- 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
- “The Lesson for Today,” A Witness Tree (1942) (5,549)
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- Agamemnon, ll. 175-183 [tr. Johnston (2007)] (5,372)
- Nobel prize acceptance speech (10 Dec 1962) (4,798)
- “The Triumph of Stupidity” (10 May 1933) (4,280)
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- “Hallowed Ground” (1825) (2,926)
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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
- 16-Aug-19 - Dave on About WIST.
- 13-Aug-19 - Mike Hardy on About WIST.
- 17-Jul-19 - Samuel Missal on Armistice Day address, Boston (11 Nov 1948).
- 24-May-19 - Dave on Inaugural Address (20 Jan 1989).
- 16-May-19 - Mike Gaudioso on Inaugural Address (20 Jan 1989).
- 23-Apr-19 - Dave on Letter to Baron von Stein, Dammartin le St. Père (7 Jan 1814).
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)
