- WIST is my personal collection of quotations, curated for thought, amusement, turn of phrase, historical significance, or sometimes just (often-unintentional) irony. Please feel free to browse and borrow.
- 17,006 quotes and counting ...
Quote Search
Authors
Topic Cloud
action age America argument belief books change character courage death democracy education ego evil faith fear freedom future God government happiness history honesty humanity integrity leadership liberty life love morality perspective politics poverty power religion science society success truth tyranny virtue war wealth wisdom writing- I've been adding topics/tags since 2014, so not all quotes have been given one. Full topic list.
WISTish
- * Visual quotes (graphics, memes) only
Admin
Popular Quotables
- “Wealth and Poverty,” speech, National… (5,986)
- “The Lesson for Today,” A Witness Tree (1942) (5,725)
- Agamemnon, ll. 175-183 [tr. Johnston (2007)] (5,517)
- Nobel prize acceptance speech (10 Dec 1962) (4,850)
- “The Triumph of Stupidity” (10 May 1933) (4,609)
- “On The Conduct of Life” (1822) (3,810)
- “In Search of a Majority,” Speech,… (3,753)
- “Get a Knife, Get a Dog, but Get Rid of… (3,617)
- “The Historian as Participant,” Daedalus… (3,036)
- “Hallowed Ground” (1825) (3,002)
Most Quoted Authors
Author Cloud
Adams, John • Bacon, Francis • Bible • Bierce, Ambrose • Billings, Josh • Butcher, Jim • Chesterton, Gilbert Keith • Churchill, Winston • Einstein, Albert • Eisenhower, Dwight David • Emerson, Ralph Waldo • Franklin, Benjamin • Fuller, Thomas (1654) • Gaiman, Neil • Galbraith, John Kenneth • Gandhi, Mohandas • Goethe, Johann von • Hazlitt, William • Heinlein, Robert A. • Hoffer, Eric • Huxley, Aldous • Ingersoll, Robert Green • James, William • Jefferson, Thomas • Johnson, Lyndon • Johnson, Samuel • Kennedy, John F. • King, Martin Luther • La Rochefoucauld, Francois • Lewis, C.S. • Lincoln, Abraham • Mencken, H.L. • Orwell, George • Pratchett, Terry • Roosevelt, Eleanor • Roosevelt, Theodore • Russell, Bertrand • Seneca the Younger • Shakespeare, William • Shaw, George Bernard • Stevenson, Adlai • Stevenson, Robert Louis • Twain, Mark • Watterson, Bill • Wilde, Oscar- Only the 45 most quoted authors are shown above. Full author list.
Recent Feedback
- 3-Apr-20 - The Peter Principle (1969) | WIST on The Observer (1788).
- 3-Apr-20 - Peter's Almanac, "3 December" (1982) | WIST on (Attributed).
- 31-Mar-20 - Dave on “As O. O. McIntyre Sees It,” syndicated column (2 Jan 1937).
- 24-Mar-20 - Scott on “As O. O. McIntyre Sees It,” syndicated column (2 Jan 1937).
- 20-Mar-20 - Post, alt.fan.pratchett (14 Jun 1998) | WIST on (Attributed).
- 16-Mar-20 - Quoted in Washington Post (23 Dec 1973) | WIST on (Attributed).
Quotations by Byron, George Gordon, Lord
Who would be free themselves must strike the blow.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
“Childe Harold
Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded
That all the Apostles would have done as they did.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
“Don Juan,” canto i, stanza 83 (1819)
All tragedies are finish’d by a death,
All comedies are ended by a marriage;
The future states of both are left to faith.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
“Don Juan,” canto iii, stanza 9 (1820)
I wish men to be free
As much from mobs as kings — from you as me.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
“Don Juan,” canto ix, st. 25 (1823)
And I will war, at least in words (and–should
My chance so happen–deeds), with all who war
With Thought ….George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
“Don Juan,” canto ix, stanza 24 (1823)
Many is in part divine,
A troubled stream from a pure source.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
“Prometheus,” 3 (1816)
She walks in beauty like the night,
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
“She Walks in Beauty” (1815)
So, we’ll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we’ll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.
He who is only just is cruel. Who on earth could live were all judged justly?
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
(Attributed)
Always laugh when you can; it is cheap medicine.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
(Attributed)
RICHARD PORSON: Yes, Mr. Southey is indeed a wonderful poet. He will be read when Homer and Virgil are forgotten.
BYRON: But not till then.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
(Attributed)
Mark where his carnage and his conquests cease!
He makes a solitude, and calls it — peace.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Bride of Abydos, Canto 2, st. 20 (1813)
See Tacitus.
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar’
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, 4.178 (1812-18)
On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
No sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto III “The Eve of Waterloo” (1816)
And if I laugh at any mortal thing,
‘Tis that I may not weep.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, Canto 4, st. 4 (1820)
I may stand alone,
But would not change my free thoughts for a throne.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, 11.90 (1819-1824)
Our hair
Grows grizzled, and we are not what we were.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, 12.1 (1819-1824)
Ready money is Aladdin’s lamp.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, 12.12 (1819-24)
How little do we know that which we are!
How less what we may be!George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, 15.99 (1819-24)
Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter
Sermons and soda water the day after.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, 2.178 (1819-24)
‘Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog’s honest bark
Bay deep-mouth’d welcome as we draw near home;
‘Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark
Our coming, and look brighter when we come.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, Canto 1, st. 123 (1818)
Pleasure’s a sin, and sometimes sin’s a pleasure.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, Canto 1, st. 133 (1818)
Of all the horrid, hideous notes of woe,
Sadder than owl songs or the midnight blast,
Is that portentous phrase, “I told you so.”George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, Canto 19, st. 50 (1823)
Man is a carnivorous production,
And must have meals, at least one meal a day;
He cannot live, like woodcocks, upon suction,
But, like the shark and tiger, must have prey.Although his anatomical construction
Bears vegetables, in a grumbling way,
Your laboring people think beyond all question,
Beef, veal, and mutton better for digestion.
Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter,
Sermons and soda water the day after.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, canto 2, st. 178 (1819)
Man, being reasonable, must get drunk;
The best of life is but intoxication;
Glory, the grape, love, gold, in these are sunk
The hopes of all men, and of every nation.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, canto 2, st. 179 (1819-24)
‘Twas blow for blow, disputing inch by inch,
For one would not retreat, nor t’other flinch.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, canto 8, st. 77 (1823)
You have greatly ventured, but all must do so who would greatly win.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice, Act 1, sc. 1 (1821)
(Source)
He who is only just is cruel; who
Upon the earth would live were all judged justly?George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Marino Faliero: Doge of Venice, 5.1 (1821)
What’s drinking?
A mere pause from thinking!George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
The Deformed Transformed, III, i (1824)
The busy have no time for tears.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
The Two Foscari, Act 4, sc. 1 (1821)
One lies more to one’s self than to anyone else.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Journal (6 Dec 1813)
Opinions are made to be changed — or how is truth to be got at?
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Letter to John Murray (9 May 1818)
We are all selfish and I no more trust myself than others with a good motive.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Letter to Lady Melbourne (28 Sep 1813)
