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
The True Believer, ch. 88 (1951)
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
Commencement Address, Michigan State University (8 Jun 1958)
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.
Derek Bok (b. 1930) American lawyer, educator
(Attributed)
Also attributed to Andy McIntyre.
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)]
