WIST Quotations

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Article (1858-04), “Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly

Dave — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 22:22:49 +0000

I will tell you my rule. Talk about those subjects you have had long in your mind, and listen to what others say about subjects you have studied but recently. Knowledge and timber shouldn’t be much used till they are seasoned.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Article (1858-04), “Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly
(Source)

Collected in Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, ch. 6 (1858).

Levine, Emily -- “A Theory of Everything,” TED Talk, Monterey, California (Feb 2002)

Dave — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 21:23:54 +0000

When you’re surrounded by people who share the same set of assumptions as you, you start to think that’s reality.

Emily Levine (1944-2019) American humorist, writer, actress, speaker
“A Theory of Everything,” TED Talk, Monterey, California (Feb 2002)
(Source)

Clifford, William Kingdon -- “The Ethics of Belief,” Part 1 “The Duty of Inquiry,” Lecture, London (11 Apr 1876)

Dave — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 16:17:42 +0000

No real belief, however trifling and fragmentary it may seem, is ever truly insignificant; it prepares us to receive more of its like, confirms those which resembled it before, and weakens others; and so gradually it lays a stealthy train in our inmost thoughts, which may someday explode into overt action, and leave its stamp upon our character for ever.

William Kingdon Clifford (1845-1879) English mathematician and philosopher
“The Ethics of Belief,” Part 1 “The Duty of Inquiry,” Lecture, London (11 Apr 1876)
(Source)

Flaubert, Gustave -- Letter to Louis Bouilhet (4 Sep 1850)

Dave — Thu, 23 Jan 2020 20:48:07 +0000

Stupidity lies in wanting to draw conclusions.

[L’ineptie consiste à vouloir conclure. […] Oui, la bêtise consiste à vouloir conclure.]

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) French writer, novelist
Letter to Louis Bouilhet (4 Sep 1850)
(Source)

The phrase is used twice in the letter. The initial phrase is usually translated to "foolishness" or "folly," the second to "stupidity."

De Weerd, H. A. -- “Strategic Surprise in the Korean War,” Orbis (1962)

Dave — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 14:41:48 +0000

It was not the absence of intelligence which led us into trouble but our unwillingness to draw unpleasant conclusions from it.

H. A. de Weerd (1902-1979) American military historian, author [Harvey Arthur de Weerd]
“Strategic Surprise in the Korean War,” Orbis (1962)

On the US decision in 1950 to call China's bluff by advancing above the 38th parallel.

Macaulay, Thomas Babington -- “Samuel Johnson,” The Edinburgh Review (Sep 1831)

Dave — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:21:35 +0000

The judgments which Johnson passed on books were, in his own time, regarded with superstitious veneration, and, in our time, are generally treated with indiscriminate contempt. They are the judgments of a strong but enslaved understanding. The mind of the critic was hedged round by an uninterrupted fence of prejudices and superstitions. Within his narrow limits, he displayed a vigour and an activity which ought to have enabled him to clear the barrier that confined him. How it chanced that a man who reasoned on his premises so ably, should assume his premises so foolishly, is one of the great mysteries of human nature.

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) English writer and politician
“Samuel Johnson,” The Edinburgh Review (Sep 1831)
(Source)

Review of John Croker's 1831 edition of James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson.