WIST Quotations

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Speech (1938-04-21), 47th Annual Continental Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Constitution Hall, Washington, DC

Dave — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 22:45:03 +0000

Remember always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Speech (1938-04-21), 47th Annual Continental Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Constitution Hall, Washington, DC
(Source)

Speaking to the DAR, after describing his own family heritage from the Mayflower and the War of Independence. The remarks were unscheduled and made without prepared notes.

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Genealogy,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)

Dave — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 16:49:48 +0000

GENEALOGY, n. An account of one’s descent from an ancestor who did not particularly care to trace his own.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Genealogy,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
(Source)

Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911). Originally published in the "Devil's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Wasp (1885-02-21).

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- Brutus, ch. 34, sec. 120 (55 BC) [tr. Jones (1776)]

Dave — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 20:00:51 +0000

To be unacquainted with what has passed in the world, before we came into it ourselves, is to be always children. For what is the age of a single mortal, unless it is connected, by the aid of History, with the times of our ancestors?

[Nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. Quid enim est aetas hominis, nisi ea memoria rerum veterum cum superiorum aetate contexitur?]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Brutus, ch. 34, sec. 120 (55 BC) [tr. Jones (1776)]
(Source)

The original Latin. Alt. trans.

"For not to know what happened before one was born, is to be a boy all one s life. For what is the life of a man unless by a recollection of bygone transactions it is united to the times of his predecessors?" [tr. Yonge (1853)]
"To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain always a boy. For what is the lifetime of a man, unless it is connected with the lifetime of older men by the memory of earlier events?" [tr. Fox (2007)]
"What is a generation, if it is not conjoined with the age of our predecessors by the memory of ancient things?" [tr. @sentantiq]
"Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever. For what is the time of a man, except it be interwoven with that memory of ancient things of a superior age?"
"Not to know what happened before you were born is always to be a boy."
"To be ignorant of the past is to be forever a child."

~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

Overbury, Thomas -- Characters (1612)

Dave — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 00:35:53 +0000

The man who has nothing to boast of but his illustrious ancestry, is somewhat like a potatoe, the only good thing is under ground.

Thomas Overbury (1581-1613) English poet
Characters (1612)
(Source)

Referenced in John Ireland, Letters and Poems by the Late Mr. John Henderson (1786). Variant: "The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious ancestors, is like a potatoe, the only good belonging to him is under ground." -- The Lady's Monthly Museum (June 1807).

De Botton, Alain -- The Consolations of Philosophy, ch. 4 “Consolation for Inadequacy” (2000)

Dave — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 02:54:05 +0000

It is striking how much more seriously we are likely to be taken after we have been dead a few centuries.

Alain de Botton (b. 1969) Swiss-British author
The Consolations of Philosophy, ch. 4 “Consolation for Inadequacy” (2000)
(Source)

Heinlein, Robert A. -- Time Enough for Love (1973)

Dave — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 14:50:59 +0000

This sad little lizard told me that he was a Brontosaurus on his mother’s side. I did not laugh; people who boast of ancestry often have little else to sustain them. Humoring them costs nothing and adds to happiness in a world in which happiness is in short supply.

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Time Enough for Love (1973)

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.

Keller, Helen -- The Story of My Life, Part 1, ch. 1 (1903)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
The Story of My Life, Part 1, ch. 1 (1903)