WIST Quotations

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Article (1861-04), “The Professor’s Story [Elsie Venner],” ch. 30, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 7, No. 42

Dave — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 16:12:20 +0000

Beliefs must be lived in for a good while, before they accommodate themselves to the soul’s wants, and wear loose enough to be comfortable.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Article (1861-04), “The Professor’s Story [Elsie Venner],” ch. 30, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 7, No. 42
(Source)

Originally serialized as “The Professor’s Story,” but collected as the novel Elsie Venner, ch. 30 (1861).

Thoreau, Henry David -- Walden; or, Life in the Woods, ch. 6 “Visitors” (1854)

Dave — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 14:57:47 +0000

I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society. When visitors came in larger and unexpected numbers, there was but the third chair for them all, but they generally economized the room by standing up.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden; or, Life in the Woods, ch. 6 “Visitors” (1854)
(Source)

Hand, Learned -- “To Yale Law Graduates,” speech, Yale Law School (1931-06-07)

Dave — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 19:08:03 +0000

The condition of our survival in any but the meagerest existence is our willingness to accommodate ourselves to the conflicting interests of others, to learn to live in a social world.

Learned Hand (1872-1961) American jurist
“To Yale Law Graduates,” speech, Yale Law School (1931-06-07)
(Source)

Collected in The Spirit of Liberty (1953).

Hofstadter, Richard -- “Goldwater and Pseudo-Conservative Politics,” sec. 4 (1965)

Dave — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 15:23:29 +0000

The hard line, which has always been arguable in theory and which has had some success in practice, views the imperatives of the cold war as an ineluctable challenge, has encouraged a skeptical view of the limits of negotiation, and has placed its primary trust in ample reserves of strength.
The pseudo-conservative line is distinguishable from this not alone in being more crusade-minded and more risk-oriented in its proposed policies but also in its conviction that those who place greater stress on negotiation and accommodation are either engaged in treasonable conspiracy (the Birch Society’s view) or are guilty of well-nigh criminal failings in moral and intellectual fiber (Goldwater’s).

Richard Hofstadter (1916-1970) American historian and intellectual
“Goldwater and Pseudo-Conservative Politics,” sec. 4 (1965)
(Source)

Zunger, Yonatan -- “Tolerance is not a moral precept” (2 Jun 2017)

Dave — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 01:50:33 +0000

Tolerance is not a moral absolute; it is a peace treaty.

Yonatan Zunger (b. 1977) American essayist, software engineer, physicist, ethicist
“Tolerance is not a moral precept” (2 Jun 2017)
(Source)

Bacon, Francis -- Essays, “Of Boldness” (1625)

Dave — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 03:10:28 +0000

Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers for the observers of his law. The people assembled. Mahomet called the hill to come to him, again and again; and when the hill stood still he was never a whit abashed, but said, “If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill.”

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
Essays, “Of Boldness” (1625)

Kissinger, Henry -- Years of Upheaval, ch. 12 (1982)

Dave — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 13:45:43 +0000

If crisis management requires cold and even brutal measures to show determination, it also imposes the need to show the opponent a way out. Grandstanding is good for the ego but bad for foreign policy. […] Many wars have started because no line of retreat was left open.

Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
Years of Upheaval, ch. 12 (1982)
(Source)

Shaw, George Bernard -- Man and Superman, “Maxims for Revolutionists,” “Reason” (1903)

Dave — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:17:54 +0000

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish playwright and critic
Man and Superman, “Maxims for Revolutionists,” “Reason” (1903)
(Source)