WIST Quotations

Berry, Wendell -- Essay (2003-02-09), “A Citizen’s Response,” sec. 4, Citizenship Papers (2003)

Dave — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 17:26:56 +0000

In nuclear or biological warfare, in which we know we cannot limit effects, how do we distinguish our enemies from our friends — or our enemies from ourselves? Does this not bring us exactly to the madness of terrorists who kill themselves in order to kill others?

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (2003-02-09), “A Citizen’s Response,” sec. 4, Citizenship Papers (2003)
(Source)

This passage did not appear in the original (abridged) full-page ad in the New York Times (2003-02-06) or the Orion Magazine (2003-03/04) publication of the essay.

Forster, E. M. -- “What I Believe,” The Nation (16 Jul 1938)

Dave — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 21:26:16 +0000

I distrust Great Men. They produce a desert of uniformity around them and often a pool of blood too, and I always feel a little man’s pleasure when they come a cropper.

E. M. Forster (1879-1970) English novelist, essayist, critic, librettist [Edward Morgan Forster]
“What I Believe,” The Nation (16 Jul 1938)
(Source)

Banks, Iain -- Against a Dark Background, ch. 24 “Fall into the Sea” (1993)

Dave — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 13:12:32 +0000

Sorry? Of course he was sorry. People were always sorry. Sorry they had done what they had done, sorry they were doing what they were doing, sorry they were going to do what they were going to do; but they still did whatever it was. The sorrow never stopped them; it just made them feel better. And so the sorrow never stopped. Fate, I’m sick of it all. […]
Sorrow be damned, and all your plans. Fuck the faithful, fuck the committed, the dedicated, the true believers; fuck all the sure and certain people prepared to maim and kill whoever got in their way; fuck every cause that ended in murder and a child screaming.

Iain Banks (1954-2013) Scottish author
Against a Dark Background, ch. 24 “Fall into the Sea” (1993)
(Source)

Often paraphrased as "Fuck every cause that ends in murder and children crying."

Johnson, Lyndon -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:18:00 +0000

Don’t spit in the soup. We’ve all got to eat.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed)

A favorite political comment of Johnson's, going back at least as far as when he was US Senate majority leader. It's sometimes labeled as an old adage from Texas politics.

The core metaphor of "spitting in the soup" (ruining/sabotaging something) long predates Johnson; the phrase's application to politics ("don't make things so toxic or failed that you hurt your colleagues and the political institution itself") seems more applicable than ever.

The connection to Johnson seems to have solidified with its inclusion in Jack Shepherd, Christopher Wren, eds., Quotations from Chairman LBJ, Epigraph (1968).

As a verbal comment, and given folk wanting to elicit (or mock) Johnson's Texas accent, variants include "we all got to eat," "we've all gotta eat," etc.

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1787-11-13) to William Stephens Smith

Dave — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:15:54 +0000

Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1787-11-13) to William Stephens Smith
(Source)

Berry, Wendell -- Essay (2003-02-09), “A Citizen’s Response,” sec. 1, paid advertisment, New York Times

Dave — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:06:48 +0000

The National Security Strategy defines terrorism as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against innocents” (p. 5). This is truly a distinct kind of violence, but to imply by the word “terrorism” that this sort of terror is the work exclusively of “terrorists” is misleading. The “legitimate” warfare of technologically advanced nations likewise is premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against innocents. The distinction between the intention to perpetrate violence against innocents, as in “terrorism,” and the willingness to do so, as in “war,” is not a source of comfort.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (2003-02-09), “A Citizen’s Response,” sec. 1, paid advertisment, New York Times
(Source)

The essay, including this passage, was also published in a longer form in Orion Magazine (2003-03/04), and collected in his Citizenship Papers (2003). In the latter, the second sentence is extended:

This is truly a distinct kind of violence, but it is a kind old and familiar, even in the United States. All that was really new about the events of September 11, 2001, was that they raised the scale of such violence to that of "legitimate" modern warfare. To imply ...