WIST Quotations

Rogers, Will -- Column (1923-07-22), “Weekly Article: Rogers Praises Spirit of Tulsa” [No. 32]

Dave — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 16:29:42 +0000

I am only an ignorant cowpuncher, but there ain’t nobody on earth, I don’t care how smart they are, ever going to make me believe they will ever stop wars.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1923-07-22), “Weekly Article: Rogers Praises Spirit of Tulsa” [No. 32]
(Source)

Virgil -- The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 1, l. 148ff (1.148-150) (29-19 BC) [tr. Dryden (1697)]

Dave — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 19:41:57 +0000

As, when in tumults rise th’ ignoble crowd,
Mad are their motions, and their tongues are loud;
And stones and brands in rattling volleys fly,
And all the rustic arms that fury can supply.

[Ac veluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta est
seditio, saevitque animis ignobile volgus,
iamque faces et saxa volant — furor arma ministrat ….]

Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 1, l. 148ff (1.148-150) (29-19 BC) [tr. Dryden (1697)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

As oft when a great people mutinie
Ignoble vulgar rage; stones, firebrands flye,
Furie finds arms.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]

And as when a sedition has perchance arisen among a mighty multitude, and the minds of the ignoble vulgar rage; now firebrands, now stones fly; fury supplies them with arms.
[tr. Davidson/Buckley (1854)]

As when sedition oft has stirred
In some great town the vulgar herd,
And brands and stones already fly --
For rage has weapons always nigh ....
[tr. Conington (1866)]

As when
Sedition in a multitude has risen,
And the base mob is raging with fierce minds,
And stones and firebrands fly, and fury lends
Arms to the populace ...
[tr. Cranch (1872), l. 187ff]

Even as when oft in a throng of people strife hath risen, and the base multitude rage in their minds, and now brands and stones are flying; madness lends arms.
[tr. Mackail (1885)]

And, like as mid a people great full often will arise
Huge riot, and all the low-born herd to utter anger flies,
And sticks and stones are in the air, and fury arms doth find ....
[tr. Morris (1900)]

As when in mighty multitudes bursts out
Sedition, and the wrathful rabble rave;
Rage finds them arms; stones, firebrands fly about ....
[tr. Taylor (1907), st. 21, l. 181ff]

As when, with not unwonted tumult, roars
in some vast city a rebellious mob,
and base-born passions in its bosom burn,
till rocks and blazing torches fill the air
(rage never lacks for arms) ....
[tr. Williams (1910)]

And as, when oft-times in a great nation tumult has risen, the base rabble rage angrily, and now brands and stones fly, madness lending arms ....
[tr. Fairclough (1916)]

Sometimes, in a great nation, there are riots
With the rabble out of hand, and firebrands fly
And cobblestones; whatever they lay their hands on
Is a weapon for their fury.
[tr. Humphries (1951)]

Just as so often it happens, when a crowd collects, and violence
Brews up, and the mass mind boils nastily over, and the next thing
Firebrands and brickbats are flying (hysteria soon finds a missile) ....
[tr. Day-Lewis (1952)]

And just as, often, when a crowd or people
is rocked by a rebellion, and the rabble
rage in their minds, and firebrands and stones
fly fast -- for fury finds its weapons ....
[tr. Mandelbaum (1971), l. 209ff]

When rioting breaks out in a great city,
And the rampaging rabble goes so far
That stones fly, and incendiary brands --
For anger can supply that kind of weapon ....
[tr. Fitzgerald (1981)]

As when disorder arises among the people of a great city and the common mob riuns riot, wild passion finds weapons for men's hands and torches and rocks start flying ....
[tr. West (1990)]

As often, when rebellion breaks out in a great nation,
and the common rabble rage with passion, and soon stones
and fiery torches fly (frenzy supplying weapons) ....
[tr. Kline (2002)]

Riots will often break out in the crowded assembly
When the rabble are roused. Torches and stones
Are soon flying -- Fury always finds weapons.
[tr. Lombardo (2005)]

Just as, all too often,
some huge crowd is seized by a vast uprising,
the rabble runs amok, all slaves to passion,
rocks, firebrands flying. Rage finds them arms.
[tr. Fagles (2006)]

Just as riots often fester in great crowds when the common mob goes mad; rocks and firebrands fly, the weapons rage supplies.
[tr. Bartsch (2021)]

Rogers, Will -- Column (1929-07-15), “Daily Telegram”

Dave — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 17:27:14 +0000

When the judgment day comes, civilization will have an alibi: “I never took a human life, I only sold the fellow the gun to take it with.”

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1929-07-15), “Daily Telegram”
(Source)

Carlin, George -- Interview (2001-07) by Marc Cooper, The Progressive

Dave — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 22:43:12 +0000

It’s always sort of amused me that mankind has been able to come up with a lot of things, two of them being napalm — which is a jellied substance that burns the skin and kills — and Silly Putty, which is something that you can press onto a comic and see a backwards picture of Popeye. And somewhere between these two extremes lies our truth. And I don’t know how good we are at pursuing it.

George Carlin (1937-2008) American comedian
Interview (2001-07) by Marc Cooper, The Progressive
(Source)

Discussing the title of his new book, Napalm and Silly Putty.

Mahan, A. T. -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 20:41:21 +0000

As far as the advocacy of peace rests on material motives like economy and prosperity, it is the service of Mammon; and the bottom of the platform will drop out when Mammon thinks that war will pay better.

A. T. Mahan (1840-1914) American admiral, strategist, historian [Alfred Thayer Mahan]
(Attributed)
(Source)

Attributed in William Ralph Inge, "The Indictment against Christianity" (1917), Outspoken Essays, ch. 10 (1919).

Adams, John -- A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, Vol. 3, ch. 3 “Marchamond Nedham: Errors of Government and Rules of Policy” (1787)

Dave — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 23:56:37 +0000

It must be made a sacred maxim, that the militia obey the executive power, which represents the whole people in the execution of laws. To suppose arms in the hands of citizens, to be used at the individual discretion, except in private self-defence, or by partial orders of towns, counties, or districts of a state, is to demolish every constitution, and lay the laws prostrate, so that liberty can be enjoyed by no man; it is a dissolution of the government. The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and ever for the support of the laws.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, Vol. 3, ch. 3 “Marchamond Nedham: Errors of Government and Rules of Policy” (1787)
(Source)

Eisenhower, Dwight David -- Speech, American Society of Newspaper Editors, Washington, DC (21 Apr 1956)

Dave — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 19:51:40 +0000

Arms alone can give the world no permanent peace, no confident security. Arms are solely for defense — to protect from violent assault what we already have. They are only a costly insurance. They cannot add to human progress.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) American general, US President (1953-61)
Speech, American Society of Newspaper Editors, Washington, DC (21 Apr 1956)

Lehrer, Tom -- “Wernher Von Braun,” That Was the Year That Was (1965)

Dave — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 13:22:43 +0000

Don’t say that he’s hypocritical,
Say rather that he’s apolitical.
“Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
That’s not my department,” says Wernher von Braun.

Tom Lehrer (b. 1928) American mathematician, satirist, songwriter
“Wernher Von Braun,” That Was the Year That Was (1965)

Berry, Wendell -- Essay (1999), “The Failure of War,” Citizenship Papers (2003)

Dave — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:26:50 +0000

What could be more absurd, to begin with, than our attitude of high moral outrage against other nations for manufacturing the selfsame weapons that we manufacture? The difference, as our leaders say, is that we will use these weapons virtuously, whereas our enemies will use them maliciously — a proposition that too readily conforms to a proposition of much less dignity: we will use them in our interest, whereas our enemies will use them in theirs.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1999), “The Failure of War,” Citizenship Papers (2003)
(Source)

Montesquieu -- Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and Their Decline [Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence], ch. 18 (1734, 1748 ed.) [tr. Baker (1882)]

Dave — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:25:27 +0000

An empire founded by arms needs to be sustained by arms.

[Un empire fondé par les armes a besoin de se soutenir par les armes.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and Their Decline [Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence], ch. 18 (1734, 1748 ed.) [tr. Baker (1882)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Other translations:

An empire, founded by arms, must likewise have arms for its support.
[tr. B--- (1734)]

An Empire founded by Arms, must likewise have Arms for its Support.
[ed. Guterman (1963)]

An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war.
[E.g. (1960)]

An empire founded by arms needs to be sustained by arms.
[tr. Lowenthal (1965)]