It is in disputes as in armies, where the weaker side sets up false lights, and makes a great noise, to make the enemy believe them more numerous and strong than they really are.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English writer and churchman
“Thoughts on Various Subjects” (1706)
Full text.
About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along.W. H. Auden (1907-1973) Anglo-American poet [Wystan Hugh Auden]
“Musée des Beaux Arts” (1940)
Full text.
The greatest step forward in human evolution was made when society began to help the weak and the poor, instead of oppressing and despising them.
Maria Montessori (1870-1952) Italian educator, philosopher, educator, physician
The Absorbent Mind, ch. 22 (1949) [tr. Claremont (1969)]
I like to think of my behavior in the sixties as a “learning experience.” Then again, I like to think of anything stupid I’ve done as a “learning experience.” It makes me feel less stupid.
P. J. O'Rourke (b. 1947) American humorist, editor
“Second Thoughts about the Sixties,” speech, Second Thoughts Conference, Washington (1987); Give War a Chance (1992)
Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little.
Gore Vidal (1925-2012) American novelist, dramatist, critic
(Attributed)
In Wilfrid Sheed, "Writer as Wretch and Rat," New York Times Book Review (4 Feb 1973) and in The Sunday Times Magazine, London (16 Sep 1973) ("Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.").
The least pain in our little finger gives us more concern and uneasiness, than the destruction of millions of our fellow-beings.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
“American Literature — Dr. Channing,” Edinburgh Review (Oct 1829)
ROSE: “And then she woke up.” I suppose there are worse endings.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 2. The Doll’s House, # 16 “Lost Hearts” (1990)
(Source)
In the relations of man with the animals, with the flowers, with the objects of creation, there is a great ethic, scarcely perceived as yet, which will at length break forth into light.
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
(Attributed)
Unfortunately, too many of our citizens have lost faith that our biggest institutions –- our corporations, our media, and yes, our government –- still reflect these same values. Each of these institutions are full of honorable men and women doing important work that helps our country prosper. But each time a CEO rewards himself for failure, or a banker puts the rest of us at risk for his own selfish gain, people’s doubts grow. Each time lobbyists game the system or politicians tear each other down instead of lifting this country up, we lose faith. The more that TV pundits reduce serious debates into silly arguments, and big issues into sound bites, our citizens turn away. No wonder there’s so much cynicism out there. No wonder there’s so much disappointment.
Barack Obama (b. 1961) American politician, US President (2009-2017)
State of the Union Address (27 Jan 2010)
If the object were to make pupils think, rather than to make them accept certain conclusions, education would be conducted quite differently; there would be less … instruction and more discussion.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Principles of Social Reconstruction, ch. 5 (1916)
Though progress may be slow, it may be steady and sure. A wise man does not try to hurry history. Many wars have been avoided by patience and many have been precipitated by reckless haste.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952)
To me the relationship of host and guest is sacred. The guest is a jewel resting on the cushion of hospitality.
Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
Too Many Cooks, ch. 6 [Wolfe] (1938)
Much less evil would be done on earth if evil could not be done in the name of good.
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) Austrian writer
Aphorisms (1905) [tr. Scrase & Mieder (1994)]
She had some experience of the world, and the capacity for reflection that makes such experience profitable.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French philosopher and writer
Confessions, ch. 3 “1731-1732” (1781) [tr. Cohen (1953)]
In a conversation, keep in mind that you’re more interested in what you have to say than anyone else is.
Andy Rooney (1919-2011) American journalist, commentator, author
“A Penny Saved Is a Waste of Time,” Pieces of My Mind (1984)
Below the surface stream, shallow and light,
Of what we say and feel — below the stream,
As light, of what we think we feel, there flows
With noiseless current, strong, obscure and deep,
The central stream of what we feel indeed.Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
St. Paul and Protestantism (1870)
We are not powerless. We have tremendous potential for good or ill. How we choose to use that power is up to us; but first we must choose to use it. We’re told every day, “You can’t change the world.” But the world is changing every day. Only question is … who’s doing it? You or somebody else?
J. Michael (Joe) Straczynski (b. 1954) American screenwriter, producer, author [a/k/a "JMS"]
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, “At The Midpoint (Spoilers for everything)” (7 Apr 1995)
(Source)
See Straczynski.
Experience of the world may be looked upon as a kind of text, to which reflection and knowledge form the commentary. Where there is great deal of reflection and intellectual knowledge, and very little experience, the result is like those books which have on each page two lines of text to forty lines of commentary. A great deal of experience with little reflection and scant knowledge, gives us books like those of the editio Bipontina where there are no notes and much that is unintelligible.
[Auch läßt die eigene Erfahrung sich ansehn als der Text; Nachdenken und Kenntnisse als der Kommentar dazu. Viel Nachdenken und Kenntnisse, bei wenig Erfahrung, gleicht den Ausgaben, deren Seiten zwei Zeilen Text und vierzig Zeilen Kommentar darbieten. Viel Erfahrung, bei wenig Nachdenken und geringen Kenntnissen, gleicht den bipontinischen Ausgaben, ohne Noten, welche Vieles unverstanden lassen.]
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher
Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. 1, “Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life [Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit],” ch. 5 “Counsels and Maxims [Paränesen und Maximen],” § 2.8 (1851) [tr. Saunders (1890)]
(Source)
Saunders notes that the editiones Bipontinae were "a series of Greek, Latin and French classics published at Zweibraecken in the Palatinate, from and after the year 1779."
Source (German). Alternate translation:Our own experience may be regarded as the text, and reflection and knowledge as the commentary thereto. Much reflection and knowledge with little experience resemble those editions whose pages present us with two lines of text and forty lines of commentary. Much experience with little reflection and scanty knowledge is like the editiones Bipontinae which are without notes and contain much that is unintelligible.
[tr. Payne (1974)]
What frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is Election Day. We cannot wage a perpetual campaign where the only goal is to see who can get the most embarrassing headlines about their opponent — a belief that if you lose, I win.
Barack Obama (b. 1961) American politician, US President (2009-2017)
State of the Union Address (27 Jan 2010)
Enthusiasm is the glory and hope of the world.
Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) American transcendentalist, teacher, writer
“Orphic Sayings” (2), The Dial (Jul 1840)
I am incomparably, incredibly, overwhelmingly glad to be home. I’ve never been so goddam lonesome in my life.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
East of Eden (1952)
The desire of the esteem of others is as real a want of nature as hunger — and the neglect and contempt of the world as severe a pain as the gout or stone.
John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Discourses on Davila (1790)
Full text.
Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
(Attributed)
Variant: "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
If two men claim thy help, and one is thy enemy, help him first.
The Talmud (AD 200-500) Collection of Jewish rabbinical writings
(Unreferenced)
In Louis I. Newman (comp.), The Talmudic Anthology, #136 (1945)
The power of fortune is confessed only by the miserable; for the happy impute all their success to prudence or merit.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English writer and churchman
“Thoughts on Various Subjects” (1706)
Full text.
Acts of injustice done
Between the setting and the rising sun
In history lie like bones, each one.W. H. Auden (1907-1973) Anglo-American poet [Wystan Hugh Auden]
The Ascent of F6, Act II, sc. v [with Christpher Isherwood] (1936)
If you consult enough experts, you can confirm any opinion.
(Other Authors and Sources)
“Hiram’s Law”
In Arthur Bloch, comp., Murphy's Law: Book Three, "Expertsmanship" (1962)
Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
Franklin P. Jones (1908-1980) American journalist, humorist, public relations executive
(Attributed)
Variant: "Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again."
In conversation, remember two principles: Think before speak; stop talking before they say, “Enough.”
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 Maxims of Sa’di, ch. 1 [tr. Nakosteen (1977)]
We have an obligation to one another, responsibilities and trusts. That does not mean we must be pigeons, that we must be exploited. But it does mean that we should look out for one another when and as much as we can; and that we have a personal responsibility for our behavior; and that our behavior has consequences of a very real and profound nature.
J. Michael (Joe) Straczynski (b. 1954) American screenwriter, producer, author [a/k/a "JMS"]
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, “At The Midpoint (Spoilers for everything)” (7 Apr 1995)
(Source)
Nations are not truly great solely because the individuals composing them are numerous, free, and active; but they are great when these numbers, this freedom, and this activity are employed in the service of an ideal higher than that of an ordinary man, taken by himself.
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
Democracy (1861)
It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
George Washington (1732-1799) American military leader, Founding Father, US President (1789-1797)
Letter to Harriet Washington (30 Oct 1791)
Just think how stupid the average person is, then realize that half of them are even stupider!
George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
(Attributed)
My enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead.
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) American poet
“Reconciliation” (1865), Leaves of Grass (1855-1892)
Remember, no more effort is required to aim high in life, to demand abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty.
Napoleon Hill (1883-1970) American author, motivational writer
Think and Grow Rich, ch. 2 (1938)
Full text.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.W. H. Auden (1907-1973) Anglo-American poet [Wystan Hugh Auden]
“Stop All the Clocks [Funeral Blues],” st. 3 (1936)
(Source)
This stanza is not in the original version of the poem, for the verse play The Ascent of F6 (1936) (with Christopher Isherwood).
Instead, it appears in the revised cabaret song that Auden wrote in 1937-1938. It is this latter version, less tied to the play, that is commonly collected, and that gained popularity when recited in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994).
The salary of the chief executive of the large corporation is not a market award for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
Annals of an Abiding Liberal, ch. 6 (1979)
Man will do many things to get himself loved; he will do all things to get himself envied.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Following the Equator, ch. 21, epigraph (1897)
If a person has no delicacy, he has you in his power, for you necessarily feel some towards him; and since he will take no denial, you must comply with his peremptory demands, or send for a constable, which out of respect for his character you will not do.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
“On The Want Of Money,” Monthly Magazine (Jan 1827)
Full text.
All Bette’s stories have happy endings. That’s because she knows where to stop. She’s realized the real problem with stories — if you keep them going long enough, they always end in death.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 1. Preludes and Nocturnes, # 6 “24 Hours” (1989-06)
(Source)
While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight; while children go hungry, as they do now I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight, I’ll fight to the very end!
William Booth (1829–1912), British evangelist, founder of the Salvation Army
Address, Royal Albert Hall, London (9 May 1912)
Reported as the conclusion of his final speech, years afterward. May have been pulled from an earlier speech. Discussion.
Be noble! And the nobleness that lies
In other men, sleeping, but never dead,
Will rise in majesty to meet thine own.James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American diplomat, essayist, poet
“Sonnet 4” (1840)
(Source)
Often presented as a simple sentence, rather than lines within a larger poem.
Education should have two objects: first, to give definite knowledge, reading and writing, language and mathematics, and so on; secondly, to create those mental habits which will enable people to acquire knowledge and form sound judgments for themselves.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Sceptical Essays, 12 (1928)
Freedom is not an ideal, it is not even a protection, if it means nothing more than freedom to stagnate, to live without dreams, to have no greater aim than a second car and another television set — and this in a world where half our fellow men have less than enough to eat.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
“Putting First Things First”, Foreign Affairs (1960-01)
(Source)
Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.
Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
The Red Box, ch. 11 [Wolfe] (1937)
The tactical result of an engagement forms the base for new strategic decisions because victory or defeat in a battle changes the situation to such a degree that no human acumen is able to see beyond the first battle. In this sense one should understand Napoleon’s saying: “I have never had a plan of operations.” Therefore no plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force.
Helmuth von Moltke (1800-1891) Prussian soldier
“On Strategy” (1871)
Translated in Daniel J. Hughes, Harry Bell, Moltke on the Art of War: Selected Writings (1993).
Paraphrases / variants:
- "No plan survives contact with the enemy."
- "No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy."
One of the reasons so few people are to be found who seem sensible and pleasant in conversation is that almost everybody is thinking about what he wants to say himself rather than about answering clearly what is being said to him.
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Maxims], #139 (1665-1678) [tr. L. Tancock (1959)]
In the Soviet Army, it takes more courage to retreat than advance.
Josef Stalin (1879-1953) Georgian revolutionary and Soviet dictator
Remark to Averell Harriman
Harriman, the US ambassador to the USSR, quotes Stalin in B. Sokolov, The Truth about the Great Patriotic War. Full text.
The free-thinking of one age is the common sense of the next.
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
God and the Bible (1875)
I have always found that so-called bad people gain in one’s estimation when one gets to know them better, and good people decline.
Georg C. Lichtenberg (1742-1799) German physicist, writer
Aphorisms, Notebook G, #25 (1779-83) [tr. Hollingdale (1990)]
(Source)
Nothing is so contagious as an example, and our every really good or bad action inspires a similar one.
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Maxims], #230 (1665-1678) [tr. Tancock (1959)]
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) English poet and critic
The Statesman’s Manual (1816)
Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley.
Sun-Tzu (fl. 6th C. AD) Chinese general and philosopher [a.k.a. Sun Wu]
The Art of War, ch. 10
With a few exceptions people don’t want money. They want luxury and they want love and they want admiration.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
East of Eden (1952)
Proselytizing is more a passionate search for something not yet found than a desire to bestow upon the world something we already have. It is a search for a final and irrefutable demonstration that our absolute truth is indeed the one and only truth. The proselytizing fanatic strengthens his own faith by converting others.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 14, § 88 (1951)
(Source)
Know your enemies: avoid them if you can; intimidate them if you can’t; subdue them if you must.
Thomas Szasz (1920-2012) Hungarian-American psychiatrist, educator
“Ethics,” The Untamed Tongue (1990)
Do not wait; the time will never be “just right.” Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
Napoleon Hill (1883-1970) American author, motivational writer
Think and Grow Rich (1938)
Full text.
To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“The ‘Threat’ of Creationism,” New York Times Magazine (14 Jun 1981)
Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
“On Scientific Method in Philosophy,” Mysticism and Logic (1918)
The soul awakes … between two dim eternities — the eternal past, the eternal future.
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. 22 (1852)
My own education operated by a succession of eye-openers, each involving the repudiation of some previously held belief.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Everybody’s Political What’s What, ch. 19 (1944)
You will find that the truth is often unpopular and the contest between agreeable fancy and disagreeable fact is unequal. For, in the vernacular, we Americans are suckers for good news.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1958-06-09), Commencement, Michigan State University
(Source)
To be broke is not a disgrace, it is only a catastrophe.
Death is the ugly fact which Nature has to hide, and she hides it well.
Alexander Smith (1830-1867) Scottish poet
“The Fear of Dying” (1857)
If both factions, or neither, shall abuse you, you will probably be about right. Beware of being assailed by one and praised by the other.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter to Gen. John M. Schofield (27 May 1863)
From listening comes wisdom; from speaking, repentance.
(Other Authors and Sources)
Italian saying
To choose one’s victims, to prepare one’s plan minutely, to slake an implacable vengeance, and then to go to bed … there is nothing sweeter in the world.
Josef Stalin (1879-1953) Georgian revolutionary and Soviet dictator
(Attributed)
In Robert Conquest, “Lenin’s Guffaw,” New Republic (15 Sep 1986). Remark to colleague before signing almost 40,000 death warrants.
It is a very great thing to be able to think as you like; but, after all, an important question remains: what you think.
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
Democracy (1861)
Criticism … makes very little dent upon me, unless I think there is some real justification and something should be done.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
Letter to Carrie Chapman (18 Apr 1936)
Death and sleep make us all alike, rich and poor, high and low.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) Spanish novelist
Don Quixote, Part 2, Book 4, ch. 43 (1615) [tr. Motteux and Ozell (1743)]
Eloquence may exist without a proportionable degree of wisdom.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Anglo-Irish statesman, orator, philosopher
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
Full text.
All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
Sun-Tzu (fl. 6th C. AD) Chinese general and philosopher [a.k.a. Sun Wu]
The Art of War, ch. 1
Alt trans.: "A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective."
It takes great courage to back truth unacceptable to our times. There’s punishment for it, and it’s usually crucifixion.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
East of Eden (1952)
I have written this Poem from immediate Dictation, twelve or sometimes twenty or thirty lines at a time, without Premeditation and even against my Will; the Time it has taken in writing was thus render’d Non Existent, and an immense Poem Exists which seems to be the Labor of a long life, all produc’d without Labor or Study.
William Blake (1757-1827) English poet, mystic, artist
Letter to his patron Thomas Butts (25 Apr 1803)
Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Mar 1756)
I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure, unless built upon truth and justice, therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects.
Napoleon Hill (1883-1970) American author, motivational writer
Think and Grow Rich (1938)
Full text.
Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)
A very great part of the mischiefs that vex this world arises from words.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Anglo-Irish statesman, orator, philosopher
Letter to Richard Burke (c. 1795)
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
Robert Orben (1927-2023) American comedy writer, magician, speechwriter
(Attributed (1974))
Frequently attributed to Ann Landers, who used it in her column, but she herself cited Derek Bok (who then wrote her to disavow it being his). Also attributed to Andy McIntyre.
Further discussion of this quotation's origins:
Envy is the sincerest form of flattery.
We can bear to be deprived of everything but our self-conceit.
DREAM: Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 3. Dream Country, # 19 “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1990)
(Source)
Administrivia: And a Happy New Year!
This week has been a bit spotty with WIST, as I’ve been in a flurry of holiday/vacation travel and activities. I’m going to be taking a week off from WIST until after the New Year, since the coming week will be even more harried (and likely less connected).
Thank you all for your support and reading of this little hobby of mine. I’ll be doing a more official tally in the New Year, but I’ve added probably a good thousand quotes to the list, and had a great time doing so.
Here’s hoping you and yours have a wonderful holiday season, and that the new year brings you both joy and illuminating words to ponder.
True love ennobles and dignifies the material labors of life; and homely services rendered for love’s sake have in them a poetry that is immortal.
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Household Papers and Stories, Part 2, ch. 4 (1864)
He that knows how to make those he converses with easy, without debasing himself to low and servile Flattery, has found the true Art of living in the World, and being both welcome and valued everywhere.
John Locke (1632-1704) English philosopher
Some Thoughts Concerning Education, #143 (1693)
The sophist sneers: Fool, take
Thy pleasure, right or wrong!
The pious wail: Forsake
A world these sophists throng!
Be neither saint nor sophist-led, but be a man.Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
Empedocles on Etna, Act I, sc. ii (1852)
Full text.
Every man has a retirement picture in which he does those things he never had time to do — makes journeys, reads the neglected books he always pretended to have read.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
East of Eden (1952)
If you are a Christian, you are a minister. This proposition is absolutely basic to any understanding of the Christian movement. A non-ministering Christian is a contradiction in terms. The Christian faith is not made up of spectators listening to professionals, and it is not for individuals who are seeking, primarily, to save their own souls. It is necessarily made up of persons who are called to serve as representatives of Christ in the world, and to serve means to minister. Ministry is intrinsic to the Christian life. Ministry is not something added or means to an end; it is central and ineradicable.
D. Elton Trueblood (1900-1994) American author, educator, theologian [David Elton Trueblood]
“You Are a Minister”
I like life. It’s something to do.
Ronnie Shakes (1947-1987) American comedian [Ronald Michael Sakele]
(Attributed)
Envy […] desires not so much its own happiness as another’s misery.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #183 (Dec 1751)
(Source)
No one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
“On Taste,” Sketches and Essays (1839)
CYNICAL CAT: Little one, I would like to see anyone — prophet, king or God — persuade a thousand cats to do anything at the same time.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 3. Dream Country, # 18 “A Dream of a Thousand Cats” (1990-08)
(Source)
Destiny leads the willing, but drags the unwilling.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #1275 (1732)
(Source)
See Seneca the Younger.
We are interested in others when they are interested in us.
Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 16 [tr. Lyman (1862)]
I have seen a man of genius who made one think if other men were like him, cooperation were impossible. Must we always talk for victory, and never once for truth, for comfort, and joy?
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Table Talk,” American Life, lecture, Boston (1864-12-18)
(Source)
Speaking of Thoreau's style of conversation. Originally a Journal entry of 29 Feb 1856. Also part of the lecture "Social Aims".
History shows that there are no invincible armies and that there never have been.
Josef Stalin (1879-1953) Georgian revolutionary and Soviet dictator
“Comrades! Citizens! Brothers and sisters! Men of our army and navy!”, Radio Address (3 Jul 1941)A few weeks after the invasion of the USSR by Germany. Full text.
We, in some unknown Power’s employ,
Move on a rigorous line;
Can neither, when we will, enjoy,
Nor, when we will, resign.Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) English poet and critic
“Stanzas in Memory of the Author of ‘Obermann'”, s. 34 (1852)
Humor is a social lubricant that helps us get over some of the bad spots.
Steve Allen (1922-2000) American composer, entertainer, and wit.
(Attributed)
A gloomy morning. On all sides a depressing outlook, and within, disgust with self.
Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881) Swiss philosopher, poet, critic
Journal (26 Apr 1968) [tr. Mrs. H. Ward (1887)]
