WIST Quotations

Smith, Alexander -- “Horton,” ll. 570-571, City Poems (1857)

Dave — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 15:39:35 +0000

To our graves we walk
In the thick footprints of departed men.

Alexander Smith (1830-1867) Scottish poet
“Horton,” ll. 570-571, City Poems (1857)
(Source)

Montesquieu -- Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 396 (1720-1755) [tr. Clark (2012)]

Dave — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 17:12:04 +0000

Horace and Aristotle already told us about the virtues of their forefathers and the vices of their times, and authors down through the centuries have spoken in like manner. If they had told the truth, men would nowadays be bears.

[Horace et Aristote nous ont déjà parlé des vertus de leurs pères, et des vices de leur temps, et les auteurs de siècle en siècle nous en ont parlé de même. S’ils avaient dit vrai, les hommes seraient à présent des ours.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 396 (1720-1755) [tr. Clark (2012)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translation:

Horace and Aristotle told us of the virtues of their fathers, and the vices of their own time, and authors down through the centuries have told us the same. If they were right, men would now be bears.
[E.g.]

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 8, ¶ 474 (1795) [tr. Mathers (1926)]

Dave — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 14:37:11 +0000

History is the only consolation left to the peoples, for it teaches them that their ancestors were as unhappy as themselves, or more unhappy.

[En effet, il ne reste guère, pour consoler les peuples, que de leur apprendre que leurs ancêtres ont été aussi malheureux, ou plus malheureux.]

Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 8, ¶ 474 (1795) [tr. Mathers (1926)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

In fact there is no longer any way of consoling the people except by teaching them that their forebears were as wretched as they are, or more so.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]

Indeed, if one is to console the peoples of the world there is little else one can do but teach them that their ancestors were just as wretched, or more so.
[tr. Pearson (1973)]

In effect, there is nearly no way to console peoples except to tell them that their ancestors were as unfortunate or more unfortunate than they are.
[tr. Siniscalchi (1994), ¶ 473]

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1759-05-19), The Idler, No. 57

Dave — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 17:56:03 +0000

He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-05-19), The Idler, No. 57
(Source)

Quoting his friend, Sophron (Wisdom, Prudence), who prefers old, tested ways to new ones.

Chaucer, Geoffrey -- Troilus and Criseyde, Book 2, st. 4, ll. 22-26 (1385)

Dave — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 18:34:25 +0000

Ye knowe ek that, in forme of speche is chaunge
Withinne a thowsand yere, and words tho
That hadden prys, now wonder nyce and straunge
Us thynketh hem, and yet thai spake hm so,
And spedde as wele in love, as men now do ….

[You know that the form of speech will change within a thousand years, and words that were once apt, we now regard as quaint and strange; and yet they spoke them thus, and succeeded as well in love as men do now.]

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400) English poet, philosopher, astronomer, diplomat
Troilus and Criseyde, Book 2, st. 4, ll. 22-26 (1385)
(Source)

Note that the spelling varied between different editions of this same text.

Alt. trans.:
"Remember in the forms of speech comes change
Within a thousand years, and words that then
Were well esteemed, seem foolish now and strange;
And yet they spake them so, time and again,
And thrived in love as well as any men." [tr. Krapp (2006)]

~Proverbs and Sayings -- German Proverb

Dave — Wed, 14 Nov 2018 00:18:36 +0000

Mules are always boasting that their ancestors are horses.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
German Proverb

Lively, Penelope -- Moon Tiger, ch. 4 (1987)

Dave — Wed, 03 Oct 2018 00:56:31 +0000

We open our mouths and out flow words whose ancestries we do not even know. We are walking lexicons. In a single sentence of idle chatter we preserve Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norse: we carry a museum inside our heads, each day we commemorate peoples of whom we have never heard. More than that, we speak volumes — our language is the language of everything we have not read. Shakespeare and the Authorised Version surface in supermarkets, on buses, chatter on radio and television. I find this miraculous. I never cease to wonder at it. That words are more durable than anything, that they blow with the wind, hibernate and reawaken, shelter parasitic on the most unlikely hosts, survive and survive and survive.

Penelope Lively (b. 1933) British writer
Moon Tiger, ch. 4 (1987)
(Source)

Boileau-Despréaux, Nicolas -- Satires, Satire 5, l. 43 (1716)

Dave — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 17:15:44 +0000

If your descent is from heroic sires,
Show in your life a remnant of their fires.

[Si vous êtes sorti de ces héros fameux,
Montrez-nous cette ardeur qu’on vit briller en eux.]

Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636-1711) French poet and critic
Satires, Satire 5, l. 43 (1716)

Steinbeck, John -- Travels With Charley (1962)

Dave — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 15:36:28 +0000

If Carmel’s founders should return, they could not afford to live there, but it wouldn’t go that far. They would be instantly picked up as suspicious characters and deported over the city line.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
Travels With Charley (1962)

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. -- Speech (1897-01-18), “The Path of the Law,” Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

Dave — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 12:11:00 +0000

It is revolting to have no better reason for a rule of law than that so it was laid down in the time of Henry IV.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935) American jurist, Supreme Court Justice
Speech (1897-01-18), “The Path of the Law,” Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
(Source)

Bernard of Chartres -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 13:39:48 +0000

We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than them and things at a greater distance.

Bernard of Chartres (d. after 1124) French philosopher, scholar, administrator. [a.k.a. Bernardus Carnotensis]
(Attributed)

Attributed in John of Salisbury, The Metalogicon, 3.4 (1159). Paraphrase of this original: "Bernard of Chartres used to say that we [the Moderns] are like dwarves perched on the shoulders of giants [the Ancients], and thus we are able to see more and farther than the latter. And this is not at all because of the acuteness of our sight or the stature of our body, but because we are carried aloft and elevated by the magnitude of the giants." See here for more discussion. See also Isaac Newton.

Tacitus -- Agricola, ch. 32 [tr. Acheson, ch. 4, para. 22 (1938)]

Dave — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:25:47 +0000

So, as you go into battle, remember your ancestors and remember your descendants.

[Et majores vestros et posteros cogitate]

Tacitus (c.56-c.120) Roman historian, orator, politician [Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus]
Agricola, ch. 32 [tr. Acheson, ch. 4, para. 22 (1938)]
(Source)

Alt. trans: "Think of your ancestors and your posterity" or "Think of your forefathers and posterity."

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Speech on Religious Intolerance, Pittsburgh Opera House (14 Oct 1879)

Dave — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:26:46 +0000

They say the religion of your fathers is good enough. Why should a father object to your inventing a better plow than he had?

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Speech on Religious Intolerance, Pittsburgh Opera House (14 Oct 1879)