WIST Quotations

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- Pro Archia Poeta [For Archia the Poet], ch. 9 / sec. 20 (62 BC) [tr. Guinach (1962)]

Dave — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 22:20:21 +0000

But there is in fact nobody who is so hostile to the Muses that he would not readily allow his own deeds to be immortalized in verse.

[Neque enim quisquam est tam aversus a Musis, qui non mandari versibus aeternum suorum laborum facile praeconium patiatur. ]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Pro Archia Poeta [For Archia the Poet], ch. 9 / sec. 20 (62 BC) [tr. Guinach (1962)]

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

For there was no one so disinclined to the Muses as not willingly to endure that the praise of his labours should be made immortal by means of verse.
[tr. Yonge (1856)]

For there is nobody so averse to the Muses as not to suffer the eternal cry of their labour to be readily committed to verse.
[tr. M'Donogh Mahony (1886)]

For indeed is there anyone so averse to the Muses who would not readily suffer (that) the eternal panegyric of his labors [should] be committed to verse.
[tr. Dewey (1916)]

For indeed there is no man to whom the Muses are so distasteful that he will not be glad to entrust to poetry the eternal emblazonment of his achievements.
[tr. Watts (Loeb) (1923)]

Indeed, there never was any one such a stranger to poetic feeling as not readily to allow the immortal advertisement of his deeds to be committed to verse.
[tr. Allcroft/Plaistowe (c. 1925)]

There is no one so averse to the Muses that he would not readily submit to having an eternal monument of his own labors made in verse.
[tr. @sentantiq [Erik] (2016)]

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 424 (1820)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780–1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 424 (1820)

Schopenhauer, Arthur -- Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. 1, “Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life [Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit],” ch. 2 “Personality, or What Man Is [Von dem, was einer ist]” (1851) [tr. Saunders (1890)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

It is a great piece of folly to sacrifice the inner for the outer man, to give the whole or the greater part of one’s quiet, leisure, and independence for splendor, rank, pomp, titles and honor.

[Es ist eine große Thorheit, um nach Außen zu gewinnen, nach Innen zu verlieren, d. h. für Glanz, Rang, Prunk, Titel und Ehre, seine Ruhe, Muße und Unabhängingkeit ganz oder großen Theils hinzurgeben.]

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher
Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. 1, “Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life [Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit],” ch. 2 “Personality, or What Man Is [Von dem, was einer ist]” (1851) [tr. Saunders (1890)]

(Source (German)). Another translation:

It is a great folly to lose the inner man in order to gain the outer, that is, to give up the whole or the greater part of one's quiet, leisure, and independence for splendor, rank, pomp, titles and honors.
[tr. Payne (1974)]