- 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.
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Popular Quotables
- “Wealth and Poverty,” speech, National… (5,769)
- “The Lesson for Today,” A Witness Tree (1942) (5,670)
- Agamemnon, ll. 175-183 [tr. Johnston (2007)] (5,450)
- Nobel prize acceptance speech (10 Dec 1962) (4,826)
- “The Triumph of Stupidity” (10 May 1933) (4,496)
- “In Search of a Majority,” Speech,… (3,718)
- “On The Conduct of Life” (1822) (3,610)
- “Get a Knife, Get a Dog, but Get Rid of… (3,553)
- “The Historian as Participant,” Daedalus… (2,986)
- “Hallowed Ground” (1825) (2,985)
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
- 17-Jan-20 - (Attributed) | WIST on The Screw-Tape Letters, #29 (1942).
- 7-Jan-20 - "Your Future As A Writer," Writer's Digest (May 1986) | WIST on The Outline of History, Vol. 2, ch. 41, sec. 4 (1921).
- 23-Dec-19 - Chamblee54 on Last written note.
- 16-Dec-19 - Dave on Authors.
- 20-Nov-19 - Debbie on Authors.
- 14-Oct-19 - Address to the Massachusetts legislature (9 Jan 1961) | WIST on Luke 12:48 (NIV).
Quotations by Hubbard, Kin
Live so that you can at least get the benefit of the doubt.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
(Attributed)
Honesty pays, but it don’t seem to pay enough to suit some people.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
(Attributed)
Quoted in Time (2 Jul 1973) Also given as "It pays t'be honest, but it don't pay enough t'suit some fellers."
Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
(Attributed)
Variant: "'Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation."
Some folks can look so busy doin’ nothin’ that they seem indispensable.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
(Attributed)
Some fellows get credit for being conservative when they are only stupid.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
(Attributed)
Being an optimist after you’ve got everything you want doesn’t count.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
(Attributed)
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.
If there’s anything a public servant hates to do it’s something for the public.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
(Attributed)
Th’ only absolutely safe way t’ double your money is t’ fold it once an’ put it in your hip pocket.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin: Hoss Sense and Nonsense (1926)
Few things make us feel finer than havin’ our judgment vindicated.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin: Hoss Sense and Nonsense (1926)
Boys’ll be boys, an’ so’ll a lot o’ middle-aged men.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin: Hoss Sense and Nonsense (1926)
Nobuddy ever listened t’ reason on a’ empty stomach.
[Nobody ever listened to reason on an empty stomach.]
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin: Hoss Sense and Nonsense (1926)
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.
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.]
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin’s Almanack, “January” (1908)
If there’s anything mean in a feller, a little authority will bring it out.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin’s Back Country Sayings (1917)
Ther’s few things in this life that equal th’ sensation o’ bein’ paid up.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin’s Back Country Sayings (1917)
If others could only see us as we think we are.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin’s Back Country Sayings (1917)
We’re all mighty unselfish when it comes t’ handin’ out advice we could use ourselves.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin’s Back Country Sayings (1917)
We all run in debt for things we wouldna’ think o’ payin’ perfectly good money for.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin’s Primer (1914)
We’d all like t’vote fer th’best man, but he’s never a candidate.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin’s Primer (1914)
Let’s all join th’ good roads movement an’ mend our own ways.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin’s Primer (1914)
Th’ feller that agrees with ever’thing you say is either a fool er he is gettin’ ready t’skin you.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Abe Martin’s Sayings and Wisecracks, ch. 1 [ed. D. Hawes (1984)]
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.
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.]
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Back Country Folks (1913)
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.]
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Hoss Sense and Nonsense (1926)
Th’ only way t’ entertain some folks is t’ listen t’ em.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Hoss Sense and Nonsense (1926)
Flattery won’t hurt you if you don’t swallow it.
Kin Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist [Frank McKinney Hubbard]
Short Furrows (1913)
