WIST Quotations

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 2 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)

Dave — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 23:01:39 +0000

You see, I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1886-04), “A Study in Scarlet,” Part 1, ch. 2 [Holmes], Beeton’s Christmas Annual, Vol. 28 (1887-11-21)
(Source)

Connected to this passage.

Published in novel form 1888-07. See also "The Five Orange Pips."

In the Sherlock TV episode 01x03 "The Great Game" (w. Mark Gatiss) (2010-08-08), this explanation is reworked:

SHERLOCK: Listen: (points to his head) This is my hard-drive, and it only makes sense to put things in there that are useful. Really useful. Ordinary people fill their heads with all kinds of rubbish, and that makes it hard to get at the stuff that matters! Do you see?

Housman, A. E. -- “Additional Poems,” No. 17 (pub. 1937)

Dave — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 16:28:46 +0000

The stars have not dealt me the worst they could do:
My pleasures are plenty, my troubles are two.
But oh, my two troubles they reave me of rest,
The brains in my head and the heart in my breast.

A. E. Housman (1859-1936) English scholar and poet [Alfred Edward Housman]
“Additional Poems,” No. 17 (pub. 1937)
(Source)

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas -- The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms, “Preludes” (2010)

Dave — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 22:42:44 +0000

Your brain is most intelligent when you don’t instruct it on what to do — something people who take showers discover on occasion.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (b. 1960) Lebanese-American essayist, statistician, risk analyst, aphorist
The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms, “Preludes” (2010)
(Source)

Burroughs, Edgar Rice -- Synthetic Men of Mars, ch. 14 [Vor Daj] (1940)

Dave — Tue, 07 May 2024 22:12:55 +0000

You must admit that it might be confusing to have one brain and two bodies.

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) American writer
Synthetic Men of Mars, ch. 14 [Vor Daj] (1940)
(Source)

Von Harbou, Thea -- Metropolis, ch. 5 [Maria] (1925) [tr. (1927)]

Dave — Mon, 15 May 2023 23:42:28 +0000

The Mediator between Brain and Hands must be the Heart.

[Der Mittler zwischen Hirn und Händen muss das Herz sein.]

Thea von Harbou (1888-1954) German screenwriter, novelist, film director, actress
Metropolis, ch. 5 [Maria] (1925) [tr. (1927)]
(Source)

The novel was written to be the basis for the film by Von Harbou's husband, Fritz Lang. She also collaborated with him on the script. The movie began shooting before the novel was published.

In talking with the growingly restless workers of the city, Maria adds, shortly after the above line:

One will come, who will speak for you -- who will be the mediator between you, the Hands, and the man whose Brain and Will are over you all.

Von Harbau also included an epigraph at the beginning of the novel, which concludes (with a slightly different translation): "The mediator between brain and muscle must be the Heart."

Eisenberg, Leon -- “The social construction of the human brain,” American Journal of Psychiatry (Nov 1995)

Dave — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 14:59:36 +0000

Psychiatry is all biological and all social. there is no mental function without brain and social context. To ask how much of mind is biological and how much social is as meaningless as to ask how much of the area of a rectangle is due to its width and how much to its height, or how much of the phenotype is due to genes and how much to environment.

Leon Eisenberg (1922-2009) American psychiatrist and medical educator
“The social construction of the human brain,” American Journal of Psychiatry (Nov 1995)
(Source)

~Proverbs and Sayings -- Italian proverb

Dave — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 15:12:28 +0000

Many complain of their looks, but none of their brains.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
Italian proverb

Also noted as a Jewish or Yiddish proverb.

This is also often cited to Sally Koslow, Little Pink Slips, ch. 5 (2007); it appears there as ""Many complain of their looks, few of their brains," but is described as an unoriginal needlepoint on a pillow cover.

See also La Rochefoucauld for a similar construction.

Ouida -- Folle-Farine, Book 3, ch. 3 (1871)

Dave — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 15:46:56 +0000

There is no more terrible woe upon earth than the woe of the stricken brain, which remembers the days of its strength, the living light of its reason, the sunrise of its proud intelligence, and knows that these have passed away like a tale that is told.

Ouida (1839-1908) English novelist [pseud. of Maria Louise Ramé]
Folle-Farine, Book 3, ch. 3 (1871)
(Source)

Jessel, George -- Quoted in The Observer (7 Aug 1949)

Dave — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 18:40:34 +0000

The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public.

George Jessel (1898-1981) American comedian, singer, songwriter, producer
Quoted in The Observer (7 Aug 1949)

Jessel was a frequent master of ceremonies, and often used the line. Variant: "The human brain is a wonderful thing. It starts working the moment you are born, and never stops until you stand up to speak in public."

Hill, Napoleon -- Think and Grow Rich (1937)

Dave — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 23:06:18 +0000

More gold has been mined from the brains of men than has ever been taken from the earth.

Napoleon Hill (1883-1970) American author, motivational writer
Think and Grow Rich (1937)
(Source)

In some editions this is given as: "More gold has been mined from the thoughts of men than has ever been taken from the earth."

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- “The Five Orange Pips,” The Strand (Nov 1891)

Dave — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 20:27:29 +0000

A man should keep his little brain-attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
“The Five Orange Pips,” The Strand (Nov 1891)
(Source)

Ackerman, Diane -- A Natural History of Love, “Brain-Stem Sonata: The Neurophysiology of Love” (1994)

Dave — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 22:44:14 +0000

The brain is only three pounds of blood, dream, and electricity, and yet from that mortal stew come Beethoven’s sonatas. Dizzy Gillespie’s jazz. Audrey Hepburn’s wish to spend the last month of her life in Somalia, saving children.

Diane Ackerman (b. 1948) American poet, author, naturalist
A Natural History of Love, “Brain-Stem Sonata: The Neurophysiology of Love” (1994)
(Source)

Adams, John -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 21:15:24 +0000

Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
(Attributed)
(Source)

Attributed by Josiah Quincy III, as described anecdotally in L. Maria Child's essay "Hints About Health," collected in her book Looking Toward Sunset: From Sources Old and New, Original and Selected (1865). Child describes Quincy attributing his own long life and acuity to the above advice given by Adams when Adams was asked how his mind was so vigorous in old age.

At one point I had this exchange sourced as being a letter from Adams to Quincy (1825-02-14). I am at present unable to find a record or reference online of such a letter.

Sometimes (perhaps due to the recipient's name), the quote is misattributed to Adams' son, John Quincy Adams.

LeBon, Gustave -- Revue d’Anthropologie (1879)

Dave — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 15:16:56 +0000

There is a large number of women whose brains are closer in size to the gorillas than to the most developed male brains. This inferiority is so obvious that no one can contest it for a moment; only its degree is worth discussion. All psychologists who have studied the intelligence of women … recognize today that they represent the most inferior forms of human evolution, and that they are closer to children and savages than to an adult, civilized man.

Gustave LeBon (1841-1931) German psychologist
Revue d’Anthropologie (1879)

Harburg, E. Y. -- “If I Only Had a Brain,” The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Dave — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 15:34:24 +0000

I could wile away the hours
Conferrin’ with the flowers,
Consultin’ with the rain;
And my head I’d be scratchin’
While my thoughts were busy hatchin’,
If I only had a brain.

E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896-1981) American lyricist [Edgar Yipsel Harburg, b. Isidore Hochberg]
“If I Only Had a Brain,” The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Stout, Rex -- In “Author Rex Stout vs. the FBI,” Interview with Sandra Schmidt, Life (10 Dec 1965)

Dave — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 13:36:26 +0000

The only difference between me and most people is that I’m perfectly aware that all my important decisions are made for me by my subconscious. My frontal lobes are just kidding themselves that they decide anything at all. All they do is think up reasons for the decisions that are already made.

Rex Stout (1886-1975) American writer
In “Author Rex Stout vs. the FBI,” Interview with Sandra Schmidt, Life (10 Dec 1965)

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1888-02), “The Lantern-Bearers,” sec. 3 Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 2

Dave — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:27:59 +0000

No man lives in the external truth among salts and acids, but in the warm, phantasmagoric chamber of his brain, with the painted windows and the storied wall.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1888-02), “The Lantern-Bearers,” sec. 3 Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 2
(Source)

Collected in Across the Plains, ch. 7 (1892).

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Brain,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)

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

BRAIN, n. An apparatus with which we think that we think.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Brain,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
(Source)

Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911).

Milne, A. A. -- House at Pooh Corner, ch. 8 “Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing” (1928)

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

“Rabbit’s clever,” said Pooh.
“Yes,” said Piglet. “Rabbit’s clever.”
“And he has a Brain.”
“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit has a Brain.”
There was a long silence.
“I suppose,” said Pooh, “that’s why he never understands anything.”

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
House at Pooh Corner, ch. 8 “Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing” (1928)
(Source)