The sad truth is that excellence makes people nervous.
Shana Alexander (1925-2005) American journalist
“Neglected Kids — The Bright Ones” (1967), The Feminist Eye (1970)
Few men are sufficiently discerning to appreciate all the evil they do.
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Maxims], #269 (1665-1678) [tr. Tancock (1959)]
Before people complain of the obscurity of modern poetry, they should first examine their consciences and ask themselves with how many people and on how many occasions they have genuinely and profoundly shared some experience with another; they might also ask themselves how much poetry of any period they can honestly say that they understand.
W. H. Auden (1907-1973) Anglo-American poet [Wystan Hugh Auden]
“The Dyer’s Hand” (1955)
Published in The Listener (30 Jun 1955)
‘Twould ring the bells of Heaven
The wildest peal for years,
If Parson lost his senses
And people came to theirs,
And he and they together
Knelt down with angry prayers
For tamed and shabby tigers
And dancing dogs and bears,
And wretched, blind, pit ponies,
And little hunted hares.Ralph Hodgson (1871-1962) English poet
“The Bells of Heaven” (1917)
Progress generally begins in skepticism about accepted truths. Intellectual freedom means the right to reexamine much that has been long taken for granted. A free man must be a reasoning man, and he must dare to doubt what a legislative or electoral majority may most passionately assert. The danger that citizens will think wrongly is serious, but less dangerous than atrophy from not thinking at all.
Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
American Communications Assn. v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]
(Source)
Hurtful timidity, unprofitable conscientiousness, fatal slavery to detail!
Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881) Swiss philosopher, poet, critic
Journal (1 Sep 1875) [tr. Ward (1887)]
On the causes of his failures.
Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he hold to as being certain from reason and experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. […] If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods and on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason?
[Plerumque enim accidit ut aliquid de terra, de coelo, de caeteris mundi huius elementis, de motu et conversione vel etiam magnitudine et intervallis siderum, de certis defectibus solis ac lunae, de circuitibus annorum et temporum, de naturis animalium, fruticum, lapidum, atque huiusmodi caeteris, etiam non christianus ita noverit, ut certissima ratione vel experientia teneat. Turpe est autem nimis et perniciosum ac maxime cavendum, ut christianum de his rebus quasi secundum christianas Litteras loquentem, ita delirare audiat, ut, quemadmodum dicitur, toto coelo errare conspiciens, risum tenere vix possit. […] Cum enim quemquam de numero Christianorum in ea re quam optime norunt, errare comprehenderint, et vanam sententiam suam de nostris Libris asserere; quo pacto illis Libris credituri sunt, de resurrectione mortuorum, et de spe vitae aeternae, regnoque coelorum, quando de his rebus quas iam experiri, vel indubitatis numeris percipere potuerunt, fallaciter putaverint esse conscriptos?]
Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Christian church father, philosopher, saint [b. Aurelius Augustinus]
De Genesi ad Litteram, Bk. 1, ch. 19 [tr. Taylor (1982)]
DREAM: It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 9. The Kindly Ones, # 60 “The Kindly Ones: 4” (1994-06)
(Source)
Administrivia: WIST on Twitter!
WIST is now echoed out to Twitter at @WISTquotes. Each quotation I add will be excerpted to that site as they’re done each day. Of course, with only 140 characters, all folks there will get will be the name, the first 60 characters of the quote, a link back to the WIST entry. E.g.,
Lincoln, Abraham: “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith…” http://bit.ly/dBh9EQ #quotes
My hope is that this will provide folks over in the Twitterverse with something useful, as well as driving a bit more traffic over to this site.
Let me know what you think, or if you have any other ideas for how to improve WIST.
Falsehood is a scorpion that will sting itself to death.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) English poet
A Declaration of Rights, ch. 12 (1812)
Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Address, Cooper Institute, New York, closing words (27 Feb 1860)
You can tell the size of a man by the size of the thing that makes him mad.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
“Faith in Liberalism,” Address, State Committee of the Liberal Party in New York City (28 Aug 1952)
Full text.
No man should tell a lie unless he is shrewd enough to recognize the time for renouncing it, if and when it comes, and knows how to renounce it gracefully.
Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Before Midnight, ch. 15 [Wolfe] (1955)
HELENA: Oft expectation fails and most oft there
Where most it promises, and oft it hits
Where hope is coldest and despair most fits.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 2, sc. 1, l. 160ff (2.1.160-162) (1602?)
(Source)
Our forefathers found the evils of free thinking more to be endured than the evils of inquest or suppression. They gave the status of almost absolute individual rights to the outward means of expressing belief. I cannot believe that they left open a way for legislation to embarrass or impede the mere intellectual processes by which those expressions of belief are examined and formulated. This is not only because individual thinking presents no danger to society, but because thoughtful, bold and independent minds are essential to wise and considered self-government.
Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941-54), lawyer, jurist, politician
American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442 (1950) [concurrence and dissent]
(Source)
FAMOUS, adj. Conspicuously miserable.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Famous,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
(Source)
Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911). Originally published in the "Devil's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Wasp (1884-06-28).
Is it so small a thing
To have enjoy’d the sun,
To have lived light in the spring,
To have loved, to have thought, to have done;
To have advanc’d true friends, and beat down baffling foes?Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
Empedocles on Etna, Act I, sc. ii (1852)
Full text.
Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is.
Thomas Szasz (1920-2012) Hungarian-American psychiatrist, educator
The Second Sin, “Emotions” (1973)
The fanatic cannot be weaned away from his cause by an appeal to his reason or moral sense. He fears compromise and cannot be persuaded to qualify the certitude and righteousness of his holy cause. But he finds no difficulty in swinging suddenly and wildly from one holy cause to another. He cannot be convinced but only converted, His passionate attachment is more vital than the quality of the cause to which he is attached.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 13, § 61 (1951)
(Source)
If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
Sun-Tzu (fl. 6th C. AD) Chinese general and philosopher [a.k.a. Sun Wu]
The Art of War, ch. 1
Without being bound to the fulfillment of promises, we would never be able to keep our identities; we would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of each man’s lonely heart, caught in its contradictions and equivocalities — a darkness which only the light shed over the public realm through the presence of others, who confirm the identity between the one who promises and the one who fulfills, can dispel.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
The Human Condition, ch. 33 (1958)
Familiarity breeds acquiescence as well as contempt.
Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) English historian
A Study of History, 3.370 (1934)
We should expect the best and the worst from mankind, as from the weather.
Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747) French moralist, essayist, soldier
Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes], #102 (1746) [tr. Stevens (1940)]
You’ve been broadened and enlarged [by college] to where you can listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet
Commencement Address, Dartmouth (Jun 1955)
Full text.Commonly quoted: "Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence."
You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. … You never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
Mere Christianity, rev. ed., 3.11 (1952)
Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English writer and churchman
The Battle of the Books, preface (1704)
How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.W. H. Auden (1907-1973) Anglo-American poet [Wystan Hugh Auden]
“The More Loving One,” ll. 8-12 (1957)
There is nobody so irritating as somebody with less intelligence and more sense than we have.
Don Herold (1889-1966) American humorist, cartoonist, author
So Human, “Shetland Ponies vs. Autos,” epigraph (1924)
(Source)
I abhor violence. That is why on this program we use stabbings, shootings and garrotings only when they are absolutely essential to the plot. Or when the whim strikes us.
Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) English film director
Introductory narration, “The Cheney Vase” Alfred Hitchcock Presents (20 Dec 1955)
He that is down needs fear no fall.
John Bunyan (1628–1688) English Christian writer, preacher
The Pilgrim’s Progress, 2.6 (1678-84)
Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion.
[Quid enim molestiae tristitiaeque ingerant prudentibus fratribus temerarii praesumptores, satis dici non potest, cum si quando de prava et falsa opinatione sua reprehendi, et convinci coeperint ab eis qui nostrorum Librorum auctoritate non tenentur, ad defendendum id quod levissima temeritate et apertissima falsitate dixerunt, eosdem Libros sanctos, unde id probent, proferre conantur, vel etiam memoriter, quae ad testimonium valere arbitrantur, multa inde verba pronuntiant, non intellegentes neque quae loquuntur, neque de quibus affirmant.]
Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Christian church father, philosopher, saint [b. Aurelius Augustinus]
De Genesi ad Litteram, Bk. 1, ch. 19 [tr. Taylor (1982)]
THE CRONE: Can’t say I’ve ever been too fond of beginnings, myself. Messy little things. Give me a good ending any time. You know where you are with an ending.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 9. The Kindly Ones, # 57 “Chapter 1” (1993-02)
(Source)
As the eldest of the Kindly Ones (Fates, Moirai, etc.), the Crone's task, in the aspect of Atropos, is literally to cut the thread at the end of a life.
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Anna Karanina, opening words (1876) [tr. Garnett (1930)]
Alt trans.:
- "All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
- "All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
True faith is never merely a source of spiritual comfort. It may indeed bring peace, but before it does so it must involved us in struggle. A “faith” that avoids this struggle is really a temptation against true faith.
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) French-American religious and writer [a.k.a. Fr. M. Louis]
New Seeds of Contemplation, ch. 15 (1961)
We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent on its vulnerable reserves of air and soil; all committed, for our safety, to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work and the love we give our fragile craft. We cannot maintain it half fortunate, half miserable, half confident, half despairing, half slave — to the ancient enemies of man — half free in a liberation of resources undreamed of until this day. No craft, no crew can travel safely with such vast contradictions. On their resolution depends the survival of us all.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech, UN Economic and Social Council, Geneva, Switzerland (9 Jul 1965)
They had Gebert down there, slapping him around and squealing and yelling at him. If you’re so sure violence is inferior technique, you should have seen that exhibition; it was wonderful. They say it works sometimes, but even if it does, how could you depend on anything you got that way? Not to mention that after you had done it a few times any decent garbage can would be ashamed to have you found in it.
Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The Red Box, ch. 14 [Archie] (1937)
Domestic happiness, thou only bliss
Of Paradise that has surviv’d the fall!William Cowper (1731-1800) English poet
The Task, Book 3, l. 41 (1785)
This is the happiest conversation, where there is no competition, no vanity, but a calm, quiet interchange of sentiments.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (14 Apr 1775)
In James Boswell The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
We do not what we ought,
What we ought not, we do,
And lean upon the thought
That chance will bring us through;
But our own acts, for good or ill, are mightier powers.Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
Empedocles on Etna, Act 1, sc. 2, ll. 238-242 (1852)
(Source)
I think it behooves us to treat our characters’ beliefs with some measure of respect, whatever he believes in. I mean I’m an atheist myself, but I don’t have to believe in Minbari to write about Minbari. I think if that person is a religious character, then you have to treat them with integrity and deal with them properly.
J. Michael (Joe) Straczynski (b. 1954) American screenwriter, producer, author [a/k/a "JMS"]
Panel Discussion, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts (4 May 1998)
(Source)
Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down.
E. B. White (1899-1985) American author, critic, humorist [Elwyn Brooks White]
Interview by G. Plimpton, F. Crowther, The Paris Review (1969)
It is enthusiasm that flings the minds of men out of the beaten track and affects the great revolutions of the intellect as well as the great revolutions of the political world.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French writer, diplomat, politician
Democracy in America, 2.3.21 (1840) [tr. Reeve & Bowen (1862)]
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
Sun-Tzu (fl. 6th C. AD) Chinese general and philosopher [a.k.a. Sun Wu]
(Spurious)
Often attributed to The Art of War, but not found there.
All men are moral. Only their neighbors are not.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
The Winter of Our Discontent, Part II, ch. 11 (1961)
“Kindness” covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.
Roger Ebert (1942-2013) American film critic, journalist, screenwriter
“Go Gentle into that Good Night,” Roger Ebert’s Journal (2 May 2009)
Full text.
Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
Carrie Fisher (1956-2016) American actress, writer
Wishful Drinking, stage show (2009)
Sometimes quoted/given: "... feeding yourself poison ..."
This sentiment seems to a not-uncommon phrase in rehab communities. See Lamott.
It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
A Little Book in C Major, ch. 5, § 23 (1916)
(Source)
Variants:EVIL. That which one believes of others. It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
A Book of Burlesques, "The Jazz Webster" (1924)Evil is that which one believes of others. It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
Chrestomathy, ch. 30 "Sententiae" (1949)
That was excellently observed, say I, when I read a passage in an author, where his opinion agrees with mine. When we differ, there I pronounce him to be mistaken.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English writer and churchman
“Thoughts on Various Subjects” (1706)
(Source)
Base words are uttered only by the base
And can for such at once be understood;
But noble platitudes — ah, there’s a case
Where the most careful scrutiny is needed
To tell a voice that’s genuinely good
From one that’s base but merely has succeeded.W. H. Auden (1907-1973) Anglo-American poet [Wystan Hugh Auden]
“Base Words Are Uttered Only by the Base,” ll. 1-5 (1940)
Even a nod from a person who is esteemed is of more force than a thousand arguments or studied sentences from others.
Plutarch (AD 46-127) Greek historian, biographer, essayist [Mestrius Plutarchos]
Life of Phocion
Every noble work is at first impossible.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Past and Present, ch. 11 “Labour” (1843)
To an envious man nothing is more delightful than another’s misfortune, and nothing more painful than another’s success.
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) Dutch philosopher
“Man’s Loves and Hates,” Ethics (1677) [tr. D. Runes (1957)]
When I am here, I do not fast on Saturday; when at Rome, I do fast on Saturday.
Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Christian church father, philosopher, saint [b. Aurelius Augustinus]
Epistle 36, to Casulanus
BERNIE: But I did okay, didn’t I? I mean I got, what, fifteen thousand years. That’s pretty good, isn’t it? I lived a pretty long time.
DEATH: You lived what anybody gets, Bernie. You got a lifetime. No more. No less. You got a lifetime.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 7. Brief Lives, # 43 “Part 3” (1992-11)
(Source)
Setting too good an Example is a Kind of Slander seldom forgiven.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Feb 1753)
Excellence is lost sight of in the hunger for sudden performance and praise.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Success,” Society and Solitude (1870)
The aim of all education is, or should be, to teach people to educate themselves.
Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) English historian
Surviving the Future, ch. 5 (1971)
There are worse things than losing an election; the worst thing is to lose one’s convictions and not tell the people the truth.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
(Attributed)
In Edward Doyle, As We Knew Adlai: The Stevenson Story by Twenty-two Friends (1966). In response to the suggestion his support for a nuclear test ban would cost him votes.
War doesn’t mature men; it merely pickles them in the brine of disgust and dread.
Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Over My Dead Body, ch. 8 [Wolfe] (1940)
Be not magisterial in thy Dictates, nor pertinaciously contentious in ordinary discourse for thy Opinion; no nor for even a Truth of small Consequence. If thou thinkest good, declare thy Reasons; if they be not accepted, be quiet, and let them alone. Thou are not bound to convert all the World to Truth.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, #1557 (1725)
(Source)
Those who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Lives of the English Poets, “Pope” (1781)
The true spirit of conversation consists more in bringing out the cleverness of others than in showing a great deal of it yourself.
[L’esprit de la conversation consiste bien moins à en montrer beaucoup qu’à en faire trouver aux autres.]
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 5 “Of Society and Conversation [De la Société et de la Conversation],” § 16 (5.16) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:The Wit of conversation consists more in finding it in others than shewing a great deal your self.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]The Wit of Conversation consists more in finding it in others, than in shewing a great deal your self.
[Curll ed. (1713)]Conversation-Wit consists more in pointing out that of others, than in shewing a great deal yourself.
[Browne ed. (1752)]The art of conversation consists far less in displaying much wit oneself than in helping others to be witty.
[tr. Stewart (1970)]
Thou hast no right to bliss.
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
Empedocles on Etna, Act I, sc. ii (1852)
Full text.
The more important the emotion is, the fewer words required to express it:
Will you go out with me?
I think I like you.
I care for you.
I love you.
Marry me.
Goodbye.J. Michael (Joe) Straczynski (b. 1954) American screenwriter, producer, author [a/k/a "JMS"]
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, “A Quote by JMS” (31 Jan 2008)
(Source)
Straczynski is quoting something he'd previously written on the death of Andreas Katsulas (Feb 2006). A variant of the quote can be found as a sig line at least as far back as Sep 2007:I had this theory that the more important and intimate the emotion, the fewer words are required to express it.
First it's in dating: "Will you go out with me?" Six words.
"Honey, I care for you." Five words.
"You matter to me." Four words.
"I love you." Three words.
"Marry me." Two words.
But what's left? What's the one most important and intimate word you can ever say to somebody?
It's "goodbye."
Strive for excellence, not perfection.
H. Jackson "Jack" Brown, Jr. (b. 1940) American writer
Life’s Little Instruction Book, 1.156 (1991)
For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name,
He writes — not that you won or lost — but how you played the Game.
Opposition may inflame the enthusiast but never converts him.
Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) German poet, playwright, critic [Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller]
Love and Intrigue, 3.1 (1784)
And therefore those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle and are not brought there by him.
Sun-Tzu (fl. 6th C. AD) Chinese general and philosopher [a.k.a. Sun Wu]
The Art of War
To be alive at all is to have scars.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
The Winter of Our Discontent, Part I, ch. 6 (1961)
The best of all teachers, experience.
Pliny the Younger (c. 61-c. 113) Roman politician, writer [Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus]
Letters, 1.20 [tr. Radice (1963)]
PORTIA: Though justice be thy plea, consider this:
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Merchant of Venice, Act 4, sc. 1, l. 204ff (4.1.204-208) (1597)
(Source)
We should consider it a lesser evil to suffer great wrongs and outrages than to do them.
Plato (c.428-347 BC) Greek philosopher
Plato, Epistles, 7.335.a [tr. Harward (1932)]
Every man desires to live long; but no man would be old.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English writer and churchman
“Thoughts on Various Subjects” (1706)
Full text.
To-morrow for the young the poets exploding like bombs,
The walks by the lake, the weeks of perfect communion;
To-morrow the bicycle races
Through the suburbs on summer evenings. But to-day the struggle.W. H. Auden (1907-1973) Anglo-American poet [Wystan Hugh Auden]
“Spain,” ll. 81-92 (1937)
You can’t always get what you want.
But if you try sometimes,
You just might find
You get what you need.Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger (b. 1943) English musician, songwriter, producer, actor
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” [with Keith Richards] (1969)
(Source)
It requires building on strength to make weaknesses irrelevant. Few things make an executive as effective as building on the strength of his superior.
Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005) Austrian-American business consultant
The Effective Executive, 4.2 (1967)
Pity cureth Envy.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #3876 (1732)
(Source)
Do not keep on with a mockery of friendship after the substance is gone — but part, while you can part friends. Bury the carcass of friendship: it is not worth embalming.
DREAM: It is sometimes a mistake to climb; it is always a mistake never even to make the attempt.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 6. Fables and Reflections, Vertigo Preview, “Fear of Falling” (1992-12)
(Source)
Every life is a profession of faith, and exercises an inevitable and silent propaganda. As far as lies in its power, it tends to transform the universe and humanity into its own image.
Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881) Swiss philosopher, poet, critic
Journal (2 May 1852) [tr. Ward (1887)]
Do thou thy best, and leave to God the rest.
James Howell (c. 1594 - 1666) British historian and writer
Paroimiographia, “Divers Centuries of New Sayings” (1659)
Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Mark Twain’s Notebook, 4 Jul 1898 [ed. Paine (1935)]
He who slings mud generally loses ground.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Quoted in news summaries (11 Jan 1954)
No man was ever taken to hell by a woman unless he already had a ticket in his pocket or at least had been fooling around with timetables.
Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Some Buried Caesar, ch. 3 [Archie] (1939)
Man gives every reason for his conduct save one, every excuse for his crimes save one, every plea for his safety save one; and that one is his cowardice.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Man and Superman, ch. 3 (1903)
It ain’t bragging if you can do it.
Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (1910-1974) American baseball pitcher
(Attributed)
Self-confidence adds more to conversation than wit.
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Maxims], #421 (1665-1678) [tr. Kronenberger (1959)]
Conduct is three-fourths of our life and its largest concern.
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
Literature and Dogma, ch. 1 (1873)
As an atheist, I believe that all life is unspeakably precious, because it’s only here for a brief moment, a flare against the dark, and then it’s gone forever. No afterlives, no second chances, no backsies. So there can be nothing crueler than the abuse, destruction or wanton taking of a life. It is a crime no less than burning the Mona Lisa, for there is always just one of each.
So I cannot forgive. Which makes the notion of writing a character who CAN forgive momentarily attractive … because it allows me to explore in great detail something of which I am utterly incapable.
J. Michael (Joe) Straczynski (b. 1954) American screenwriter, producer, author [a/k/a "JMS"]
Usenet, rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5, “JMS on Compuserve: Gesthemane Questions” (1995-12-04)
(Source)
If you watch a game, it’s fun. If you play at it, it’s recreation. If you work at it, it’s golf.
Bob Hope (1903-2003) American comedian, actor, humanitarian (b. Leslie Townes Hope)
(Attributed)
It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact, no matter how suspect, is superior to any imaginative exercise, no matter how true.
Gore Vidal (1925-2012) American novelist, dramatist, critic
“French Letters: Theories of the New Novel,” Encounter (Dec 1967)
In enthusiasm we undulate to the divine spiritus — as the lake to the wind.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Journal (16 Dec 1840)
Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterward looks for victory.
Sun-Tzu (fl. 6th C. AD) Chinese general and philosopher [a.k.a. Sun Wu]
The Art of War
Can you think that whatever made us — would stop trying?
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
East of Eden (1952)
Administrivia: Search for WIST through your browser
I’ve added a search plug-in for WIST to the Mycroft Project, which hosts search engine plug-ins for Firefox and for IE.
The plug-in does a quotation text search. That means it won’t search for author info — a side effect of the way I’ve implemented the authors as categories in WordPress.
You can find the plug-in here. Enjoy!
The expert has his constituency — those who have a vested interest in commonly held opinions; elaborating and defining its consensus at a high level has, after all, made him an expert.
Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
American Foreign Policy, 1.3 (1969)
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?
Epicurus (341-270 BC) Greek philosopher
(Attributed)
"Epicurus' old riddle," in David Hume (1711-1776), Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Part X (1779). Full text. It is not found in Epicurus' surviving works. Discussion.Variants:
- "Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; Or he can, but does not want to; Or he cannot and does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. But, if God both can and wants to abolish evil, then how come evil is in the world?"
- "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
If your enemies fall, do not exult;
If they trip, let your heart not rejoice,
Lest GOD see it and be displeased,
And avert God’s wrath from them.The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Proverbs 24:17-18 [RJPS (2023 ed.)]
(Source)
Alternate translations:Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
[KJV (1611)]Should your enemy fall, do not rejoice, when he stumbles do not let your heart exult; for fear that at the sight Yahweh will be displeased and turn his anger away from him.
[JB (1966)]Don't be glad when your enemies meet disaster, and don't rejoice when they stumble. The Lord will know if you are gloating, and he will not like it; and then maybe he won't punish them.
[GNT (1976)]Should your enemy fall, do not rejoice, when he stumbles do not let your heart exult: for fear that Yahweh will be displeased at the sight and turn his anger away from him.
[NJB (1985)]When your enemies fall, don’t rejoice.
When they stumble, don’t let your heart be glad,
or the Lord will see it and be displeased,
and he will turn his anger from them.
[CEB (2011)]Do not rejoice when your enemies fall,
and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble,
lest the Lord see it and be displeased
and turn away his anger from them.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]
