WIST Quotations

Stross, Charles -- The Apocalypse Codex (2012)

Dave — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 21:59:30 +0000

Uneventful. Boring. Tedious. All good adjectives to apply to long-haul travel; much better than exciting, unexpected, and abrupt.

Charles "Charlie" Stross (b. 1964) British writer
The Apocalypse Codex (2012)

Kissinger, Henry -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 15:53:55 +0000

The main advantage of being famous is that when you bore people at dinner parties they think it is their fault.

Henry Kissinger (1923–2024) German-American diplomat
(Attributed)

Quoted by James Naughtie in The Spectator (1 Apr 1995).

Richardson, James -- Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 85 (2001)

Dave — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 17:33:06 +0000

The great consolation of righteousness is never having to worry whether you’re a bore.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 85 (2001)

Voltaire -- L’Enfant prodigue, Preface (1736)

Dave — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 12:01:17 +0000

All styles are good, except the tiresome kind.

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
L’Enfant prodigue, Preface (1736)

La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶304 (1665-1678) [tr. Heard (1917), ¶311]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:00:00 +0000

We can forgive people who bore us, but never those whom we bore.

[Nous pardonnons souvent à ceux qui nous ennuient, mais nous ne pouvons pardonner à ceux que nous ennuyons.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶304 (1665-1678) [tr. Heard (1917), ¶311]
(Source)

This first appeared in the 3rd (1671) edition.

(Source (French)). Other translations:

We often forgive those that have Injured us, but we can never Pardon those that we have Injured.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶304]

We often forgive those who tire us, but cannot forgive those whom we tire.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶481]

We easily forgive those who weary us; but we never forgive those who are wearied by us.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶408]

We often pardon those who weary us, but we cannot pardon those whom we weary.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶314]

We may forgive those who bore us, we cannot forgive those whom we bore.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶304]

We often forgive those who bore us; but we cannot forgive those whom we bore ourselves.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶304]

We often forgive those who bore us, but that others should find us boring is quite unforgiveable.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶304]

We often forgive those who bore us; we cannot forgive those whom we bore.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶304]

We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those who find us boring.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶304]

We often forgive those who bore us; but never can we forgive those we have bored.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶304]