WIST Quotations

Steele, Richard -- Essay (1710-06-06), “On the Death of Friends,” The Tatler, No. 181

Dave — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:53:46 +0000

Though it is by the benefit of nature that length of time thus blots out the violence of afflictions; yet with tempers too much given to pleasure, it is almost necessary to revive the old places of grief in our memory, and ponder step by step on past life, to lead the mind into that sobriety of thought which poises the heart, and makes it beat with due time, without being quickened with desire, or retarded with despair, from its proper and equal motion.

Richard Steele (1672–1729) Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, playwright, politician
Essay (1710-06-06), “On the Death of Friends,” The Tatler, No. 181

Steele did not provide a title when this essay was published in The Tatler. It is also sometimes called "On Recollections of Childhood." It was published under Steele's pseudonym, Isaac Bickerstaff.

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1753-11-27), The Adventurer, No. 111

Dave — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 19:42:17 +0000

The evils inseparably annexed to the present condition of man, are so numerous and afflictive, that it has been, from age to age, the task of some to bewail, and of others to solace them; and he, therefore, will be in danger of seeing a common enemy, who shall attempt to depreciate the few pleasures and felicities which nature has allowed us.

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1753-11-27), The Adventurer, No. 111

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1740 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 15:00:16 +0000

To bear other Peoples afflictions, every one has Courage enough, and to spare.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1740 ed.)

Moore, Mary Tyler -- Interview, McCall’s, Vol. 108 (1980)

Dave — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 16:32:30 +0000

Pain nourishes my courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave. You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.

Mary Tyler Moore (1936–2017) American actress, producer, and social advocate
Interview, McCall’s, Vol. 108 (1980)

Burgh, James -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 13:48:04 +0000

If you would not have affliction visit you twice, listen at once to what it teaches.

James Burgh (1714–1775) British politician and writer
(Attributed)

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 2666 (1732)

Dave — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 14:26:24 +0000

If Afflictions refine some, they consume others.

Thomas Fuller (1654–1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 2666 (1732)

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1750-09-08), The Rambler, No. 50

Dave — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 12:27:11 +0000

It is not sufficiently considered how much he assumes who dares to claim the privilege of complaining; for as every man has, in his own opinion, a full share of the miseries of life, he is inclined to consider all clamorous uneasiness as a proof of impatience rather than of affliction, and to ask, what merit has this man to show, by which he has acquired a right to repine at the distributions of nature? Or, why does he imagine that exemptions should be granted him from the general condition of man? We find ourselves excited rather to captiousness than pity, and, instead of being in haste to sooth his complaints by sympathy and tenderness, we inquire whether the pain be proportionate to the lamentation; and whether, supposing the affliction real, it is not the effect of vice and folly, rather than calamity?

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1750-09-08), The Rambler, No. 50

Ashe, Arthur -- Days of Grace, ch. 10 (1993)

Dave — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 12:46:25 +0000

Quite often, people who mean well will inquire of me whether I ever ask myself, in the face of my diseases, “Why me?” I never do. If I ask “Why me?” as I am assaulted by heart disease and AIDS, I must ask “Why me?” about my blessings, and question my right to enjoy them. The morning after I won Wimbledon in 1975 I should have asked “Why me?” and doubted that I deserved the victory. If I don’t ask “Why me?” after my victories, I cannot ask “Why me?” after my setbacks and disasters.

Arthur Ashe (1943–1993) American athlete
Days of Grace, ch. 10 (1993)

Often paraphrased (or used elsewhere by Ashe) as "If I were to say 'God, why me?' about the bad things, then I should have said 'God, why me?' about the good things that happened in my life."