An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
“The Critic as Artist,” Part 2 [Gilbert], Intentions (1891)
(Source)
Respectfulness, without the rules of propriety, becomes laborious bustle; carefulness, without the rules of propriety, becomes timidity; boldness, without the rules of propriety, becomes insubordination; straightforwardness, without the rules of propriety, becomes rudeness.
[恭而無禮則勞、愼而無禮則葸、勇而無禮則亂、直而無禮則絞。]
Confucius (c. 551- c. 479 BC) Chinese philosopher, sage, politician [孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ, K'ung Fu-tzu, K'ung Fu Tse), 孔子 (Kǒngzǐ, Chungni), 孔丘 (Kǒng Qiū, K'ung Ch'iu)]
The Analects [論語, 论语, Lúnyǔ], Book 8, verse 2 (8.2.1) (6th C. BC – AD 3rd C.) [tr. Legge (1861)]
(Source)
(Source (Chinese)). Brooks (below) believes this text was interpolated into Book 8 at the time that Book 14 was collected. Alternate translations:Without the Proprieties, we have these results: for deferential demeanour, a worried one; for calm attentiveness, awkward bashfulness; for manly conduct, disorderliness; for straightforwardness, perversity.
[tr. Jennings (1895)]Earnestness without judgment becomes pedantry; caution without judgment becomes timidity; courage without judgment leads to crime; uprightness without judgment makes men tyrannical.
[tr. Ku Hung-Ming (1898)]Courtesy uncontrolled by the laws of good taste becomes labored effort, caution uncontrolled becomes timidity, boldness uncontrolled becomes recklessness, and frankness uncontrolled become effrontery.
[tr. Soothill (1910)]Respect without rules of procedure becomes laborious fuss: scrupulosity without rules of procedure, timidity (fear to show the thought); boldness without such rules breeds confusion; directness without rules of procedure becomes rude.
[tr. Pound (1933)]Courtesy not bounded by the prescriptions of ritual becomes tiresome. Caution not bounded by the prescriptions of ritual becomes timidity, daring becomes turbulence, inflexibility becomes harshness.
[tr. Waley (1938)]Not to follow the rites in being modest is annoyance. Not to follow them in exercising care is timidity. Not to follow them in acts of bravery is confusion. Not to follow them in our uprightness is brusqueness.
[tr. Ware (1950)]Unless a man has the spirit of the rites, in being respectful he will wear himself out, in being careful he will become timid, in having courage he will become unruly, and in being forthright he will become intolerant.
[tr. Lau (1979)]If one is courteous but does without ritual, then one dissipates one's energies; if one is cautious but does without ritual, then one becomes timid; if one is bold but does without ritual, then one becomes reckless; if one is forthright but does without ritual, then one becomes rude.
[tr. Dawson (1993)]Without ritual, courtesy is tiresome; without ritual, prudence is timid; without ritual, bravery is quarrelsome; without ritual, frankness is hurtful.
[tr. Leys (1997)]Respectfulness without the rituals becomes laboriousness; discretion without the rituals becomes apprehensiveness; courage without the rituals becomes rebelliousness; straightforwardness without the rituals becomes impetuosity.
[tr. Huang (1997)]One would be tired if one is humble but not polite; One would be week if one is cautious but not polite; One would be foolhardy if one is brave but not polite; One would be caustic if one is frank but not polite.
[tr. Cai/Yu (1998), #190]Deference unmediated by observing ritual propriety [li] is lethargy; caution unmediated by observing ritual propriety is timidity; boldness unmediated by observing ritual propriety is rowdiness; candor unmediated by observing ritual propriety is rudeness.
[tr. Ames/Rosemont (1998)]If he is respectful without propriety, he becomes wearisome. If he is careful without propriety, he becomes finicky. If he is brave without propriety, he becomes disruptive. If he is upright without propriety, he becomes censorious.
[tr. Brooks/Brooks (1998)]Reverence becomes tedium without Ritual, and caution becomes timidity. Without Ritual, courage becomes recklessness, and truth becomes intolerance.
[tr. Hinton (1998)]If you are respectful but lack ritual you will become exasperating; if you are careful but lack ritual you will become timid; if you are courageous but lack ritual you will become unruly; and if you are upright but lack ritual you will become inflexible.
[tr. Slingerland (2003)]Courtesy without ritual becomes labored; caution without ritual becomes timidity; daring without ritual becomes riotousness; directness without ritual becomes obtrusiveness.
[tr. Watson (2007)]Unless a man acts according to the spirit of the rites, in being respectful, he will tire himself out; in being cautious, he will become timid; in being brave, he will become unruly; in being forthright, he will become derisive.
[tr. Chin (2014)]
We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon.
Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) German politician
(Attributed)
Can you find any region where Christians once ruled where the church has prospered in the long run? Scan the whole of Europe: England, Sweden, Denmark, and so on. Could anyone dispute that these countries are today on the whole more secular and less open to the gospel than regions that have had little or not contact with the gospel? […] It teaches us that whenever Christians have gotten what so many American evangelicals today are trying to get — namely, the power to enforce their righteous will on others — it eventually harms the church as well as the culture. The lesson of history, a lesson the Devil has known all along, is this: The best way to defeat the kingdom of God is to empower the church to rule the kingdom of the world — for then it becomes the kingdom of the world! The best way to get people to lay down the cross is to hand them the sword!
Gregory A. "Greg" Boyd (b. 1957) American evangelical pastor, Christian theologian, author.
The Myth of a Christian Nation (2007)
Let us make it evident that we intend to do justice. Then let us make it equally evident that we will not tolerate injustice being done us in return. Let us further make it evident that we use no words which we are not which prepared to back up with deeds, and that while our speech is always moderate, we are ready and willing to make it good. Such an attitude will be the surest possible guarantee of that self-respecting peace, the attainment of which is and must ever be the prime aim of a self-governing people.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Speech, Minnesota State Fair (2 Sep 1901)
If something in you yourself says “you aren’t a painter” — IT’S THEN THAT YOU SHOULD PAINT, old chap, and that voice will be silenced too, but precisely because of that.
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) Dutch painter
Letter to Theo van Gogh (28 Oct 1883)
(Source)
Alt. trans.: "If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."
TROUT: I personally think we
developed language because of our deep inner need
to complain.Jane Wagner (b. 1935) American humorist, writer, director
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, Part 2 (1985) [perf. Lily Tomlin]
(Source)
Variant: "Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain."
Each nation, knowing it has the only true religion and the only sane system of government, each despising all the others, each an ass and not suspecting it.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
What Is Man? ch. 6 (1906)
A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)
Speech, Amherst College (26 Oct 1963)
The greatest favors may be done so awkwardly and so bunglingly as to offend; and disagreeable things may be done so agreeably as almost to oblige.
Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #249 (7 Apr 1751)
(Source)
The human race’s prospects of survival were considerably better when we were defenseless against tigers than they are today when we have become defenseless against ourselves.
Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) English historian
Speech, World Food Congress, Washington, DC (5 Jun 1963)
The price we have to pay for money is paid in liberty.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Familiar Studies of Men and Books, “Henry David Thoreau” (2) (1882)
(Source)
The contented and economically comfortable have a very discriminating view of government. Nobody is ever indignant about bailing out failed banks and failed savings and loans associations. … But when taxes must be paid for the lower middle class and poor, the government assumes an aspect of wickedness.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
The Guardian (25 May 1992)
Let us, on both sides, lay aside all arrogance. Let us not, on either side, claim that we have already discovered the truth. Let us seek it together as something which is known to neither of us. For then only may we seek it, lovingly and tranquilly, if there be no bold presumption that it is already discovered and possessed.
[Ut autem facilius mitescatis, et non inimico animo vobisque pernicioso mihi adversemini, illud quovis iudice impetrare me a vobis oportet, ut ex utraque parte omnis arrogantia deponatur. Nemo nostrum dicat iam se invenisse veritatem: sic eam quaeramus, quasi ab utrisque nesciatur. Ita enim diligenter et concorditer quaeri poterit, si nulla temeraria praesumptione inventa et cognita esse credatur.]
Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Christian church father, philosopher, saint [b. Aurelius Augustinus]
Against the Epistle of Manichaeus [Contra epistolam Manichaei], ch. 3, para. 4 (AD 397)
Alt. trans: "On the other hand, all must allow that you owe it to me, in return, to lay aside all arrogance on your part too, that so you may be the more disposed to gentleness, and may not oppose me in a hostile spirit, to your own hurt. Let neither of us assert that he has found truth; let us seek it as if it were unknown to us both. For truth can be sought with zeal and unanimity if by no rash presumption it is believed to have been already found and ascertained."
In today’s materialistic world there is a risk of people becoming slaves to money, as though they were simply cogs in a huge money-making machine. This does nothing for human dignity, freedom, and genuine well-being. Wealth should serve humanity, and not the other way around.
The Dalai Lama (b. 1935) Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader [The 14th Dalai Lama; a/k/a Lhama Thondup / Lhama Dhondrub; b. Tenzin Gyatso]
Google Plus (5 Mar 2012)
Full text.
Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)
Speech, United Nations (20 Sep 1963)
We can afford no liberties with liberty itself.
Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
United States v. Spector, 343 US 169, 180 (1952) (dissenting)
My fellow citizens, we live in a great nation. It’s occasional resemblance to a lunatic asylum is purely coincidental and doubtlessly not the intention of the author of us all.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
“Being an ‘Arthur'”, Mother Jones (Jan/Feb 1992)
We are human because, at a very early stage in the history of the species, our ancestors discovered a way of preserving and disseminating the results of experience. They learned to speak and were thus enabled to translate what they had perceivd, what they had inferred from given fact and home-grown fantasy, into a set of concepts, which could be added to by each generation and bequeathed, a treasure of mingled sense and nonsense, to posterity.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
“Knowledge and Understanding,” Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Other Essays (1956)
We are the manger in which the Lord is born.
Carl Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologist
“A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity,” 5.1 (1942) [tr. Hull (1958)]
An object in motion will always be headed in the wrong direction. An object at rest will always be in the wrong place.
David Gerrold (b. 1944) American author [b. Jerrold David Friedman]
“Gerrold’s Laws of Infernal Dynamics”
In Paul Dickson, The Official Rules (1978)
HARRIS: Why is it that we don’t always recognize the moment when love begins but we always know when it ends?
Steve Martin (b. 1945) American comedian, actor, writer, producer, musician
L. A. Story (1991)
(Source)
The most alarming sign of the state of our society now is that our leaders have the courage to sacrifice the lives of young people in war, but have not the courage to tell us that we must be less greedy and less wasteful.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
“Peaceableness Toward Enemies,” Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community (1993)
O poor mortals, how ye make this Earth bitter for each other; this fearful and wonderful Life fearful and horrible; and Satan has his place in all hearts! Such agonies and ragings and wailings ye have, and have had, in all times: — to be buried all, in so deep silence; and the salt sea is not swoln with your tears.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
The French Revolution: A History, Part 1, Book 5, ch. 5 (1.5.5) (1837)
(Source)
As the prospect of violence mounts within Paris on the night of 13 July 1789. The next day was the storming of the Bastille.
We are most likely to get angry and excited in our opposition to some idea when we ourselves are not quite certain of our own position, and are inwardly tempted to take the other side.
Thomas Mann (1875-1955) German writer, critic, philanthropist, Nobel laureate [Paul Thomas Mann]
Buddenbrooks, 8.2 (1902) [tr. Lowe-Porter (1924)]
One wonders why no one in church history has ever been considered a heretic for being unloving. People were anathematized and often tortured or killed for disagreeing on matters of doctrine or on the authority of the church. Yet no one on record has ever been so much as rebuked for not loving as Christ loved.
Gregory A. "Greg" Boyd (b. 1957) American evangelical pastor, Christian theologian, author.
The Myth of a Christian Nation (2007)
[N]o man and no set of men should be allowed to play the game of competition with loaded dice … Within our own border we stand for truth and honesty in public and in private life; and we war sternly against wrong-doers of every grade. All these efforts are integral parts of the same attempt, the attempt to enthrone justice and righteousness, to secure freedom of opportunity to all of our citizens, now and hereafter, and to set the ultimate interest of all of us above the temporary interest of any individual, class or group.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Special Message to Congress, Report of the National Conservation Commission (22 Jan 1909)
I doubt that any man knows enough to be a pessimist. Neither am I a reckless optimist. I do not think that things necessarily come out all right in the end if left to themselves.
Norman Cousins (1915-1990) American editor
Who Speaks for Man? (1953)Cousins used the phrase on numerous occasions. Variants:
- "No one really knows enough to be a pessimist."
- "No one is smart enough to be a pessimist."
Even today, we are still accused of racism. This is a mistake. We know that all interracial groups in South Africa are relationships in which whites are superior, blacks inferior. So as a prelude whites must be made to realize that they are only human, not superior. Same with blacks. They must be made to realize that they are also human, not inferior.
Stephen Biko (1946-1977) South African civil rights activist
In the Boston Globe (25 Oct 1977)
Of all dangers to a nation, as things exist in our day, there can be no greater one than having certain portions of the people set off from the rest by a line drawn — they are not privileged as others, but degraded, humiliated, made of no account.
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) American poet
Democratic Vistas (1871)
To spell out the obvious is often to call it into question.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
The Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 220 (1955)
(Source)
We can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)
Commencement Address, American University (10 Jun 1963)
Full text.
None are so likely to believe too little as those who have begun by believing too much.
William E. Channing (1780-1842) American moralist, author, cleric, Unitarian theologian
(Attributed)
Quoted by Miguel de Unamuno in The Tragic Sense of Life, and so often attributed to him.
You’re smart too late and old too soon.
Mike Tyson (b. 1966) American boxer
In “With career over, Tyson and fans have reason to be grateful,” Jon Saraceno, USA Today (12 Jun 2005)
Full text.
“My boy,” he says, “always try to rub up against money, for if you can rub up against money long enough, some of it may rub off on you.”
Damon Runyon (1884-1946) American writer and journalist
“A Very Honorable Guy,” Cosmopolitan (Aug 1929)
There’s a certain part of the contented majority who love anybody who is worth a billion dollars.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
The Guardian (23 May 1992)
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land! So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
“I’ve Been To The Mountaintop,” speech, Memphis (3 Apr 1968)
King's final public speech. He was assassinated the following day.
Those who will not reason
Perish in the act:
Those who will not act
Perish for that reason.W. H. Auden (1907-1973) Anglo-American poet [Wystan Hugh Auden]
“Shorts”
Nothing is so full of victory as patience.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Madagascan proverb
The Bill of Rights is not a suicide pact.
Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Terminiello v. City of Chicago, 337 U.S. 37 (1949) [dissenting]
(Source)
Common paraphrase of Jackson's actual comment:This Court has gone far toward accepting the doctrine that civil liberty means the removal of all restraints from these crowds, and that all local attempts to maintain order are impairments of the liberty of the citizen. The choice is not between order and liberty. It is between liberty with order and anarchy without either. There is danger that, if the Court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.
It’s like, duh. Just when you thought there wasn’t a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties, the Republicans go and prove you’re wrong.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
“Is ‘Republican Tax Break For the Rich’ Simply Redundant?” (2000)
Full text.
Human Felicity is produc’d not so much by great Pieces of good Fortune that seldom happen, as by little Advantages that occur every day.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
The Autobiography of Ben Franklin (1771-1790)
Full text.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
If several things that could have gone wrong have not gone wrong, it would have been ultimately beneficial for them to have gone wrong.
(Other Authors and Sources)
The Last Law
In Arthur Bloch, Murphy's Law: Book Two, preface (1980)
TOM: I’ll have a decaf coffee.
TRUDI: I’ll have a decaf espresso.
MORRIS: I’ll have a double decaf cappuccino.
TED: Give me decaffeinated coffee ice cream.
HARRIS: I’ll have a half double decaffeinated half-caf, with a twist of lemon.
TRUDI: I’ll have a twist of lemon.
TOM: I’ll have a twist of lemon.
MORRIS: I’ll have a twist of lemon.
CYNTHIA: I’ll have a twist of lemon.Steve Martin (b. 1945) American comedian, actor, writer, producer, musician
L. A. Story (1991)
(Source)
The ecological teaching of the Bible is simply inescapable: God made the world because He wanted it made. He thinks the world is good, and He loves it. It is His world; He has never relinquished title to it. And He has never revoked the conditions, bearing on His gift to us of the use of it, that oblige us to take excellent care of it.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
“God and Country,” What Are People For? (1990)
I am not resigned; I am not sure life is long enough to learn that lesson.
George Eliot (1819-1880) English novelist [pseud. of Mary Ann Evans]
The Mill on the Floss, ch. 67 (1860)
Full text.
To all who … must now find the will to rebuild; to the oppressed and to those whose lot it is to struggle in financial hardship or in failing health; to my fellow journalists in places where reporting the truth means risking all; and to each of you, Courage.
Dan Rather (b. 1931) American broadcast journalist
Farewell broadcast (9 Mar 2005)
Nations love dangers, and when there are none to be found create them to fill the want.
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées (1838) [tr. Collins (1928)]
Rabid suspicion has nothing in it of skepticism. The suspicious mind believes more than it doubts. It believes in a formidable and ineradicable evil lurking in every person.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
The Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 184 (1955)
(Source)
For one true measure of a nation is its success in fulfilling the promise of a better life for each of its members. Let this be the measure of our nation.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)
Message to Congress, 87th 2nd Spec. Health (27 Feb 1962)
Self-pity in its early stage is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.
Maya Angelou (1928-2014) American poet, memoirist, activist [b. Marguerite Ann Johnson]
Gather Together in My Name, ch. 6 (2009)
Full text.
God gives nothing to those who keep their arms crossed.
(Other Authors and Sources)
West African proverb
That is the use of money: it enables us to get what we want instead of what other people think we want.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism, Capitalism, Sovietism and Fascism, ch. 6 (1928)
People who are in a fortunate position always attribute virtue to what makes them so happy.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
The Guardian (23 May 1992)
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”
You are not judged by the height you have risen, but from the depth you have climbed.
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881)
If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact, not to be solved, but to be coped with over time.
Shimon Peres (1923-2016) Polish-Israeli politician, statesman
(Attributed)
Widely attributed to Peres in different sources. Quoted in the Wall Street Journal (7 Feb 2001). Donald Rumsfeld says that Peres made the observation to him.
We must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
“A Christmas Sermon on Peace,” radio broadcast, CBC (Canada) (24 Dec 1967)
No one will question that this power is the most dangerous one to free government in the whole catalogue of powers. It usually is invoked in haste and excitement when calm legislative consideration of constitutional limitation is difficult. It is executed in a time of patriotic fervor that makes moderation unpopular. And, worst of all, it is interpreted by judges under the influence of the same passions and pressures. Always, as in this case, the Government urges hasty decision to forestall some emergency or serve some purpose and pleads that paralysis will result if its claims to power are denied or their confirmation delayed.
Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Woods v. Cloyd W. Miller Co., 333 U.S. 138, 146 (1948) (concurring)
On the executive "war power".
It’s all very well to run around saying regulation is bad, get the government off our backs, etc. Of course our lives are regulated. When you come to a stop sign, you stop; if you want to go fishing, you get a license; if you want to shoot ducks, you can shoot only three ducks. The alternative is dead bodies at the intersection, no fish, and no ducks. OK?
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
(Attributed)
There is a delight in meeting the eyes of one to whom one has just done a kindness.
[Il y a du plaisir à rencontrer les yeux de celui à qui l’on vient de donner.]
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 4 “Of the Heart [Du Coeur],” § 45 (4.45) (1688) [tr. Stewart (1970)]
(Source)
Commonly paraphrased, "The finest pleasure is kindness to others." It is interesting how some of the translations lean into the idea of performing a kindness being a pleasure, and others the obligation that kindness leverages.
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:There is a pleasure to meet the Eyes of a person that we have lately oblig'd.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]There is a pleasure in meeting the Eyes of a Person whom we have lately oblig'd.
[Curll ed. (1713)]There is a pleasure to meet the Eyes of a Person whom we have lately obliged.
[Browne ed. (1752)]There is a pleasure in meeting the glance of a person whom we have lately laid under some obligations.
[tr. Van Laun (1885)]
We all know the rule of umbrellas — if you take your umbrella, it will will not rain; if you leave it, it will.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1873)
Gentlemen, you can never make me believe — no statute can ever convince me, that there is any infinite Being in this universe who hates an honest man. It is impossible to satisfy me that there is any God, or can be any God, who holds in abhorrence a soul that has the courage to express his thought. Neither can the whole world convince me that any man should be punished, either in this world or in the next, for being candid with his fellow-men. If you send men to the penitentiary for speaking their thoughts, for endeavoring to enlighten their fellows, then the penitentiary will become a place of honor, and the victim will step from it — not stained, not disgraced, but clad in robes of glory.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
Trial of C.B. Reynolds for blasphemy (May 1887)
(Source)
Much protest is naive; it expects quick, visible improvement and despairs and gives up when such improvement does not come. Protesters who hold out for longer have perhaps understood that success is not the proper goal. If protest depended on success, there would be little protest of any durability or significance. History simply affords too little evidence that anyone’s individual protest is of any use. Protest that endures, I think, is moved by a hope far more modest than that of public success: namely, the hope of preserving qualities in one’s own heart and spirit that would be destroyed by acquiescence.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
“A Poem of Difficult Hope,” What Are People For? (1990)
Administrivia: Doing the Numbers: 2/2012
Another good year of WIST since I last ran these (back last March). Let’s look at the historical count:
Another good, steady increase, including topping the 10K milestone. Very pleased with that.
Broken out into a graph (and normalizing the timeframe):
A slow, steady increase in authors over time (which is not surprising — the most popular authors would already be in the database, though I still come up with a remarkable number of folks who I don’t yet have on the list).
The number of quotes shows how I’ve, for the last five years, been trying to do my five-quotes-a-weekday regimen, and managing to do so successfully. This is one of the longest sustained projects of mine, and I’m pretty darned proud of it.
This table shows the top ten most prolifically quoted authors here, with trending notes showing where folks have risen and dropped in rank. Eric Hoffer is new to the list, and former top 10ers who have fallen off from last year include luminaries such as Ben Franklin, Robert Green Ingersoll, Albert Einstein, and Abe Lincoln. (Last year there were actually 14 people on the list, due to ties — I remain amazed by how close some of the numbers are.)
You can always see the current Top 10 in the sidebar.
As for the most popular quotes on the site (and showing where they went up or down in the ranking):
- – Robert Frost, “The Lesson for Today,” A Witness Tree (1942) (2,209)
- ↑ Aeschylus, Agamemnon, l. 179 (1,351)
- ↓ Michel de Montaigne, “That to Philosophize Is to Learn to Die,” Essays (1588) [tr. D. Frame (1958)] (1,087)
- – Seneca the Younger, Moral Essays, “On Tranquility of Mind [De Tranquillitate Animi]“, 17.10 [tr. W. Langsdorf (1900)] (1,054)
- ↓ John Steinbeck, Nobel prize acceptance speech (10 Dec 1962) (1,018)
- ↓ Bertrand Russell, “The Triumph of Stupidity” (10 May 1933) (1,005)
- ♥ Thomas Campbell, “Hallowed Ground” (1825) (865)
- – Albert Einstein, “Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium” (1941) (845)
- ↓ Theodore Roosevelt, “The New Nationalism,” speech, Osawatomie, Kansas (31 Aug 1910)(754)
- ↓ Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, “Introduction: The Custom-House” (1850) (553)
The addition of the Campbell quote pushed from the Top Ten list Lord Chesterfield’s Letter to his son (9 Oct 1746). Why these numbers are as they are surpasseth understanding.
Finally, Google Analytics tells me over the last year I’m getting about 83 visitors a day, and 116 pageviews. That’s up from the previous year’s 73 and 103, which is kind of nice.
In keeping with global trends, IE usage is down (from 40% to 36%), Firefox usage is down (from 31% to 26%), and Chrome usage is up (from 12% to 20%). About 84% of people come here from a search, and 12% come here directly (bless you).
And … that’s enough numbers for today.
Who dares wins.
(Other Authors and Sources)
British Special Air Service (SAS) World War II motto
There never was an idea started that work up men out of their stupid indifference but its originator was spoken of as a crank.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Over the Teacups, ch. 7 (1781)
Love is patient and kind (1 Cor. 13:4); enslaving and torturing people is neither. Love is never rude (1 Cor. 13:5); burning people alive is. Love does not insist on its own way and is not irritable or resentful when others disagree (1 Cor. 13:5); compelling people to agree with you by using force is the direct antithesis. Love doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing (1 Cor. 13:6), even if (especially if) those rejoicing credit God, who supposedly gave them the power to do it. Love bears all things while believing the best in others and hoping the best for others (1 Cor. 13:7); imprisoning, enslaving, and killing others in the name of your religious views is not bearing their burdens, believing the best about them, or hoping the best for them. It’s that simple.
Gregory A. "Greg" Boyd (b. 1957) American evangelical pastor, Christian theologian, author.
The Myth of a Christian Nation (2007)
The paradox of courage is that a man must be a little careless of his life even in order to keep it.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
All Things Considered, “The Methuselahite” (1908)
If you do not have patience, you cannot make beer.
(Other Authors and Sources)
African proverb
Ultimately, a great nation is a compassionate nation.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Sermon, Passion Sunday, National Cathedral, Washington (31 Mar 1968)
The success of this Government, and thus the success of our Nation, depends in the last analysis upon the quality.of our career services. The legislation enacted by the Congress, as well as the decisions made by me and by the department and agency heads, must all be implemented by the career men and women in the Federal service. In foreign affairs, national defense, science and technology, and a host of other fields, they face problems of unprecedented importance and perplexity. We are all dependent on their sense of loyalty and responsibility as well as their competence and energy.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)
Message on Federal Pay Reform to Congress (20 Feb 1962)
Can anyone remember when times were not hard, and money was not scarce?
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Works and Days,” Society and Solitude, ch. 7 (1870)
(Source)
There will come a day for each of us, more or less sad, more or less distant, when we must accept the condition of being human.
Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
(Attributed)
Not only does money speak; it also imposes silence.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
“Censorship and Spoken Literature,” Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (1956)
We can safely abandon the doctrine of the eighties, namely that the rich were not working because they had too little money, the poor because they had much.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
The Guardian (20 Nov 1991)
As long as there is poverty in the world I can never be rich, even if I possess a billion dollars. As long as millions of people are inflicted with debilitating diseases and cannot expect to live more than thirty-five years, I can never be totally healthy even if I receive a perfect bill of health from Mayo Clinic. Strangely enough, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
“Remaining Awake through a Great Revolution,” Commencement Speech, Morehouse College, Atlanta (2 Jun 1959)
Full text.
I only ask that Fortune send
A little more than I shall spend.
Everyone must row with the oars he has.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Dutch proverb
Peace depends ultimately not on political arrangements but on the conscience of mankind.
Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
“Golda Meir: An Appreciation” (13 Nov 1977)
Even if all of one’s antecedents had been convicted of treason, the Constitution forbids its penalties to be visited upon him. But here is an attempt to make an otherwise innocent act a crime merely because this prisoner is the son of parents as to whom he had no choice, and belongs to a race from which there is no way to resign. If Congress in peace-time legislation should enact such a criminal law, I should suppose this Court would refuse to enforce it.
Joseph Henry Jackson (1894-1955) American writer, editor
Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214, 242-45 (1944) [Dissenting]
On the internment of an American of Japanese descent.
There is not one thing wrong with the liberties set forth in the Declaration and the Constitution. The only problem is, the founding fathers left out poor people and black people and female people. It is possible to read the history of this country as one long struggle to extend the liberties established in our Constitution to everyone in America.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Molly Ivins Can’t Say That, Can She? “We the People” (1991)
PROSPERO: We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Tempest, Act 4, sc. 1, l. 173ff (4.1.173-175) (1611)
(Source)
Better the cottage where one is merry than the palace where one weeps.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Chinese proverb
Pessimism … is in brief, playing the sure game. You cannot lose at it; you may gain. It is the only view of life in which you can never be disappointed.
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) English novelist, poet
(Attributed)
In Florence Hardy, The Later Years of Thomas Hardy, ch. 7 (1930)
What is blasphemy? I will give you a definition; I will give you my thought upon this subject. What is real blasphemy?
To live on the unpaid labor of other men — that is blasphemy.
To enslave your fellow-man, to put chains upon his body — that is blasphemy.
To enslave the minds of men, to put manacles upon the brain, padlocks upon the lips — that is blasphemy.
To deny what you believe to be true, to admit to be true what you believe to be a lie — that is blasphemy.
To strike the weak and unprotected, in order that you may gain the applause of the ignorant and superstitious mob — that is blasphemy.
To persecute the intelligent few, at the command of the ignorant many — that is blasphemy.
To forge chains, to build dungeons, for your honest fellow-men — that is blasphemy.
To pollute the souls of children with the dogma of eternal pain — that is blasphemy.
To violate your conscience — that is blasphemy.
The jury that gives an unjust verdict, and the judge who pronounces an unjust sentence, are blasphemers.
The man who bows to public opinion against his better judgment and against his honest conviction, is a blasphemer.Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
Trial of C.B. Reynolds for blasphemy (May 1887)
(Source)
We are living in the most destructive and, hence, the most stupid period of the history of our species.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
“A Poem of Difficult Hope,” What Are People For? (1990)
Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Following the Equator, ch. 48 (Epigraph) (1897)
If a man knew where he would fall, he would spread straw there first.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Finnish proverb
That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (1770)
Quoting Rev. Dr. Maxwell (1770), in reference to a "dull, tiresome" acquaintance.In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
This tragic history has to be considered one of Satan’s greatest victories, and the demonic ironies abound. In the name of the one who taught us not to lord over others but rather to serve them (Matt. 20:25-28), the church often lorded over others with a vengeance as ruthless as any version of the kingdom of the world ever has. In the name of the one who taught us to turn the other cheek, the church often cut off people’s heads. In the name of the one who taught us to love our enemies, the church often burned its enemies alive. In the name of the one who taught us to bless those who persecute us, the church often became a ruthless persecutor. In the name of the one who taught us to take up the cross, the church often took up the sword and nailed others to the cross. Hence, in the name of winning the world for Jesus Christ, the church often became the main obstacle to believing in Jesus Christ.
Gregory A. "Greg" Boyd (b. 1957) American evangelical pastor, Christian theologian, author.
The Myth of a Christian Nation (2007)
My own feeling in the matter is due to my very firm conviction that to put such a motto on coins, or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good, but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege. […] It seems to me eminently unwise to cheapen such a motto by use on coins, just as it would cheapen it to use it on postage stamps or in advertisements.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Letter, New York Times (14 Nov 1907)
On the use of "In God We Trust" on coins. Roosevelt was in favor, however, of using it on monuments and buildings. Full text.
More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
Woody Allen (b. 1935) American comedian, writer, director [b. Allan Steward Konigsberg]
“My Speech to Graduates,” Side Effects (1981)
Integrity is the one absolute requirement of managers.
Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005) Austrian-American business consultant
Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, ch. 28 (1974)
All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts. A British Tory will defend self-determination in Europe and oppose it in India with no feeling of inconsistency. Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage — torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians — which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by ‘our’ side.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Notes on Nationalism” (May 1945)
(Source)
To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
The Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 151 (1955)
(Source)
Government service must be attractive enough to lure our most talented people. It must be challenging enough to call forth our greatest efforts. It must be interesting enough to retain their services. It must be satisfying enough to inspire single-minded loyalty and dedication. It must be important enough to each individual to call forth reserves of energy and enthusiasm.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)
Message to the Federal Service, Civil Service Journal (Jan-Mar 1961)
The man who cannot believe his senses, and the man who cannot believe anything else, are both insane, but their insanity is proved not by any error in their argument, but by the manifest mistake of their whole lives. They have both locked themselves up in two boxes, painted inside with the sun and stars; they are both unable to get out, the one into the health and happiness of heaven, the other even into the health and happiness of the earth.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
Orthodoxy, ch. 2 (1908)
Full text.
If you’re coasting, you’re going downhill.
Sig Lines
Pierson’s Law
