WIST Quotations

Shakespeare, William -- Tempest, Act 1, sc. 2, l. 224ff (1.2.224-228) (1611)

Dave — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 16:03:09 +0000

ARIEL: All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! I come
To answer thy best pleasure. Be ’t to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curled clouds, to thy strong bidding task
Ariel and all his quality.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Tempest, Act 1, sc. 2, l. 224ff (1.2.224-228) (1611)
(Source)

Euripides -- Electra [Ἠλέκτρα], l. 985ff (c. 420 BC) [tr. Wilson (2016)]

Dave — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 16:58:19 +0000

ORESTES: I’ll go. I’ll start to do this dreadful thing, this horror. Yes, I will. If it’s the gods’ will, I’ll do it. But I take no joy in it.

[ὈΡΈΣΤΗΣ: ἔσειμι: δεινοῦ δ᾽ ἄρχομαι προβλήματος
καὶ δεινὰ δράσω γε — εἰ θεοῖς δοκεῖ τάδε,
ἔστω: πικρὸν δὲ χἡδὺ τἀγώνισμά μοι.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Electra [Ἠλέκτρα], l. 985ff (c. 420 BC) [tr. Wilson (2016)]
(Source)

Orestes going to kill his mother, Clytemnestra, who was, along with the already-killed Aegisthus, the murderer of his father, Agamemnon.

Interestingly, earlier translations have him characterize the task as both bitter and sweet; later ones only speak of its bitterness.

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

I go in.
Tho' I am entering on a deed that's fraught
With horror, I will execute the deed;
Thus let it be, if thus the righteous Gods
Ordain: altho' this conflict to my soul
At the same time be bitter, and yet sweet.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]

I will go in; it is a dreadful task I am beginning and I will do dreadful things. If the gods approve, let it be; to me the contest is bitter and also sweet.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

I will enter in; but I am beginning a dreadful attempt. Ay, and I shall do dreadful things; but if this seems fit to the Gods, let it be; but the contest is for me [at once] bitter and sweet.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]

I will go in. A horror I essay!
Yea, horrors will achieve! If this please Heaven,
So be it. Bitter strife, yet sweet, for me.
[tr. Way (1896)]

Aye. So be it. -- I have ta'en
A path of many terrors: and shall do
Deeds horrible. 'Tis God will have it so. ...
Is this the joy of battle, or wild woe?
[tr. Murray (1905)]

I will go in; 'tis an awful task I undertake; an awful deed I have to do; still if it is Heaven's will, be it so; I loathe and yet I love the enterprise.
[tr. Coleridge (1938 ed.)]

Fine. I am going inside. Terrible the deed I shall begin and frightening the deeds I shall accomplish. If this is liked by the gods then so be it. My battle is bitter, not sweet.
[tr. Theodoridis (2006)]

I’ll go in.
I’m on the verge of a horrendous act,
something truly dreadful. Well, so be it,
if gods approve of this. And yet, for me
the contest is not sweet at all, but bitter.
[tr. Johnston (2009)]

Smith, Sydney -- Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 9 “On the Conduct of the Understanding,” Royal Institution, London

Dave — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 16:49:36 +0000

If you choose to represent the various parts in life by holes upon a table, of different shapes, — some circular, some triangular, some square, some oblong, — and the persons acting these parts by bits of wood of similar shapes, we shall generally find that the triangular person has got into the square hole, the oblong into the triangular, and a square person has squeezed himself into the round hole. The officer and the office, the doer and the thing done, seldom fit so exactly, that we can say they were almost made for each other.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 9 “On the Conduct of the Understanding,” Royal Institution, London
(Source)

This is the origin of of the phrase "a square peg in a round hole."

Brilliant, Ashleigh -- Pot-Shots, #6392

Dave — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 16:59:03 +0000

Don’t give me anything else to make a mess of, until I finish making my present mess.

Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933) Anglo-American epigramist, aphorist, cartoonist
Pot-Shots, #6392

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 1072 (1725)

Dave — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 21:13:50 +0000

Let the Care of one’s Business be committed but to one Person; for otherwise, besides Disagreement which may arise when Account is taken, everyone’s Answer is, That he thought others had done it.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 1072 (1725)
(Source)

Carlyle, Thomas -- Essay (1829-06), “Signs of the Times,” Edinburgh Review, Vol. 49, No. 98, Art. 7

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

Our grand business undoubtedly is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Essay (1829-06), “Signs of the Times,” Edinburgh Review, Vol. 49, No. 98, Art. 7
(Source)

Review of three 1829 books: Anticipation; or, an Hundred Years Hence; The Rise, Progress, and Present State of Public Opinion in Great Britain; Edward Irvine, The Last Days; or, Discourses on These Our Times.