WIST Quotations

Montesquieu -- Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 828 / 1086 (1720-1755) [tr. Clark (2012)]

Dave — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 22:25:51 +0000

What orators lack in depth, they give you in length.

[Ce qui manque aux orateurs en profondeur, ils vous le donnent en longueur.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689–1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 828 / 1086 (1720-1755) [tr. Clark (2012)]

(Source (French)). Other translations:

What orators want in depth, they give you in length.
[ed. Taylor (1856)]

What orators want in depth, they make up to you in length.
[ed. Wood (1899)]

What orators want in depth, they make up for in length.
[ed. Harbottle/Dalbiac (1904)]

What is wanting in orators in depth, they make up to you in length.
[ed. Benham (1907)]

What orators lack in profundity, they will give you in length.
[tr. Dargan (1907)]

What orators lack in depth, they make up in length.
[ed. Jones (1908)]

What orators lack in depth, they make up to you in length.
[ed. Stevenson (1947)]

Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 212 (1850 ed.) [tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 22, ¶ 98]

Dave — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 14:36:52 +0000

We find little in a book but what we put there. But in great books, the mind finds room to put many things.

[On ne trouve guère dans un livre que ce qu’on y met. Mais dans les beaux livres, l’esprit trouve une place où il peut mettre beaucoup de choses.]

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 212 (1850 ed.) [tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 22, ¶ 98]

(Source (French)). Another translation:

There is little to be found in a book beyond what you bring to it. But in fine books the mind finds place to put many things.
[tr. Collins (1928), ch. 22]

Koontz, Dean -- Forever Odd, ch. 33 (2005)

Dave — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 16:18:55 +0000

The less depth a belief system has, the greater the fervency with which its adherents embrace it. The most vociferous, the most fanatical are those whose cobbled faith is founded on the shakiest grounds.

Dean Koontz (b. 1945) American writer [also writes as Leigh Nichols]
Forever Odd, ch. 33 (2005)