WIST Quotations

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1876-04 (1876 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 16:27:17 +0000

I dont kno which iz the biggest phool, the man who kan spend two hours bragging about himself, or the one who kan sit pashuntly and listen to him.

[I don’t know which is the biggest fool, the man who can spend two hours bragging about himself, or the one who can sit patiently and listen to him.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1876-04 (1876 ed.)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- Foundation and Empire, ch. 22 (1952)

Dave — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 19:33:54 +0000

Boasts are wind and deeds are hard.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Foundation and Empire, ch. 22 (1952)
(Source)

Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #166 (19 Oct 1748)

Dave — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 21:26:57 +0000

Be your character what it will, it will be known; and nobody will take it up on your own word. Never imagine that anything you can say yourself will varnish your defects or add lustre to your perfections! but, on the contrary, it may, and nine times in ten will, make the former more glaring, and the latter obscure.

Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #166 (19 Oct 1748)
(Source)

Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #126 (21 Sep 1747)

Dave — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 19:02:11 +0000

There is another sort of lies, inoffensive enough in themselves, but wonderfully ridiculous; I mean those lies which a mistaken vanity suggests, that defeat the very end for which they are calculated, and terminate in the humiliation and confusion of their author, who is sure to be detected. These are chiefly narrative and historical lies, all intended to do infinite honor to their author. He is always the hero of his own romances; he has been in dangers from which nobody but himself ever escaped; he as seen with his own eyes, whatever other people have heard or read of; he has had more bonnes fortunes than ever he knew women; and has ridden more miles post in one day, than ever courier went in two. He is soon ridiculed, and as soon becomes the object of universal contempt and ridicule.

Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #126 (21 Sep 1747)
(Source)

Twain, Mark -- Following the Equator, ch. 5, Epigraph (1897)

Dave — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 13:35:22 +0000

Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Following the Equator, ch. 5, Epigraph (1897)

Spinoza, Baruch -- Ethics, Part 3 (1677)

Dave — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 20:09:07 +0000

It therefore comes to pass that everyone is fond of relating his own exploits and displaying the strength both of his body and his mind, and that men are on this account a nuisance one to the other.

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) Dutch philosopher
Ethics, Part 3 (1677)

~Proverbs and Sayings -- Spanish proverb

Dave — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 15:44:56 +0000

Tell me what you brag about and I’ll tell you what you lack.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
Spanish proverb

Shakespeare, William -- Henry IV, Part 1, Act 3, sc. 1, l. 55ff (3.1.55-57) (1597)

Dave — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:24:28 +0000

GLENDOWER: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.

HOTSPUR: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come when you do call for them?

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry IV, Part 1, Act 3, sc. 1, l. 55ff (3.1.55-57) (1597)
(Source)