FAITH, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge of things without parallel.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Faith,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
(Source)
Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911). Originally published in the "Devil's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Wasp (1884-06-07).
Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1930-04-28)
(Source)
Written while in Beverly Hills. Collected in The Autobiography of Will Rogers, ch. 15 (1949) [ed. Donald Day].
We lavish on animals the love we are afraid to show to people. People might not return it; or worse, they might.
Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 1 (1963)
(Source)
These two hated with a hate
Found only on the stage.
With books, as with companions, it is of more consequence to know which to avoid, than which to chuse; for good books are as scarce as good companions, and in both instances, all that we can learn from bad ones, is, that so much time has been worse than thrown away.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, Preface (1820)
(Source)
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE: Marry, he must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Comedy of Errors, Act 4, sc. 3, l. 65ff (4.3.65-66) (1594)
(Source)
The phrase was popularized by Shakespeare, but had appeared earlier, e.g., Chaucer, "The Squire's Tale," ll. 602-603, Canterbury Tales (c. 1386):
"Therfor bihoveth him a ful long spoon
That shal ete with a feend," thus herde I seye.
LUCIUS: From hence, let fierce contending nations know,
What dire effects from civil discord flow.Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Cato, Act 5, sc. 5, l. 106ff (1713)
(Source)
Thou knowest that since the invention of gun-powder, there is no place impregnable: that is to say, Usbek, there is no longer any asylum upon earth against injustice and violence. I always tremble for fear at last some invention will be found out of a shorter way to destroy mankind, and to depopulate whole nations and whole kingdoms.
[Tu sais que, depuis l’invention de la poudre, il n’y a plus de places imprenables ; c’est-à-dire, Usbek, qu’il n’y a plus d’asile sur la terre contre l’injustice et la violence. Je tremble toujours qu’on ne parvienne à la fin à découvrir quelque secret qui fournisse une voie plus abrégée pour faire périr les hommes, détruire les peuples et les nations entières.]
Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Persian Letters [Lettres Persanes], Letter 106, Rhedi to Usbek (1721) [tr. Ozell (1760 ed.), # 105]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:
Thou knowest, that since the Invention of gun-powder, there is no place impregnable; that is to say, Ushek, that there is not any longer an asylum upon earth against injustice and violence. I always tremble, left they should at arrive at last, at the discovery of some secret, which may furnish them with a shorter way to destroy mankind, and to depopulate whole nations and whole kingdoms.
[tr. Floyd (1762), # 105]
You know that since the invention of gunpowder no place is impregnable; that is to say, Usbek, that there is no longer upon the earth a refuge from injustice and violence. I dread always lest they should at last discover some secret which will furnish them with a briefer method of destroying men, by killing them off wholesale in tribes and nations.
[tr. Davidson (1891)]
You know that, since the invention of gunpowder, no fortress is impregnable; that is to say, Usbek, that there is no longer upon earth an asylum against injustice and violence. I am always in terror lest some secret or other should be at length discovered that will not only kill men, but destroy entire tribes and nations.
[tr. Betts (1897)]
You know that since the invention of gunpowder there have been no impregnable places; and this is to say, Usbek, that there is no longer an asylum from injustice and violence any¬ where on the earth. I am in constant terror that ultimately someone will succeed in discovering some secret which will furnish an even more efficient way to kill men, by destroying whole peoples and entire nations.
[tr. Healy (1964)]
You know, since the invention of gunpowder, no fortification is impregnable; in other words, Usbek, there no longer exists, anywhere on earth, any asylum from injustice and violence. I live in fear that men of science will eventually discover some secret which would offer a faster day to kill people, destroy races, and wipe out entire nations.
[tr. Mauldon (2008)]
You know that since the invention of gunpowder, no place is impregnable -- and that is to say, Usbek, that there is no place on earth where we are safe from injustice and violence. I tremble at the thought that eventually someone will discover some new secret that will lead to an even more efficient way to kill even more people, perhaps to destroy entire populations and nations.
[tr. MacKenzie (2014), # 105]
The King’s cheese is half wasted in parings: But no matter, ’tis made of the peoples milk.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1735 ed.)
(Source)
“Just once more” is the Devil’s best argument.
Helen Rowland (1875-1950) American journalist and humorist
Reflections of a Bachelor Girl (1909)
(Source)
There is no Death! What seems so is transition;
This life of mortal breath
Is but a suburb of the life Elysian,
Whose portal we call Death.Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
“Resignation,” st. 5 (1849), The Seaside and the Fireside (1850)
(Source)
Perhaps the greatest rudenesses of our time come not from the callousness of strangers, but from the solicitousness of intimates who believe that their frank criticisms are always welcome, and who feel free to “be themselves” with those they love, which turns out to mean being their worst selves, while saving their best behavior for strangers.
Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
Common Courtesy, “Those Who Would Change the Country’s Manners Encounter Citizen Resistance” (1985)
(Source)
The true rule, in determining to embrace, or reject any thing, is not whether it have any evil in it; but whether it have more of evil, than of good. There are few things wholly evil, or wholly good. Almost every thing, especially of governmental policy, is an inseparable compound of the two; so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1848-06-20), On Internal Improvements, US House of Representatives
(Source)
And in that moment Sherman made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later. For the first time he realized that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps love, adopted a role called Being a Father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life.
Tom Wolfe (1930-2018) American author and journalist [Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr.]
The Bonfire of the Vanities, ch. 21 (1987)
(Source)
Administrivia: D’oh!
Since April, my RSS feeds (and, thus, my WIST-by-email stuff) has been kind of wonky. I do some non-standard things with WordPress to structure my quotations database, and each time I do an upgrade in the software I have go change the RSS feeds programming to output the right things in the right places (for the normal online blog, the theme takes care of that).
Well, in April, despite my best efforts and my being willing to swear up and down that I was, in fact, updating those RSS PHP files, the RSS feeds (and emails) were stubbornly remaining their default values — which meant that you couldn’t actually tell who was saying the things I was quoting, without drilling down to the underlying blog entry.
I took advantage of my family giving me some free time for Fathers Day to look at it again, and, lo! my assumptions about what PHP files were being updated in which domain turned out to be completely wrong. It’s almost as if Dante was trying to whisper in my ear yesterday.
Long story short (too late), I have now, it appears, fixed this problem. RSS feeds should look correct. Quotes by email should look correct. All’s right with the world. At least until my next WP upgrade.
And if none of the above makes any sense to you, that’s fine. If you are interested in the email or RSS feeds for this site, you can get more information here.
You dull your own perceptions
with false imaginings and do not grasp
what would be clear but for your preconceptions.
[Tu stesso ti fai grosso
col falso imaginar, sì che non vedi
ciò che vedresti se l’avessi scosso.]Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet
The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 3 “Paradiso,” Canto 1, l. 88ff (1.88-90) [Beatrice] (1320) [tr. Ciardi (1970)]
(Source)
Dante's beloved Beatrice greets him for the first time since his arrival in Paradise, chiding him for his terrestrial assumptions of what he's seeing. (Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:
False Forms deceive thy optics. Son of Man!
With shadowy objects which eclipse the true.
[tr. Boyd (1802), st. 20]
With false imagination thou thyself
Mak’st dull, so that thou seest not the thing,
Which thou hadst seen, had that been shaken off.
[tr. Cary (1814)]
Imagination false
Hath made thee dull, so that thou canst not see
That thou might'st, hadst thou looked diligently.
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]
Thou makest thyself so dull
With false imagining, that thou seest not
What thou wouldst see if thou hadst shaken it off.
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]
Thou thyself makest thyself gross with false imagining, so that thou seest not that which thou wouldest have seen, if thou hadst shaken it off.
[tr. Butler (1885)]
Thyself thou makest blind
With thy false fancy, that thou canst not see
What thou wouldst see, if this were thrown behind.
[tr. Minchin (1885)]
Thou thyself makest thyself dull with false imagining, so that thou seest not what thou wouldst see, if thou hadst shaken it off.
[tr. Norton (1892)]
Thou thyself makest thyself dense Earthly with false imagining, and so thou seest not what heavenly thou wouldst see, if thou hadst cast it off.
[tr. Wicksteed (1899)]
Thou dullest thine own wit
With false imagination, nor preceivest
That which thou wouldst perceive, being rid of it.
[tr. Sayers/Reynolds (1962)]
Thou makest thyself dull with false fancies so that thou canst not see as thou wouldst if thou hadst cast them off.
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]
Thou makest thyself dense of wit
With false fancy, so that thou dost not see
What thou would’st see, wert thou but rid of it.
[tr. Binyon (1943)]
You make yourself dull with false imagining, so that you do not see what you would see had you cast it off.
[tr. Singleton (1975)]
You are making yourself stupid
By imagining what isn’t, so that you do not
See what you would if you could shake that off.
[tr. Sisson (1981)]
You make yourself
obtuse with false imagining; you can
not see what you would see if you dispelled it.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1984)]
You have yourself to blame for burdening
your mind with misconceptions that prevent
from seeing clearly what you might have seen.
[tr. Musa (1984)]
You are making yourself swell
with false imagining, so that you do not see
what shaking it off would show.
[tr. Durling (2011)]
You make yourself stupid with false imaginings, and so you do not see, what you would see, if you discarded them.
[tr. Kline (2002)]
With false imaginings
you make yourself so dull you fail to see
what, shaking off this cloud, you’d see quite well.
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2007)]
You make yourself dull-witted
with false notions, so that you cannot see
what you would understand, had you but cast them off.
[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]
You're overwhelming yourself with false
And foolish conjuring, preventing what your eyes
Would see if you did not struggle so hard for triumph.
[tr. Raffel (2010)]
You get all mixed up
By sticking with a figment of your imagination, so
You don’t see what you would see if you shook it off.
[tr. Bang (2021)]
Away with silks, away with lawn,
I’ll have no scenes or curtains drawn;
Give me my mistress as she is,
Dress’d in her nak’d simplicities;
For as my heart e’en so mine eye
Is won with flesh, not drapery.Robert Herrick (1591-1674) English poet
“Clothes Do But Cheat and Cozen Us,” Hesperides, # 402 (1648)
(Source)
Without favour none will know you, and with it you will not know your selfe.
George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 159 (1640 ed.)
(Source)
That man must be everyone’s personal enemy who has behaved like a public enemy to his own friends. No wise man ever felt that a traitor ought to be trusted.
[Omnium est communis inimicus qui fuit hostis suorum. Nemo umquam sapiens proditori credendum putavit.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
In Verrem [Against Verres; Verrine Orations], Action 2, Book 1, ch. 15 / sec. 38 (1.15.38) (70 BC) [tr. Greenwood (1928)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:
He is the common enemy of all men who has once been the enemy of his own connections. No wise man ever thought that a traitor was to be trusted
[tr. Yonge (1903)]
He is a common enemy who has been a foe to his own people. No man of sense has ever considreed a traitor worthy of credence.
[ed. Harbottle (1906)]
What a mystery this is, desire. The love sickness, the sensitivity, the obsession, the flutter of the heart, the ebb and flow of the blood. There is no drug and no alcohol to equal it.
Your memory is a monster; you forget — it doesn’t. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you — and summons them to your recall with a will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you!
John Irving (b. 1942) American-Canadian novelist and screenwriter [b. John Wallace Blunt Jr.]
A Prayer for Owen Meany, ch. 1 “The Foul Ball” (1989)
(Source)
By some happy fortuity, man is a projector, a designer, a builder, a craftsman; it is among his most dependable joys to impose upon the flux that passes before him some mark of himself, aware though he always must be of the odds against him. His reward is not so much in the work as in its making; not so much in the prize as in the race. We may win when we lose, if we have done what we can; for by so doing we have made real at least some part of that finished product in whose fabrication we are most concerned: ourselves.
Learned Hand (1872-1961) American jurist
Speech (1955-01-29), “A Fanfare for Prometheus,” American Jewish Committee annual dinner, New York City
(Source)
After all, my earstwhile dear,
My no longer cherished,
Need we say it was not love,
Now that love is perished?Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
“Passer Mortuus Est”, st. 3, Second April (1921)
(Source)
Again, we should notice the force, effect, and consequences of inventions, which are nowhere more conspicuous than in those three which were unknown to the ancients; namely, printing, gunpowder, and the compass. For these three have changed the appearance and state of the whole world; first in literature, then in warfare, and lastly in navigation: and innumerable changes have been thence derived, so that no empire, sect, or star, appears to have exercised a greater power and influence on human affairs than these mechanical discoveries.
[Rursus, vim et virtutem et consequentias rerum inventarum notare juvat; quae non in aliis manifestius occurrunt, quam in illis tribus quae antiquis incognitae, et quarum primordia, licet recentia, obscura et ingloria sunt: Artis nimirum Imprimendi, Pulveris Tormentarii, et Acus Nauticae. Haec enim tria rerum faciem et statum in orbe terrarum mutaverunt: primum, in re literaria; secundum, in re bellica; tertium, in navigationibus: unde innumerae rerum mutationes sequutae sunt; ut non imperium aliquod, non secta, non stella, majorem efficaciam et quasi influxum super res humanas exercuisse videatur, quam ista mechanica exercuerunt.]
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
Instauratio Magna [The Great Instauration], Part 2 “Novum Organum [The New Organon],” Book 1, Aphorism # 129 (1620) [tr. Wood (1831)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:
Again, it is well to observe the force and virtue and consequences of discoveries; and these are to be seen nowhere more conspicuously than in those three which were unknown to the ancients, and of which the origin, though recent, is obscure and inglorious; namely, printing, gunpowder, and the magnet. For these three have changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world; the first in literature, the second in warfare, the third in navigation; whence have followed innumerable changes; insomuch that no empire, no sect, no star seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these mechanical discoveries.
[tr. Spedding (1858)]
Again, it is well to mark the force, virtue, and consequences of discoveries; and these occur nowhere more manifestly than in those which were unknown to the ancients, and whose origin, though recent, is obscure and inglorious; the Arts, namely, of Printing, of Gunpowder, and the Mariner's Compass. For these three have changed the face and condition of things all over the world; the first in letters, the second in war, the third in navigation. And hence numberless changes have followed; so that no government, no sect, no star, seems to have exercised greater power and influence over human affairs than these mechanical discoveries.
[tr. Johnson (1859)]
Again, it helps to notice the force, power and consequences of discoveries, which appear at their clearest in three things that were unknown to antiquity, and whose origins, though recent, are obscure and unsung: namely, the art of printing, gunpowder and the nautical compass. In fact these three things have changed the face and condition of things all over the globe: the first in literature; the second in the art of war; the third in navigation; and innumerable changes have followed; so that no empire or sect or star seems to have exercised a greater power and influence on human affairs than those mechanical things.
[tr. Silverthorne (2000)]
Notice the vigour of discoveries, their power to generate consequences. This is nowhere more obvious than in three discoveries that the ancients didn’t know and whose origins (all quite recent) were obscure and humdrum. I am talking about the arts of printing, gunpowder, and the nautical compass. These three have changed the whole aspect and state of things throughout the world -- the first in literature, the second in warfare, the third in navigation -- bringing about countless changes; so that there seems to have been no empire, no philosophical system, no star that has exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these mechanical discoveries.
[tr. Bennett (2017)]
You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long, and the great charm of all power is modesty.
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) American writer
Little Women, ch. 7 “Amy’s Valley of Humiliation” [Mrs. March] (1868)
(Source)
I still should not want you to smile on all occasions:
for nothing is more silly than a silly smile.[Tamen renidere usque quaque te nollem;
Nam risu inepto res ineptior nulla est.]Catullus (c. 84 BC – c. 54 BC) Latin poet [Gaius Valerius Catullus]
Carmina # 39 “To Egnatius,” ll. 15-16 [tr. McDonnell (1998)]
(Source)
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:
E'en then that ceaseless ill-tim'd grin forego:
A silly laugh's the silliest thing I know.
[tr. Nott (1795), # 37]
I'd say renounce thy ceaseless idiot grin,
A silly laugh is folly, if not sin.
[tr. Cranstoun (1867)]
Yet sweetly smiling ever I would have you not,
For silly laughter, it's a silly thing indeed.
[tr. Ellis (1871)]
Yet thy incessant grin I would not see,
For naught than laughter silly sillier be.
[tr. Burton (1893)]
Still I wish you wouldn't grin forever everywhere; for nothing is more senseless than senseless giggling.
[tr. Smithers (1894)]
Still I should not like you to be smiling everlastingly; for there is nothing more silly than a silly laugh.
[tr. Warre Cornish (1904)]
I would have you drop your endless grin: for nothing is more inane than inane laughter.
[tr. Stuttaford (1912)]
Still not to smile for aye is wisdom's rule:
For folly's laugh proclaims the peerless fool.
[tr. MacNaghten (1925)]
I still should still disapprove that constant smile;
It shows a silly, poor, affected style.
[tr. Wright (1926)]
Your smile would still offend me; nothing is worse
than senseless laughter from a foolish face.
[tr. Gregory (1931)]
I still wouldn't want to see you always grinning,
for nothing is more inept than inept laughter.
[tr. C. Martin (1979)]
I’d still not want you to smile all the time:
there’s nothing more foolish than foolishly smiling.
[tr. Kline (2001)]
I'd still not want you flashing yours all round since
nothing's more fatuous than a fatuous grin.
[tr. Green (2005)]
I still should not want you to smile on all occasions:
for nothing is more silly than a silly smile.
[tr. Wikisource (2018)]
There is nothing which a prudent man must shun more carefully than living with a view to popularity and giving serious thought to the things esteemed by the multitude, instead of making sound reason his guide of life, so that, even if he must gainsay all men and fall into disrepute and incur danger for the sake of what is honourable, he will in no wise choose to swerve from what has been recognized as right.
[ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἔστιν ὃ μᾶλλον φευκτέον τῷ σωφρονοῦντι, τοῦ πρὸς δόξαν ζῆν, καὶ τὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς δοκοῦντα περισκοπεῖν, καὶ μὴ. τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον ἡγεμόνα ποιεῖσθαι τοῦ βίου, ὥστε, κἂν πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἀντιλέγειν, κἂν ἀδοξεῖν καὶ κινδυνεύειν ὑ ὑπὲρ τοῦ καλοῦ δέῃ, μηδὲν αἱρεῖσθαι τῶν ὀρθῶς ἐγνωσμένων παρακινεῖν.]
Basil of Caesarea (AD 330-378) Christian bishop, theologian, monasticist, Doctor of the Church [Saint Basil the Great, Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας]
Address to Young Men on Reading Greek Literature, ch. 9, sec. 25 [tr. Deferrari/McGuire (1933)]
(Source)
Someday we will regard our children not as creatures to manipulate or to change but rather as messengers from a world we once deeply knew, but which we have long since forgotten, who can reveal to us more about the true secrets of life, and also our own lives, than our parents were ever able to.
Alice Miller (1923-2010) Polish-Swiss psychologist, psychoanalyst, philosopher
For Your Own Good [Am Anfang war Erziehung], “Preface to the American Edition” (1980) [tr. Hannum/Hannum (1983)]
(Source)
They don’t ask much of you. They only want you to hate the things you love and to love the things you despise.
Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator
Quoted in “Farewell in a Poet’s Land,” Life Magazine (1960-06-13)
(Source)
On the Communist leadership of the Soviet Union.
This article was an obituary for Pasternak. I have been unable to find a primary source for the quote.
Sex gives us a glimpse of a concentration of the mind that would make us godlike if we could command it in other spheres.
Colin Wilson (1931-2013) English existentialist philosopher, novelist
The God of the Labyrinth [The Hedonists] (1970)
(Source)
Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks.
[τὰ πόλλ’ ἀνάγκη διαφέρει τολμήματα]
We sleek, well-fed folk can hardly realize what feeling hungry is like. We know what it is to have no appetite and not to care for the dainty victuals placed before us, but we do not understand what it means to sicken for food — to die for bread while others waste it — to gaze with famished eyes upon coarse fare steaming behind dingy windows, longing for a pen’orth of pea pudding and not having the penny to buy it — to feel that a crust would be delicious and that a bone would be a banquet.
Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) English writer, humorist [Jerome Klapka Jerome]
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Eating and Drinking” (1886)
(Source)
I had a very pleasant evening, however, though you will probably find out that there was no particular reason for it; but I do not think it worth while to wait for enjoyment until there is some real opportunity for it.
The hardest-learned lesson: that people have only their kind of love to give, not our kind.
Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 1 (1963)
Nothing so difficult as a beginning
In poesy, unless perhaps the end.
ADRIANA: He is deformèd, crooked, old, and sere,
Ill-faced, worse-bodied, shapeless everywhere,
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind,
Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Comedy of Errors, Act 4, sc. 2, l. 21ff (4.2.21-24) (1594)
(Source)
CATO: How beautiful is death, when earn’d by virtue!
Who would not be that youth? What pity is it
That we can die but once to serve our country!Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Cato, Act 4, sc. 4, l. 79ff (1713)
(Source)
On being presented with the corpse of his son. This line is thought to have inspired Nathan Hale.
A man compensates for the lack of a talent by despising it. He removes the obstacle he finds between himself and merit, and so finds himself on a plane with those whose work he envies.
[Un homme à qui il manque un talent se dédommage en le méprisant: il ôte cet obstacle qu’il rencontroit entre le mérite et lui; et, par là, se trouve au niveau de celui dont il redoute les travaux.]Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Persian Letters [Lettres Persanes], Letter 145, Usbek to *** (1721) [tr. Healy (1964)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:
A man to whom a talent is wanting, makes himself amends by despising it: he removes that obstacle which was between merit and him, and thereby finds himself on a level with the man whose pen he dreads.
[tr. Ozell (1760 ed.), # 73]
When a man is destitute of any particular talent, he indemnifies himself, by expressing his contempt for it; he removes that obstacle which stood between merit and him, and by that means, raises himself to a level with those whom he before feared as rivals.
[tr. Floyd (1762)]
When a man lacks a particular talent, he indemnifies himself by despising it: he removes the impediment between him and merit; and in that way finds himself on a level with those of whose works he formerly stood in awe.
[tr. Davidson (1891)]
A man who lacks a certain talent compensates himself by despising it: he removes the obstacle placed between him and merit, and thereby finds himself on an equality with the person whose labors he dreads.
[tr. Betts (1897)]
A man who lacks a certain talent will compensate himself by despising it; he eliminates the obstacle which blocks his path to excellence, and, as a consequence, sees himself as the equal of the rival whose work he fears.
[tr. Mauldon (2008), # 156]
When will the Miser’s Chest be full enough?
When will he cease his Bags to cram and stuff?
All Day he labours and all Night contrives,
Providing as if he’d an hundred Lives.
While endless Care cuts short the common Span:
So have I seen with Dropsy swoln, a Man,
Drink and drink more, and still unsatisfi’d,
Drink till Drink drown’d him, yet he thirsty dy’d.Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1735 ed.)
(Source)
When two people decide to get a divorce, it isn’t a sign that they “don’t understand” one another, but a sign that they have, at last, begun to.
Helen Rowland (1875-1950) American journalist and humorist
A Guide to Men, “Divorces” (1922)
(Source)
I can remember how when I was young I believed death to be a phenomenon of the body; now I know it to be merely a function of the mind — and that of the minds who suffer the bereavement. The nihilists say it is the end; the fundamentalists, the beginning; when in reality it is no more than a single tenant or family moving out of a tenement or a town.
We are all born rude. No infant has ever appeared yet with the grace to understand how inconsiderate it is to disturb others in the middle of the night.
Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
Common Courtesy, “In the Quest for Equality, Civilization Itself Is Maligned” (1985)
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Whether elected or appointed
He considers himself the Lord’s anointed,
And indeed the ointment lingers on him
So thick you can’t get your fingers on him.Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
“The Politician,” st. 2, I’m a Stranger Here Myself (1938)
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How rich a man is all desire to know;
But none inquires if good he be or no.
The mill cannot grind with the water that’s past.
George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 153 (1640 ed.)
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O my brave men! stout hearts of mine!
who often have suffered worse calamities with me.
let us now drown your cares in wine.
Tomorrow we venture once again upon the boundless sea.[O fortes peioraque passi
mecum saepe viri, nunc vino pellite curas;
cras ingens iterabimus aequor.]Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet and satirist [Quintus Horacius Flaccus]
Odes [Carmina], Book 1, # 7, l. 30ff (1.7.30-32) (23 BC) [tr. Alexander (1999)]
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To L. Munatius Plancus. Quoting Teucer to his crew on his being exiled from Salamis.
Quoted in Montaigne, 3.13 "On Experience" (immediately following this).
(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:
Brave Spirits, who with me have suffer'd sorrow,
Drink cares away; wee'l set up sails to-morrow.
[tr. "Sir T. H.," Brome (1666)]
Cheer, rouze your force,
For We have often suffer'd worse:
Drink briskly round, dispell all cloudy sorrow,
Drink round, Wee'l plow the Deep to-morrow.
[tr. Creech (1684)]
Hearts, that have borne with me
Worse buffets! drown today in wine your care;
To-morrow we recross the wide, wide sea!
[tr. Conington (1872)]
O gallant heroes, and often my fellow-sufferers in greater hardships than these, now drive away your cares with wine: to-morrow we will re-visit the vast ocean.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]
Now, ye brave hearts, that have weather'd
Many a sorer strait with me,
Chase your cares with wine, — to-morrow
We shall plough the mighty sea!
[tr. Martin (1864)]
Brave friends who have borne with me often
Worse things as men, let the wine chase to-day every care from the bosom,
To-morrow -- again the great Sea Plains.
[tr. Bulwer-Lytton (1870)]
My comrades bold, to worse than this
Inured, to-morrow brave the vasty brine,
But drown to-day your cares in wine.
[tr. Gladstone (1894)]
O brave friends, who have oft with your leader
Suffer'd worse trials, cheer up, let sorrows dissolve in the wine-cup,
We will try the vast ocean to-morrow.
[tr. Phelps (1897)]
O brave men, often worse things ye with me
Have borne, now drive with wine your cares away,
To-morrow we will sail the wide sea once again.
[tr. Garnsey (1907)]
To-night with wine drown care,
Friends oft who've braved worse things with me than these;
At morn o'er the wide sea once more we'll fare!
[tr. Marshall (1908)]
O ye brave heroes, who with me have often suffered worse misfiprtunes, now banish care with wine! To-morrow we will take again our course over the mighty main.
[tr. Bennett (Loeb) (1912)]
With wine now banish care;
Worse things we've known, brave hearts; once more
we'll plough the main tomorrow morn.
[tr. Mills (1924)]
You who have stayed by me through worse disasters,
Heroes, come, drink deep, let wine extinguish our sorrows.
We take the huge sea on again tomorrow.
[tr. Michie (1964)]
O my brave fellows who have gone through worse
Than this with me, now with the help of wine
Let's put aside our troubles for a while.
Tomorrow we set out on the vast ocean.
[tr. Ferry (1997)]
O you brave heroes, you
who suffered worse with me often, drown your cares with wine:
tomorrow we’ll sail the wide seas again.
[tr. Kline (2015)]
What pleasures habitual wrongdoing provides for men without principle or sense of shame, when they have escaped punishment and found themselves given a free hand!
[O consuetudo peccandi, quantam habes iucunditatem improbis et audacibus, cum poena afuit et licentia consecuta est!]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
In Verrem [Against Verres; Verrine Orations], Action 2, Book 3, ch. 76 / sec. 176 (2.3.76.176) (70 BC) [tr. Greenwood (1928)]
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(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:
O you habit of sinning, what delight you afford to the wicked and the audacious, when chastisement is afar off, and when impunity attends you!
[tr. Yonge (1903)]
Alas, the habit of evil-doing! what pleasure it affords to the depraved and the shameless, when punishment is in abeyance, and has been replaced by license.
[Source (1906)]
Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.
One of the most amazing and perplexing features of mainstream Christianity is that seminarians who learn the historical-critical method in their Bible classes appear to forget all about it when it comes time for them to be pastors. They are taught critical approaches to Scripture, they learn about the discrepancies and contradictions, they discover all sorts of historical errors and mistakes, they come to realize that it is difficult to know whether Moses existed or what Jesus actually said and did, they find that there are other books that were at one time considered canonical but that ultimately did not become part of Scripture (for example, other Gospels and Apocalypses), they come to recognize that a good number of the books of the Bible are pseudonymous (for example, written in the name of an apostle by someone else), that in fact we don’t have the original copies of any of the biblical books but only copies made centuries later, all of which have been altered. They learn all this, and yet when they enter church ministry they appear to put it back on the shelf.
Bart D. Ehrman (b. 1955) American Biblical scholar, author
Jesus, Interrupted, ch. 1 “A Historical Assault on Faith” (2009)
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Cruel and savage as orthodoxies have always proved to be, the faithful seem able to convince themselves that the heretics, as they continue to crop up, get nothing worse than their due, and to rest with an easy conscience.
Learned Hand (1872-1961) American jurist
Speech (1955-01-29), “A Fanfare for Prometheus,” American Jewish Committee annual dinner, New York City
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But so long as men are not trained to withhold judgment in the absence of evidence, they will be led astray by cocksure prophets, and it is likely that their leaders will be either ignorant fanatics or dishonest charlatans. To endure uncertainty is difficult, but so are most of the other virtues. For the learning of every virtue there is an appropriate discipline, and for the learning of suspended judgment the best discipline is philosophy.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
“Philosophy for Laymen,” Universities Quarterly (1946-11)
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Reprinted in Unpopular Essays, ch. 2 (1951).
A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn’t know.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
A Little Book in C Major, ch. 5, § 5 (1916)
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Variants:
CELEBRITY. One who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn't know.
[A Book of Burlesques, "The Jazz Webster" (1924)]
A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn’t know.
[Chrestomathy, ch. 30 "Sententiae" (1949)]
You deserve a longer letter than this; but it is my unhappy fate seldom to treat people so well as they deserve.
It does not undo harm to acknowledge that we have done it; but it undoes us not to acknowledge it.
Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1963)
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The Isles of Greece, the Isles of Greece!
Where burning Sappho loved and sung,
Where grew the arts of war and peace,
Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung!
Eternal summer gilds them yet,
But all, except their sun, is set.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Don Juan, Canto 3, st. 86a “The Isles of Greece,” st. 1 (1821)
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