WIST Quotations

Adams, Douglas -- Dirk Gently No. 1, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, ch. 23 [Dirk] (1987)

Dave — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 20:04:46 +0000

Only a child sees things with perfect clarity, because it hasn’t developed all those filters which prevent us from seeing things that we don’t expect to see.

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Dirk Gently No. 1, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, ch. 23 [Dirk] (1987)
(Source)

Nash, Ogden -- “Seeing Eye to Eye is Believing,” Good Intentions (1942)

Dave — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 16:46:23 +0000

Everybody has something about which they are proud to be broad-minded but they also have other things about which you would be wasting your breath if you tried to convince them that they were a bigot.

Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
“Seeing Eye to Eye is Believing,” Good Intentions (1942)
(Source)

Swift, Jonathan -- Thoughts on Various Subjects (1706)

Dave — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 13:38:13 +0000

Although men are accused for not knowing their own weakness, yet perhaps as few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English writer and churchman
Thoughts on Various Subjects (1706)
(Source)

Johnston, E. K. -- Ahsoka (2016)

Dave — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 20:05:42 +0000

Jenneth turned a blind eye to his part in their incipient suffering, a privilege that came with never really having suffered.

Emily Kate (E. K.) Johnston (contemp.) Canadian author
Ahsoka (2016)

Tolstoy, Leo -- The Kingdom of God Is Within You, ch. 6 (1893) [tr. Maude (1936)]

Dave — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 14:54:03 +0000

Slavery was contrary to all the moral principles advocated by Plato and Aristotle, yet neither of them saw this because to renounce slavery would have meant the collapse of the life they were living.

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
The Kingdom of God Is Within You, ch. 6 (1893) [tr. Maude (1936)]

Burns, Robert -- “To a Louse,” l.43-46 (1786)

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

O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An’ foolish notion ….

Robert Burns (1759-1796) Scottish national poet
“To a Louse,” l.43-46 (1786)

The poem is reprinted in various forms and anglicizations of Burns' Scottish, e.g.,

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
An foolish notion

O would some Power the gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us,
And foolish notion: