WIST Quotations

Doctor Who (2005) -- 03×10 “Blink” (2007-06-09) [w. Steven Moffat]

Dave — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 20:52:00 +0000

THE DOCTOR: People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly … timey-wimey … stuff.

Doctor Who (2005-Present) British science fiction television series, revival (BBC)
03×10 “Blink” (2007-06-09) [w. Steven Moffat]
(Source)

(Source (Video); dialog verified)

Pinker, Steven -- “The Game of the Name,” New York Times (5 Apr 1994)

Dave — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 20:04:23 +0000

To a linguist, the phenomenon is familiar: the euphemism treadmill. People invent new “polite” words to refer to emotionally laden or distasteful things, but the euphemism becomes tainted by association and the new one that must be found acquires its own negative connotations. “Water closet” becomes “toilet” (originally a term for any body care, as in “toilet kit”), which becomes “bathroom,” which becomes “rest room,” which becomes “lavatory.” “Garbage collection” turns into “sanitation,” which turns into “environmental services.” The euphemism treadmill shows that concepts, not words, are in charge. Give a concept a new name, and the name becomes colored by the concept; the concept does not become freshened by the name. (We will know we have achieved equality and mutual respect when names for minorities stay put.)

Steven Pinker (b. 1954) Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, author
“The Game of the Name,” New York Times (5 Apr 1994)
(Source)

Pratchett, Terry -- Post, alt.fan.pratchett (16 Apr 2002)

Dave — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 15:58:21 +0000

I think perhaps the most important problem is that we are trying to understand the fundamental workings of the universe via a language devised for telling one another when the best fruit is.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Post, alt.fan.pratchett (16 Apr 2002)
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- “Quotation and Originality,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)

Dave — Fri, 19 Aug 2016 01:19:31 +0000

The profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader. The profoundest thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until an equal mind and heart finds and publishes it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Quotation and Originality,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)

Asimov, Isaac -- Nightfall (1990) [with Robert Silverberg]

Dave — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 16:53:53 +0000

So the universe is not quite as you thought it was. You’d better rearrange your beliefs, then. Because you certainly can’t rearrange the universe.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Nightfall (1990) [with Robert Silverberg]
(Source)

Hugo, Victor -- The History of a Crime [Histoire d’un Crime], ch. 10, Conclusion [tr. Joyce & Locker (1878)]

Dave — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:38:45 +0000

An invasion of armies can be resisted; an invasion of ideas cannot be resisted.

[On résiste à l’invasion des armées ; on ne résiste pas à l’invasion des idées.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
The History of a Crime [Histoire d’un Crime], ch. 10, Conclusion [tr. Joyce & Locker (1878)]
(Source)

Garson O'Toole, Burton Stevenson, and Ralph Keyes suggest this phrase morphed in English in the early 1940s into "One cannot resist an idea whose time has come," which is also widely attributed to Hugo. For more discussion about this quotation, this variation, and more, see:

(Source (French)). Other translations:

One resists the invasion of armies; one does not resist the invasion of ideas.
[tr. Atheneum Society (1878)]

An invasion of armies can be resisted, but there is no resistance to an invasion of ideas.
[tr. Smith (1888)]

One can resist the invasion of armies, but not the invasion of ideas.
[Source (1900)]

One withstands the invasion of armies; one does not withstand the invasion of ideas.
[E.g. (2012)]

One can resist the invasion of armies; one cannot resist the invasion of ideas.
[E.g. (2021)]

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- “Quotation and Originality,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)

Dave — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 20:40:39 +0000

Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Quotation and Originality,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)

Santayana, George -- Winds of Doctrine (1913)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

For an idea ever to be fashionable is ominous, since it must afterwards be always old-fashioned.

George Santayana (1863-1952) Spanish-American poet and philosopher [Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruíz de Santayana y Borrás]
Winds of Doctrine (1913)