WIST Quotations

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1993-01-02)

Dave — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 21:36:41 +0000

CALVIN: I’ve decided to stop caring about things. If you care, you just get disappointed all the time. If you don’t care, nothing matters, so you’re never upset. From now on, my rallying cry is, “So what?!”

HOBBES: That’s a tough cry to rally around.

CALVIN: So what?!

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1993-01-02)
(Source)

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1875-12 (1875 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 15:38:50 +0000

Thare iz nothing we are more apt to parade before others, than our kares and sorrows, and thare iz nothing the world kares so little about.

[There is nothing we are more apt to parade before others, than our cares and sorrows, and there is nothing the world cares so little about.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1875-12 (1875 ed.)
(Source)

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1870-06 (1870 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 18:59:19 +0000

The time tew be karefullest iz when we hav a hand full ov trumps.

[The time to be carefullest is when we have a hand full of trumps.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1870-06 (1870 ed.)
(Source)

Repeated in Everybody's Friend, Or; Josh Billing's Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 156 "Affurisms: Embers on the Harth" (1874).

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1737 ed.)

Dave — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 14:32:10 +0000

He that can take rest is greater than he that can take cities.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1737 ed.)
(Source)

Horace -- Odes [Carmina], Book 3, # 16, l. 17ff (3.16.17-18) (23 BC) [tr. Michie (1963)]

Dave — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 20:53:06 +0000

As wealth grows, worry grows, and thirst for more wealth.

[Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam,
Maiorumque fames.]

Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Odes [Carmina], Book 3, # 16, l. 17ff (3.16.17-18) (23 BC) [tr. Michie (1963)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

With growing riches cares augment,
And thirst of greater.
[tr. Fanshawe; ed. Brome (1666)]

Care still attends encreasing store,
And craving Appetite for more
[tr. Creech (1684)]

As riches grow, care follows: men repine
And thirst for more.
[tr. Conington (1872)]

Care, and a thirst for greater things, is the consequence of increasing wealth.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]

But as wealth into our coffers flows in still increasing store,
So, too, still our care increases, and the hunger still for more.
[tr. Martin (1864)]

Care grows with wealth, with wealth the greed for more.
[tr. Bulwer-Lytton (1870)]

The care of wealth, together with the thirst for more, attend increasing riches.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]

But care with growing treasure grows,
And thirst for more.
[tr. Gladstone (1894)]

Wealth, the faster it grows, is but the prey of care,
And of lusting for more.
[tr. Phelps (1897)]

Care follows growing wealth, and thirst for more.
[tr. Garnsey (1907)]

As riches grow, care follows, and a thirst
For more and more.
[tr. Marshall (1908)]

Yet as money grows, care and greed for greater riches follow after.
[tr. Bennett (Loeb) (1912)]

Increase of wealth and greed bring on
Care.
[tr. Mills (1924)]

But gold brings both greed and
Trouble on its back.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]

The more the money grows the more the greed
Grows too; also the anxiety of greed.
[tr. Ferry (1997)]

But with increasing wealth, follow
anxiety and greed for more and more.
[tr. Alexander (1999)]

Anxiety, and the hunger for more, pursues
growing wealth.
[tr. Kline (2015)]

Herrick, Robert -- “Sorrows Succeed,” Hesperides, # 48 (1648)

Dave — Fri, 24 May 2024 14:45:17 +0000

When one is past, another care we have:
Thus woe succeeds a woe, as wave a wave.

Robert Herrick (1591-1674) English poet
“Sorrows Succeed,” Hesperides, # 48 (1648)
(Source)

Stein, Gertrude -- Everybody’s Autobiography, ch. 1 (1937)

Dave — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 15:20:02 +0000

Everybody knows if you are too careful you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.

Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) American expatriate author, feminist
Everybody’s Autobiography, ch. 1 (1937)
(Source)

Wolcot, John -- Expostulatory Odes to a Great Duke and a Little Lord, Ode 15, ll. 5-6 (1789)

Dave — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 19:59:40 +0000

Care to our coffin adds a nail, no doubt;
And every grin, so merry, draws one out.

John Wolcot (1738-1819) English satirist (pseud. Peter Pindar)
Expostulatory Odes to a Great Duke and a Little Lord, Ode 15, ll. 5-6 (1789)
(Source)

Antrim, Minna -- Naked Truth and Veiled Illusions (1901)

Dave — Thu, 22 Jun 2023 22:42:15 +0000

If you cannot be clever, be careful.

Minna Antrim (1861-1950) American epigrammatist, writer
Naked Truth and Veiled Illusions (1901)
(Source)

Gracián, Baltasar -- The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 264 (1647) [tr. Maurer (1992)]

Dave — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 17:30:36 +0000

Many pleasant things are better when they belong to someone else. You can enjoy them more that way. The first day, pleasure belongs to the owner; after that, to others. When things belong to others, we enjoy them twice as much, without the risk of losing them, and with the pleasure of novelty. Everything tastes better when we are deprived of it.

[Muchas cosas de gusto no se han de poseer en propiedad. Más se goza de ellas ajenas que propias. El primer día es lo bueno para su dueño, los demás para los extraños. Gózanse las cosas ajenas con doblada fruición, esto es, sin el riesgo del daño y con el gusto de la novedad. Sabe todo mejor a privación.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 264 (1647) [tr. Maurer (1992)]
(Source)

(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:

Many things that serve for pleasure, ought not to be peculiar. One enjoys more of what is another's, than of what belongs to himself. The first day is for the Master, and all the rest for Strangers. One doubly enjoys what belongs to others, that's to say, not only without fear of loss, but also with the pleasure of Novelty. Privation makes every thing better.
[Flesher ed. (1685), §263]

Many things of Taste one should not possess oneself. One enjoys them better if another's than if one's own. The owner has the good of them the first day, for all the rest of the time they are for others. You take a double enjoyment in other men's property, being without fear of spoiling it and with the pleasure of novelty. Everything tastes better for having been without it.
[tr. Jacobs (1892)]

Many of the things that bring delight should not be owned. They are more enjoyed if another's, than if yours; the first day they give pleasure to the owner, but in all the rest to the others: what belongs to another rejoices doubly, because without the risk of going stale, and with the satisfaction of freshness; everything tastes better after fasting.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]

Eliot, George -- Middlemarch, Book 8, ch. 72 [Dorothea] (1871)

Dave — Thu, 19 May 2022 15:43:52 +0000

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?

George Eliot (1819-1880) English novelist [pseud. of Mary Ann Evans]
Middlemarch, Book 8, ch. 72 [Dorothea] (1871)
(Source)

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich -- The Cost of Discipleship, Part 2, ch. 16 (1959)

Dave — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 18:20:29 +0000

Earthly possessions dazzle our eyes and delude us into thinking that they can provide security and freedom from anxiety. Yet all the time they are the very source of anxiety. If our hearts are set on them, our reward is an anxiety whose burden is intolerable. Anxiety creates its own treasures, and they in turn beget further care. When we seek for security in possessions, we are trying to drive out care with care, and the net result is the precise opposite of our anticipations. The fetters that bind us to our possessions prove to be the cares themselves.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, martyr
The Cost of Discipleship, Part 2, ch. 16 (1959)
(Source)

Carter, Rosalynn -- Helping Yourself Help Others: A Book for Caregivers (1994; 2013) [with S. Golant]

Dave — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 22:18:36 +0000

There are only four kinds of people in this world: those who have been caregivers, those who currently are caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers.

Rosalynn Carter (b. 1927) American First Lady (1977-1981), and activist
Helping Yourself Help Others: A Book for Caregivers (1994; 2013) [with S. Golant]
(Source)

This quotation is usually attributed directly to Carter, but she is actually quoting an unnamed caregiver colleague of hers.

Angelou, Maya -- In Jeffrey M. Elliot, “Maya Angelou Raps,” Sepia (Oct 1977)

Dave — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 18:00:10 +0000

One must learn to care for oneself first, so that one can then dare to care for someone else. That’s what it takes to make the caged bird sing.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014) American poet, memoirist, activist [b. Marguerite Ann Johnson]
In Jeffrey M. Elliot, “Maya Angelou Raps,” Sepia (Oct 1977)
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1841), “Prudence,” Essays: First Series, No. 7

Dave — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 20:49:15 +0000

If the hive be disturbed by rash and stupid hands, instead of honey, it will yield us bees.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Prudence,” Essays: First Series, No. 7
(Source)

Based on a lecture (winter 1837–1838), Boston, the seventh in his course on "Human Culture."

Brault, Robert -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 14:34:09 +0000

I guess, when you get down to it, a loving touch compensates for an unskilled hand about everywhere except in an airplane cockpit.

Robert Brault (b. c. 1945) American aphorist, programmer
(Attributed)

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 11, Reaper Man [Death] (1991)

Dave — Sat, 27 Jul 2019 02:01:26 +0000

Lord, what can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man?

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 11, Reaper Man [Death] (1991)
(Source)

Bible, Vol. 1. Old Testament -- Book 24. Jeremiah 22: 3 (Jer 22:3) [tr. JB (1966)]

Dave — Mon, 27 May 2019 18:54:36 +0000

Yahweh says this: Practice honesty and integrity; rescue the man who has been wronged from the hands of his oppressor; do not exploit the stranger, the orphan, the widow; do no violence; shed no innocent blood in this place.

The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Book 24. Jeremiah 22: 3 (Jer 22:3) [tr. JB (1966)]
(Source)

Alternate translations:

Thus saith the Lord; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
[KJV (1611)]

I, the Lord, command you to do what is just and right. Protect the person who is being cheated from the one who is cheating him. Do not mistreat or oppress aliens, orphans, or widows; and do not kill innocent people in this holy place.
[GNT (1976)]

Yahweh says this: Act uprightly and justly; rescue from the hands of the oppressor anyone who has been wronged, do not exploit or ill-treat the stranger, the orphan, the widow; shed no innocent blood in this place.
[NJB (1985)]

Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place.
[NRSV (1989 ed.)]

Thus said GOD: Do what is just and right; rescue from the defrauder anyone who is robbed; do not wrong the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow; commit no lawless act, and do not shed the blood of the innocent in this place.
[RJPS (2023 ed.)]

De Botton, Alain -- The Consolations of Philosophy, ch. 2 “Consolation For Not having Enough Money” (2000)

Dave — Thu, 19 Oct 2017 16:45:01 +0000

We don’t exist unless there is someone who can see us existing, what we say has no meaning until someone can understand, while to be surrounded by friends is constantly to have our identity confirmed; their knowledge and care for us have the power to pull us from our numbness. In small comments, many of them teasing, they reveal they know our foibles and accept them and so, in turn, accept that we have a place in the world.

Alain de Botton (b. 1969) Swiss-British author
The Consolations of Philosophy, ch. 2 “Consolation For Not having Enough Money” (2000)
(Source)

Buck, Pearl S. -- My Several Worlds, Part 4 (1954)

Dave — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 21:28:47 +0000

Yet somehow our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members.

Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) American writer
My Several Worlds, Part 4 (1954)
(Source)

See Dostoyevsky, Johnson.

Brown, H. Jackson "Jack" -- Life’s Instructions for Wisdom, Success, and Happiness (2001)

Dave — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 02:25:55 +0000

Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get.

H. Jackson "Jack" Brown, Jr. (b. 1940) American writer
Life’s Instructions for Wisdom, Success, and Happiness (2001)

Hugo, Victor -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 19:39:59 +0000

Caution is the eldest child of Wisdom.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
(Attributed)

I was unable to find an original citation (in English) for Hugo, but attributions to him were in circulation by 1896 and 1904.

At the same time, the phrase "la Prudence est la fille aînée de la Sagesse" (caution is the eldest daughter of wisdom) also shows up in 1896 as a generic reference, not identified with Hugo. This might either be a French proverb assigned to Hugo as a famous French writer, or a Hugo phrase that became proverbial.

Mitchell, Margaret -- Gone with the Wind, ch. 57 [Rhett] (1936)

Dave — Tue, 10 May 2016 13:23:19 +0000

“Scarlett, I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken — and I’d rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived. Perhaps if I were younger–” he sighed. “But I’m too old to believe in such sentimentalities as clean slates and starting all over. I’m too old to shoulder the burden of constant lies that go with living in polite disillusionment. I couldn’t live with you and lie to you and I certainly couldn’t lie to myself. I can’t even lie to you now. I wish I could care what you do or where you go, but I can’t.”

He drew a short breath and said lightly but softly:

“My dear, I don’t give a damn.”

Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949) American author and journalist.
Gone with the Wind, ch. 57 [Rhett] (1936)
(Source)

Richter, Jean-Paul -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 14:56:05 +0000

Cares are often more difficult to throw off than sorrows; the latter die with time, the former grow upon it.

Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825) German writer, art historian, philosopher, littérateur [Johann Paul Friedrich Richter; pseud. Jean Paul]
(Attributed)
(Source)

In Ballou, Treasury of Thought (1884).

Teresa of Avila -- “Maxims for Her Nuns”

Dave — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 13:54:54 +0000

Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life, which is short and has to be lived by you alone; and there is only one Glory, which is eternal. If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.

Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) Spanish mystic, poet, philosopher, saint
“Maxims for Her Nuns”

In Complete Works St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. 3 (1963) [ed. Peers]

Heinlein, Robert A. -- Friday [Friday Jones] (1982)

Dave — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 13:51:10 +0000

The coldest depth of Hell is reserved for people who abandon kittens.

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Friday [Friday Jones] (1982)

Updike, John -- Picked-Up Pieces, Foreward (1966)

Dave — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 15:02:28 +0000

Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity; the ditchdigger, dentist, and artist go about their tasks in much the same way, and any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.

John Updike (1932-2009) American writer
Picked-Up Pieces, Foreward (1966)
(Source)

Butcher, Jim -- Small Favor (2008)

Dave — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 13:36:52 +0000

Caring about someone isn’t complicated. It isn’t easy. But it isn’t complicated, either. Kinda like lifting the engine block out of a car.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Small Favor (2008)

Earp, Wyatt -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 13:09:05 +0000

Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.

Wyatt Earp (1848-1929) American law officer, gambler, saloon keeper
(Attributed)

Lebowitz, Fran -- “Tips for Teens,” Social Studies (1981)

Dave — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 13:49:48 +0000

Remember that as a teenager you are at the last stage in your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you.

Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) American journalist, essayist
“Tips for Teens,” Social Studies (1981)
(Source)

Vauvenargues, Luc de -- Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes] (1746) [tr. Lee (1903)]

Dave — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 12:14:11 +0000

It is of no use to possess a lively wit if it is not of the right proportion: the perfection of a clock is not to go fast, but to be accurate.

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747) French moralist, essayist, soldier
Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes] (1746) [tr. Lee (1903)]
(Source)

Eldridge, Paul -- “Lanterns in the Night,” Maxim 41, The Jewish Forum (Aug 1948)

Dave — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:03:01 +0000

A man’s character is most evident by how he treats those who are not in a position either to retaliate or reciprocate.

Paul Eldridge (1888-1982) American educator, novelist, poet
“Lanterns in the Night,” Maxim 41, The Jewish Forum (Aug 1948)

Restated by Eldridge in Maxims for a Modern Man, #1198 (1965): "A man is most accurately judged by how he treats those who are not in a position either to retaliate or to reciprocate."

The same sentiment was also made by or attributed to Lyman Beecher, Brian Tracy, Ann Landers, Abigail Van Buren, Malcolm Forbes, James Miles, and (without any reference found) Goethe and Samuel Johnson. A more convoluted version can be found in the 19th Century by Charles Spurgeon.

More examination of this quotation:

Heywood, John -- Ballad (1576), “Be Merry Friends,” st. 17

Dave — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:46:29 +0000

Let the world slide, let the world go:
A fig for care, and a fig for woe!
If I can’t pay, why, I can owe;
And death makes equal the high and low.
Be merry, friends!

John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Ballad (1576), “Be Merry Friends,” st. 17
(Source)

Collected in John Payne Collier (ed.), A Book of Roxburghe Ballads (1847), which includes more history about it.

This quote from the final stanza of the ballad (as reconstructed) was popularized when quoted in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 5th Ed. (1870) and subsequent editions.

The ballad also shows up in a collection of James Orchard Halliwell (ed.), The Moral Play of Wit and Science (1848) for the Shakespeare Society. This has an earlier version of the ballad, which does not include this stanza. (It also wavers in spelling between "mery" / "merye" and "frends" / "freendes.") This is in turn endnoted with five contemporary English stanzas, replacing the last two given, which includes that quoted above.

"Let the world slide" is used by the Beggar (Sly) in Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, Induction, sc. 1 (c. 1590).

Twain, Mark -- Story (1892), The American Claimant, ch. 2 [Col. Sellers]

Dave — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:53:07 +0000

But banish care, it’s no time for it now — on with the dance, let joy be unconfined is my motto, whether there’s any dance to dance; or any joy to unconfine — you’ll be the healthier for it every time, — every time, Washington — it’s my experience, and I’ve seen a good deal of this world.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Story (1892), The American Claimant, ch. 2 [Col. Sellers]
(Source)

The Colonel is riffing from Byron (1818).

Straczynski, J. Michael "Joe" -- rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, “At The Midpoint (Spoilers for everything)” (7 Apr 1995)

Dave — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:09:17 +0000

We have an obligation to one another, responsibilities and trusts. That does not mean we must be pigeons, that we must be exploited. But it does mean that we should look out for one another when and as much as we can; and that we have a personal responsibility for our behavior; and that our behavior has consequences of a very real and profound nature.

J. Michael (Joe) Straczynski (b. 1954) American screenwriter, producer, author [a/k/a "JMS"]
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, “At The Midpoint (Spoilers for everything)” (7 Apr 1995)
(Source)

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 5, ¶ 321 (1795) [tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 205]

Dave — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:18:03 +0000

Education must be based on two things: ethics and prudence; ethics in order to develop your good qualities, prudence to protect you from other people’s bad ones. If you attach too great an importance to goodness, you produce credulous fools; if you’re too prudent, you produce self-serving, scheming rogues.

[L’Éducation doit porter sur deux bases, la morale et la prudence ; la morale, pour appuyer la vertu ; la prudence, pour vous défendre contre les vices d’autrui. En faisant pencher la balance du côté de la morale, vous ne faites que des dupes ou des martyrs; en la faisant pencher de l’autre côté, vous faites des calculateurs égoïstes.]

Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 5, ¶ 321 (1795) [tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 205]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Education must have two foundations -- morality as a support for virtue, prudence as a defence for self against the vices of others. By letting the balance incline to the side of morality, you only make dupes or martyrs; by letting it incline to the other, you make calculating egoists.
[tr. Hutchinson (1902)]

Education should rest on the dual support of moral philosophy and prudence, moral philosophy as the stay of virtue, and prudence as a shield against the vice in others. If you tip the scale on the moral side you will produce none but dupes and martyrs, and by tilting it in the other direction you will develop a quality of selfish calculation only.
[tr. Mathers (1926)]

Education should be constructed on two bases: morality and prudence. Morality in order to assist virtue, and prudence in order to defend you against the vices of others. In tipping the scales toward morality, you merely produce dupes and martyrs. In tipping it the other way, you produce egotistical schemers.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]

Education must have two foundations, morality and carefulness: morality to support virtue; carefulness to defend against others' vices. By inclining this balance to the side of morality, you only make dupes and martyrs; by inclining it to carefulness, you make calculating egoists.
[tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]

King, Martin Luther -- Strength to Love, ch. 9 “Three Dimensions of a Complete Life,” sec. 2 (1963)

Dave — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:10:13 +0000

When Jesus painted that symbolic picture of the great assize, he made it clear that the norm for determining the division between the sheep and the goats would be deeds done for others. One will not be asked how many academic degrees he obtained or how much money he acquired, but how much he did for others. Did you feed the hungry? Did you give a cup of cold water to the thirsty? Did you clothe the naked? Did you visit the sick and minister to the imprisoned? In a sense, every day is judgment day, and we, through our deeds and words, our silence and speech, are constantly writing in the Book of Life.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Strength to Love, ch. 9 “Three Dimensions of a Complete Life,” sec. 2 (1963)
(Source)

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1878-04), “Æs Triplex,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37

Dave — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:03:35 +0000

To be over-wise is to ossify; and the scruple-monger ends by standing stock-still.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1878-04), “Æs Triplex,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37
(Source)

Collected in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers (1881).

Anthony, Susan B. -- “On the Campaign for Divorce Law Reform” (1860)

Dave — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:58:33 +0000

Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world’s estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences.

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) American reformer, aboltionist, sufferagist
“On the Campaign for Divorce Law Reform” (1860)

Johnson, Lyndon -- Speech (1972-12-12), Civil Rights symposium, LBJ Library, Austin, Texas

Dave — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 00:31:32 +0000

I believe that the essence of government lies with unceasing concern for the welfare and dignity and decency and innate integrity of life for every individual. I don’t like to say this and wish I didn’t have to add these words to make it clear but I will — regardless of color, creed, ancestry, sex or age.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1972-12-12), Civil Rights symposium, LBJ Library, Austin, Texas
(Source)

(Source (Video)). Johnson's last public speech.

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1744 ed.)

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

He who multiplies Riches multiplies Cares.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1744 ed.)
(Source)

Lincoln, Abraham -- (Attributed)

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

I care not for a man’s religion whose dog or cat are not the better for it.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)

Frequently attributed to Lincoln without citation, it's actually a variant of "I would give nothing for that man's religion, whose very dog and cat are not the better for it," by Rowland Hill (1744-1833), an English preacher, attributed in George Seaton Bowes, Illustrative Gatherings, or, Preachers and Teachers (1860). Lincoln may have used the line.