WIST Quotations

Carlyle, Thomas -- Lecture (1840-05-15), “The Hero as Priest,” Home House, Portman Square, London

Dave — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 19:07:01 +0000

Is not every true Reformer, by the nature of him, a Priest first of all? He appeals to Heaven’s invisible justice against Earth’s visible force; knows that it, the invisible, is strong and alone strong. He is a believer in the divine truth of things; a seer, seeing through the shows of things; a worshipper, in one way or the other, of the divine truth of things; a Priest, that is. If he be not first a Priest, he will never be good for much as a Reformer.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-15), “The Hero as Priest,” Home House, Portman Square, London
(Source)

The lecture notes were collected by Carlyle into On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, Lecture 4 (1841).

Orwell, George -- Essay (1939), “Charles Dickens,” sec. 6, Inside the Whale (1940-03-11)

Dave — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 16:05:24 +0000

When one reads any strongly individual piece of writing, one has the impression of seeing a face somewhere behind the page […] Well, in the case of Dickens I see a face that is not quite the face of Dickens’s photographs, though it resembles it. It is the face of a man of about forty, with a small beard and a high colour. He is laughing, with a touch of anger in his laughter, but no triumph, no malignity. It is the face of a man who is always fighting against something, but who fights in the open and is not frightened, the face of a man who is generously angry — in other words, of a nineteenth-century liberal, a free intelligence, a type hated with equal hatred by all the smelly little orthodoxies which are now contending for our souls.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1939), “Charles Dickens,” sec. 6, Inside the Whale (1940-03-11)
(Source)

Closing words of the essay.

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris

Dave — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 23:38:12 +0000

There is nothing to be done with that type of citizen of whom all that can be said is that he is harmless. Virtue which is dependent upon a sluggish circulation is not impressive. There is little place in active life for the timid good man.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris
(Source)

Perot, H. Ross -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 16:40:37 +0000

An activist is the guy who cleans the river, not the guy who concludes it’s dirty.

H. Ross Perot (1930-2019) American entrepreneur, politician, reformer [Henry Ross Perot, Sr.]
(Attributed)
(Source)

In Ken Gross, Ross Perot: The Man Behind the Myth, ch. 14 (1992). A favorite saying of Perot's, varying slightly over the years (e.g., "The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.").

Debs, Eugene V. -- Speech (1908-05-23), “The Issue,” Girard, Kansas

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

Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization. Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation.

Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926) American union leader, activist, socialist, politician
Speech (1908-05-23), “The Issue,” Girard, Kansas
(Source)

Impromptu speech in the town Debs was living in after his third nomination for President on the Socialist Democratic ticket.