WIST Quotations

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1878-09 (1878 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 17:32:08 +0000

Whenever yu cum akrost a man, who praizes yu immoderately, and kusses every boddy else in proportion, yu kan make up yure mind, that yure turn for kussing will cum soon.

[Whenever you come across a man, who praises you immoderately, and cusses everybody else in proportion, you can make up your mind, that your turn for cussing will come soon.]

Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1878-09 (1878 ed.)

Watkinson, W L -- Sermon (1907), “The Invincible Strategy,” The Supreme Conquest and other Sermons Preached in America, Sermon 14

Dave — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 23:29:11 +0000

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

W. L. Watkinson (1838–1925) English Methodist minister and preacher [William Lonsdale Watkinson]
Sermon (1907), “The Invincible Strategy,” The Supreme Conquest and other Sermons Preached in America, Sermon 14

The sermon was written around Romans 12:21 ("Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.").

Often attributed as a Chinese proverb, or a quotation from Confucius or Eleanor Roosevelt.

For more information on this quote's origin and variations, see:

See also Kennedy (1960), Pratchett (1993), and Carlin (2004).

Moliere -- Les Femmes Savantes [The Learned Ladies], Act 2, sc. 7, (1692) [tr. Marks (2018)]

Dave — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 21:08:43 +0000

CHRYSALE: As for me, I’d prefer that, while peeling the veggies,
She misaligns a few subjects and verbs,
And repeats fifty times a low and vulgar word,
Than that she burns my meat or over-salts my stew.
I live on good soup, not on fine language.

[J’aime bien mieux, pour moi, qu’en épluchant ses herbes,
Elle accommode mal les noms avec les verbes,
Et redise cent fois un bas ou méchant mot,
Que de brûler ma viande ou saler trop mon pot.
Je vis de bonne soupe, et non de beau langage.]

Molière (1622–1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
Les Femmes Savantes [The Learned Ladies], Act 2, sc. 7, (1692) [tr. Marks (2018)]

(Source (French)). Other translations:

For my part, I had much rather that she join'd the Nouns and Verbs falsely, and repeated a servile bad Word a hundred times in picking her Herbs, than have her burn my Meat or oversalt my Broth. I live by good Soup, and not by fine Language.
[tr. Clitandre (1739)]

I would rather, I would, that in cleaning the vegetables she should make the verbs agree ill with the nouns, and say a hundred times a low or bad word, than that she should burn my meat or put too much salt in my soup; I live on good soup;, and not on fine language.
[tr. Van Laun (1876)]

I had much rather that while picking her herbs, she should join wrongly the nouns to the verbs, and repeat a hundred times a coarse or vulgar word, than that she should burn my roast, or put too much salt in my broth. I live on good soup, and not on fine language.
[tr. Wall (1879), The Learned Women]

For my part, I had much rather that in picking her herbs she made the nouns and the verbs agree wrongly and repeated some outrageous word a hundred times, than have her burn my meat or oversalt my broth. I live by good soup, and not by fine language.
[tr. Matthew (1890), The Blue-Stockings]

For my part, I'd rather she would make a mess of nouns and verbs, or use a low and vulgar word a dozen times a day, than burn my meat and oversalt my soup. Good food is what I live on, not fine language.
[tr. Wormeley (1895), The Female Pedants]

Truly, I would much rather she failed to make her nouns agree with her verbs while washing her vegetables, and indulged in low or bad words a hundred times over, than burn my meat or oversalt my soup. I live by good soup, and not on fine language.
[tr. Waller (1903)]

I'd rather have her, while she cleans her salad,
Make verbs and subjects disagree, and say
Some low or vulgar word a hundred times,
Than burn my roast or over-salt my broth.
I live on well-cooked food, and not fine language.
[tr. Page (1908)]

For my part, I would rather that, while peeling her vegetables, she makes her verbs agree badly with her nouns and repeats a hundred times a low or bad word, than that she burns my meat or puts too much salt into my soup. I live by good soup and not by beautiful language.
[tr. Waldinger (1967)]

If she makes a tasty salad, it seems to me
Her subjects and her verbs need not agree.
Let all her talk be barbarous, if she’ll not
Burn up my beef or over-salt the pot.
It’s food, not language, that I’m nourished by.
[tr. Wilbur (1977)]

Her crudités for salad were sublime,
So if her verbal crudité's a crime
She has atoned for it in her cuisine.
Her language and her legumes may be green
But when my appetite rears up its voice,
The latter, not the former is its choice.
[tr. Thomas (2005 ed.)]

Goodrich, Samuel -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 19 May 2017 22:33:28 +0000

Abuse is the weapon of the vulgar.

Samuel Griswold Goodrich (1793–1860) American author [pseud. Peter Parley]
(Attributed)

Quoted in Maturin M. Ballou, Edge-Tools of Speech (1886)

Lorimer, George Horace -- Old Gorgon Graham: More Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son, ch. 12 (1903)

Dave — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 12:42:07 +0000

Noise isn’t authority, and there’s no sense in ripping and roaring and cussing around the office when things don’t please you. For when a fellow’s given to that, his men secretly won’t care a cuss whether he’s pleased or not. They’ll jump when he speaks, because they value their heads, not his good opinion. […] One of the first things a boss must lose is his temper — and it must stay lost. […] The world is full of fellows who could take the energy which they put into useless cussing of their men, and double their business with it.

George Horace Lorimer (1867–1937) American journalist, author, magazine editor
Old Gorgon Graham: More Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son, ch. 12 (1903)