WIST Quotations

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1745 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 17:13:29 +0000

Wars bring scars.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1745 ed.)
(Source)

Wells, H.G. -- The First Men in the Moon, ch. 21 (1901)

Dave — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 18:26:51 +0000

Even if one has been to the moon, one has still to earn a living.

H. G. Wells (1866-1946) British writer [Herbert George Wells]
The First Men in the Moon, ch. 21 (1901)
(Source)

Lindbergh, Anne Morrow -- Diary (1932-09-27), Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead (1973)

Dave — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 23:18:01 +0000

It isn’t for the moment you are struck that you need courage, but for the long uphill climb back to sanity and faith and security.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001) American writer, pilot
Diary (1932-09-27), Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead (1973)
(Source)

Approximately six months after the kidnapping/murder of her son, Charles, Jr., and a month after the birth of her second son, Jon.

Fussell, Paul -- The Great War and Modern Memory, ch. 2 “The Troglodyte World” (1975)

Dave — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:41:15 +0000

Today the Somme is a peaceful but sullen place, unforgetting and unforgiving. The people, who work largely at raising vegetables and grains, are “correct” but not friendly. To wander now over the fields destined to extrude their rusty metal fragments for centuries is to appreciate in the most intimate way the permanent reverberations of July, 1916. When the air is damp you can smell rusted iron everywhere, even though you only see wheat and barley.

Paul Fussell (1924-2012) American cultural and literary historian, author, academic
The Great War and Modern Memory, ch. 2 “The Troglodyte World” (1975)
(Source)

Forster, E. M. -- Letter to Malcolm Darling (6 Nov 1914)

Dave — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 15:45:18 +0000

The newspapers still talk about glory but the average man, thank God, has got rid of that illusion. It is a damned bore, with a stalemate as the most probable outcome, but one has to see it through, and see it through with the knowledge that whichever side wins, civilisation in Europe will be pipped for the next 30 years. Don’t indulge in Romance here, Malcolm, or suppose that an era of jolly little nationalities is dawning. We shall be much too much occupied with pestilence and poverty to reconstruct.

E. M. Forster (1879-1970) English novelist, essayist, critic, librettist [Edward Morgan Forster]
Letter to Malcolm Darling (6 Nov 1914)
(Source)

Russell, Bertrand -- Education and the Good Life, Part 2, ch. 11 “Affection and Sympathy” (1926)

Dave — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 23:47:28 +0000

The cultivation of wide sympathies, given the instinctive germ, is mainly an intellectual matter: it depends upon the right direction of attention, and the realization of facts which militarists and authoritarians suppress. Take, for example, Tolstoy’s description of Napoleon going round the battlefield of Austerlitz after the victory. Most histories leave the battlefield as soon as the battle is over; by the simple expedient of lingering on it for another twelve hours, a completely different picture of war is produced. This is done, not by suppressing facts, but by giving more facts. And what applies to battles applies equally to other forms of cruelty. In all cases, it should be quite unnecessary to point the moral; the right telling of the story should be sufficient. Do not moralize, but let the facts produce their own moral in the child’s mind.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Education and the Good Life, Part 2, ch. 11 “Affection and Sympathy” (1926)
(Source)

Fitzgerald, F. Scott -- The Great Gatsby, ch. 9 (1925)

Dave — Fri, 27 May 2016 19:51:38 +0000

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) American writer [Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald]
The Great Gatsby, ch. 9 (1925)

Johnson, Lyndon -- Speech (1963-11-27), “Let Us Continue,” Joint Session of Congress, Washington, D. C.

Dave — Thu, 17 May 2012 06:36:19 +0000

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the House, Members of the Senate, my fellow Americans:

All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1963-11-27), “Let Us Continue,” Joint Session of Congress, Washington, D. C.
(Source)

Five days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶71 (1665-1678) [tr. Stevens (1939)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:00:00 +0000

There are scarcely any who are not ashamed of having loved, when they love no longer.

[Il n’y a guère de gens qui ne soient honteux de s’être aimés quand ils ne s’aiment plus.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶71 (1665-1678) [tr. Stevens (1939)]
(Source)

First appeared in the fifth (1678) edition.

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

There are few people who are not ashamed of their amours when the fit is over.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶271; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶69]

Most people are ashamed of their amours when the fit is over.
[ed. Carville (1835), ¶232]

There are very few people who, when their love is over, are not ashamed of having been in love.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶181]

There are few people who would not be ashamed of being beloved when they love no longer.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871)]

There are few of us who are not ashamed of a mutual passion when love has died.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶177]

When two people have ceased to love, the memory that remains is almost always one of shame.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]

Few people, when they love no longer, but feel shame for having loved.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959)]

There are few people who, when their love for each other is dead, are not ashamed of that love.
[tr. Tancock (1959)]

There are few people who are not ashamed of having loved each other when they no longer do so.
[tr. Whichello (2016)]