WIST Quotations

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1744 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:08:17 +0000

If you’d be belov’d, make yourself amiable.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1744 ed.)
(Source)

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionnée], Part 2 “Characters and Anecdotes [Caractères et Anecdotes],” ¶ 662 (1795) [tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 455]

Dave — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 17:26:33 +0000

Madame de Tencin was gentle-mannered but quite unscrupulous, capable of absolutely anything. On one occasion people were praising the gentleness of her nature. “Yes,” an abbé commented, “if it was in her interest to poison you, I’m sure she’d choose the pleasantest poison possible.”

[Mme de Tencin, avec des manières douces, était une femme sans principes et capable de tout, exactement. Un jour, on louait sa douceur: «Oui, dit l’abbé Trublet, si elle eût eu intérêt de vous empoisonner, elle eût choisi le poison le plus doux.»]

Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionnée], Part 2 “Characters and Anecdotes [Caractères et Anecdotes],” ¶ 662 (1795) [tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 455]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

When some one was one day vaunting the affability and softness of manner of Madame de Tencin, the Abbé Trublet replied, "Yes, if it was her interest to poison you she would select the sweetest poison for the purpose."
[tr. Blessington (c. 1869)]

Madame de Tencin, with the suavest manners in the world, was an unprincipled woman, capable of anything. On one occasion, a friend was praising her gentleness. "Aye, aye," said the Abbé Imblet, "if she had any object whatever in poisoning you, undoubtedly she would choose the sweetest and least disagreeable poison in the world."
[tr. Mathews (1878)]

Madame de Tencin, whose manners were of the sweetest, was a woman of no principles, and capable of anything, precisely. One day someone was extolling her sweetness. "Yes," said the Abbé Trublet, {if she stood to profit by poisoning you, she would choose the sweetest possible poison."
[tr. Merwin (1969)]

Mme de Tencin, with the sweetest manners, was a woman without principles and was capable of everything, to be exact. One day someone praised her sweetness: "Yes," said the abbé Trublet, "if she decided to poison you, she would choose the sweetest poison possible."
[tr. Siniscalchi (1994), ¶ 662]

Della Casa, Giovanni -- Galateo: Or, A Treatise on Politeness and Delicacy of Manners [Il Galateo overo de’ costumi], ch. 9 (1558) [tr. Einsenbichler/Bartlett (1986)]

Dave — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 15:13:12 +0000

I want you to know that a man is considered pleasant if his manners conform to the common practices between friends, whereas someone who is eccentric will, in all situations, appear to be a stranger, that is, alien. On the contrary, men who are affable and polite will appear to have friends and acquaintances wherever they may be.

[E sappi che colui è piacevole i cui modi sono tali nell’usanza comune, quali costumano di tenere gli amici infra di loro, là dove chi è strano pare in ciascun luogo «straniero», che tanto viene a dire come «forestiero»; sì come i domestici uomini, per lo contrario, pare che siano ovunque vadano conoscenti et amici di ciascuno.]

Giovanni della Casa (1503-1556) Florentine poet, author, diplomat, bishop
Galateo: Or, A Treatise on Politeness and Delicacy of Manners [Il Galateo overo de’ costumi], ch. 9 (1558) [tr. Einsenbichler/Bartlett (1986)]
(Source)

(Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:

And you must understand, that he is pleasaunt and courteous: whose manners bee suche in his common behaviour, as practise to keepe, and maintaine him friendeship amongst them: where hee that is solleyne and way warde, makes him selfe a straunger whersoever hee comes: a straunger, I meane, as much as a forreigne or alienborne.
[tr. Peterson (1576)]

We ought to esteem him alone an agreeable and good-natured man, who, in his daily intercourse with others, behaves in such a manner as friends usually behave to each other. For as a person of that rustic character appears, wherever he comes, like a mere stranger: so, on the contrary, a polite man, wherever he goes, seems as easy as if he were amongst his intimate friends and acquaintance.
[tr. Graves (1774)]