It is in the depths of conscience that God speaks, and if we refuse to open up inside and look into those depths, we also refuse to confront the invisible God who is present within us.
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) French-American religious and writer [a.k.a. Fr. M. Louis]
“Creative Silence,” Love and Living (ed. N Stone, P. Hart) (1985)
What joy can the years bring half so sweet as the unhappiness they’ve taken away?
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
All Trivia, “Last Words” (1933)
I have often wished I had time to cultivate modesty … But I am too busy thinking about myself.
Edith Sitwell (1887-1964) English poet
(Attributed)
Quoted in The Observer (30 April 1950)
Frame constitutions of government with what wisdom and foresight we may, they must be imperfect, and leave something to discretion, and much to public virtue.
Joseph Story (1779-1845) American lawyer, jurist, Supreme Court Justice (1811-1845)
Address to the Suffolk Bar, New York (4 Sep 1821)
There is no greater Sign of a general Decay of Virtue in a Nation, than a Want of Zeal in its Inhabitants for the Good of their Countrey.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
The Freeholder, No. 5 (1716-01-06)
(Source)
You know more of a road by having travelled it then by all the conjectures and descriptions in the world.
For I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand. For I believe this: unless I believe, I will not understand.
Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) British monk, theologian, archbishop, saint.
Proslogion, ch. 1 (c. 1077-1078)
Corruption is like a ball of snow, when once set rolling it must increase.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon, 2.6 (1824)
When nations and peoples allow themselves to be defined by their differences, the gulf between them widens. When we fail to pursue peace, then it stays forever beyond our grasp. To denounce or shrug off a call for cooperation is an easy and cowardly thing. That is how wars begin. That is where human progress ends.
Barack Obama (b. 1961) American politician, US President (2009-2017)
Speech, Hradčany Square, Prague (5 Apr 2009)
Full text
The basis of our political systems is the right of the people make and alter their constitutions of government. But the constitution which at any time exists, until changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all.
George Washington (1732-1799) American military leader, Founding Father, US President (1789-1797)
“Farewell Address” (17 Sep 1796)
Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not.
Václav Havel (1936-2011) Czech playwright, essayist, dissident, politician
Disturbing the Peace, ch. 2 “Writing for the Stage” (1986) [tr. Wilson (1990)]
(Source)
The price of group membership is conformity to prevailing norms.
James MacGregor Burns (1918-2014) American political scientist, biographer
Leadership, ch. 4 (1978)
If love was all you need, then hugging people would have nutritional value. It doesn’t. However, killing and eating them does.
Warren Ellis (b. 1968) English writer
Twitter post [@warrenellis] (24 Mar 2009)
Now, God has thus ordered things that we may learn to bear one another’s burdens; for there is no man without his faults, none without his burden. None is sufficient in himself; none is wise in himself; therefore, we must support one another, comfort, help, teach, and advise one another.
[Nunc autem Deus sic ordinavit, ut discamus alter alterius onera portare, quia nemo sine defectu, nemo sine onere, nemo sibi sufficiens, nemo sibi satis sapiens, sed oportet invicem portare, invicem consolari, pariter adjuvare, et ammonere.]
Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380-1471) German-Dutch priest, author
The Imitation of Christ [De Imitatione Christi], Book 1, ch. 16, v. 4 (1.16.4) (c. 1418-27) [tr. Sherley-Price (1952)]
(Source)
See Galatians 6:2.
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:Therefore God hath so ordained that each one of us shall learn to bear another’s burden: for in this world no man is without default, no man without burden, no man sufficient to himself, nor no man wise enough of himself. Wherefore it behoveth each one of us to bear the burden of others, to comfort others, to help others, to inform others, and to instruct and admonish others in all charity.
[tr. Whitford/Raynal (1530/1871)]Therefore, God has so ordained that each one of us shall learn to bear another's burden, for in this world no man is without fault, no man without burden, no man sufficient to himself, and no man wise enough of himself. And so it behooves each one of us to bear the burden of others, to comfort others, to help others, to counsel others, and to instruct and admonish others in all charity.
[tr. Whitford/Gardiner (1530/1955)]But now God hath thus ordained that every man should have a burthen of his owne, let us learne to support and beare one anothers burthens. For there is none without defect, none without his burthen, no man sufficient by himselfe, no man wise enough of himselfe. But we ought to bear with one another, comfort one another, equally helpe, instruct, and admonish one another.
[tr. Page (1639), 1.16.11-13]But, as the present Condition of the World is ordered, God hath furnished us with constant Occasions of bearing one another's Burthens. For there is no Man lives without his Failings; no Man that is so happy, as never to give Offence; no Man without his Load of Trouble; no Man so sufficient, as never to need Assistance; none so wise, but the Advice of others may, at some time or other, be useful and necessary for him: And therefore we should think ourselves under the strongest Engagements to comfort and relieve, and instruct, and admonish, and bear with one another.
[tr. Stanhope (1696; 1706 ed.)]But in the present fallen state of human nature, it is his Blessed Will, that we should learn to bear one another's burthens: and as no man is free from some burthen of sin or sorrow; as none has strength and wisdom sufficient for all the purposes of life and duty, the necessity of mutual forbearance, mutual consolation, mutual support, instruction and advice, is founded upon our mutual imperfections, troubles and wants.
[tr. Payne (1803)]But now God hath thus ordered it, that we may learn to bear one another's burdens; for no man is without fault; no man but hath his burden; no man sufficient of himself; no man wise enough of himself; but we ought to bear with one another, comfort one another, help, instruct, and admonish one another.
[ed. Parker (1841)]But in the present fallen state of human nature, it is His Blessed Will that we should learn to bear one another's burthens: and as no man is free from some burthen of sin or sorrow, as none has a strength and wisdom sufficient for all the purposes of life and duty, the necessity of mutual forbearance, mutual consolation, mutual support, instruction, and advice, is founded upon our mutual imperfections, troubles, and wants.
[tr. Dibdin (1851)]But now God has so ordered it, that we learn to bear one another's burdens; for there is no man without defect, no one without his burden, no man sufficient for himself, no man wise enough for himself; but we must support one another, comfort one another, assist, instruct, and admonish one another.
[ed. Bagster (1860)]But now hath God thus ordained, that we may learn to bear one another’s burdens, because none is without defect, none without a burden, none sufficient of himself, none wise enough of himself; but it behoveth us to bear with one another, to comfort one another, to help, instruct, admonish one another.
[tr. Benham (1874)]But now God hath thus ordered it, that we may learn to bear one another's burdens; for no man is without fault; no man but hath his burden; no man is sufficient of himself; no man is wise enough of himself; but we ought to bear with one another, comfort one another, help, instruct, and admonish one another.
[tr. Anon. (1901)]But God has so ordained, that we may learn to bear with one another's burdens, for there is no man without fault, no man without burden, no man sufficient to himself nor wise enough. Hence we must support one another, console one another, mutually help, counsel, and advise.
[tr. Croft/Bolton (1940)]But now God has so arranged that we may learn to bear each other’s burdens, for none is faultless, none without a burden, none sufficient to himself, none wise enough in himself: but we must bear with each other, comfort each other, help, teach, and advise each other.
[tr. Daplyn (1952)]He will have us learn to bear the burden of one another's faults. Nobody is faultless; each has his own burden to bear, without the strength or the wit to carry it by himself; and we have got to support one another, console, help, correct, advise one another, each in his turn.
[tr. Knox-Oakley (1959)]As it is, [God] has made things the way they are so that we may learn to bear the burden of one another’s failings. There is no one free from weakness, no one without a load to carry, no one who is self-sufficient, no one who can dispense with others’ help; and so it is our duty to support each other, to comfort each other, to help, guide and advise each other.
[tr. Knott (1962)]It is God’s plan that we should learn to carry each other's troubles . There is no one free of faults, no one burdenless, no one self-sufficient, no one clever enough to stand alone. We must support one another, comfort one another, help build up one another by instruction and advice.
[tr. Rooney (1979)]But now God has so arranged things that we may learn to bear each other's burdens, for no one is without faults, no one is without burdens, no one is wholly self-sufficient, no one has enough wisdom all by himself. That being the case, we must support and comfort each other; together we must help, teach, and advise one another.
[tr. Creasy (1989)]
The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison.
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) American writer
The Scarlet Letter, ch. 1 “The Prison Door” (1850)
Once I built a railroad, made it run,
Made it race against time.
Once I build a railroad, now it’s done.
Brother, can you spare a dime?E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896-1981) American lyricist [Edgar Yipsel Harburg, b. Isidore Hochberg]
“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?,” in the musical New Americana (1932)
For it is feeling and force of imagination that makes us eloquent.
[Pectus est enim, quod disertos facit.]
Quintilian (39-90) Roman orator [Marcus Fabius Quintilianus]
De Institutione Oratoria, Book X, ch. 7, l. 15
I think it’s important to remember that these men are not perfect. If they were marble gods, what they did wouldn’t be so admirable. The more we see the founders as humans the more we can understand them.
David McCullough (b. 1933) American author, narrator, historian, lecturer
“David McCullough brings ‘John Adams’ to life,” Interview by Todd Leopold, CNN.com (7 Jun 2005)
On the American "Founding Fathers." Full text.
I hadn’t any heart to touch my breakfast. I told Jeeves to drink it himself.
P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) Anglo-American humorist, playwright and lyricist [Pelham Grenville Wodehouse]
My Man Jeeves (1919)
Holding it a sound maxim that it is better to be only sometimes right than at all times wrong, so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous I shall be ready to renounce them.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
“To the People of Sangamo County,” campaign statement, Illinois State Legislature Race (9 Mar 1862)
Impatience asks for the impossible, wants to reach the goal without the means of getting there. The length of the journey has to be borne with, for every moment is necessary ….
Georg Hegel (1770-1831) German philosopher
Phänomenologie des Geistes [The Phenomenology of the Spirit] (1807)
Full text.
He that seeks trouble never misses.
(Other Authors and Sources)
English proverb
First collected in George Herbert, Outlandish Proverbs (1640).
In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.
Ivan Illich (1926-2002) Austrian philosopher, social critic, cleric
Tools for Conviviality, ch. 3 (1973)
Cleverness is serviceable for everything, sufficient for nothing.
Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881) Swiss philosopher, poet, critic
Journal (16 Feb 1868) [tr. Ward (1887)]
Our worst revolutionaries today are those reactionaries who do not see and will not admit that there is any need for change.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
An Autobiography, ch. 13 (1913)
We do not see nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our hearts.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
“Thoughts on Taste,” Edinburgh Magazine (Oct 1818)
Nought venter nought have.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 11 (1564)
(Source)
More commonly rendered, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Letter from Birmingham Jail (16 Apr 1963)
(Source)
A strong mind is one which does not lose its balance even under the most violent excitement.
[Ein starkes Gemüt ist ein solches, welches auch bei den heftigsten Regungen nicht aus dem Gleichgewicht kommt.]
Karl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) Prussian soldier, historian, military theorist
On War [Vom Kriege], Book 1, ch. 3 “On Military Genius [Der Kriegerische Genius],” (1.3) (1832) [tr. Graham (1873)]
(Source)
(Source (German)). Alternate translations:A stout heart is one which does not lose its balance even under the most violent excitement.
[tr. Jolles (1943)]A strong character is one that will not be unbalanced by the most powerful emotions.
[tr. Howard & Paret (1976)]
I don’t say I’ve got much of a soul, but, such as it is, I’m perfectly satisfied with the little chap. I don’t want people fooling about with it. ‘Leave it alone,’ I say. ‘Don’t touch it. I like it the way it is.’
P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) Anglo-American humorist, playwright and lyricist [Pelham Grenville Wodehouse]
Joy in the Morning (1947)
Isn’t it the moment of most profound doubt that gives birth to new certainties? Perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourished human hope; perhaps one could never find sense in life without first experiencing its absurdity.
Václav Havel (1936-2011) Czech playwright, essayist, dissident, politician
Speech, Salzburg Festival (26 Jul 1990)
(Source)
There are but two families in the world, Have-much and Have-little.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) Spanish novelist
Don Quixote, Part 2, Book 3, ch. 20 (1615) [tr. Motteux and Ozell (1743)]
More popularly given as "The Haves and the Have-Nots."
It is so easy to convert others. It is so difficult to convert oneself.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
“The Critic as Artist” (2), Intentions (1891)
A nation that forgets its past can function no better than an individual with amnesia.
David McCullough (b. 1933) American author, narrator, historian, lecturer
Los Angeles Times (23 Apr 1978)
It contributes greatly towards a man’s moral and intellectual health, to be brought into habits of companionship with individuals unlike himself, who care little for his pursuits, and whose sphere and abilities he must go out of himself to appreciate.
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) American writer
The Scarlet Letter, “Introduction: The Custom-House” (1850)
Serenely full, the epicure would say,
Fate cannot harm me, I have dined to-day.Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)
(Source)
At the end of a recipe for highly praised potato salad dressing.
If you don’t stick to your values when they are tested, they’re not values. They’re hobbies.
Jon Stewart (b. 1962) American satirist, comedian, and television host. [b. Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz]
The Daily Show (2009-01-22)
It is easy and dismally enervating to think of opposition as merely perverse or actually evil—far more invigorating to see it as essential for honing the mind, and as a positive good in itself. For the day that moral issues cease to be fought over is the day the word “human” disappears from the race.
Jill Tweedie (1936-1993) British author, journalist, feminist, broadcaster
The Independent (May 1989)
All things are in motion, and nothing is at rest. … You cannot step into the same [river] twice, for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you.
[Πάντα ῥεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει]
Heraclitus of Ephesus (c.540-c.480 BC) Greek philosopher [Ἡράκλειτος, Herákleitos, Heracleitus]
(Attributed)
Paraphrased by Socrates in Plato, Cratylus, l. 402 [tr. B Jowett (1894)] and by Diogenes Laërtius in Lives of the Philosophers Bk 9, sec 8
Alt trans.:
- Everything flows, nothing stays still
- Everything flows and nothing stays.
- Everything flows and nothing abides.
- Everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.
- Everything flows; nothing remains.
- All is flux, nothing is stationary.
- All is flux, nothing stays still.
- You cannot step twice into the same river; for other waters are continually flowing in.
- You cannot step twice into the same stream. For as you are stepping in, other waters are ever flowing on to you.
- You cannot step twice into the same river.
- It is impossible to step into the same river twice.
- No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.
‘Tis quite another Thing to be stiff than steady in an Opinion.
William Penn (1644-1718) English writer, philosopher, politician, statesman
More Fruits of Solitude, #155 (1693)
Not curiosity, not vanity, not the consideration of expediency, not duty and conscientiousness, but an unquenchable, unhappy thirst that brooks no compromise leads us to truth.
Georg Hegel (1770-1831) German philosopher
Stammbuch
Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.
John Cotton Dana (1856-1929) American librarian
Building Inscription, Newark State Teachers CollegeDana was asked to supply a Latin quotation to be inscribed on a new building at Newark State Teachers College (now Kean University). Unable to find an appropriate Latin phrase, he authored this English one instead, which eventually became the college motto (see The New York Times Book Review, 5 Mar 1967). The university motto has since been shortened to Semper Discens ("Always Learning").
Sometimes attributed to Richard Henry Dann.
KIRK: Charlie, there are a million things in this universe you can have and there are a million things you can’t have. It’s no fun facing that, but that’s the way things are.
CHARLIE: Then what am I going to do?
KIRK: Hang on tight and survive. Everybody does.
CHARLIE: You don’t.
KIRK: Everybody, Charlie. Me, too.Dorothy Catherine "D. C." Fontana (1939-2019) television screenwriter, story editor
“Charlie X,” Star Trek (aired 15 Sep 1966)
The only wise and safe course is to act from day to day in accordance with what one’s own conscience seems to decree.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
The Second World War: The Gathering Storm, part 1, ch. 12 (1948)
Only among people who think no evil can Evil monstrously flourish.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Other People” (1931)
Believe not all thou hearest, nor speak all thou believest.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 323 (1725)
(Source)
He wrapped himself in quotations — as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
Many Inventions, “The Finest Story in the World” (1893)
(Source)
But indeed Conviction, were it never so excellent, is worthless till it convert itself into Conduct. Nay properly Conviction is not possible ill then.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Sartor Resartus, Book 2, ch. 9 (1831)
(Source)
The reactionaries hold that government policies should be designed for the special benefit of small groups of people who occupy positions of wealth and influence. Their theory seems to be that if these groups are prosperous, they will pass along some of their prosperity to the rest of us. This can be described as the “trickle down theory.”
Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
Speech, St Paul (3 Nov 1949)
Look up, laugh loud, talk big, keep the colour in your cheek and the fire in your eye, adorn your person, maintain your health, your beauty, and your animal spirits, and you will pass for a fine man.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
“On The Conduct of Life” (1822)
Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
[En effet, l’histoire n’est que le tableau des crimes et des malheurs.]
Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
L’Ingénu, ch.10 (1767)
We should not think of conversion as the acceptance of a particular creed, but as a change of heart.
Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
My Religion, ch. 6 (1927)
The best way to teach that one should be suspicious of everything one holds dear is through the study of brilliant people of the past, who, by modern standards are so wrong, and where it is easy to see that their errors were the result of cultural biases of their day.
Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) American paleontologist, geologist, biologist
In Charles Petit, “A Thinker Who Delights in Discredited Theories,” San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle (14 Feb 1993)
The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.
James Madison (1751-1836) American statesman, political theorist, US President (1809-17)
The Federalist #57 “The Alleged Tendency of the New Plan to Elevate the Few at the Expense of the Many” (19 Feb 1788)
Those who have not lost the ability to recognize that which is laughable in themselves, or their own nothingness, are not arrogant, nor are they enemies of an Open Society. Its enemy is a person with a fiercely serious countenance and burning eyes.
Václav Havel (1936-2011) Czech playwright, essayist, dissident, politician
Speech, accepting the “Open Society” Prize, Central European University (24 Jun 1999)
(Source)
It is exceedingly clever to know how to hide your cleverness.
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Maxims], #245 (1665-1678) [tr. L. Kronenberger (1959)]
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they do not find them, make them.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Mrs. Warren’s Profession, ch. 2 (1893)
Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can’t get into it do that.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
We sometimes congratulate ourselves at the moment of waking from a troubled dream: it may be so the moment after death.
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) American writer
American Notebooks (25 Oct 1836)
In Passages from the American Note-Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, ed. S. Hawthorne (1868). Full text.
My idea of heaven is eating pâté de foie gras to the sound of trumpets.
Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
(Attributed)
(Source)
In Hesketh Pearson, The Smith of Smiths, ch. 10 (1934).
Administrivia: Feeds still not working properly
I’m aware the folks who are reading this via Feedburner (directly or via email), feeds are still goofed up (presently the formatting is better, but the author name is missing — and that’s now causing a problem with other direct feeds). I know what needs fixing, but haven’t confirmed the latest approach to how is working. Apologies, and feel free to come visit the site in order to see the latest-greatest until I can get this corrected.
UPDATE (mere minutes later, of course): Problem fixed, huzzah. I will be spreading this out to other feed templates later today.
It is always darkest just before the Day dawneth.
Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) English churchman, historian
A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine, ii. xi (1650)
The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man’s.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Letter to W.D. Howells (2 Apr 1899)
IVANOVA: You’ll excuse me, but I’m in the middle of fifteen things, all of them annoying.
J. Michael (Joe) Straczynski (b. 1954) American screenwriter, producer, author [a/k/a "JMS"]
Babylon 5, 1×01 “Midnight on the Firing Line” (26 Jan 1994)
A large part of the mischief and folly of the world comes from rushing in, taking a position, the not knowing how to retreat. There is something about making a speech or writing an article which perverts the human mind. When an utterance is published, the Rubicon has been crossed and the bridges have been burned. It seems to end the inquiry, and after that we almost cease to be interested in the truth, being so preoccupied to prove that we already possess it.
Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) American journalist and author
Columnn, New York Herald Tribune (10 Oct 1953)
You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, ch. 21 “Faith” (1912)
Full text.
He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Shooting an Elephant” (1936)
Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.
Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 847
There is nothing that people bear more impatiently, or forgive less, than contempt; and an injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.
Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #112 (9 Oct 1746)
Ultimately our moral sense or conscience becomes a highly complex sentiment — originating in the social instinct, largely guided by the approbation of our fellow men, ruled by reason, self-interest, and in later times by deep religious feelings, and confirmed by instruction and habit.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) English naturalist
The Descent of Man, 2d ed., ch. 5 (1874)
What I like in a good author isn’t what he says, but what he whispers.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Arts and Letters” (1931)
Administrivia: Still having a few technical difficulties
Well, irritatingly enough, though the Atom/RSS feed for the site looks fine in Google Reader, and in the viewer in FeedBurner, too, the email version that FeedBurner sends out looks … less than … good.
Apologies to WIST readers who use that feature. I’ll try to figure out what the heck is going on.
Training distiguishes an army from an armed mob.
Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) American general
“Annual Report of the Chief of Staff” (30 Jun 1934)
We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect; we apprehend it just as much by feeling. Therefore, the judgment of the intellect is, at best, only the half of truth, and must, if it be honest, also come to an understanding of its inadequacy.
Carl Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologist
Psychological Types, “Conclusion” (1921)
Many can bear Adversity but few Contempt.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #3340 (1732)
(Source)
No man who ignores the rights and needs of others can hope to walk in the light of contemplation because his way has turned aside from truth, from compassion, and therefore from God.
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) French-American religious and writer [a.k.a. Fr. M. Louis]
New Seeds of Contemplation, ch. 3 (1961)
Conservatism stands on man’s incontestable limitations; reform on his indisputable infinitiude.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“The Conservative,” lecture, Boston (1841-12-09)
Administrivia: Welcome to WIST v3!
A combination of factors — a fractious PC that was causing me difficulty updating the old Movable Type site, a new mania for WordPress, and a touch of obsession — has led to my converting over WIST to a WordPress blog. I think it will provide, in the long run, some serious advantages in performance and ease of use, both for me and for my readers.
There’s still a lot to do here — my inability to update the old version caused me to rush this to production. Part of the needed changes are cosmetic — getting the WIST logo back in place. Others more more substantial — getting the feeds working properly, dealing with some odd formatting glitches, etc.
But I’m pleased to be able to roll this out. I hope you continue to enjoy reading and using WIST as much as I enjoy keeping it updated. And, at a rather appropriate cracking-the-7000-quote mark, it’s a perfect time for a brand new era.
UPDATE: I was unable to make a final post in the old MT installation to let folks kno this, but … as part of the conversion, the RSS feed addresses for WIST have changed. If you were using FeedBurner, then you’ll see a difference, but you don’t have to do anything. If you had a direct subscription to the feed from the site, though, it no longer works. Go to the RSS link at the top of the page to make a new choice over how you want to subcribe here.
What is needed in politics is not the ability to lie but rather the sensibility to know when, where, how and to whom to say things.
Václav Havel (1936-2011) Czech playwright, essayist, dissident, politician
International Herald Tribune (29 Oct 1991)
No; the two kinds of people on earth I mean
Are the people who lift and the people who lean.
Wherever you go, you will find the earth’s masses
Are always divided in just these two classes.Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) American author and poet.
“Which Are You?” st. 6-7, Poems of Power (1902)
(Source)
Sometimes titled "Lifting and Leaning".
Here is a good rule of thumb:
Too clever is dumb.Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
“Reflections on Ingenuity,” Many Long Years Ago (1945)
(Source)
Every individual has a place to fill in the world, and is important, in some respect, whether he chooses to be so or not.
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) American writer
American Notebooks (25 Oct 1836)In Passages from the American Note-Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, ed. S. Hawthorne (1868). Full text.
Did you ever hear my definition of marriage? It is, that it resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they cannot be separated; often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them.
Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)
(Source)
Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden, “Economy” (1854)
Know the enemy, know yourself; in a hundred battles you will not be in peril.
Sun-Tzu (fl. 6th C. AD) Chinese general and philosopher [a.k.a. Sun Wu]
The Art of War, “Offensive Strategy” (31) [tr. S. Griffith (1963)]
Alt trans:
- "It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle." [cited ch. 3, last sentence.]
- "If you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle."
- "Know your enemy and know yourself, find naught in fear for 100 battles. Know yourself but not your enemy, find level of loss and victory. Know thy enemy but not yourself, wallow in defeat every time."
- "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
- Literal translation: "Know [the] other, know [the] self, hundred battles without danger; not knowing [the] other but know [the] self, one win one loss; not knowing [the] other, not knowing [the] self, every battle must [be] lost."
PREDICAMENT, n. The wage of consistency.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
The Devil’s Dictionary, “Predicatment” (1911)
A hen is only an egg’s way of making another egg.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
Life and Habit, ch. 8 (1877)Full text.
Administrivia: Technical difficulties
Apologies for the lack of WIST entries yesterday. Technical difficulties on my PC (still ongoing) caused the problem, but I’m going to work around them today.
Meantime, I’ll catch up on the gap, and, hopefully, have some Big News for you later this weekend.
Again, thanks for your patience.
Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)
Comment on the Vice Presidency (1960)Quoted in T. Sorensen, <i>Kennedy</i>, ch. 1 (1965)
Good Sense is Thing all need, few have,
and none think they lack.Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (Jun 1746)
Consult your conscience, rather than popular opinion.
Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 146 [tr. Lyman (1862)]
That we should practise what we preach is generally admitted; but anyone who preaches what he and his hearers practise must incur the gravest moral disapprobation.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)
A red is any son-of-a-bitch who wants thirty cents when we’re payin’ twenty-five.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
The Grapes of Wrath, ch. 22 (1939)
Judging by common sense is merely another phrase judging by first appearances; and everyone who has mixed among mankind with any capacity for observing them, knows that the men who place implicit faith in their own common sense, are, without any exception, the most wrong-headed and impracticable persons with whom he ever had to deal.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) English philosopher and economist
“The Spirit of the Age,” part 2 The Examiner (English journal) (6-29 May 1831)
Worse than idle is compassion
If it ends in tears and sighs.William Wordsworth (1770-1850) English poet
“The Armenian Lady’s Love” (1835)
What I fear most are affirmative actions of sober and well-intentioned men, granting to government powers to do something that appears to need doing.
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966)
There are large parts of the Christian ethic which are universally admitted to be too good for this wicked world. We have in fact, two kinds of morality, side by side: one that we preach, but do not practice, and another that we practice, but seldom preach.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
“Eastern and Western Ideals of Happiness,” Sceptical Essays (1928)
There are plenty of decent legislators, and plenty of able legislators; but the blamelessness and the fighting edge are not always combined. Both qualities are necessary for the man who is to wage active battle against the powers that prey. He must be clean of life, so that he can laugh when his public or his private record is searched; and yet being clean of life will not avail him if he is either foolish or timid. He must walk warily and fearlessly, and while he should never brawl if he can avoid it, he must be ready to hit hard if the need arises. Let him remember, by the way, that the unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
“Practical Politics,” The Outlook (26 Apr 1913)
It is revolting to have no better reason for a rule of law than that so it was laid down in the time of Henry IV. It is still more revolting if the grounds upon which it was laid down have vanished long since, and the rule simply persists from blind imitation of the past.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935) American jurist, Supreme Court Justice
“The Path of the Law”, 10 Harvard Law Review 457 (1897)Full text.
As I look at the human story I see two stories. They run parallel and never meet. One is of people who live, as they can or must, the events that arrive; the other is of people who live, as they intend, the events they create.
Margaret C. Anderson (1886-1973) American editor, memoirist
The Fiery Fountains, Part 1 (1951)
