WIST Quotations

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Memoir (1949), This I Remember, ch. 5 “The Governorship Years: 1928–1932”

Dave — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 20:57:02 +0000

There are two kinds of snobbishness. That of the man who has had many good opportunities and looks down on those who lack them is usually recognized by all. The other kind of snobbishness is rarely understood, yet it is real. It is that of the self-made man, who glories in his success in overcoming difficulties and admires greatly people who have achieved the things he considers of importance.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, activist; First Lady of the US (1933–45)
Memoir (1949), This I Remember, ch. 5 “The Governorship Years: 1928–1932”

Discussing Al Smith, Franklin Roosevelt's predecessor as Governor of New York. She says he fell into the latter category, not having much admiration for Franklin Roosevelt as a "Harvard man" with an inheritance who didn't value material success as much as Smith did.

The same passage, with modifications, is included in her compiled 1961 Autobiography, Part 2, ch. 15:

There are two kinds of snobbishness. One is that of the man who has had a good many opportunities and looks down on those who lack them. The other is rarely understood, that of the self-made man who glories in his success in overcoming difficulties and admires greatly people who have achieved the things he considers of importance.

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1741 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 15:40:57 +0000

The cringing Train of Pow’r, survey;
What Creatures are so low as they!
With what obsequiousness they bend!
To what vile actions condescend!
Their Rise is on their Meanness built,
And Flatt’ry is their smallest Guilt.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1741 ed.)

Moffat, Steven -- Sherlock, 01×01 “A Study in Pink” (2010-07-25)

Dave — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 19:24:08 +0000

HOLMES: Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains? It must be so boring.

Steven Moffat (b. 1961) Scottish television writer, producer
Sherlock, 01×01 “A Study in Pink” (2010-07-25)

(Source (Video))

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris

Dave — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 22:36:01 +0000

There are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes second to achievement.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer; US President (1901–09)
Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris

Thompson, E. P. -- The Making of the English Working Class, Preface (1963)

Dave — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 21:19:56 +0000

I am seeking to rescue the poor stockinger, the Luddite cropper, the “obsolete” hand-loom weaver, the “utopian” artisan, and even the deluded follower of Joanna Southcott, from the enormous condescension of posterity. Their crafts and traditions may have been dying. Their hostility to the new industrialism may have been backward-looking. Their communitarian ideals may have been fantasies. Their insurrectionary conspiracies may have been foolhardy. But they lived through these times of acute social disturbance, and we did not. Their aspirations were valid in terms of their own experience; and, if they were casualties of history, they remain, condemned in their own lives, as casualties.

E. P. Thompson (1924–1993) British historian, writer, activist [Edward Palmer Thompson]
The Making of the English Working Class, Preface (1963)