WIST Quotations

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1871-06 (1871 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 21:09:21 +0000

Whenever a minister haz preached a sermon that pleazes the whole congregashun, he probably haz preached one that the Lord wont endorse.

[Whenever a minister has preached a sermon that pleases the whole congregation, he probably haz preached one that the Lord won’t endorse.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1871-06 (1871 ed.)
(Source)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 6 (1963)

Dave — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 18:48:09 +0000

Most of us would try to be noble, if we just had a claque we could depend on.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 6 (1963)
(Source)

Moffat, Steven -- Sherlock, 01×01 “A Study in Pink” (2010-07-25)

Dave — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 19:06:59 +0000

HOLMES: That’s the frailty of genius, John. It needs an audience.

Steven Moffat (b. 1961) Scottish television writer, producer
Sherlock, 01×01 “A Study in Pink” (2010-07-25)
(Source)

(Source (Video); dialog confirmed)

Travers, P. L. -- Essay (1978-07-02), “I Never Wrote for Children,” New York Times

Dave — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 16:32:07 +0000

You do not chop off a section of your imaginative substance and make a book specifically for children, for — if you are honest — you have no idea where childhood ends and maturity begins. It is all endless and all one.

P. L. Travers (1899-1996) Australian-British writer [Pamela Lyndon Travers; b. Helen Lyndon Goff]
Essay (1978-07-02), “I Never Wrote for Children,” New York Times
(Source)

Jacobs, Jane -- The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Introduction (1961)

Dave — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 17:01:34 +0000

There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served.

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) American-Canadian journalist, author, urban theorist, activist
The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Introduction (1961)
(Source)

On urban planning that disregards actual needs for gratuitous features that please outside observers.

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 13 (1820)

Dave — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 15:11:10 +0000

Were we as eloquent as angels, yet should we please some men, some women, and some children much more by listening than by talking.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 13 (1820)
(Source)

Bolt, Robert -- Doctor Zhivago: The Screenplay, “Author’s Note” (1965)

Dave — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 17:04:13 +0000

The fourth and most important difference between a novel and a film (or play) is that when the reader tires of a novel he can mark his place, put it down, and return to it later. But the attention of an audience must be held continuously. There must be an unbroken progression. It may be progression of the emotion or the thought or the action, but emotion and thought must issue in action or threaten to. In a dramatic medium such as film the characters cannot pause to propound ideas and emotions not directly relevant to their own dramatic situation. In the middle of War and Peace Tolstoy can plant a substantial essay on the nature of military power. In a film script one unnecessary page, one page not furthering the progression, will lose the attention of the audience for the next ten.

Robert Bolt (1924-1995) English dramatist
Doctor Zhivago: The Screenplay, “Author’s Note” (1965)
(Source)

Herbert, George -- Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 302 (1640 ed.)

Dave — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 16:58:44 +0000

That is not good language which all understand not.

George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 302 (1640 ed.)
(Source)

Jerome, Jerome K. -- Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Getting On in the World” (1886)

Dave — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 22:25:15 +0000

Contented, unambitious people are all very well in their way. They form a neat, useful background for great portraits to be painted against, and they make a respectable, if not particularly intelligent, audience for the active spirits of the age to play before.

Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) English writer, humorist [Jerome Klapka Jerome]
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Getting On in the World” (1886)
(Source)

First published in Home Chimes (1885-01-24).

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1733)

Dave — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 17:15:16 +0000

Mirth pleaseth some, to others ’tis offence,
Some commend plain conceit, some profound sense;
Some wish a witty Jest, some dislike that,
And most would have themselves they know not what.
Then he that would please all, and himself too,
Takes more in hand than he is like to do.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1733)
(Source)

Tarkovsky, Andrei -- Sculpting in Time (1986) [tr. Hunter-Blair]

Dave — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 20:30:14 +0000

Never try to convey your idea to the audience — it is a thankless and senseless task. Show them life, and they’ll find within themselves the means to assess and appreciate it.

Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) Russian film director, screenwriter, film theorist [Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский]
Sculpting in Time (1986) [tr. Hunter-Blair]

Wilbur, Richard -- Acceptance Speech, National Book Award (1957)

Dave — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 15:41:43 +0000

It is true that the poet does not directly address his neighbors; but he does address a great congress of persons who dwell at the back of his mind, a congress of all those who have taught him and whom he has admired; that constitute his ideal audience and his better self. To this congress the poet speaks not of peculiar and personal things, but of what in himself is most common, most anonymous, most fundamental, most true of all men. And he speaks not in private grunts and mutterings but in the public language of the dictionary, of literary tradition, and of the street. Writing poetry is talking to oneself; yet it is a mode of talking to oneself in which the self disappears; and the product’s something that, though it may not be for everybody, is about everybody.

Richard Wilbur (1921-2017) American poet, literary translator
Acceptance Speech, National Book Award (1957)

Martial -- Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 3, epigram 9 (3.9) (AD 87-88) [tr. Nixon (1911)]

Dave — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 17:49:22 +0000

In the verse Cinna writes
I am slandered, it’s said.
But the man doesn’t write
Whose verses aren’t read.

[Versiculos in me narratur scribere Cinna.
Non scribit, cuius carmina nemo legit.]

Martial (AD c.39-c.103) Spanish Roman poet, satirist, epigrammatist [Marcus Valerius Martialis]
Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 3, epigram 9 (3.9) (AD 87-88) [tr. Nixon (1911)]

"On Cinna." (Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Cinna writes verses against me, 'tis said:
He writes not, whose bad verse no man doth read.
[tr. Fletcher (c. 1650)]

Against me Cinna, as I hear, indites;
Since none him reads, who can affirm he writes?
[tr. Killigrew (1695)]

Cinna's verse upon me, they say, keenly procedes.
He's beli'd: for he writes not, whom nobody reads.
[tr. Elphinston (1782). 12.23]

Jack writes severe lampoons on me, 'tis said
----But he writes nothing, who is never read.
[tr. Hodgson (c. 1810)]

Cinna, I am told, is a writer of small squibs against me. A man cannot be called a writer, whose effusions no one reads.
[tr. Bohn's Classical (1859)]

Cinna, they say, 'gainst me is writing verses:
He can't be said to write whom no one reads.
[ed. Harbottle (1897)]

Cinna is said to write verses against me. He doesn't write at all whose poems no man reads.
[tr. Ker (1919)]

He publishes lampoons on me, 'tis said;
How can he publish who is never read?
[tr. Pott & Wright (1921)]

Cinna writes poems against me? He has no readers,
so how can they say that he's a writer?
[tr. Bovie (1970)]

Cinna is reported to write verses against me. Nobody writes, whose poems nobody reads.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1993)]

Cinna, a writer, attacks me with screeds.
But he's not a writer whom nobody reads.
[tr. Ericsson (1995)]

They say Cinna writes little poems about me.
He’s no writer, whose verse nobody reads.
[tr. Kline (2006), "A Silent Critic"]

His verse was meant to strike me low,
But since he wrote it -- who will know?
[tr. Wills (2007)]

I hear Cinna has written some verses against me.
A man is no writer
if his poems have no reader.
[tr. Kennelly (2008)]

Cinna, they say, writes verse attacking me.
He doesn’t write, whose verses none will see.
[tr. McLean (2014)]

They say Cinna is writing epigrams and I'm his target. He's not "writing" if no one's reading him.
[tr. Nisbet (2015)]

They say that Cinna slams
me in his epigrams.
A poem no one has heard
has really not occurred.
[tr. Juster (2016)]

Cinna attacks me, calls me dirt?
Let him. Who isn't read, can't hurt.
[tr. O'Connell]

Goncourt, The Brothers -- Idées et sensations (1866)

Dave — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 16:54:53 +0000

A painting in a museum probably hears more foolish remarks than anything else in the world .

[Ce qui entend le plus de bêtises dans le monde est peut-être un tableau de musée.]

The Brothers Goncourt - Edmond (1822-96) & Jules (1830-70), French writers [a.k.a. J.E. de Goncourt]
Idées et sensations (1866)
(Source)

Often mis-cited to just Edmond. Alternate translations:

"A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world."
"What hears the most stupid remarks in the world is perhaps a painting in a museum." [Source]
"Perhaps what hears the most nonsense in the world is a museum painting." [Source]

Armstrong, Lance -- In “King of the Hill,” Sports Illustrated (2 Aug 2002)

Dave — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 20:12:24 +0000

A boo is a lot louder than a cheer. If you have 10 people cheering and one person booing, all you hear is the booing.

Lance Armstrong (b. 1971) American road racing cyclist
In “King of the Hill,” Sports Illustrated (2 Aug 2002)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- Nemesis, “Author’s Note” (1989)

Dave — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 16:26:04 +0000

I made up my mind long ago to follow one cardinal rule in all my writing — to be clear. I have given up all thought of writing poetically or symbolically or experimentally, or in any of the other modes that might (if I were good enough) get me a Pulitzer prize. I would write merely clearly and in this way establish a warm relationship between myself and my readers, and the professional critics — Well, they can do whatever they wish.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Nemesis, “Author’s Note” (1989)
(Source)

Dylan, Bob -- (Misattributed)

Dave — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 17:36:50 +0000

The way you win as a creative person is to learn to love the work and not the applause.

Bob Dylan (b. 1941) American singer, songwriter
(Misattributed)

Attributed to Dylan, but it actually appears to be from an article by Brian Herzog, "Don't Write for Applause" (28 May 2015), which touched on Dylan.

Sarnoff, Dorothy -- Speech Can Change Your Life (1970)

Dave — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 19:51:20 +0000

Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has finished listening.

Dorothy Sarnoff (1914-2008) American opera singer, actress, image consultant
Speech Can Change Your Life (1970)
(Source)

Sarnoff, Dorothy -- Never Be Nervous Again (1987)

Dave — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 16:15:25 +0000

Shynesss is I-ness. Shyness is really wondering if you have other people’s approval.

Dorothy Sarnoff (1914-2008) American opera singer, actress, image consultant
Never Be Nervous Again (1987)
(Source)

Baryshnikov, Mikhail -- “Baryshnikov: Gotta Dance,” Time (19 May 1975)

Dave — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 15:42:16 +0000

The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure.

Mikhail Baryshnikov (b. 1948) Latvian-American dancer, choreographer, actor
“Baryshnikov: Gotta Dance,” Time (19 May 1975)
(Source)

Schulz, Charles -- “My Life and Art with Charlie Brown and Others,” My Life with Charlie Brown (2010) [ed. Inge]

Dave — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 21:02:58 +0000

Having a large audience does not, of course, prove that something is necessarily good. I subscribe to the theory that only a creation that speaks to succeeding generations can truly be labeled art.

Charles Schulz (1922-2000) American cartoonist
“My Life and Art with Charlie Brown and Others,” My Life with Charlie Brown (2010) [ed. Inge]
(Source)

Orben, Robert -- In “A Little Night Humor,” Washington Post (28 Jan 1982)

Dave — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 21:23:17 +0000

Humor is the most honest of emotions. Applause for a speech can be insincere, but with humor, if the audience doesn’t like it there’s no faking it.

Robert Orben (1927-2023) American comedy writer, magician, speechwriter
In “A Little Night Humor,” Washington Post (28 Jan 1982)
(Source)

Jessel, George -- Quoted in The Observer (7 Aug 1949)

Dave — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 18:40:34 +0000

The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public.

George Jessel (1898-1981) American comedian, singer, songwriter, producer
Quoted in The Observer (7 Aug 1949)

Jessel was a frequent master of ceremonies, and often used the line. Variant: "The human brain is a wonderful thing. It starts working the moment you are born, and never stops until you stand up to speak in public."

Kirn, Walter -- Twitter (10 Jan 2011)

Dave — Sat, 26 Aug 2017 22:40:00 +0000

Everyone loves a witch hunt as long as it’s someone else’s witch being hunted.

Walter Kirn (b. 1962) American novelist, literary critic, essayist
Twitter (10 Jan 2011)
(Source)

Richardson, Ralph -- In The New York Herald Tribune (19 May 1946)

Dave — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 01:45:00 +0000

Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people from coughing.

Ralph Richardson (1902-1983) English actor
In The New York Herald Tribune (19 May 1946)
(Source)

Bronte, Anne -- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Preface (1848)

Dave — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 20:47:48 +0000

All novels are, or should be, written for both men and women to read, and I am at loss to conceive how a man should permit himself to write anything that would be really disgraceful to a woman, or why a woman should be censured for writing anything that would be proper and becoming for a man.

Anne Brontë (1820-1849) British novelist, poet [pseud. Acton Bell]
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Preface (1848)
(Source)

La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶216 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]

Dave — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 16:20:40 +0000

Perfect valour is to behave, without witnesses, as one would act were all the world watching.

[La parfaite valeur est de faire sans témoins ce qu’on serait capable de faire devant tout le monde.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶216 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]
(Source)

(Appeared in the 1st (1665) ed. as the similar:

[La pure valeur, s’il y en avoit, seroit de faire sans témoins ce qu’on est capable de faire devant le monde.]

(Source (French)). Other translations:

Pure Valour, if there were any such thing, would consist in the doing of that without witnesses, which it were able to do, if all the world were to be spectators thereof.
[tr. Davies (1669), ¶117]

True Valour would do all that, when alone, that it could do, if all the World were by.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶217]

Perfect valour consists in doing without witnesses all we should be capable of doing before the whole world.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶431; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶207; ed. Carvill (1835), ¶367]

Perfect valor is to do unwitnessed what we should be capable of doing before all the world.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶225]

Perfect valour is to do without witnesses what one would do before all the world.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶216]

Perfect valor accomplishes without witnesses what anyone could do before the eyes of the world.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶221]

Perfect courage consists in doing unobserved what we could do in the eyes of the world.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶216]

Perfect courage means doing unwitnessed what we would be capable of with the world looking on.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶216]

Perfect valor consists in doing without witnesses what one would be capable of doing before the world at large.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶216]

Perfect bravery is being able to do without witnesses what one would be able to do in front of everyone.
[tr. Siniscalchi (c. 1994)]

Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would do before all the world.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶216]

Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on.
[Source]

Publilius Syrus -- Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 599 [tr. Lyman, Jr. (1862)]

Dave — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:19:36 +0000

Don’t consider how many you can please, but whom.

Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 599 [tr. Lyman, Jr. (1862)]

Whitman, Walt -- Specimen Days and Collect, “Ventures, on an Old Theme,” closing paragraph (1882)

Dave — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 12:34:58 +0000

To have great poets, there must be great audiences, too.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) American poet
Specimen Days and Collect, “Ventures, on an Old Theme,” closing paragraph (1882)

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, Preface (1820)

Dave — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 13:39:18 +0000

There are three difficulties in authorship; — to write any thing worth the publishing — to find honest men to publish it — and to get sensible men to read it.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, Preface (1820)
(Source)

Aristotle -- Rhetoric [Ῥητορική; Ars Rhetorica], Book 3, ch. 1, sec. 5 (3.1.5) / 1404a (350 BC) [tr. Roberts (1924)]

Dave — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 13:40:33 +0000

We ought in fairness to fight our case with no help beyond the bare facts: nothing, therefore, should matter except the proof of those facts. Still, as has been already said, other things affect the result considerably, owing to the defects of our hearers.

[δίκαιον γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἀγωνίζεσθαι τοῖς πράγμασιν, ὥστε τἆλλα ἔξω τοῦ ἀποδεῖξαι περίεργα ἐστίν: ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως μέγα δύναται, καθάπερ εἴρηται, διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀκροατοῦ μοχθηρίαν.]

Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher
Rhetoric [Ῥητορική; Ars Rhetorica], Book 3, ch. 1, sec. 5 (3.1.5) / 1404a (350 BC) [tr. Roberts (1924)]
(Source)

On style vs. substance in shaping judgment. (Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

For justice would be to contend with the facts only, so that every thing else beside the mere demonstration is superfluous; nevertheless, it [style] is of great influence, as has been said, owing to the corruption of the hearers.
[Source (1847)]

Our facts ought to be our sole weapons, making everything superfluous which is outside the proof; owing to the infirmities of the hearer, however, style, as we have said, can do much.
[tr. Jebb (1873)]

For justice should consist in fighting the case with the facts alone, so that everything else that is beside demonstration is superfluous; nevertheless, as we have just said, it [style] is of great importance owing to the corruption of the hearer.
[tr. Freese (1926)]

Although [...] in justice, litigants should appeal only to the facts to contest the case, so that everything apart from demonstration is superfluous, it remains the case, as I have aid, that, thanks to the audience's moral weakness, delivery is very effective.
[tr. Waterfield (2018)]

Heifetz, Jascha -- (Unsourced)

Dave — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 12:34:14 +0000

Can you appreciate music without playing it? Of course you can, in the same way that people who are not athletes get enjoyment from attending a game to enjoy the crowd, the excitement, and the experience.

Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987) Lithuanian-American violinist
(Unsourced)

Quoted on his official web page.

Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 58 (1850 ed.) [tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 22, ¶ 25]

Dave — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 20:31:55 +0000

This is perhaps a not unimportant counsel to give to writers: write nothing that does not give you great pleasure; emotion passes easily from writer to reader.

[Ce ne serait peut-être pas un conseil peu important à donner aux écrivains, que celui-ci: n’écrivez jamais rien qui ne vous fasse un grand plaisir; l’émotion se propage aisément de l’écrivain au lecteur.]

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 58 (1850 ed.) [tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 22, ¶ 25]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

This were perhaps not an unimportant advice to give to writers: never write any thing that does not give you great enjoyment; emotion is easily propagated from the writer to the reader.
[tr. Calvert (1866), ch. 15]

And perhaps there is no advice to give a writer more important than this: -- Never write anything that does not give you great pleasure.
[tr. Auster (1983)], 1823 entry]

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1785-08-19) to Peter Carr

Dave — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:28:05 +0000

Whenever you are to do a thing tho’ it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1785-08-19) to Peter Carr
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Lecture (1867), “Eloquence,” Chicago

Dave — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:45:54 +0000

Eloquence is the power to translate a truth into language perfectly intelligible to the person to whom you speak.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Lecture (1867), “Eloquence,” Chicago
(Source)

Collected in Letters and Social Aims (1876).

Rogers, Will -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:56:08 +0000

We can’t all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
(Attributed)

Variant: "We all can't be heroes, for someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."

No citations found, and not found in primary sources of Rogers' works.

Connolly, Cyril -- Enemies of Promise, ch. 16 (1938)

Dave — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 18:09:37 +0000

All charming people have something to conceal, usually their total dependence on the appreciation of others.

Cyril Connolly (1903-1974) English intellectual, literary critic and writer.
Enemies of Promise, ch. 16 (1938)

Bolt, Robert -- A Man for All Seasons, play, Act 1 (1960)

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

MORE: Why not be a teacher? You’d be a fine teacher. Perhaps even a great one.

RICH: And if I was who would know it?

MORE: You, your pupils, your friends, God. Not a bad public, that.

Robert Bolt (1924-1995) English dramatist
A Man for All Seasons, play, Act 1 (1960)
(Source)

More trying to convince Rich not to seek a public or political office (because of the corrupting influences he would face).

Rendered almost identically into the 1966 film adaptation.

MORE: Why not be a teacher? You’d be a fine teacher, perhaps a great one.
RICH: And if I was who would know it?
MORE: You. Your pupils. Your friends. God. Not a bad public, that.