WIST Quotations

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1838-01-27), Young Men’s Lyceum, Springfield, Illinois

Dave — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 01:36:34 +0000

I know the American People are much attached to their Government; — I know they would suffer much for its sake; — I know they would endure evils long and patiently, before they would ever think of exchanging it for another. Yet, notwithstanding all this, if the laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property, are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affections from the Government is the natural consequence; and to that, sooner or later, it must come.

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861–65)
Speech (1838-01-27), Young Men’s Lyceum, Springfield, Illinois
(Source)

Fromm, Erich -- The Sane Society, ch. 7 (1956)

Dave — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 01:09:25 +0000

Fascism, Nazism and Stalinism have in common that they offered the atomized individual a new refuge and security. These systems are the culmination of alienation. The individual is made to feel powerless and insignificant, but taught to project all of his human powers into the figure of the leader, the state, the “fatherland,” to whom he has to submit and whom he has to worship. He escapes from freedom and into a new idolatry. All the achievements of individuality and reason, from the late Middle Ages to the nineteenth century are sacrificed on the altars of the new idols.

Erich Fromm (1900–1980) American psychoanalyst and social philosopher
The Sane Society, ch. 7 (1956)
(Source)

Fromm, Erich -- Escape from Freedom, ch. 7, sec. 1 (1941)

Dave — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 19:57:32 +0000

But although foreign and internal threats of Fascism must be taken seriously, there is no greater mistake and no graver danger than not to see that in our own society we are faced with the same phenomenon that is fertile soil for the rise of Fascism anywhere: the insignificance and powerlessness of the individual.

Erich Fromm (1900–1980) American psychoanalyst and social philosopher
Escape from Freedom, ch. 7, sec. 1 (1941)
(Source)

Godwin, William -- Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, Vol. 2, bk. 7, ch. 5 (1793)

Dave — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 21:48:39 +0000

To conceive that compulsion and punishment are the proper means of reformation, is the sentiment of a barbarian; civilisation and science are calculated to explode so ferocious an idea. It was once universally admitted and approved; it is now necessarily upon the decline. Punishment must either ultimately succeed in imposing the sentiments it is employed to inculcate, upon the mind of the sufferer, or it must forcibly alienate him against them. The last of these can never be the intention of its employer, or have a tendency to justify its application. […] Yet to alienate the mind of the sufferer, from the individual that punishes, and from the sentiments he entertains, is perhaps the most common effect of punishment.

William Godwin (1756–1836) English journalist, political philosopher, novelist
Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, Vol. 2, bk. 7, ch. 5 (1793)
(Source)

Zimmermann, J. G. -- Aphorisms and Reflections on Men, Morals and Things (1800)

Dave — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 00:21:53 +0000

There are few mortals so insensible that their affections cannot be gained by mildness; their confidence by sincerity; their hatred by scorn or neglect.

Johann Georg Zimmermann (1728–1795) Swiss philosophical writer, naturalist, physician
Aphorisms and Reflections on Men, Morals and Things (1800)
(Source)

Bible, Vol. 2. New Testament -- Book 9. Letter to the Galatians 5:19ff (Gal 5:19–21) [GNT (1976)]

Dave — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 13:39:18 +0000

What human nature does is quite plain. It shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions; in worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups; they are envious, get drunk, have orgies, and do other things like these. I warn you now as I have before: those who do these things will not possess the Kingdom of God.

[Φανερὰ δέ ἐστιν τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός ἅτινά ἐστιν πορνεία ἀκαθαρσία ἀσέλγεια εἰδωλολατρία φαρμακεία ἔχθραι ἔρις ζῆλος θυμοί ἐριθεῖαι διχοστασίαι αἱρέσεις φθόνοι μέθαι κῶμοι καὶ τὰ ὅμοια τούτοις ἃ προλέγω ὑμῖν καθὼς προεῖπον ὅτι οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα πράσσοντες βασιλείαν Θεοῦ οὐ κληρονομήσουσιν.]

The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Book 9. Letter to the Galatians 5:19ff (Gal 5:19–21) [GNT (1976)]
(Source)

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
[KJV (1611)]

When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility; idolatry and sorcery; feuds and wrangling, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels; disagreements, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar things. I warn you now, as I warned you before: those who behave like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
[JB (1966)]

When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: sexual vice, impurity, and sensuality, the worship of false gods and sorcery; antagonisms and rivalry, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels, disagreements, factions and malice, drunkenness, orgies and all such things. And about these, I tell you now as I have told you in the past, that people who behave in these ways will not inherit the kingdom of God.
[NJB (1985)]

The actions that are produced by selfish motives are obvious, since they include sexual immorality, moral corruption, doing whatever feels good, idolatry, drug use and casting spells, hate, fighting, obsession, losing your temper, competitive opposition, conflict, selfishness, group rivalry, jealousy, drunkenness, partying, and other things like that. I warn you as I have already warned you, that those who do these kinds of things won’t inherit God’s kingdom.
[CEB (2011)]

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]

Kennedy, Robert F. -- “On the Mindless Menace of Violence,” speech, City Club of Cleveland (5 Apr 1968)

Dave — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 13:03:18 +0000

When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be met not with cooperation but with conquest; to be subjugated and mastered. We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force.

Robert Francis Kennedy (1925–1968) American politician
“On the Mindless Menace of Violence,” speech, City Club of Cleveland (5 Apr 1968)
(Source)

Hubbard, Elbert -- An American Bible [ed. Alice Hubbard] (1918)

Dave — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:46:30 +0000

Complete success alienates a man from his fellows, but suffering makes kinsmen of us all.

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
An American Bible [ed. Alice Hubbard] (1918)