WIST Quotations

Rushdie, Salman -- “Public Event, Private Lives,” speech, University of Colorado, Boulder (2013-04-17)

Dave — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 18:12:04 +0000

The enemy for the fanatic is pleasure, which makes it extremely important to continue to indulge in pleasure. Dance madly. That is how you get rid of terrorism.

Salman Rushdie (b. 1947) Indian novelist
“Public Event, Private Lives,” speech, University of Colorado, Boulder (2013-04-17)
(Source)

Baudelaire, Charles -- “La Fanfarlo,” Bulletin de la Société des Gens de Lettres (1847-01) [tr. MacKenzie (2008)]

Dave — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 17:20:40 +0000

Dance can reveal all that is mysterious in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dance is poetry with arms and legs; it is matter — gracious, terrible, animated — embellished by movements.

[La danse peut révéler tout ce que la musique recèle de mystérieux, et elle a de plus le mérite d’être humaine et palpable. La danse, c’est la poésie avec des bras et des jambes, c’est la matière, gracieuse et terrible, animée, embellie par le mouvement.]

Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) French poet, essayist, art critic
“La Fanfarlo,” Bulletin de la Société des Gens de Lettres (1847-01) [tr. MacKenzie (2008)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Other translations:

The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs. It is matter, graceful and terrible, animated and embellished by movement.
[tr. Boyd (1986)]

Dance can reveal all the mystery that music hides, and it has the further merit of being human and palpable. Dance is poetry with arms and legs, it’s matter, gracious and terrible, animated and embellished by movement.
[tr. Lloyd (1991)]

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- “The Waltz,” l. 230ff (1813)

Dave — Thu, 25 May 2023 14:34:31 +0000

But ye — who never felt a single thought⁠
For what our Morals are to be, or ought;
Who wisely wish the charms you view to reap,
Say — would you make those beauties quite so cheap?
Hot from the hands promiscuously applied,
Round the slight waist, or down the glowing side,
Where were the rapture then to clasp the form
From this lewd grasp and lawless contact warm?

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824) English poet
“The Waltz,” l. 230ff (1813)
(Source)

The new dance was considered something of a scandal, given its contact between male and female dancers. Published anonymously by Byron.

Rothfuss, Patrick -- The Name of the Wind, ch. 15 “Distractions and Farewells” (2007)

Dave — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 16:24:41 +0000

My parents danced together, her head on his chest. Both had their eyes closed. They seemed so perfectly content. If you can find someone like that, someone who you can hold and close your eyes to the world with, then you’re lucky. Even if it only lasts for a minute or a day. The image of them gently swaying to the music is how I picture love in my mind even after all these years.

Patrick Rothfuss (b. 1973) American author
The Name of the Wind, ch. 15 “Distractions and Farewells” (2007)
(Source)

Voltaire -- Philosophical Dictionary [Dictionnaire Philosophique], “Liberty of the Press” (1764)

Dave — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 21:03:22 +0000

Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Philosophical Dictionary [Dictionnaire Philosophique], “Liberty of the Press” (1764)
(Source)

~Other -- “Dance Called the Waltz,” The Times of London, 2nd printing (16 Jul 1816)

Dave — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 18:27:26 +0000

We remark with pain that the indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was introduced (we believe, for the first time) at the English Court on Friday last. This is a circumstance which ought not to be passed over in silence. National morals depend on national habits: and it is quite sufficient to cast one’s eyes on the voluptuous intertwining of the limbs, and close compressure of the bodies, in this dance, to see that it is far indeed removed from the modest reserve which has hitherto been considered distinctive of English females. So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be forced on the respectable classes of society by the evil example of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so foul a contagion. Amicus Plato sed mogis amica veritas. We pay a due deference to our superiors in rank, but we owe a higher duty to morality. We know not how it has happened (probably by the recommendation of some worthless and ignorant French dancing-master) that so indecent a dance now has for the first time been exhibited at the English court; but the novelty is one deserving of severe reprobation, and we trust it will never again be tolerated in any moral English society.

(Other Authors and Sources)
“Dance Called the Waltz,” The Times of London, 2nd printing (16 Jul 1816)
(Source)

After the "introduction" of the waltz at a London Ball given by the Prince Regent. The dance had actually been present in London dance studios since 1812, and waltz music had come across from Europe earlier than that.

The Latin means "Plato I love, but I love Truth more," attributed to Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1096a.15.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- Pro Murena, ch. 6, sec. 13 (63 BC)

Dave — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 16:49:54 +0000

Almost no one dances sober, unless he is insane.

[Nemo enim fere saltat sobrius, nisi forte insanit, neque in solitudine neque in convivio moderato atque honesto.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Pro Murena, ch. 6, sec. 13 (63 BC)
(Source)

More completely, "For no man, one may almost say, ever dances when sober, unless perhaps he be a madman, nor in solitude, nor in a moderate and sober party." [tr. Yonge].

Often shortened to "Nemo saltat sobrius" ("Nobody dances sober"). Also attributed to H. P. Lovecraft.

In context, Cicero is disputing accusations that L. Murena was dancing because there are no reports that Murena was drinking and carousing beforehand.

Twain, Mark -- Story (1892), The American Claimant, ch. 2 [Col. Sellers]

Dave — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:53:07 +0000

But banish care, it’s no time for it now — on with the dance, let joy be unconfined is my motto, whether there’s any dance to dance; or any joy to unconfine — you’ll be the healthier for it every time, — every time, Washington — it’s my experience, and I’ve seen a good deal of this world.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Story (1892), The American Claimant, ch. 2 [Col. Sellers]
(Source)

The Colonel is riffing from Byron (1818).

Barry, Dave -- “25 Things I Have Learned In 50 Years,” #25 (1997)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.

Dave Barry (b. 1947) American humorist, author, columnist
“25 Things I Have Learned In 50 Years,” #25 (1997)

Horace -- Odes [Carmina], Book 1, # 37, l. 1ff (1.37.1-2) (23 BC) [tr. Raffel (1983)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Drink! O friends, stamp wild
Bare feet on the ground.

[Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero
pulsanda tellus.]

Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Odes [Carmina], Book 1, # 37, l. 1ff (1.37.1-2) (23 BC) [tr. Raffel (1983)]
(Source)

A light-hearted opening for a celebration of Caesar's success at the battle of Actium and the defeat and death of Cleopatra (and, not mentioned, Marc Antony).

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

Now let us drink, now dance (Companions) now.
[tr. Sir T. H.; ed. Brome (1666)]

Now now tis time to dance and play,
And drink, and frollick all the Day.
[tr. Creech (1684)]

Now drink we deep, now featly tread
A measure.
[tr. Conington (1872)]

Now, my companions, is the time to carouse, now to beat the ground with a light foot.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]

Now, comrades, fill each goblet to the brim,
Now, now with bounding footsteps strike the ground.
[tr. Martin (1864)]

Drink, companions, the moment has come for carousal,
And the foot is now free to strike earth in brisk measures.
[tr. Bulwer-Lytton (1870)]

'Tis time we drink, 'tis time we dance.
[tr. Gladstone (1894)]

Now is the time to quaff, and to beat the ground
With foot untrammell'd.
[tr. Phelps (1897)]

Now 'tis to drink: now with free foot
To smite the ground.
[tr. Garnsey (1907)]

Now 'tis the hour for wine, now without check
To trip it gaily.
[tr. Marshall (1908)]

Now is the time to drain the flowing bowl, now with unfettered foot to beat the ground with dancing.
[tr. Bennett (Loeb) (1912)]

Bumpers! Let free foot beat the earth!
To drink, dance ....
[tr. Mills (1924)]

Now drink and dance, my comrades.
[tr. Edgar (1893)]

Today is the day to drink and dance on. Dance, then,
Merrily, friends, till the earth shakes.
[tr. Michie (1963)]

At last the day has come for celebration,
For dancing and for drinking.
[tr. Ferry (1997)]

To drinking now, now all to the nimble foot
that beats the earth.
[tr. Willett (1998)]

Now is the time for drinking, O my friends!
Now with a free foot beating the earth in dance!
[tr. Alexander (1999)]

Now’s the time for drinking deep, and now’s the time
to beat the earth with unfettered feet.
[tr. Kline (2015)]

Now it is time to drink; now with loose feet
it is time for beating the earth.
[tr. Wikisource (2021)]

Carlin, George -- Book (1997), Brain Droppings, “Short Takes (Part 1)”

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Those who dance are considered insane by those who can’t hear the music.

George Carlin (1937–2008) American comedian
Book (1997), Brain Droppings, “Short Takes (Part 1)”
(Source)

This phrase, or its meaning, pre-dates Carlin. Carlin himself attributes it to "Anon." in the epigraph of his next book, Napalm and Silly Putty (2001).

A version of it is often misattributed to Friedrich Nietzsche in this English form:

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.

While this English quotation does show up back into the 19th Century, there is no evidence that Nietzsche said it.

For more discussion, see:

The phrase and its meaning are related to Thoreau's metaphor of "marching to the beat of a different drummer."