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)

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)

Shakespeare, William -- All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 4, sc. 3, l. 356ff (4.3.356-358) (1602?)

Dave — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 15:54:08 +0000

PAROLLES: Who knows himself a braggart,
Let him fear this; for it will come to pass
That every braggart shall be found an ass.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 4, sc. 3, l. 356ff (4.3.356-358) (1602?)
(Source)