- WIST is my personal collection of quotations, curated for thought, amusement, turn of phrase, historical significance, or sometimes just (often-unintentional) irony.
WIST currently holds 19,766 quotations by 3,078 authors. Please feel free to browse and borrow.
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Authors
Author Cloud
Aristotle • Asimov, Isaac • Bacon, Francis • Bible • Bierce, Ambrose • Billings, Josh • Butcher, Jim • Chesterfield (Lord) • Chesterton, Gilbert Keith • Churchill, Winston • Cicero, Marcus Tullius • Einstein, Albert • Eisenhower, Dwight David • Emerson, Ralph Waldo • Franklin, Benjamin • Fuller, Thomas (1654) • Gaiman, Neil • Galbraith, John Kenneth • Gandhi, Mohandas • Hazlitt, William • Heinlein, Robert A. • Hoffer, Eric • Homer • Huxley, Aldous • Ingersoll, Robert Green • Jefferson, Thomas • Johnson, Samuel • Kennedy, John F. • King, Martin Luther • La Rochefoucauld, Francois • Lewis, C.S. • Lincoln, Abraham • Martial • Mencken, H.L. • Orwell, George • Pratchett, Terry • Roosevelt, Eleanor • Roosevelt, Theodore • Russell, Bertrand • Shakespeare, William • Shaw, George Bernard • Sophocles • Tolkien, J.R.R. • Twain, Mark • Wilde, Oscar- Only the 45 most quoted authors are shown above. Full author list.
Most Quoted Authors
Topic Cloud
action age America author beauty belief change character courage death democracy education ego error evil faith fear freedom future God government happiness history human nature humanity integrity liberty life love morality perspective politics power progress reality religion science society success truth virtue war wealth wisdom writing- I've been adding topics since 2014, so not all quotes have been given one. Full topic list.
Popular Quotables
- “Wealth and Poverty,” speech, National… (10,353)
- Agamemnon, ll. 175-183 [tr. Johnston (2007)] (6,708)
- “The Lesson for Today,” A Witness Tree (1942) (6,277)
- “The Triumph of Stupidity” (10 May 1933) (5,678)
- Nobel prize acceptance speech (10 Dec 1962) (4,970)
- “Tips for Teens,” Social Studies (1981) (4,876)
- Letter to Clara Rilke (1 Jan 1907) (4,651)
- “On The Conduct of Life” (1822) (4,637)
- “A Cult of Ignorance,” Newsweek (21 Jan 1980) (4,292)
- Republic, Book 1, 347c (4,278)
Recent Feedback
- More quotes by Cicero, Marcus Tullius on The Problems of Philosophy, ch. 2 “The Existence of Matter” (1912)
- More quotes by Cicero, Marcus Tullius on Discourse on Method [Discours de la méthode], Part 2 (1637) [tr. Cottingham, Stoothoff (1985)]
- More quotes by Cicero, Marcus Tullius on The Imitation of Christ, Book 3, ch. 12, sec. 2 (c. 1418)
- More quotes by Cicero, Marcus Tullius on Heauton Timoroumenos [The Self-Tormentor], Act 4, sc. 5, l. 48 (l. 796)
- om on “Reflections on Monogamy,” Prejudices (1919-27)
- More quotes by Bullock, Christopher on Letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy (13 Nov 1789)
- More quotes by Aristotle on The Iliad [Ἰλιάς], Book 9, l. 63ff (9.63-64) [Nestor] (c. 750 BC) [tr. Pope (1715-20)]
- More quotes by Ingersoll, Robert Green on Inaugural Address (20 Jan 1961) [with Ted Sorensen]
- More quotes by Ingersoll, Robert Green on Speech, Republican National Convention (7 Jun 1916)
- More quotes by Ingersoll, Robert Green on “In Our Youth Our Hearts Were Touched With Fire,” Memorial Day address, Keene, New Hampshire (30 May 1884)
Quotations by Hubbard, Kin
Live so that you can at least get the benefit of the doubt.
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 1-Feb-04
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Honesty pays, but it don’t seem to pay enough to suit some people.
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 1-Feb-04
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Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 2-Aug-10
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Some folks can look so busy doin’ nothin’ that they seem indispensable.
Added on 25-Aug-10 | Last updated 25-Aug-10
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Some fellows get credit for being conservative when they are only stupid.
Added on 2-Sep-10 | Last updated 2-Sep-10
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Being an optimist after you’ve got everything you want doesn’t count.
Added on 14-Sep-10 | Last updated 14-Sep-10
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Beauty is only skin deep, but it is a valuable asset if you are poor or have not any sense.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
(Attributed)
See Thomas Adams.
Added on 3-Dec-14 | Last updated 3-Dec-14
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Topics: asset, beauty, exploit, foolish, poor, poverty
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Topics: asset, beauty, exploit, foolish, poor, poverty
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If there’s anything a public servant hates to do it’s something for the public.
Added on 20-Nov-15 | Last updated 20-Nov-15
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Topics: bureaucracy, government, public servant, public service, unhelpful
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Topics: bureaucracy, government, public servant, public service, unhelpful
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Th’ only absolutely safe way t’ double your money is t’ fold it once an’ put it in your hip pocket.
Added on 9-Sep-10 | Last updated 9-Sep-10
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Few things make us feel finer than havin’ our judgment vindicated.
Added on 15-Jun-11 | Last updated 15-Jun-11
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Boys’ll be boys, an’ so’ll a lot o’ middle-aged men.
Added on 29-Sep-11 | Last updated 29-Sep-11
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Nobuddy ever listened t’ reason on a’ empty stomach.
[Nobody ever listened to reason on an empty stomach.]
Added on 15-Feb-13 | Last updated 15-Feb-13
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Ever’ once in a while we meet a feller that’s too proud t’ beg, an’ too honest t’ steal, an’ too lazy t’ work.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin’s Almanack
Full text.
Added on 11-May-11 | Last updated 11-May-11
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If everbuddy thought before they spoke ther wouldn’t be enough noise in this world t’ scare a jaybird.
[If everybody thought before they spoke there wouldn’t be enough noise in this world to scare a jaybird.]
Added on 2-Oct-14 | Last updated 2-Oct-14
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Topics: consideration, laconic, quiet, silence
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Topics: consideration, laconic, quiet, silence
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If there’s anything mean in a feller, a little authority will bring it out.
Added on 18-Dec-08 | Last updated 18-Dec-08
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Ther’s few things in this life that equal th’ sensation o’ bein’ paid up.
Added on 23-Jul-09 | Last updated 23-Jul-09
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If others could only see us as we think we are.
Added on 16-Dec-09 | Last updated 16-Dec-09
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We’re all mighty unselfish when it comes t’ handin’ out advice we could use ourselves.
Added on 26-Jun-13 | Last updated 26-Jun-13
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Next t’ a circus ther haint nothin’ that packs up an’ tears out any quicker’n th’ Christmus spirit.
[Next to a circus, there ain’t nothing that packs up and tears out any quicker than the Christmas spirit.]
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin’s Back Country Sayings, ch. 7 (1917)
(Source)
Often misquoted as "tears out faster than".
Added on 27-Dec-21 | Last updated 27-Dec-21
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Topics: Christmas, normalcy, spirit, status quo
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Topics: Christmas, normalcy, spirit, status quo
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We all run in debt for things we wouldna’ think o’ payin’ perfectly good money for.
Added on 6-Aug-09 | Last updated 6-Aug-09
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We’d all like t’vote fer th’best man, but he’s never a candidate.
Added on 17-Sep-10 | Last updated 17-Sep-10
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Let’s all join th’ good roads movement an’ mend our own ways.
Added on 19-Sep-13 | Last updated 19-Sep-13
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Th’ feller that agrees with ever’thing you say is either a fool er he is gettin’ ready t’skin you.
Added on 28-Jul-09 | Last updated 28-Jul-09
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A bad fittin’ suit never wears out.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin’s Almanac for 1909 (1908)
Full text.
Added on 6-Jun-12 | Last updated 6-Jun-12
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Th’ feller that agrees with ever’thing you say is either a fool er he is gettin’ ready t’skin you.
[The fellow that agrees with everything you say is either a fool or he is getting ready to skin you.]
Added on 14-Oct-13 | Last updated 14-Oct-13
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When a feller says, “It hain’t th’ money, but th’ principle o’ th’ thing,” it’s th’ money.
[When a fellow says, “It ain’t the money, but the principle of the thing,” it’s the money.]
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 24-Feb-12
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Th’ only way t’ entertain some folks is t’ listen t’ em.
Added on 13-Nov-09 | Last updated 2-Aug-10
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Flattery won’t hurt you if you don’t swallow it.
Added on 3-Aug-10 | Last updated 3-Aug-10
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