The Fifth Amendment is an old friend, and a good one. It is one of the great landmarks in man’s struggle to be free of tyranny, to be decent and civilized. It is our way to escape torture. It protects man against any form of Inquisition. It is part of our respect for the dignity of man.
William O. Douglas (1898-1980) US Supreme Court justice (1939-75)
An Almanac of Liberty (15 Feb 1954)
I taught school in the early days of my manhood and I think I know something about mothers. There is a thread of aspiration that runs strong in them. It is the fiber that has formed the most unselfish creatures who inhabit this earth. They want three things only; for their children to be fed, to be healthy, and to make the most of themselves.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1963-07-09), Women’s Meeting, Washington, D.C.
I have been unable to find a source for this quotation.
Every man who has seen the world knows that nothing is so useless as a general maxim. If it be very moral and very true, it may serve for copy to a charity-boy. If, like those of Rochefoucauld, it be sparkling and whimsical, it may make an excellent motto for an essay. Few, indeed, of the many wise apophthegms which have been uttered from the time of the Seven Sages of Greece to that of Poor Richard, have prevented a single foolish action.
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) English writer and politician
“Machiavelli,” Edinburgh Review (Mar 1827)
(Source)
Review of Œvres complètes de Machiavel, J. V. Perier ed. (1825)
IAGO: Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse steals trash. ’Tis something, nothing;
’Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands.
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Othello, Act 3, sc. 3, l. 182ff (3.3.182-188) (1603)
(Source)
Everywhere inequality is a cause of revolution, but an inequality in which there is no proportion — for instance, a perpetual monarchy among equals; and always it is the desire of equality which rises in rebellion.
Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher
Politics [Πολιτικά], Book 5, ch. 1, sec. 11 / 1301b [tr. Jowett (1865)]
(Source)
Alternate translations:
- "Inequality is always the occasion of sedition, but not when those who are unequal are treated in a different manner correspondent to that inequality. Thus kingly power is unequal when exercised over equals. Upon the whole, those who aim after an equality are the cause of seditions." [tr. Ellis (1912)]
- "For party strife is everywhere due to inequality, where classes that are unequal do not receive a share of power in proportion (for a lifelong monarchy is an unequal feature when it exists among equals); for generally the motive for factious strife is the desire for equality." [tr. Rackham (1932)]
- "Factional conflict is everywhere the result of inequality, at any rate where there is no proportion among those who are unequal (a permanent kingship is unequal if it exists among equal persons); in general, it is equality they seek when they engage in factional conflict." [tr. Lord (1984)]
- "Faction, indeed, is everywhere due to inequality, when unequals do not receive what is proportionate (for example, a permanent kingship is unequal if it exists among equals), since people generally engage in faction in pursuit of equality." [tr. Reeve (2007)]
Happy or unhappy, families are all mysterious. We have only to imagine how differently we would be described — and will be, after our deaths — by each of the family members who believe they know us.
Gloria Steinem (b. 1934) American feminist, journalist, activist
“Ruth’s Song,” Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1984)
To die for a religion is easier than to live it absolutely.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
“Deutches Requiem” [tr. Palley (1958)]
I believe there is no philosophical high-road in science, with epistemological signposts. No, we are in a jungle and find our way by trial and error, building our road behind us as we proceed. We do not find signposts at crossroads, but our own scouts erect them, to help the rest.
Max Born (1882-1970) German physicist
Experiment and Theory in Physics (1943)
In political institutions, almost everything we call an abuse was once a remedy.
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées (1838) [ed. Auster (1983)]
Responsibility is the price of freedom.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
An American Bible [ed. Alice Hubbard] (1918)
It is not difficult to show, by abundant instances, that to extend the bounds of what may be called moral police, until it encroaches on the most unquestionably legitimate liberty of the individual, is one of the most universal of all human propensities.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) English philosopher and economist
On Liberty, ch. 4 “Of the Limits to the Authority of Society Over the Individual” (1859)
(Source)
Men should be taught and won over by reason, not by blows, insults, and corporal punishments. I therefore most earnestly admonish the adherents of the true religion not to injure or insult the Galilaeans in any way … Those who are in the wrong in matters of supreme importance are objects of pity rather than of hate ….
Julian II (AD 331-363), Emperor of Rome (355-363) [Flavius Claudius Julianus; Julian the Apostate; Julian the Philosopher]
Edict to the People of Bostra
It should be noted that no ethically-trained software engineer would ever consent to write a “DestroyBaghdad” procedure. Basic professional ethics would instead require him to write a “DestroyCity” procedure, to which “Baghdad” could be given as a parameter.
Nathaniel Borenstein (b. 1957) American research scientist, programmer, writer
“Computational Mail as Network Infrastructure for Computer-Supported Cooperative Work,” Footnote 1 (1992)
Towering is the confidence of twenty-one.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (9 Jan 1758)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
My belief has always been … that wherever in this land any individual’s Constitutional rights are being unjustly denied, it is the obligation of the federal government — at point of bayonet if necessary — to restore that individual’s Constitutional rights.
Ronald Reagan (1911-2006) US President (1981-89), politician, actor
News conference, Washington (17 May 1983)
When they call you a saint, it means basically that you are not to be taken seriously.
Dorothy Day (1897-1980) American journalist, Catholic social activist
(Attributed)
To rule one’s anger is well; to prevent it is still better.
Tryon Edwards (1809-1894) American theologian, writer, lexicographer
A Dictionary of Thoughts (1908 ed.)
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where –” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“-– so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, ‘if you only walk long enough.”Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) English writer and mathematician [pseud. of Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson]
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
Christopher Columbus, as everyone knows, is honoured by posterity because he was the last to discover America.
James Joyce (1882-1941) Irish writer, poet
“The Mirage of the Fisherman of Aran: England’s Safety Valve in Case of War,” Piccolo della Sera (5 Sep 1912)
The denunciation of the young is a necessary part of the hygiene of older people, and greatly assists the circulation of their blood.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
“Age and Death,” Afterthoughts (1931)
Neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e’er prevail against us.William Wordsworth (1770-1850) English poet
“Lines Composed A Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” (13 Jul 1798)
To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; & believing he never claimed any other.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1803-04-21) to Benjamin Rush
(Source)
Risks, I like to say, always pay off. You learn what to do, or what not to do.
Jonas Salk (1914-1995) American medical researcher and virologist
Interview, Academy of Achievement, San Diego (16 May 1991)
(Source)
Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper and loss of self control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter to J.M. Cutts (26 Oct 1863)
Y’know, watching government regulators trying to keep up with the world is my favorite sport.
Neal Stephenson (b. 1959) American novelist
Snow Crash, ch. 14 (1992)
You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.
Henry Ford (1863-1947) American industrialist
(Attributed)
A reform is a correction of abuses; a revolution is a transfer of power.
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) English novelist and politician
Speech, House of Commons (1866)
Planning ahead is a measure of class. The rich and even the middle class plan for future generations, but the poor can plan ahead only a few weeks or days.
Gloria Steinem (b. 1934) American feminist, journalist, activist
“The Time Factor,” Ms. (Mar 1980)
Be prepared for Truth at all hours and in the most fantastic disguises. This is the only safety.
Christopher Morley (1890-1957) American journalist, novelist, essayist, poet
Inward Ho!, ch. 1 (1923)
It’s a particular Observation I have always made, That of all Mortals, a Critick is the silliest; for by inuring himself to examine all Things, whether they are of Consequence or not, he never looks upon any Thing but with a Design of passing Sentence upon it; by which Means, he is never a Companion, but always a Censor.
Richard Steele (1672-1729) Irish writer and politician
The Tatler, #29 (1709)
I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice; and have received a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter to James H. Hacket (2 Nov 1863)
Modern man lives under the illusion that he knows what he wants, while he actually wants what he is supposed to want.
Erich Fromm (1900-1980) American psychoanalyst and social philosopher
Escape from Freedom, ch. 7 (1941)
Courage (in a soldier) is maintained by a certain anger; anger is a little blind and likes to strike out. And from this follows a thousand abuses, a thousand evils and misfortunes that are impossible to predict in an army during war.
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], 1814 entry [tr. Auster (1983)]
(Source)
I could not find an analog in other translations of the Pensées.
I had imagined that the prelates of the Galilaeans were under greater obligations to me than to my predecessor. For in his reign many of them were banished, persecuted, and imprisoned, and many of the so-called heretics were executed … all of this has been reversed in my reign; the banished are allowed to return, and confiscated goods have been returned to the owners. But such is their folly and madness that, just because they can no longer be despots, … or carry out their designs first against their brethren, and then against us, the worshippers of the gods, they are inflamed with fury and stop at nothing in their unprincipled attempts to alarm and enrage the people.
Julian II (AD 331-363), Emperor of Rome (355-363) [Flavius Claudius Julianus; Julian the Apostate; Julian the Philosopher]
Edict to the people of Bostra
Big Brother Is Watching You.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1.1 (1949)
Silence is equivalent to confession.
The Talmud (AD 200-500) Collection of Jewish rabbinical writings
(Unreferenced)
In Louis I. Newman, The Talmudic Anthology, ch. 189 (1945)
The final end of every political institution is the preservation of the natural and imprescribable rights of man. These rights are those of liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
(Other Authors and Sources)
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, France, Article 2 (26 Aug 1789)
We boil at different degrees.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Eloquence,” Silence and Solitude (1870)
Let’s get out of these wet clothes and into a dry Martini.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Anonymous
Line coined by Robert Benchley's press agent in the 1920s and used by Mae West in the film Every Day's a Holiday (1937).
A man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (Mar 1750)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Administrivia: Running on Auto-Pilot
I’m going to be away from my computer for a few weeks, on vacation. But I’ve pre-loaded those weeks with the usual dose of WIST each weekday, so, if all goes well, you won’t even notice I’m gone. If all goes not well, I won’t be able to do anything about it for a while. So … here’s hoping all goes well.
I feel that the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more.
Jonas Salk (1914-1995) American medical researcher and virologist
Speech, Receiving the Congressional Medal for Distinguished Civilian Achievement (23 Apr 1956)
This was Salk's personal motto, and several variations can be found in his writing and remarks, e.g., "The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more."
A man is a fool if he drinks before he reaches the age of 50, and a fool if he doesn’t afterward.
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) American architect, interior designer, writer, educator [b. Frank Lincoln Wright]
In New York Times (22 Jun 1958)
The whole Business of the Poor is to administer to the Idleness, Folly, and Luxury of the Rich; and that of the Rich, in return, to find the best Methods of confirming the Slavery and increasing the Burdens of the Poor.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Anglo-Irish statesman, orator, philosopher
A Vindication of Natural Society (1756)
— Then, said Cranly, you do not intend to become a protestant?
— I said that I had lost the faith, Stephen answered, but not that I had lost self-respect. What kind of liberation would that be to forsake an absurdity which is logical and coherent and to embrace one which is illogical and incoherent?James Joyce (1882-1941) Irish writer, poet
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, ch. 5 (1916)
(Source)
The educator tries to tell people how to think; the propagandist what to think. The educator strives to develop individual responsibility; the propagandist, mass effects. … The educator fails unless he achieves an open mind; the propagandist, unless he achieves a closed mind.
Everett Dean Martin (1880-1941) American educator, minister, writer, lecturer
“Our Invisible Masters,” Forum, vol. 81 (1929)
To love the worthy people who surround me, shun the evil ones, enjoy the good things in life, endure the bad, and remember to forget. This is my optimism. It has helped me to live. May it help you also.
André Maurois (1885-1967) French author [b. Émile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog]
Lettres a l’Inconnue (1953)
To be good and to be ill spoken of by the people
Is better than to be bad and considered good by them.Sa'adi (1184-1283/1291?) Persian poet [a.k.a. Sa'di, Moslih Eddin Sa'adi, Mushrif-ud-Din Abdullah, Muslih-ud-Din Mushrif ibn Abdullah, Mosleh al-Din Saadi Shirazi, Shaikh Mosslehedin Saadi Shirazi]
The Gulistan, ch. 2, Story 25 (1258) [tr. Rehatsek (1964)]
Son, in politics you’ve got to learn that overnight chicken shit can turn to chicken salad.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Comment (1958) to reporters
(Source)
Johnson had once remarked in private to reporters about a speech by Richard Nixon: "Boys, I may not know much, but I know chicken shit from chicken salad." But in 1958, Nixon as Vice President toured South America, and stood up to an angry mob in Caracas, Venezuela. Nixon was celebrated when he returned to the US, including by Johnson, who was Democratic Senate Majority Leader.
When asked by a reporter about that turn-about, Johnson gave the above quotation, quoted in Gary Wills, "Hurrah for Politicians," Harper's Magazine (1975-09).
LBJ apparently liked the parallel construction, using it on other occasions. When George H. W. Bush asked Johnson whether he should stay in his powerful position in the House, or run for Senate, Johnson told him, "The difference between the Senate the House is like the difference between chicken salad and chicken shit."
Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world. If I moved to a martial-arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live, and devoted it to wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being bad.
Hiro used to feel this way, too, but then he ran into Raven. In a way, this was liberating. He no longer has to worry about being the baddest motherfucker in the world. The position is taken.
Neal Stephenson (b. 1959) American novelist
Snow Crash, ch. 36 (1992)
Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand.
George Eliot (1819-1880) English novelist [pseud. of Mary Ann Evans]
Silas Marner, ch. 18 (1861)
Money is property; it is not speech. Speech has the power to inspire volunteers to perform a multitude of tasks on a campaign trail, on a battleground, or even on a football field. Money, meanwhile, has the power to pay hired laborers to perform the same tasks. It does not follow, however, that the First Amendment provides the same measure of protection to the use of money to accomplish such goals as it provides to the use of ideas to achieve the same results.
John Paul Stevens (1920-2019) American lawyer, US Supreme Court Justice (1975-2010)
Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC, 528 U.S. 377 (2000) [Concurring]
I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.
Gloria Steinem (b. 1934) American feminist, journalist, activist
Radio interview, BBC (2 Apr 1984)
Dictatorships foster oppression, dictatorships foster servitude, dictatorships foster cruelty; more abominable is the fact that they foster idiocy.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) Argentine writer
Statement to the Argentine Society of Letters (c.1946)
There are no rights whatever without corresponding duties.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) English poet and critic
Table Talk, 20 Nov 1831 (1835)
If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Italian friar, philosopher, theologian
(Attributed)
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Luke 12:48 (NIV)
(Source)
Alt. trans.:
- KJV: "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."
- GNT: "Much is required from the person to whom much is given; much more is required from the person to whom much more is given."
- NRSV: "From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded."
Laugh and the world laughs with you,
Weep and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) American author and poet.
“Solitiude,” ll. 1-4, Poems of Passion (1883)
(Source)
Possibly the most famous of Wilcox' works, these are the first four lines (the only ones anyone remembers) of three eight-line stanzas. First published in the New York Sun (1883-02-25); Wilcox titled it "The Way of the World," but the Sun renamed it "Solitude," and Wilcox used that title when she included it in her book. She was paid $5 by the newspaper.
Necessity can make a doubtful action innocent, but it cannot make it commendable.
[La nécessité peut rendre innocente une action douteuse ; mais elle ne saurait la rendre louable.]
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 9 “De la Sagesse, de la Vertu, etc. [On Wisdom and Virtue],” ¶ 20 (1850 ed.) [tr. Auster (1983), 1808]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Necessity may render a doubtful act innocent, but it cannot make it praiseworthy.
[tr. Attwell (1896), ¶ 133]Necessity may render a doubtful action innocent; but it cannot make it praiseworthy.
[tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 8, ¶ 16]
Are you not aware that all offerings whether great or small that are brought to the gods with piety have equal value, whereas without piety, I will not say hecatombs, but, by the gods, even the Olympian sacrifice of a thousand oxen is merely empty expenditure and nothing else?
Julian II (AD 331-363), Emperor of Rome (355-363) [Flavius Claudius Julianus; Julian the Apostate; Julian the Philosopher]
“To the Cynic Heracleios” [The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 2, ed. W. Heinemann (1913)]
That cannot be safe which is not honorable.
Tacitus (c.56-c.120) Roman historian, orator, politician [Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus]
The Histories, 1.33 [tr. Church and Brodribb (1942)]
Quoting an unnamed Roman.
The problem with some people is that when they aren’t drunk, they’re sober.
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet and dramatist
(Attributed)
I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.
Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet
Speech, Berkeley, California (1935)
Every whisper of infamy is industriously circulated, every hint of suspicion eagerly improved, and every failure of conduct joyfully published by those whose interest it is that the eye and voice of the public should be employed on any rather than themselves.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #76 (8 Dec 1750)
(Source)
When a man is unable to understand a thing, he ridicules it.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Thoughts and Aphorisms, 13.5 (1886-1893) [tr. Wiener (1905)]
When I was young there was no respect for the young, and now that I am old there is no respect for the old. I missed out coming and going.
J. B. Priestley (1894-1984) English author, dramatist [John Boyne Priestley]
(Attributed)
Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword.Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
“The Ballad of Reading Gaol” (1898)
To preserve the freedom of the human mind, then, and freedom of the press, every spirit should be ready to devote itself to martyrdom; for as long as we may think as we will, and speak as we think, the condition of man will proceed in improvement.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to William Green Mumford (18 Jun 1799)
(Source)
I confess that I do not see what good it does to fulminate against the English tyranny while the Roman tyranny occupies the palace of the soul.
James Joyce (1882-1941) Irish writer, poet
“Ireland, Island of Saints and Sages,” lecture, Università Popolare, Trieste (27 Apr 1907)
The paradox of Russian history lies in the continuing ambivalence between messianic drive and a pervasive sense of insecurity.
Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
Diplomacy, ch. 6 (1994)
Stand with anybody that stands right. Stand will him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Peoria, Illinois (16 Oct 1854)
There are two modes of establishing our reputation: to be praised by honest men, and to be abused by rogues.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 218 (1820)
(Source)
Now we may have more preachers out there than we have drinkers. But a fellow told me a story one time about a man down in Kentucky, where they make bourbon. And he said you can take a jigger, or two jiggers, and get by all right. But if you try to take the whole bottle, why you have lost what you started with. So don’t try to take it too quick. And don’t try to do all of it at once.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1965-04-02), “Remarks to a Group of Southern Negroes”
Johnson frequently used this metaphor. E.g., on submitting major policy legislation to Congress in small, individual bills, rather than as a full program:It's like a bottle of bourbon. If you take it a glass at a time, it's fine. But if you drink the whole bottle in one evening, you have troubles. I plan to take a sip at a time and enjoy myself.
[Source]
And along the same lines:Congress is like a whiskey drinker. You can put an awful lot of whiskey into a man if you just let him sip it. But if you try to force the whole bottle down his throat at one time, he'll just throw it up.
[Source]
When you are wrestling for possession of a sword, the man with the handle always wins.
Neal Stephenson (b. 1959) American novelist
Snow Crash, ch. 3 (1992)
The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held, but in how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment. This is the way in which opinions are held in science, as opposed to the way in which they are held in theology. The decisions of the Council of Nicaea are still authoritative, but in science fourth century opinions no longer carry any weight.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
“Philosophy and Politics,” lecture, National Book League, London (1946-10-23)
(Source)
Collected in Unpopular Essays (1950).
Troubles forereckoned are doubly suffered.
Christian Nestell Bovee (1820-1904) American epigrammatist, writer, publisher
(Attributed)
(Source)
Quoted in Orison Swett Marden, The Secret of Achievement (1898).
The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
“Reconstruction,” Atlantic (Dec 1866)
Oppression has no logic — just a self-fulfilling prophecy, justified by a self-perpetuating system.
Gloria Steinem (b. 1934) American feminist, journalist, activist
Moving Beyond Words, Part 2 (1994)
However low and poor the taking of Snuff argues a Man to be in his own Stock of Thought, or Means to employ his Brains and his Fingers, yet there is a poorer Creature in the World than He, and this is a Borrower of Snuff; a Fellow that keeps no Box of his own, but is always asking others for a Pinch.
Richard Steele (1672-1729) Irish writer and politician
The Tatler, #35 (1709)
But I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that makes you “pro-life.” In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking. If all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed — and why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not “pro-life”. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.
Joan D. Chittister (b. 1936) American Benedictine nun, author and lecturer
Interview with Bill Moyer, “NOW” (PBS) (12 Nov 2004)
(Source)
A man may not be responsible for his actions in an hour of tribulation and pain.
The Talmud (AD 200-500) Collection of Jewish rabbinical writings
(Unreferenced)
Can anyone be proved innocent, if it be enough to have accused him?
Julian II (AD 331-363), Emperor of Rome (355-363) [Flavius Claudius Julianus; Julian the Apostate; Julian the Philosopher]
In Ammianus Marcellinus, History, Book 18
At the embezzlement trial of Numerius, governor of Gallia Narbonensis. Response to the prosecutor, Delphidius, who asked if anyone could be found guilty if they only needed to deny the charges.
There are inalienable obligations as well as inalienable rights.
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) Polish-American rabbi, theologian, philosopher
Who Is Man? ch. 6 (1965)
Strike out courageously! Do not ask where your efforts will take you on the infinite oceans! It is my will that you should swim.
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Alsatian philosopher, physician, philanthropist, polymath
Christianity and the Religions of the World (1939)
Oh the nerves, the nerves; the mysteries of this machine called Man! Oh the little that unhinges it: poor creatures that we are!
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) English writer and social critic
The Chimes, “Third Quarter” (1844)
It is our first duty to serve society, and, after we have done that, we may attend wholly to the salvation of our own souls.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (15 Feb 1766)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
Since 1930 I had seen little evidence that the USSR was progressing toward anything that one could truly call Socialism. On the contrary, I was struck by clear signs of its transformation into a hierarchical society, in which the rulers have no more reason to give up their power than any other ruling class.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Animal Farm, Preface [Ukrainian ed.] (Mar 1947)
No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. — He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.
Ben Jonson (1572-1637) English playwright and poet
(Attributed)
Attributed in Tryon Edwards, A Dictionary of Thoughts (1891 ed.).
On the choice of friends
Our good or evil name depends.John Gay (1685-1732) English poet and playwright
Fables, 1.23 (1727-38)
I knew from the start that I was bound to be crucified either way I moved. If I left the woman I really loved — the Great Society — in order to get involved with that bitch of a war on the other side of the world, then I would lose everything at home. All my programs. All my hopes to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. All my dreams to provide education and medical care to the browns and the blacks and the lame and the poor. But if I left that war and let the Communists take over South Vietnam, then I would be seen as a coward and my nation would be seen as an appeaser and we would find it impossible to accomplish anything for anybody anywhere on the entire globe.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Comment (1970) to Doris Kearns Goodwin
(Source)
Quoted in Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, ch. 9 "Vietnam" (1976). Kearns was an intern and staff member in the Johnson White House, and worked with him on his memoirs.
That, as far as she could tell, was the purpose of the religion she had been brought up in: It made people feel better when really horrible things happened, and it offered a repertoire of ceremonies that were used to add a touch of class to such goings-on as shacking up with someone and throwing dirt on a corpse.
Neal Stephenson (b. 1959) American novelist
Reamde, Part 1 “Nine Dragons – Day 4,” prologue (2011)
We never can be sure in advance of any man that his salvation by the way of love is hopeless.
William James (1842-1910) American psychologist and philosopher
The Varieties of Religious Experience, 14 and 15 (1902)
After all, our worst misfortunes never happen, and most miseries lie in anticipation.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright
(Attributed)
Attributed in Tryon Edwards, A Dictionary of Thoughts (1891 ed.)
Let our affection flow out to our fellows; it would operate in a day the greatest of all revolutions.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Man the Reformer,” lecture, Boston (1841-01-25)
If men could menstruate … clearly, menstruation would become an enviable, boast-worthy, masculine event: Men would brag about how long and how much. … Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. Of course, some men would still pay for the prestige of such commercial brands as Paul Newman Tampons, Muhammed Ali’s Rope-a-Dope Pads, John Wayne Maxi Pads, and Joe Namath Jock Shields — “For Those Light Bachelor Days.”
Gloria Steinem (b. 1934) American feminist, journalist, activist
“If Men Could Menstruate,” Ms. (Oct 1978)
There is no Pleasure like that of receiving Praise from the Praiseworthy.
Richard Steele (1672-1729) Irish writer and politician
The Tatler, #89 (1709)
Even in the most wretched being there is a tiny hook on which a thread of salvation could be fastened.
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) Austrian writer
Aphorisms [Aphorismen] (1880) [tr. Scrase and Mieder (1994)]
(Source)
Let every man shovel out his own snow and the whole city will be passable.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1840-06/08)
It is good, too, that we sometimes suffer opposition, and that men think ill of us and misjudge us, even when we do and mean well. Such things are an aid to humility, and preserve us from pride and vainglory. For we more readily turn to God as our inward witness, when men despise us and think no good of us.
[Bonum est quod patiamur quandoque contradictiones, et male et imperfecte de nobis sentiatur, etiamsi bene agimus, et intendimus. Ista sæpe juvant ad humilitatem, et a vana gloria nos defendunt. Tunc enim melius interiorem testem Deum quærimus, quando foris vilipendimur ab hominibus, et non bene de nobis creditur.]
Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380-1471) German-Dutch priest, author
The Imitation of Christ [De Imitatione Christi], Book 1, ch. 12, v. 1 (1.12.1) (c. 1418-27) [tr. Sherley-Price (1952)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:It is good also that we suffer sometime contradiction, and that we be holden of others as evil, and wretched, and sinful, though we do well and intend well: for such things help us to meekness and mightily defend us from vain-glory and pride. We take God the better to be our judge and witness, when we be outwardly despised in the world, and the world judgeth not well of us.
[tr. Whitford/Raynal (1530/1871)]It also is good that we sometimes suffer contradiction, and that we be thought of by others as evil and wretched and sinful, though we do well and intend well; such things help us to humility, and mightily defend us from vainglory and pride. We take God better to be our judge and witness when we are outwardly despised in the world and the world does not judge well of us.
[tr. Whitford/Gardiner (1530/1955)]It is good for us sometimes to be crossed and contradicted, yea to be ill spoken of, and ill thought of, although we both doe and mean well. These wonderfully increase in us the vertue of humility, and strongly beat downe in us the vice of vain-glory. For then we more earnestly call God to witnesse in us and for us, when men abroad dis-esteeme us and give no credit unto us.
[tr. Page (1639), 1.3.3-5]The Injuries and contumelious Usage, the Calumnies and Censures of them who speak and think ill of us, bring their Profit with them too; even when most wrongful, most undeserved. For these oftentimes are an occasion of rectifying our Measures, as bringing us to a juster and more modest Opinion of our selves: They cure our Ambition and Vain-glory, and convince us how vain a thing it is, to thrill after Reputation and the Praise of Men, when even Innocence and Goodness cannot protect us from Slander and Reproaches. They teach us to set a due Value upon the Testimony of our own Consciences, and the righteous Approbation of God, the Searcher of Hearts; when that which he will not fail to commend and reward, cannot escape the Contempt and Condemnation of the World, nor prevail for so much as fair Quarter, from our mistaken and injurious Brethren.
[tr. Stanhope (1696; 1706 ed.)]It is good for him also to meet with contradiction and reproach; and to be evil thought of, and evil spoken of, even when his intentions are upright, and his actions blameless; for this keeps him humble, and is a powerful antidote to the poison of vain glory: then chiefly it is, that we have recourse to the witness within us, which is God; when we are outwardly despised, and held in no degree of esteem and favor among men.
[tr. Payne (1803)]It is good that we be sometimes contradicted; and that there be an evil or a lessening conceit had of us; and this, although we do and intend well. These things help often to the attaining of humility, and defend us from vain glory: for then we chiefly seek God for our inward witness, when outwardly we be contemned by men, and when there is no credit given unto us.
[ed. Parker (1841)]It is good for us also to meet with contradiction and reproach; and to be evil thought of, and evil spoken of; even when our intentions are upright, and our actions blameless; for this keeps us humble, and is a powerful antidote to the poison of vain glory. Then chiefly it is, that we have recourse to the witness within us, which is GOD; when we are outwardly despised, and held in no esteem and favor among men.
[tr. Dibdin (1851)]It is good that we sometimes suffer contradictions, and that men have an evil or imperfect opinion of us, even when we do and intend well. These things are often helps to humility, and defend us from vain glory. For we then better seek God as our inward witness, when outwardly we are despised by men, and little credit is given to us.
[ed. Bagster (1860)]It is good that we sometimes endure contradictions, and are hardly and unfairly judged, when we do and mean what is good. For these things help us to be humble, and shield us from vain-glory. For then we seek the more earnestly the witness of God, when men speak evil of us falsely, and give us no credit for good.
[tr. Benham (1874)]It is good that we be sometimes contradicted, and this, although we do and intend well. These things help often to the attaining of humility, and defend us from vain glory: for then we are more inclined to seek God for our inward witness.
[tr. Anon. (1901)]It is good for us sometimes to suffer contradiction, to be misjudged by men even though we do well and mean well. These things help us to be humble and shield us from vainglory. When to all outward appearances men give us no credit, when they do not think well of us, then we are more inclined to seek God Who sees our hearts.
[tr. Croft/Bolton (1940)]It is good for us sometimes to endure contradictions, and to be thought of as bad or imperfect, even when we do and mean well. Such things often help towards meekness, and protect us from idle boasting. For then we look to God, the better inward witness, when we are disparaged from without by men, and no good is credited to us.
[tr. Daplyn (1952)]It's good for you sometimes to hear men's voices raised against you, and to find that you are making a bad impression, or at least a false impression, on others, even when you are doing your best, and with the best intentions. It often makes for humility; prevents you from having too good an opinion of yourself. It's when we make a bad surface impression, and people are ready to think ill of us, that we learn to fall back upon God's judgements, because he witnesses all our actions from within.
[tr. Knox-Oakley (1959)]It is a good thing that we are maligned now and again, and are misjudged and disliked even when we mean and do well. This sort of thing is often a great help in achieving humility, and it keeps us from groundless self-satisfaction; for we are more ready to listen for God’s assuring voice within, when those around believe the worst of us and treat us with contempt
[tr. Knott (1962)]It is good too that we should be contradicted and ill-thought of, even when we act with the best intentions. Experiences like these help us towards humility and guard us against vainglory. When outwardly we are slandered and ill-thought of, then we will yearn more anxiously for God’s inward witness.
[tr. Rooney (1979)]Sometimes it is good that we put up with people speaking against us, and sometimes it is good that we be thought of as bad and flawed, even when we do good things and have good intentions. Such troubles are often aids to humility, and they protect us from pride. Indeed, we are sometimes better seeking God when people have nothing but bad things to say about us and when they refuse to give us credit for the good things we have done!
[tr. Creasy (1989)]
