WIST Quotations

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1850), Notes for a Law Lecture (fragment)

Dave — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 21:46:05 +0000

As a general rule never take your whole fee in advance, nor any more than a small retainer. When fully paid beforehand, you are more than a common mortal if you can feel the same interest in the case, as if something was still in prospect for you, as well as for your client. And when you lack interest in the case the job will very likely lack skill and diligence in the performance.

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861–65)
Speech (1850), Notes for a Law Lecture (fragment)
(Source)

No lecture of the sort given by Lincoln has been recorded. The date was assigned by Nicolay and Hay, with nothing concrete to contradict it. The lecture notes might well have been written several years later.

Sartre, Jean-Paul -- No Exit [Huis Clos] (1944)

Dave — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 15:52:55 +0000

GARCIN: I died too soon. I wasn’t allowed time to — to do my deeds.

INEZ: One always dies too soon — or too late. And yet one’s whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are — your life, and nothing else.

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French philosopher and writer
No Exit [Huis Clos] (1944)
(Source)

Fowler, Gene -- Quoted in H. Allen Smith, The Life and Legend of Gene Fowler, ch. 27 (1977)

Dave — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 15:57:45 +0000

A book is never finished, it is abandoned.

Gene Fowler (1890–1960) American journalist, author, and dramatist. [b. Eugene Devlan]
Quoted in H. Allen Smith, The Life and Legend of Gene Fowler, ch. 27 (1977)
(Source)

Fowler was speaking about publisher deadlines. Others have used similar phrases regarding the creative process as a whole. See Valéry and Abram.

Sarton, May -- “Now Voyager”

Dave — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 15:18:17 +0000

Where music thundered let the mind be still,
Where the will triumphed let there be no will,
What light revealed, now let the dark fulfill.

May Sarton (1912–1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
“Now Voyager”
(Source)

First published in The Lion and the Rose, Part 3 (1948).

Brilliant, Ashleigh -- Pot-Shots, #2847

Dave — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 18:33:54 +0000

No matter how many times I do my work, it never stays done for long.

Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933) Anglo-American epigramist, aphorist, cartoonist
Pot-Shots, #2847

Brilliant, Ashleigh -- Pot-Shots, #6392

Dave — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 16:59:03 +0000

Don’t give me anything else to make a mess of, until I finish making my present mess.

Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933) Anglo-American epigramist, aphorist, cartoonist
Pot-Shots, #6392

Moliere -- The Romantick Ladies [Les Précieuses Ridicules], Act 1, sc. 11 (1659)

Dave — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 17:09:33 +0000

I always make the first Verse well, but I’m perplex’d about the rest.

[Je fais toujours bien le premier vers: mais j’ai peine à faire les autres.]

Molière (1622–1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
The Romantick Ladies [Les Précieuses Ridicules], Act 1, sc. 11 (1659)
(Source)

Alt. trans.: "I always make the first verse well, but I have trouble making the others."

Talmud -- Mishnah, Pirkei Avot [Ethics of the Fathers; פִּרְקֵי אָבוֹת] 2:16

Dave — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 06:16:36 +0000

It is not yours to finish the task, but neither are you free to set it aside.

לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה.

The Talmud (AD 200–500) Collection of Jewish rabbinical writings
Mishnah, Pirkei Avot [Ethics of the Fathers; פִּרְקֵי אָבוֹת] 2:16
(Source)

In some editions cited as 2:15 or 2:21. Many of the references below ("E.g.") have no identified translator, nor is it clear whether the translations are from the surrounding writers or borrowed from elsewhere.

Quoting Rabbi Tarfon (c. AD 130). While literally speaking of studying the Torah, the passage is usually understood to imply solving the problems of the world.

(Source (Hebrew)). Other translations:

It is not for thee to finish the work, nor art thou free to desist therefrom.
[tr. Taylor (1897)]

It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to desist from it.
[tr. Charles (1913); 2:21]

The work is not upon thee to finish nor art thou free to desist from it.
[tr. Herford (1929); 2:21]

It is not thy part to finish the task, yet thou art not free to desist from it.
[tr. Danby (1933)]

It is not up to you to complete the work; but neither are you free to desist from it.
[tr. Bokser (1989)]

It is not your responsibility to finish the work [of perfecting the world], but you are not free to desist from it either.
[tr. Telushkin (1991)?]

It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.
[tr. Kulp (2014?)]

The work is not yours to complete. [The Holy One Blessed be He did not hire you to complete all of it, in which instance you would lose your wage if you did not complete it.] And [lest you say: (In that case,) I will not learn and I will not take a wage] — you are not free to abstain from it. [Perforce the yoke is upon you to labor.]
[tr. Silverstein (2013?)]

It is not [incumbent] upon thee to finish the work, but neither art thou a free man so as to [be entitled to] refrain therefrom.
[Wikisource]

It is not your responsibility to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.
[tr. Open Mishnah]

It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.
[E.g.]

It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task, but neither are you free to absolve yourself from it.
[E.g.]

It is not up to you to finish the task, but you are not free to avoid it.
[E.g.]

You need not finish the work , but you are not free to stop working.
[E.g.]

Although I am not free to avoid doing the work, it is not always necessary that I finish the task.
[E.g.]

You are not obliged to complete the task, nor are you free to abandon it.
[E.g.]

You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
[E.g.]

It is not your duty to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.
[E.g.]

It is not your obligation to finish the task, nor are you free to desist from it.
[E.g.]

It is not yours to finish the task, but neither are you free to desist from it.
[E.g.]

Maugham, W. Somerset -- The Summing Up, ch. 3 (1938)

Dave — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:16:51 +0000

An occasional glance at the obituary column of The Times has suggested to me that the sixties are very unhealthy; I have long thought that it would exasperate me to die before I had written this book, and so it seemed to me that I had better set about it at once. When I have finished it I can face the future with serenity, for I shall have rounded off my life’s work.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) English novelist and playwright [William Somerset Maugham]
The Summing Up, ch. 3 (1938)
(Source)

Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], 1809 entry [tr. Auster (1983)]

Dave — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:33:11 +0000

A work is perfectly finished only when nothing can be added to it and nothing taken away.

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], 1809 entry [tr. Auster (1983)]
(Source)

I could not find an analog in other translations of the Pensées.

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

Dave — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:21:22 +0000

By all means begin your folio; even if the doctor does not give you a year, even if he hesitates about a month, make one brave push and see what can be accomplished in a week. It is not only in finished undertakings that we ought to honour useful labour.

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).

Valéry, Paul -- “Au sujet du ‘Cimetière marin,'” La Nouvelle Revue Française (Mar 1933)

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

In the eyes of those lovers of perfection, a work is never finished — a word that for them has no sense — but abandoned; and this abandonment, whether to the flames or to the public (and which is the result of weariness or an obligation to deliver) is a kind of an accident to them, like the breaking off of a reflection, which fatigue, irritation, or something similar has made worthless.

[Aux yeux de ces amateurs d’inquiétude et de perfection, un ouvrage n’est jamais achevé, – mot qui pour eux n’a aucun sens, – mais abandonné ; et cet abandon, qui le livre aux flammes ou au public (et qu’il soit l’effet de la lassitude ou de l’obligation de livrer) est une sorte d’accident, comparable à la rupture d’une réflexion, que la fatigue, le fâcheux ou quelque sensation viennent rendre nulle.]

Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet, critic, author, polymath
“Au sujet du ‘Cimetière marin,'” La Nouvelle Revue Française (Mar 1933)
(Source)

Often rendered as: "A poem is never finished, only abandoned."

Alt. trans.: "In the eyes of those who anxiously seek perfection, a work is never truly completed -- a word that for them has no sense -- but abandoned; and this abandonment, of the book to the fire or to the public, whether due to weariness or to a need to deliver it for publication, is a sort of accident, comparable to the letting-go of an idea that has become so tiring or annoying that one has lost all interest in it." [tr. Maggio]

In the same vein, in "Recollections," Valery wrote: "A work is never completed except by some accident such as weariness, satisfaction, the need to deliver, or death: for, in relation to who or what is making it, it can only be one stage in a series of inner transformations."

Also attributed to W. H. Auden, Oscar Wilde, and Jean Cocteau, For more discussion of the origin of this phrase, see here.