WIST Quotations

Kerr, Jean -- Essay (1957), “One Half of Two on the Aisle,” Please Don’t Eat the Daisies

Dave — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 20:26:08 +0000

While in some quarters it is felt that the critic is just a necessary evil, most serious-minded, decent, talented theater people agree that the critic is an unnecessary evil.

Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Essay (1957), “One Half of Two on the Aisle,” Please Don’t Eat the Daisies
(Source)

No earlier magazine publication found.

Addison, Joseph -- Essay (1711-06-26), The Spectator, No. 101

Dave — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 21:31:43 +0000

If men of eminence are exposed to censure on one hand, they are as much liable to flattery on the other. If they receive reproaches which are not due to them, they likewise receive praises which they do not deserve. In a word, the man in a high post is never regarded with an indifferent eye, but always considered as a friend or an enemy. For this reason persons in great stations have seldom their true characters drawn till several years after their deaths. Their personal friendships and enmities must cease, and the parties they were engaged in be at an end, before their faults or their virtues can have justice done them. When writers have the least opportunity of knowing the truth, they are in the best disposition to tell it.
It is therefore the privilege of posterity to adjust the characters of illustrious persons, and to set matters right between those antagonists who by their rivalry for greatness divided a whole age into factions.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1711-06-26), The Spectator, No. 101
(Source)

The last line is sometimes shortened to:

It is the privilege of posterity to set matters right between those antagonists who, by their rivalry for greatness, divided a whole age.

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Column (1942-01-14), “My Day”

Dave — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 18:56:07 +0000

Long ago, I made up my mind that, when things were said involving only me, I would pay no attention to them, except when valid criticism was carried by which I could profit.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1942-01-14), “My Day”
(Source)

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 523 (1820)

Dave — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 17:21:38 +0000

There are two things which ought to teach us to think but meanly of human glory: the very best have had their calumniators, the very worst their panegyrists.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 523 (1820)
(Source)

Hemingway, Ernest -- Green Hills of Africa, ch. 1 (1935)

Dave — Fri, 06 May 2022 20:00:23 +0000

You see we make our writers into something very strange. […] We destroy them in many ways. First, economically. They make money. It is only by hazard that a writer makes money although good books always make money eventually. Then our writers when they have made some money increase their style of living and are caught. They have to write to keep up their establishment, their wives, and so on, and they write slop. It is slop not on purpose but because it is hurried. Because they are ambitious. Then, once they have betrayed themselves, they justify it and you get more slop. Or else they read the critics. If they believe the critics when they say they are great then they must believe them when they say they are rotten and they lose confidence. At present we have two good writers who cannot write because they have lost confidence through reading the critics. If they wrote, sometimes it would be good and sometimes not so good and sometimes it would be quite bad, but the good would get out. But they have read the critics, and they must write masterpieces. The masterpieces the critics said they wrote. They weren’t masterpieces, of course. They were just quite good books. So now they cannot write at all. The critics have made them impotent.

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) American writer
Green Hills of Africa, ch. 1 (1935)
(Source)

Speaking of American writers.

Asimov, Isaac -- Familiar Poems Annotated, “Robert Frost, ‘Fire and Ice'” (1977)

Dave — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 20:58:50 +0000

His poetry seems to please the critics, and because it is plain-spoken, rhymes and scans, it pleases human beings as well.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Familiar Poems Annotated, “Robert Frost, ‘Fire and Ice'” (1977)
(Source)

Flaubert, Gustave -- Letter to Louise Colet (14 Jun 1853) [tr. Hannigan (1896)]

Dave — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 17:45:25 +0000

You are astonished to find yourself the butt of so much calumny, opposition, indifference and ill-will. You will be more so and have more of it; it is the reward of the good and the beautiful: one may calculate the value of a man from the number of his critics and the importance of a work by the evil said of it.

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) French writer, novelist
Letter to Louise Colet (14 Jun 1853) [tr. Hannigan (1896)]
(Source)

Alternate translation: "You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies, and the importance of a work of art by the harm that is spoken of it." [Source]

Carville, James -- Interview with Joan Walsh, Salon (11 Mar 2002)

Dave — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 23:50:03 +0000

What I’m suggesting is, stand for yourself, be for something and the hell with it. Because the hand-wringers and the editorialists and the sigh-and-pontificate crowd will be against you, whatever you do.

James Carville (b. 1944) American political consultant
Interview with Joan Walsh, Salon (11 Mar 2002)
(Source)

Hugo, Victor -- Diary (1845-12-07), “Villemain,” Things Seen [Choses Vues], Vol. 1 (1887)

Dave — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 13:08:35 +0000

It is one of the most difficult yet necessary things in life to learn to disdain. Disdain protects and crushes. It is a breastplate and a club. You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea. It is the cloud which thunders around everything, which shines. Fame must have enemies, as light must have gnats. Do not bother yourself about it; disdain. Keep your mind serene as you keep your life clear. Do not give your enemies the satisfaction of thinking that they cause you grief or pain. Be happy, be cheerful, be disdainful, be firm.

[C’est une des choses les plus difficiles et les plus nécessaires de la vie que d’apprendre à dédaigner. Le dédain protège et écrase. C’est une cuirasse et une massue. Vous avez des ennemis? Mais c’est l’histoire de tout homme qui a fait une action grande ou créé une idée neuve. C’est la nuée qui bruit autour de tout ce qui brille. Il faut que la renommée ait des ennemis comme il faut que la lumière ait des moucherons. Ne vous en inquiétez pas; dédaignez! Ayez la sérénité dans votre esprit comme vous avez la limpidité dans votre vie. Ne donnez pas à vos ennemis cette joie de penser qu’ils vous affligent et qu’ils vous troublent. Soyez content, soyez joyeux, soyez dédaigneux, soyez fort.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Diary (1845-12-07), “Villemain,” Things Seen [Choses Vues], Vol. 1 (1887)
(Source)

Dictated 1845-12-03 by Hugo to Juliette Drouet.

Sometimes attributed (in a shortened form) to Winston Churchill.

(Source (French)). Another translation:

One of the hardest and most important things in life is learning to treat things with disdain. Disdain can protect, it can crush; it’s a breastplate and a club. You’ve got enemies? Why, that’s the story of every man who has done a great deed or come up with a new idea. It’s the thundercloud around everything that shines. Fame will attract enemies just as light will attract insects. Don’t fret about it. Treat it with disdain. Keep your mind calm, just as you keep your life clean. Don’t give your enemies the satisfaction of thinking that they’re hurting you and upsetting you. Be happy and cheerful and disdainful and strong.
[tr. Blackmore (2004)]

Gracián, Baltasar -- The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 84 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]

Dave — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 19:04:47 +0000

A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.

[Al varón sabio más le aprovechan sus enemigos que al necio sus amigos.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 84 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]
(Source)

See also Aristophanes. (Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:

The wise man draws more advantage from his Enemies, than the fool does from his Friends.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]

To a wise man, his enemies avail him more, than to a fool, his friends.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]

The wise person finds enemies more useful than the fool finds friends.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]