For somehow this is tyranny’s disease, to trust no friends.
Aeschylus (525-456 BC) Greek dramatist (Æschylus)
Prometheus Bound, l. 224
Alternate translation: "In every tyrant's heart there springs in the end this poison, that he cannot trust a friend."
We believe what we want to believe, what we like to believe, what suits our prejudices and fuels our passions.
Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986) Anglo-American columnist, journalist, author
Clearing the Ground, “Lies Are Not Easily Put to Rest” (1986)
A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it, an apostle is unlikely to look out.
Georg C. Lichtenberg (1742-1799) German physicist, writer
Aphorisms, Notebook F, #17 (1776-79) [tr. Hollingdale (1990)]
(Source)
This is nearly mirrored by Notebook E, # 49 (1775-76), "A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it an apostle is hardly likely to look out."
Alternate translations:A book is a mirror: when a monkey looks in, no apostle can look out.
[tr. Mautner and Hatfield (1959)]A book is a mirror: if an ape looks into it, an apostle is unlikely to look out.
[tr. Tester (2012)]
He does not believe, that does not live according to his Belief.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #1838 (1732)
(Source)
Those whose cause is just will never lack good arguments.
Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Hecuba, l. 1235 (trans. W. Arrowsmith (1956))
The Bible has been interpreted to justify such evil practices as, for example, slavery, the slaughter of prisoners of war, the sadistic murders of women believed to be witches, capital punishment for hundreds of offenses, polygamy, and cruelty to animals. It has been used to encourage belief in the grossest superstition and to discourage the free teaching of scientific truths. We must never forget that both good and evil flow from the Bible. It is therefore not above criticism.
Steve Allen (1922-2000) American composer, entertainer, and wit.
The Bible, Religion, and Morality (1990)
Though they seem at opposite poles, fanatics of all kinds are actually crowded together at one end. It is the fanatic and the moderate who are poles apart and never meet. The fanatics of various hues eye each other with suspicion and are ready to fly at each other’s throat. But they are neighbors and almost of one family. They hate each other with the hatred of brothers.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 13, § 62 (1951)
(Source)
CREON: Am I to rule for others, or myself?
HAEMON: A State for one man is no State at all.
CREON: The State is his who rules it, so ’tis held.
HAEMON: As monarch of a desert thou wouldst shine.Κρέων: ἄλλῳ γὰρ ἢ ‘μοὶ χρή με τῆσδ᾽ ἄρχειν χθονός;
Αἵμων: πόλις γὰρ οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ ἥτις ἀνδρός ἐσθ᾽ ἑνός.
Κρέων: οὐ τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἡ πόλις νομίζεται;
Αἵμων: καλῶς γ᾽ ἐρήμης ἂν σὺ γῆς ἄρχοις μόνος.Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Antigone, l. 736 ff (441 BC) [tr. Storr (1859)]
(Source)
Original Greek. Alt. trans.:CREON: Shall other men prescribe my government?
HAEMON: One only makes not up a city, father.
CREON: Is not the city in the sovereign's hand?
HAEMON: Nobly you'd govern as the desert's king.
[tr. Campbell (1873)]CREON: Am I to rule this land by the will of another than myself?
HAEMON: That is no city, which belongs to one man.
CREON: Does not the city by tradition belong to the man in power?
HAEMON: You would make a fine monarch in a desert.
[tr. Jebb (1891)]CREON: My voice is the one voice giving orders in this City!
HAIMON: It is no City if it takes orders from one voice.
CREON: The State is the King!
HAIMON: Yes, if the State is a desert.
[tr. Fitts/Fitzgerald (1939)]CREON: No, I am king, and responsible only to myself.
HAEMON: A one-man state? What sort of state is that?
CREON: Why, does not every state belong to its ruler?
HAEMON: You’d be an excellent king -- on a desert island.
[tr. Watling (1947), ll. 632 ff]CREON: Am I to rule by other mind than mine?
HAEMON: No city is property of a single man.
CREON: But custom gives possession to the ruler.
HAEMON: You'd rule a desert beautifully alone.
[tr. Wyckoff (1954)]CREON: Am I to rule for them, not for myself?
HAEMON: That is not government, but tyranny.
CREON: The king is lord and master of his city.
HAEMON: Then you had better rule a desert island!
[tr. Kitto (1962)]CREON: Am I to rule this land for others -- or myself?
HAEMON: It's no city at all, owned by one man alone.
CREON: What? The city is the king's -- that's the law!
HAEMON: What a splendid king you'd make of a desert island --
you and you alone.
[tr. Fagles (1982)]CREON: So I should rule this country for someone other than myself?
HAEMON: A place for one man alone is not a city.
CREON: A city belongs to its master. Isn't that the rule?
HAEMON: Then go be ruler of a desert, all alone. You'd do it well.
[tr. Woodruff (2001)]CREON: Should I govern the city for others and not for me?
HAEMON: There is no city that belongs to one man.
CREON: So a city does not belong to the man who governs it?
HAEMON: One man alone can only govern an empty city.
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]CREON: Am I to rule this land at someone else’s whim or by myself?
HAEMON: A city which belongs to just one man is no true city.
CREON: According to our laws, does not the ruler own the city?
HAEMON: By yourself you’d make an excellent king but in a desert.
[tr. Johnston (2005)]CREON: Should I rule the land for anyone other than myself?
HAEMON: There is no city that is one man’s.
CREON: Is not the city considered to belong to the ruling man?
HAEMON: Nobly you could rule an empty land, alone.
[tr. Tyrell/Bennett (2002)]
Also:
- "The state which belongs to one man is no state at all." [tr. @sentantiq (2020)]
- "A state is not a state if it belongs to one man."
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) American-British poet, critic, playwright [Thomas Stearns Eliot]
Four Quartets, “Little Gidding” (1943)
The best service a book can render you is not to impart truth, but to make you think it out for yourself.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (ed. E. Hubbard II) (1927)
With exceptions so rare that they are regarded as miracles and freaks of nature, successful democratic politicians are insecure and intimidated men. They advance politically only as they placate, appease, bribe, seduce, bamboozle, or otherwise manage to manipulate the demanding and threatening elements in their constituencies. The decisive consideration is not whether the proposition is good, but whether it is popular — not whether it will work well and prove itself, but whether the active talking constituents like it immediately.
Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) American journalist and author
The Public Philosophy (1955)
A little kingdom I possess,
Where thoughts and feelings dwell;
And very hard the task I find
Of governing it well.Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) American writer
“My Kingdom,” st. 1.
We know nothing of tomorrow; our business is to be good and happy today.
Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 12 (1855)
(Source)
Administrivia: Doing the Numbers, 1/2009
It’s been a while (since February 2007), but for everyone’s edification, here are the current WIST stats:
How many of … | Jan -09 | Feb-07 | Aug-03 | Feb-02 | Nov-00 |
Miscellaneous Quotations? | 507 | 475 | 457 | 446 | 400 |
Authored Quotations? | 6,091 | 4,610 | 4,233 | 3,869 | 3,208 |
Total Quotations? | 6,598 | 5,085 | 4,690 | 4,315 | 3,608 |
Cited Authors? | 1,751 | 1,672 | 1,632 | 1,556 | 1,396 |
The “Total Quotations” number doesn’t quite sync up with the number at the top of the main page due to the latter including Adminstrivia posts (such as this one).
The number is still not as huge as other sites — but all of those quotes have been looked at, examined, and an attempt made to source them. I think that’s worthwhile.
As to the currently most represented here …
Who? | Rank | Count |
William Shakespeare | 1 | 105 |
Mark Twain | 2 | 66 |
Bertrand Russell | 3 | 65 |
C.S. Lewis | 4 | 63 |
George Bernard Shaw | 5 | 61 |
G. K. Chesterton | 5 | 61 |
Ralph Waldo Emerson | 7 | 60 |
Bill Watterson | 8 | 49 |
Ambrose Bierce | 9 | 46 |
Benjamin Franklin | 10 | 44 |
Dave Barry and Abe Lincoln fell off the Top 10; Russell and Franklin are the adds this time.
I’m running Google Analytics on this page currently, as far as tracking visitors. I’m getting about 910 hits here per week, most of which come from Google. Not huger numbers, but respectable.
Of the visitors, 57% are from the US ; other countries are all below 10% each, with the UK, Canada, Ireland, India, and Germany having the most visitors. About 50% are on IE (down from 61% last time); Firefox shows as 40%, with smaller blips for Safari and Opera.
Not sure what it all means, but there it is. For myself, I’ve been pleased with my regimen to post five quotations daily here. I hope my loyal readers enjoy what they’re seeing; I thank you one and all.
And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
East of Eden, Part 1, ch. 13 (1952)
For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much — the wheel, New York, wars and so on — whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man — for precisely the same reasons.
Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English writer
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, ch. 23 (1979)
Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
Richard Feynman (1918-1988) American physicist
“What Is and What Should Be the Role of Scientific Culture in Modern Society,” lecture at the Galileo Symposium, Italy (1964)
Compassion is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers. The question is what to do with the feelings that have been aroused, the knowledge that has been communicated. People don’t become inured to what they are shown — if that’s the right way to describe what happens — because of the quantity of images dumped on them. It is passivity that dulls feeling.
Susan Sontag (1933-2004) American essayist, novelist, activist
Regarding the Pain of Others (2003)
There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)
The man who never makes enny blunders seldum makes enny good hits.
[The man who never makes any blunders seldom makes any good hits.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, “Kindling Wood” (1874)
A baby is an inestimable blessing and bother.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Letter (1876-09-01) to Annie Webster
(Source)
This quote is widely cited, but I was unable to find a decent source for it online.
You ask, What makes it worth defending? and the only answer I can give is this: Freedom to write, freedom to read, freedom to own material that you believe is worth defending means you’re going to have to stand up for stuff you don’t believe is worth defending, even stuff you find actively distasteful, because laws are big blunt instruments that do not differentiate between what you like and what you don’t, because prosecutors are humans and bear grudges and fight for re-election, because one person’s obscenity is another person’s art. Because if you don’t stand up for the stuff you don’t like, when they come for the stuff you do like, you’ve already lost.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Blog entry (2008-12-01), “Why defend freedom of icky speech?”
(Source)
As an American, I condemn a Republican “Fascist” just as much as I condemn a Democrat “Communist.” I condemn a Democrat “Fascist” just as much as I condemn a Republican “Communist.” They are equally dangerous to you and me and to our country. As an American, I want to see our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves.
Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1965) American politician (US Senator, Maine)
“Declaration of Conscience,” Congressional Record, vol. 96, 81st Congress, 2d. sess. (1 Jun 1950)Full text.
He was too much concerned with his own perfection ever to think of admiring any one else.
Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) English parodist, caricaturist, wit, writer [Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm]
Zuleika Dobson, ch. 3 (1911)Full text.
Expediency is the first refuge of scoundrels.
He that hath the worst Cause, makes the most Noise.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #2153 (1732)
(Source)
Whatever the quality of my works may be, read them as if I were still seeking, and were not aware of, the truth, and were seeking it obstinately, too.
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium], letter 45, sec. 4, “On Sophistical Argumentation” (tr. R. Gummere (1918))
There’s always been pressure to sit down, shut up, don’t ask the tough questions. Go along to get along. Every administration has done it. But each succeeding administration has gotten better at it. If we aren’t careful, the tradition in American journalism of “Be skeptical. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t be afraid to put tough questions to power” will be shaken. It’ll be serious, something much bigger than journalism. The issue speaks to what kind of country we are and what kind of country we’re going to become.
Dan Rather (b. 1931) American broadcast journalist
“What I’ve Learned,” Esquire (Aug 2005)Full article.
Maybe it was my natural optimism at work, but what I saw and warmed to in the existentialist writings was that life is meaningless unless you bring meaning to it; that it is up to us to create our own existence. Unless you do something, unless you make something it’s as though you aren’t there.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Commencement Speech, Connecticut College (1980)Full text.
The Stoics could only advise the wise man to hold aloof from politics, keeping the unwritten law in his heart. But when Christ said: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s,” those words, spoken on His last visit to the Temple, three days before His death, gave to the civil power, under the protection of conscience, a sacredness it had never enjoyed, and bounds it had never acknowledged; and they were the repudiation of absolutism and the inauguration of freedom.
John Dalberg, Lord Acton (1834-1902) British historian, politician, writer
Speech (1877-02-28), “The History of Freedom in Antiquity,” Bridgenorth Institute
Although my mother didn’t know anything about science, she had a great influence on me as well. In particular, she had a wonderful sense of humor, and I learned from her that the highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion.
Richard Feynman (1918-1988) American physicist
What Do You Care What Other People Think?, “The Making of a Scientist” (1988)
(Source)
It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.
(Other Authors and Sources)
AP report on Ben Tre, Vietnam, New York Times (8 Feb 1968)Attributed to an unidentified US Army Major.
Always fall in with what you’re asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever’s going. Not against: with.
Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet
(Attributed)Quoted in Vogue (15 Mar 1963)
There is nothing in the world that breeds Atheism like Hypocrisy.
Samuel Butler (1612-1680) English poet, satirist, painter, philosopher [Hudibras Butler]
Prose Observations, “Religion” (1660-1680) (ed. H de Quehen (1979))
As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.
Carl Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologist
Memories, Dreams, Reflections [Erinnerungen, Träume, Gedanken] [ed. A. Jaffe (1962)]
MACDUFF: What three things does drink especially provoke?
PORTER: Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes and unprovokes. It provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance. Therefore much drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery. It makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him and disheartens him; makes him stand to and not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep and, giving him the lie, leaves him.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 2, sc. 3, l. 27ff (2.3.27-38) (1606)
(Source)
If one begins all deeds well, it is likely that they will end well too.
Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Fragments, l. 715.
I want you to know that it’s okay to be uncertain. I’m uncertain, too. In a world like this, it’s appropriate to be uncertain.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Commencement Speech, Connecticut College (1980)Full text.
Intellectual honesty and obvious sincerity carry more conviction than was ever accomplished by mere utterance. The advocate can make no greater mistake than to ignore or attempt to conceal the weak points in his case. The most effective strategy is at an early stage of the argument to invite attention to your weakest point before the court has discovered it, then to meet it with the best answers at your disposal, to deal with all the remaining points with equal candor, and to end with as powerful a presentation of your strongest point as you are capable of making.
George W. Pepper (1867-1961) American lawyer, law professor, politician
Letter to Eugene Gerhart (1951-12-10)
(Source)
Quoted in Gerhart, America's Advocate: Robert H. Jackson, ch. 24 (1958).
Many times what cannot be refuted by arguments can be parried by laughter.
Desiderius Erasmus (1465-1536) Dutch humanist philosopher and scholar
In Praise of Folly, ch. 25 (1509) (trans. H. H. Hudson (1941))
Do not allow children to mix your martini. It is unseemly and they use too much vermouth.
Steve Allen (1922-2000) American composer, entertainer, and wit.
(Attributed)
I’d have a stable full of Arabian steeds, rooms piled high with books, and I’d write out of a magic inkstand, so that my works should be as famous as Laurie’s music. I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle, something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead. I don’t know what, but I’m on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all some day. I think I shall write books, and get rich and famous, that would suit me, so that is my favorite dream.
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) American writer
Little Women, ch. 13 [Jo] (1869)
Never give way to melancholy; resist it steadily, for the habit will encroach.
Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 10 (1855)
(Source)
In chapter 11 is a parallel quotation from Smith: "Never give way to melancholy: nothing encroaches more; I fight against it vigorously."
But Lady Holland observes that in Smith's notebook he also wrote, "I wish I were of a more sanguine temperament; I always anticipate the worst."
If there’s anything mean in a feller, a little authority will bring it out.
Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard (1868-1930) American caricaturist and humorist
Abe Martin’s Back Country Sayings (1917)
Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
“Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on Salvador Dali,” opening words (1944)
(Source)
A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other points, as well of speculation as of practice; an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power; or to persons of other descriptions whose fortunes have been interesting to the human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good. So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts.
James Madison (1751-1836) American statesman, political theorist, US President (1809-17)
The Federalist #10Full text.
If we are asked what is the most essential characteristic that underlies this word, the word itself will guide us to gentleness, to absence of such things as brow-beating, overbearing manners and fuss, and generally to consideration for other people.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, “Gentleman” (1912)
(Source)
The friendly cow all red and white,
I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple-tart.Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
“The Cow,” st. 1, A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885)
Every man who attacks my belief diminishes in some degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes me uneasy; and I am angry with him who makes me uneasy.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (3 Apr 1776)Quoted in Boswell, <i>The Life of Samuel Johnson</i> (1791)
In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that he did not also limit his stupidity.
Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) German politician
(Attributed)
Quoted by Dean Atchison in Arthur Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, ch. 11 (1965).
Growing old is no gradual decline, but a series of tumbles, full of sorrow, from one ledge to another. Yet when we pick ourselves up we find no bones are broken; while not unpleasing is the new terrace which stretches out unexplored before us.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
“Last Words,” All Trivia (1933)
The worst I know of her is that she doesn’t like my face, but that will hurt her more than it will me. I mean, you know, she’s the one that’s got to look at it.
Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) English author, translator
Busman’s Honeymoon, ch. 3 [Wimsey] (1937)
You don’t have to deserve your mother’s love. You have to deserve your father’s. He’s more particular. One’s a Republican, one’s a Democrat. The father is always a Republican toward his son, and his mother’s always a Democrat.
Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet
“The Art of Poetry No. 2,” interview by R.Poirier, Paris Review #24 (Summer-Fall 1960)Full text.
I am a Tory Anarchist. I should like every one to go about doing just as he pleased — short of altering any of the things to which I have grown accustomed.
Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) English parodist, caricaturist, wit, writer [Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm]
“Servants” (1918)Full text.
He was an embittered atheist (the sort of atheist who does not so much disbeleive in God as personally dislike Him).
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Down and Out in Paris and London, ch. 30 (1933)
The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.
E. M. Forster (1879-1970) English novelist, essayist, critic, librettist [Edward Morgan Forster]
“A Book that Influenced Me,” Two Cheers for Democracy (1951)
Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!
Phil Foglio (b. 1956) American writer, cartoonist
Girl Genius, “Cinderella” [Agatha] (5 Dec 2008)
Love your work. If you always put your heart into everything you do, you really can’t lose. If your heart is in it, you’ll probably succeed, and if it isn’t in it, you probably won’t succeed. But the reason you can’t lose is that whether you wind up making a lot of money or not, you will have had a wonderful time, and no one will ever be able to take that away from you.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Commencement Speech, Connecticut College (1980)Full text.
As many as are involved in misery of their own choosing, such as you, for them there is no forgiveness nor pity.
Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Philoctetes, l. 1319
If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
“Elegiac Verse,” In the Harbor (1882)
See Emerson.
It will presumably be thought better, indeed one’s duty, to do away with even what is close to one’s heart in order to preserve the truth, especially when one is a philosopher. For one might love both, but it is nevertheless a sacred duty to prefer the truth to one’s friends.
[ἀληθείας καὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα ἀναιρεῖν, ἄλλως τε καὶ φιλοσόφους ὄντας: ἀμφοῖν γὰρ ὄντοιν φίλοιν ὅσιον προτιμᾶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν.]
Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher
Nicomachean Ethics [Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια], Book 1, ch. 6 (1.6, 1096a.15) (c. 325 BC) [tr. Crisp (2000)]
(Source)
This is actually not given as a general guideline for living life, but specifically about offering a philosophical argument in opposition that offered by friends. (Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Still perhaps it may appear better, nay to be our duty where the safety of the truth is concerned, to upset if need be even our own theories, specially as we are lovers of wisdom: for since both are dear to us, we are bound to prefer the truth.
[tr. Chase (1847), ch. 3]And yet, where the interests of truth are at actual stake, we ought, perhaps, to sacrifice even that which is our own -- if, at least, we are to lay any claim to a philosophic spirit. Both are dear to us alike, but truth must be religiously preserved.
[tr. Williams (1869)]Yet it will perhaps seem the best, and indeed the right course, at least when the truth is at stake, to go so far as to sacrifice what is near and dear to us, especially as we are philosophers. For friends and truth are both dear to us, but it is a sacred duty to prefer the truth.
[tr. Welldon (1892)]In the interests of truth we ought to sacrifice even what is nearest to us, especially as we call ourselves philosophers. Both are dear to us, but it is a sacred duty to give the preference to truth.
[tr. Peters (1893)]Yet it would perhaps be thought to be better, indeed to be our duty, for the sake of maintaining the truth even to destroy what touches us closely, especially as we are philosophers or lovers of wisdom; for, while both are dear, piety requires us to honour truth above our friends.
[tr. Ross (1908)]Still perhaps it would appear desirable, and indeed it would seem to be obligatory, especially for a philosopher, to sacrifice even one's closest personal ties in defense of the truth. Both are dear to us, yet 'tis our duty to prefer the truth.
[tr. Rackham (1934)]Yet it would seem better, perhaps, and something we should do, at any rate when the preservation of the truth is at stake, to confute even what is properly our own, most of all because we are philosophers. For while we love both our friends and the truth, it is a pious thing to accord greater honor to the truth.
[tr. Reeve (1948)]Yet it would perhaps be thought better, and also our duty, to forsake even what is close to us in order to preserve the truth, especially as we are philosophers; for while both are dear, it is sacred to honor truth above friendship.
[tr. Apostle (1975), ch. 4]Yet surely it would be thought better, or rather necessary (above all for philosophers), to refute, in defence of truth , even views to which one is attached; since both are dear, it is right to give preference to the truth.
[tr. Thomson/Tredennick (1976)]Still, it presumably seems better, indeed only right, to destroy even what is close to us if that is the way to preserve truth. And we must especially do this when we are philosophers, lovers of wisdom; for though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first.
[tr. Irwin/Fine (1995)]But perhaps it might be held to be better, in fact to be obligatory, at least for the sake of preserving the truth, to do away with even one's own things, especially for those who are philosophers. For although both are clear, it is a pious thing to honor the truth first.
[tr. Bartlett/Collins (2011)]
The politician in my country seeks votes, affection and respect, in that order…. With few notable exceptions, they are simply men who want to be loved.
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) American journalist
Address at London Guildhall (19 Oct 1959)
For many who live frugally before they fall in love become prodigal when that passion gets the mastery over them; insomuch that after having wasted their estates, they are reduced to gain their bread by methods they would have been ashamed of before. What hinders then, but that a man, who has been once temperate, should be so no longer, and that he who has led a good life at one time should not do so at another? I should think, therefore, that the being of all virtues, and chiefly of temperance, depends on the practice of them: for lust, that dwells in the same body with the soul, incites it continually to despise this virtue, and to find out the shortest way to gratify the senses only.
Xenophon (c. 431-355 BC) Greek historian and essayist
The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates, ch. 2 “Socrates No Debaucher of Youth”Full text.
The shortest and surest way to live with honour in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be: and if we observe, we will find that all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice and experience of them.
Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.
Socrates (c.470-399 BC) Greek philosopher
In Plutarch, How a Young Man Ought to Hear Poems. ch. 4.
What you are you do not see, what you see is your shadow.
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
Stray Birds, ch. 18 (1914)
Talent isn’t genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. I want to be great, or nothing. I won’t be a commonplace dauber, so I don’t intend to try any more.
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) American writer
Little Women, pt. 2, ch. 16 [Amy] (1869)
Great men hallow a whole people and lift up all who live in their time.
Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
“Ireland,” The Edinburgh Review (1820-11)
(Source)
Review of Whitewlaw's History off the City of Dublin,, Curwein's Observations on the State of Ireland (1818), and Gamble's Views of Society in Ireland.
Speaking of his friend, Henry Grattan.
There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
The Spectator #512 (17 Oct 1712)
The extremes of vice and virtue are alike detestable; absolute virtue is as sure to kill a man as absolute vice is, let alone the dullnesses of it and the pomposities of it.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, “Vice and Virtue,” ii (1912)Full text.
Get acting, do things; be sane; don’t fritter away your time; create; act; take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action ….
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
(Attributed)To the Rough Riders, on their mustering out in 1908. In Eugene Thwing, The Life and Meaning of Theodore Roosevelt, ch. 5 "Rough Riders and Spaniards" (1919). Full text.
Atheism is the theory that there is no God. Now one kind is a theoretical kind, where someone just sits down and starts thinking about it, and they come to a conclusion that there is no God. The other kind is a practical atheism, and that kind goes out of living as if there is no God. And you know there are a lot of people who affirm the existence of God with their lips, and they deny his existence with their lives. You’ve seen these people who have a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds.
It’s a pity the dead are so quiet; it makes us ready to forget them.
Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) English author, translator
Busman’s Honeymoon, ch. 17 [Wimsey] (1937)
The notion of making money by popular work, and then retiring to do good work, is the most familiar of all the devil’s traps for artists.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Arts and Letters” (1931)
Nature is not as forgiving as Christ.
Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) US Navy Admiral
(Attributed)Quoted in T. Rockwell, <i>The Rickover Effect</i> (1992)
The same ambition can destroy or save,
And make a patriot as it makes a knave.Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet
“An Essay on Man,” ch. 2 (1734)
Volumes might be written upon the impiety of the pious.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) English philosopher, naturalist
First Principles, pt. I “The Unknowable,” ch. 5 “The Reconciliation” (1862)Full text.
The end of an argument or discussion should be, not victory, but enlightenment.
[Le but de la dispute ou de la discussion ne doit pas être la victoire, mais l’amélioration.]
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 8, ¶ 41 (1850 ed.) [tr. Collins (1928), ch. 7]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:The aim of disputation and discussion should not be victory, but improvement.
[tr. Calvert (1866), ch. 8]The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.
[tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 7, ¶ 31]
To those who wish to punish others — or at least to see them punished, if the avengers are too cowardly to take matters into their own hands — the belief in a fiery, hideous hell appears to be a great source of comfort.
Steve Allen (1922-2000) American composer, entertainer, and wit.
The Bible, Religion, and Morality (1990)
The question isn’t “who is going to let me”; it’s “who is going to stop me?”
Ayn Rand (1905-1982) Russian-American writer, philosopher
The Fountainhead [Roark] (1943)
She was one of those people who say “I don’t know anything about music really, but I know what I like.”
Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) English parodist, caricaturist, wit, writer [Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm]
Zuleika Dobson, ch. 9 (1911)Full text.
I never dared be radical when young for fear it would make me conservative when old.
Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet
A Further Range, “Ten Mills,” “Precaution” (1936)
Wine hath drowned more Men than the Sea.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #5744 (1732)
(Source)
Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
“To the People of Sangamo County,” speech running for Illinois state legislature (9 Mar 1832)
I’m a beer teetotaler, not a champagne teetotaler. I don’t like beer.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Candida, ch. 3 (1893)
Sleep, ignorant of pain, sleep, ignorant of grief, may you come to us blowing softly, kindly, kindly come, king.
Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Philoctetes, l. 827.
(Source)
Alt. trans.: "Come, blowing softly, Sleep, that know'st not pain, / Sleep, ignorant of grief, / Come softly, surely, kingly sleep, and bless ...." [E. H. Plumptre (1871)]
Don’t ever aim your doubt at yourself. Laugh at yourself, but don’t doubt yourself.
Alan Alda (b. 1936) American actor [b. Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo]
Commencement Speech, Connecticut College (1980)Full text.
Elisha left Jericho to go to Bethel, and on the way some boys came out of a town and made fun of him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they shouted. Elisha turned around, glared at them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys to pieces.
The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
2 Kings 2:23-24 [GNT (1976)]
(Source)
Alternate translations:And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
[KJV (1611)]From there he went up to Bethel, and while he was on the road up, some small boys came out of the town and jeered at him. ‘Go up, baldhead!’ they shouted ‘Go up, baldhead!’ He turned round and looked at them; and he cursed them in the name of Yahweh. And two she-bears came out of the wood and savaged forty-two of the boys.
[JB (1966)]He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!” When he turned around and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.
[NRSV (1989 ed.)]From there he went up to Bethel. As he was going up the road, some little boys came out of the town and jeered at him, saying, “Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!” He turned around and looked at them and cursed them in the name of GOD. Thereupon, two she-bears came out of the woods and mangled forty-two of the children.
[RJPS (2006)]From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.
[NIV (2011 ed.)]
The President must be greater than anyone else, but not better than anyone else. We subject him and his family to close and constant scrutiny and denounce them for things that we ourselves do every day. A Presidential slip of the tongue, a slight error in judgment — social, political, or ethical — can raise a storm of protest. We give the President more work than a man can do, more responsibility than a man should take, more pressure than a man can bear. We abuse him often and rarely praise him. We wear him out, use him up, eat him up. And with all this, Americans have a love for the President that goes beyond loyalty or party nationality; he is ours, and we exercise the right to destroy him.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
“America and Americans” (1966)
It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Good Omens, 2. “Eleven Years Ago” (1990) [with Neil Gaiman]
(Source)
L’esprit de l’escalier
[Spirit of the staircase]Denis Diderot (1713-1784) French editor, philosopher
Paradoxe sur le Comédien (1773-1777)
Alt trans. "Staircase inspiration." A reference to the remarks/retorts one only thinks of too late, as when descending the stairs of a building after an encounter inside.
Gentleness and cheerfulness, these come before all morality; they are the perfect duties.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
“A Christmas Sermon,” Across the Plains, ch. 12 (1892)
I’ve always felt absolutely certain [life] was good — if only one could get it straightened out. I’ve hated almost everything that ever happened to me, but I knew all the time it was just things that were wrong, not everything. Even when I felt most awful I never thought of killing myself or wanting to die — only of somehow getting out of the mess and starting again.
Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) English author, translator
Busman’s Honeymoon, ch. 14 [Harriet] (1937)
In the field of world policy I would dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbor.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Inaugural Address (4 Mar 1933)
We too often forget that not only is there “a soul of goodness in things evil,” but very generally also, a soul of truth in things erroneous.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) English philosopher, naturalist
First Principles, Pt. I “The Unknowable,” ch. 1 “Religion and Science”” (1862)
(Source)
Quoting Shakespeare.
All men are by nature conservative but conservatism in the military profession is a source of danger to the country. One must be ready to change his line sharply and suddenly, with no concern for the prejudices and memories of what was yesterday. To rest upon formula is a slumber that, prolonged, means death.
Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) US Navy Admiral
Address, US Naval Post Graduate School (16 Mar 1954)
The indefatigable pursuit of an unattainable perfection, even though it consist in nothing more than the pounding of an old piano, is what alone gives a meaning to our life on this unavailing star.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)
Greensleeves was all my joy,
Greensleeves was my delight,
Greensleeves was my heart of gold,
And who but Lady Greensleeves?(Other Authors and Sources)
A Handful of Pleasant Delites, “A New Courtly Sonnet of the Lady Greensleeves, to the new tune of ‘Greensleeves'” (1584)
You mustn’t exaggerate, young man. That’s always a sign your argument is weak.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
“Redbook Dialogue,” interview by Tommy Robbins, Redbook (1964-09)
(Source)
Reprinted in Russell Society News, #37 (1983-02), p. 24.
The Fathers of the Constitution were not unaware of the varied and extreme views of religious sects, of the violence of disagreement among them, and of the lack of any one religious creed on which all men would agree. They fashioned a charter of government which envisaged the widest possible toleration of conflicting views. Man’s relation to his God was made no concern of the state. He was granted the right to worship as he pleased and to answer to no man for the verity of his religious views. The religious views espoused by respondents might seem incredible, if not preposterous, to most people. But if those doctrines are subject to trial before a jury charged with finding their truth or falsity, then the same can be done with the religious beliefs of any sect.
William O. Douglas (1898-1980) US Supreme Court justice (1939-75)
United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78 (1944), majority opinionFull text.
