal troubles [ponos]; for if a bloody quarrel is to decide [krinein] it, strife [eris] will never leave off in the cities [polis] of men
[tr. Coleridge / Helen Heroization Team]
The faithful all lived together and owned everything in common; they sold their goods and possessions and shared out the proceeds among themselves according to what each one needed.
[πάντες δὲ οἱ πιστεύοντες ἦσαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ εἶχον ἅπαντα κοινὰ καὶ τὰ κτήματα καὶ τὰς ὑπάρξεις ἐπίπρασκον καὶ διεμέριζον αὐτὰ πᾶσιν καθότι ἄν τις χρείαν εἶχεν·]
The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Acts 2:44-45 [JB (1966)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
[KJV (1611)]And all who shared the faith owned everything in common; they sold their goods and possessions and distributed the proceeds among themselves according to what each one needed.
[NJB (1985)]All the believers continued together in close fellowship and shared their belongings with one another. They would sell their property and possessions, and distribute the money among all, according to what each one needed.
[GNT (1992 ed.)]All the believers were united and shared everything. They would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them.
[CEB (2011)]All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]
Life’s most painful condition: to be almost a celebrity.
Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 7 (1963)
(Source)
However, I do belong in the fullest sense of the word to a large group that is having a vast and ever-increasing effect on the world. It is known as the human race. I am aware that as a member of that group I am in the worst possible company: communists, fascists and totalitarians of all sorts, militarists and tyrants, exploiters, vandals, gluttons, ignoramuses, murderers, thieves, and liars, men for whose birth the creation is worse off and for whose lives other men will still be suffering a hundred years from now. The price of admission to this group is great, and until death not fully known. The cost of getting out is extreme. I find, therefore, no reasonable alternative to membership. But since I am a member on such exacting terms, I will not allow my involvement with this group to remain accidental, but will give my whole allegiance to it and work for its betterment.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Speech (1968-02-10), “A Statement Against the War in Vietnam,” Kentucky Conference on the War and the Draft, University of Kentucky
(Source)
Collected in The Long-Legged House, Part 2 (1971).
Our delight in any particular study, art, or science rises and improves in proportion to the application which we bestow upon it. Thus, what was at first an exercise becomes at length an entertainment.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1712-08-02), The Spectator, No. 447
(Source)
People are always saying to me, “Don’t you want to go back in time?” To where? Prefeminism? Not very much, no.
Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
Interview (1997-03), “She Says: Miss Manners,” by Sandy Fernández, Ms magazine, Vol. 7, No. 5 (1997-03/04)
(Source)
KING RICHARD: Why, uncle, thou hast many years to live.
GAUNT: But not a minute, king, that thou canst give.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Richard II, Act 1, sc. 3, l. 231ff (1.3.231-232) (1595)
(Source)
During seasons of great pestilence, men have often believed the prophecies of crazed fanatics, that the end of the world was come. Credulity is always greatest in times of calamity.
Charles Mackay (1814-1889) Scottish poet, journalist, song writer
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, “Modern Prophecies” (1841)
(Source)
Men have always detested women’s gossip because they suspect the truth: their measurements are being taken and compared.
The sun rose slowly, as if it wasn’t sure it was worth all the effort.
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 2, The Light Fantastic (1986)
(Source)
Opening words.
There are people who resemble popular songs: they are sung for a time and then forgotten.
[Il y a des gens qui ressemblent aux vaudevilles, qu’on ne chante qu’un certain temps.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶211 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]
(Source)
The manuscripts of some early editions included a clause about those popular songs being distasteful (as seen in some of the translations below), but the phrase was not in the final (1678) edition:[Il y a des gens qui ressemblent aux vaudevilles, que tout le monde chante un certain temps, quelques fades et dégoûtants qu’ils soient.]
(Source (French)). Other translations:There are a sort of people may be compar'd to those trivial Songs, which all are in an humour to sing for a certain time, how flat and distasteful soever they may be.
[tr. Davies (1669), ¶64]Some Men are like Ballads, that every body Sings at one time or other, though they be never so dull and insipid.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶212]There are people who, like new songs, are in vogue only for a time.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶454; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶202]There are those, who, like new songs, are favourites only for a time.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶491]Some people resemble ballads, which are only sung for a certain time.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶220]There are people who are like farces, which are praised but for a time (however foolish and distasteful they may be).
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶211]Some people are like rag-time -- their popularity is short-lived.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶216]Some people are like popular songs, which are sung only for a season.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶211]Some people are like a popular song, taken up only for a time.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶211]Some people are like popular songs that you only sing for a short time.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶211]There are people who resemble certain kinds of popular music, which are sung only for a certain time, however insipid and disgusting they may be, and then forgotten.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶211]
The first quarter-century of your life was doubtless lived under the cloud of being too young for things, while the last quarter-century would normally be shadowed by the still darker cloud of being too old for them; and between those two clouds, what small and narrow sunlight illumines a human lifetime!
James Hilton (1900-1954) Anglo-American novelist and screenwriter
Lost Horizon, ch. 8 [High Lama] (1933)
(Source)
There is only one form of employment in our country that I can think of, but what has no bright spots, and that’s coal mining. There is generally an overproduction and they are out of work; if not that, it’s a strike. Then when they do go to work, the mine blows up. Then if none of these three things happen, they still have the worst job in the world.
Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1929-12-19), “Daily Telegram: Will Rogers Enters A Plea For Families Of Lost Miners” [No. 1061]
(Source)
Following a mining disaster in McAlester, Oklahoma.