WIST Quotations

Feather, William -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Beware of the person who can’t be bothered by details.

William Feather (1889-1981) American publisher, author
(Attributed)

Feather, William -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Early morning cheerfulness can be extremely obnoxious.

William Feather (1889-1981) American publisher, author
(Attributed)

Feather, William -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

No man is a failure who is enjoying life.

William Feather (1889-1981) American publisher, author
(Attributed)

Widely attributed to Feather (e.g. Laurence Peter, Peter's Quotations (1977)), but no citation to be found online. A particularly common quote (usually without attribution) in school yearbooks, collections of wisdom / happiness quotations, etc. The earliest use of it that I can find is as anonymous column filler in The Deaf-Mutes' Journal, Vol. 61, No. 50 (1932-12-15).

A variant adds "No man is a success who isn't."

Feather, William -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Some of us might find happiness if we would quit struggling so desperately for it.

William Feather (1889-1981) American publisher, author
(Attributed)

Feather, William -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

If you do the best you can, you will find, nine times out of ten, that you have done as well as or better than anyone else.

William Feather (1889-1981) American publisher, author
(Attributed)

Feather, William -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 12:59:27 +0000

Let us resolve to do the best we can with what we’ve got.

William Feather (1889-1981) American publisher, author
(Attributed)

Feather, William -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don’t. It’s knowing where to go to find out what you need to know, and it’s knowing how to use the information once you get it.

William Feather (1889-1981) American publisher, author
(Attributed)

The original source for this has not been found. It is quoted (without source) in Carman Fish, "The Safety Valve" column, National Safety News (1960-01). Prior to that, it is also quoted in Telephony Magazine, Vol. 150 (1956), p. 23 (but that article itself notes it is quoting from an issue of Copperweld Magazine).

The first two sentences are often credited to Anatole France, but this seems to be a fairly recent (1990s?) misattribution.

Another variant (attributed to France, uncited; e.g.): "True education is the ability to discern the difference between what you do know and what you don't."