WIST Quotations

Wordsworth, William -- “Inside of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge,” Ecclesiastical Sonnets, Part 3, # 43, ll. 6-7 (1822)

Dave — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 15:43:21 +0000

Give all thou canst; high Heaven rejects the lore
Of nicely calculated less or more.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) English poet
“Inside of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge,” Ecclesiastical Sonnets, Part 3, # 43, ll. 6-7 (1822)
(Source)

Newton, Isaac -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 22:21:04 +0000

I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of the people.

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) English physicist and mathematician
(Attributed)
(Source)

Supposedly after the ruinous stock price collapse of the "South Sea Bubble" in 1720, in which Newton lost £20,000.

The earliest mention of this is found in Joseph Spence, Second Memorandum Book (1756), collected in Joseph Spence (ed. Samuel Weller Singer), Anecdotes, Observations, and Characters, of Books and Men (1820). There a Lord Radnor is quoted as saying: "When Sir Isaac Newton was asked about the continuance of the rising of South Sea stock? — He answered, 'that he could not calculate the madness of the people.'" (Note that this supposedly takes place before the bubble bursts.)

Variants:

I can calculate the motions of erratic bodies, but not the madness of a multitude. ["Mammon and the Money Market," The Church of England Quarterly Review (1850)]
I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.
I can calculate the motions of heavenly bodies but not the madness of men.
I can calculate the movement of stars, but not the madness of men.

Stevenson, Adlai -- Speech (1955-04-11), “New China Policy” (radio address)

Dave — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:51:40 +0000

In matters of national security emotion is no substitute for intelligence, nor rigidity for prudence. To act coolly, intelligently and prudently in perilous circumstances is the test of a man — and also a nation.

Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1955-04-11), “New China Policy” (radio address)
(Source)