WIST Quotations

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld, Book 7, Pyramids (1989)

Dave — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:28:03 +0000

Not that he had anything against belief. People needed to believe in gods, if only because it was so hard to believe in people.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld, Book 7, Pyramids (1989)
(Source)

La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶196 (1665-1678) [tr. Stevens (1939)]

Dave — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 23:13:55 +0000

We easily forget our faults when they are known only to ourselves.

[Nous oublions aisément nos fautes lorsqu’elles ne sont sues que de nous.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶196 (1665-1678) [tr. Stevens (1939)]
(Source)

Included in the 1st (1665) edition, reading "When we alone know of our crimes, they are soon forgotten [Quand il n’y a que nous qui savons nos crimes, ils sont bientôt oubliés]." Another variant is "Nous oublions aisément nos crimes lorsqu’ils ne sont sus que de nous" (bringing in the "crimes" term rather "faults").

See also ¶327.

(Source (French)). Other translations:

We easily forget our Faults, when no body knows them but our selves.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶197]

We easily forget crimes that are known only to ourselves.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶74]

We easily forget crimes which are known only within ourselves.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶62]

We easily forget our faults when they are only known to ourselves.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶205]

We easily forget those faults which are known only to ourselves.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶196]

Failings known to us alone are easily forgotten.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶201]

Our faults are easily forgotten when they are known only to ourselves.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶196]

We easily forget our faults when no one but ourselves knows them.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶196]

Our misdeeds are easily forgotten when they are known only to ourselves.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶196]

We easily forget our faults when they are known to ourselves alone.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶196]

A number of translators link this to Seneca, Moral Epistle 3:

Most people fancy themselves innocent of those crimes of which they cannot be convicted.

Innocentem quisque se decit, respiciens testem, non conscientiam.

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1759-09-08), The Idler, No. 73

Dave — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 21:38:07 +0000

One cause which is not always observed of the insufficiency of riches is, that they very seldom make their owner rich. To be rich is to have more than is desired, and more than is wanted; to have something which may be spent without reluctance, and scattered without care, with which the sudden demands of desire may be gratified, the casual freaks of fancy indulged, the unexpected opportunities of benevolence improved.
Avarice is always poor, but poor by her own fault.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-09-08), The Idler, No. 73
(Source)

Twain, Mark -- Essay (1906), “The Gorky Incident,” Letters from the Earth (c. 1909; pub. 1962) [ed. DeVoto (1939)]

Dave — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 15:56:07 +0000

Custom is custom; it is built of brass, boiler iron, granite; facts, reasonings, arguments have no more effect upon it than the idle winds have upon Gibraltar.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Essay (1906), “The Gorky Incident,” Letters from the Earth (c. 1909; pub. 1962) [ed. DeVoto (1939)]
(Source)

Commenting on the eviction of Maxim Gorky from multiple hotels in New York City because the woman he was traveling with was not his wife. Twain was a supporter of Gorky's efforts to foment revolution in Tsarist Russia.

The essay was not published in Twain's lifetime. It's original publication was in the Slavonic and East European Review (1944-08), also edited by DeVoto.

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1880-01/02?), “Reflections and Remarks on Human Life,” § 10.1 “Marriage”

Dave — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 15:11:42 +0000

No considerate man can approach marriage without deep concern. I, he will think, who have made hitherto so poor a business of my own life, am now about to embrace the responsibility of another’s. Henceforth, there shall be two to suffer from my faults; and that other is the one whom I most desire to shield from suffering.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1880-01/02?), “Reflections and Remarks on Human Life,” § 10.1 “Marriage”
(Source)

A collection of aphorisms and musings, first published in the Edinburgh Edition of his Works, vol. 28 (1898).

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1891-07), “A Scandal in Bohemia,” ch. 1, The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 1

Dave — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 22:59:20 +0000

“It is simplicity itself,” said [Holmes]; “my eyes tell me that on the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London slavey.
“As to your practice, if a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce him to be an active member of the medical profession.
I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his process of deduction. “When I hear you give your reasons,” I remarked, “the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1891-07), “A Scandal in Bohemia,” ch. 1, The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 1
(Source)

Collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, No. 1, ch. 1 (1892).

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Autobiography, ch. 5 “Applied Idealism” (1913)

Dave — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 22:28:34 +0000

Indeed, the doctrine that “To the victor belong the spoils,” the cynical battle-cry of the spoils politician in America for the sixty years preceding my own entrance into public life, is so nakedly vicious that few right-thinking men of trained mind defend it. To appoint, promote, reduce, and expel from the public service, letter-carriers, stenographers, women typewriters, clerks, because of the politics of themselves or their friends, without regard to their own service, is, from the standpoint of the people at large, as foolish and degrading as it is wicked.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Autobiography, ch. 5 “Applied Idealism” (1913)
(Source)

Carlyle, Thomas -- Essay (1828-05), “Goethe’s Helena,” Foreign Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, Article 5

Dave — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 20:09:16 +0000

Everywhere in life, the true question is not what we gain, but what we do.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Essay (1828-05), “Goethe’s Helena,” Foreign Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, Article 5
(Source)

Review of Goethe's Sämmtliche Werke, Vol. 1 (1827); not labeled as Carlyle but believed to be his. Collected in Carlyle, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1827-1855).

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1876-06 (1876 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 19:25:35 +0000

It aint no disgrace for a man to fall, but to lay thare, and grunt, iz.

[It ain’t no disgrace for a man to fall, but to lay there, and grunt, is.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1876-06 (1876 ed.)
(Source)

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1747 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 17:30:25 +0000

Better is a little with content than much with contention.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1747 ed.)
(Source)

See Abigail Adams (1790).

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1992-07-14)

Dave — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:46:51 +0000

CALVIN: Bugs fly in such crazy loops and zigzags. I wonder why they don’t get dizzy and barf.

HOBBES: Maybe they do!

CALVIN: Eww, gross! Ha ha ha! But then why would they keep flying that way?

HOBBES: Maybe bugs like to barf!

CALVIN: Ewwww! They would!! Ha ha ha ha! Blaugh!

CALVIN: I tell you, Hobbes, it’s great to have a friend who appreciates an earnest discussion of ideas.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1992-07-14)
(Source)

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Deserve,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1882-03-03)

Dave — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 23:41:22 +0000

DESERVE, n. The quality of being entitled to what somebody else obtains.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Deserve,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1882-03-03)
(Source)

Not collected in later books.

Thoreau, Henry David -- Walden; or, Life in the Woods, ch. 1 “Economy” (1854)

Dave — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 19:33:25 +0000

Age is no better, hardly so well, qualified for an instructor as youth, for it has not profited so much as it has lost.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden; or, Life in the Woods, ch. 1 “Economy” (1854)
(Source)

Montaigne, Michel de -- Essays, Book 2, ch. 1 (2.1), “Of the Inconsistency of Our Actions [De l’inconstance de nos actions]” (1572) [tr. Zeitlin (1934)]

Dave — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 19:17:47 +0000

No wind serves him who has no port of destination.

[Nul vent fait pour celuy qui n’a point de port destiné. ]

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 2, ch. 1 (2.1), “Of the Inconsistency of Our Actions [De l’inconstance de nos actions]” (1572) [tr. Zeitlin (1934)]
(Source)

This passage was in the essays initial 1580 printing. Likely from a quotation of Seneca the Younger (1st C AD).

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

No winde makes for him, that hath no intended port to saile-unto.
[tr. Florio (1603)]

No helpe serves him that runnes uncertain courses (or knows not where to end them).
[tr. Cotgrave (1611)]

No wind serves him who is bound to no certain port.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]

No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

No wind is fair for him who has no purposed port.
[tr. Ives (1925)]

No wind works for the man who has no port of destination.
[tr. Frame (1943)]

No wind is right for a seaman who has no predetermined harbour.
[tr. Screech (1987)]

Gracián, Baltasar -- The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 138 (1647) [tr. Fischer (1937)]

Dave — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 16:11:22 +0000

The way to quiet the turbulence of a mob is to withdraw your hand, and let it quiet itself; to concede today, may be the best way to succeed tomorrow.

[Sea modo de sosegar vulgares torbellinos el alzar mano y dejar sosegar; ceder al tiempo ahora será vencer después.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 138 (1647) [tr. Fischer (1937)]
(Source)

(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:

The way then to calm popular gusts, is to be quiet. Then to yield to the times, will get the victory afterwards.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]

The way to still storms in great multitudes is to hold one's hand and let them go down of themselves. A timely giving way for the present assures victory later.
[tr. Duff (1877)]

The proper way to still the storms of the vulgar is to hold your hand and let them calm down of themselves. To give way now is to conquer by and by.
[tr. Jacobs (1892)]

Throwing up your hands is sometimes a good way to put down vulgar storms. If you bow to time for the present, you will conquer in the future.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]