WIST Quotations

Gracián, Baltasar -- The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 7 (1647) [tr. Maurer (1992)]

Dave — Tue, 09 May 2023 14:48:53 +0000

Princes like to be helped, but not surpassed. When you counsel someone, you should appear to be reminding him of something he had forgotten, not of the light he was unable to see.

[Gustan de ser ayudados los príncipes, pero no excedidos, y que el aviso haga antes viso de recuerdo de lo que olvidaba que de luz de lo que no alcanzó.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 7 (1647) [tr. Maurer (1992)]
(Source)

(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:

Princes are willing to be assisted, but not surpassed. Those who advise them ought to speak as if they put them in mind of what they forgot, and not as teaching them what they knew not.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]

They [princes] will allow a man to help them but not to surpass them, and will have any advice tendered them appear like a recollection of something they have forgotten rather than as a guide to something they cannot find.
[tr. Jacobs (1892)]

They [kings] may abide being helped, but not surpassed, wherefore let advice given them appear more a jog to what they forgot, than a light to what they could not find.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]

Gracián, Baltasar -- The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 7 (1647) [tr. Maurer (1992)]

Dave — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 18:08:25 +0000

Most people do not mind being surpassed in good fortune, character, or temperament, but no one, especially not a sovereign, likes to be surpassed in intelligence. For this is the king of attributes, and any crime against it is lèse-majesté.

[Bien se hallará quien quiera ceder en la dicha, y en el genio; pero en el ingenio, ninguno, cuanto menos una soberanía. Es éste el atributo rey, y así cualquier crimen contra él fue de lesa Majestad.]

There are many who will yield in good fortune, or in good humour; but no body will yield in Wit, and least of all a Sovereign. Wit is the King of Attributes, and by consequent, every Offence against it, is no less a Crime than Treason.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]

There be some that will grant you precedence in good luck or good temper but none in good sense, least of all a prince; for good sense is a royal prerogative, any claim to that is a case of lèse-majesté.
[tr. Jacobs (1892)]

Some will deign to take place after you in matters of luck or of heart, but in intelligence, none, least of all a sovereign: for this is the sovereign attribute, wherefore any attack upon it is a crime against majesty.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech, Binghamton, New York (24 Oct 1910)

Dave — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 16:34:17 +0000

The leader holds his position purely because he is able to appeal to the conscience and to the reason of those who support him, and the boss holds his position because he appeals to fear of punishment and hope of reward. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech, Binghamton, New York (24 Oct 1910)

Ackoff, Russell -- “Management Misinformation Systems,” Management Sciences (Dec 1967)

Dave — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 12:51:46 +0000

I do not deny that most managers lack a good deal of information that they should have, but I do deny that this is the most important informational deficiency from which they suffer. It seems to me that they suffer more from an overabundance of irrelevant information.

Russell L. Ackoff (1919-2009) American organizational theorist, consultant, management scientist
“Management Misinformation Systems,” Management Sciences (Dec 1967)

Marquis, Don -- “Variety,” Collier’s (12 May 1933)

Dave — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 14:43:29 +0000

The successful people are the ones who can think up things for the rest of the world to keep busy at.

Don Marquis (1878-1937) American journalist and humorist
“Variety,” Collier’s (12 May 1933)
(Source)

Johnson, Lyndon -- Comment (1964) to Larry O’Brien III

Dave — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:35:13 +0000

One lesson you better learn if you want to be in politics is that you never go out on a golf course and beat the President.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Comment (1964) to Larry O’Brien III
(Source)

On the occasion of O'Brien beating Johnson by one stroke on a nine-hole golf outing. Noted by his father in his book, No Final Victories: A Life in Politics, ch. 8 "LBJ" (1974).

See Gracian.

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

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

MORE: I must in fairness add that my taste in music is reputedly deplorable.

HENRY: Your taste in music is excellent. It exactly coincides with my own.

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

Bolt's 1966 film adaptation uses the same language.