WIST Quotations

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 2666 (1732)

Dave — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 14:26:24 +0000

If Afflictions refine some, they consume others.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 2666 (1732)
(Source)

Kennedy, Robert F. -- Speech, US Senate (Mar 1968)

Dave — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 12:26:38 +0000

Are we like the God of the Old Testament that we can decide, in Washington, D.C., what cities, what towns, what hamlets in Vietnam are going to be destroyed? … Do we have to accept that? … I do not think we have to. I think we can do something about it.

Robert Francis Kennedy (1925-1968) American politician
Speech, US Senate (Mar 1968)

Frequently cited as his last Senate speech about the Vietnam War.

Heine, Heinrich -- Almansor: A Tragedy, l. 245 (1823)

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

Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.

[Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.]

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) German poet and critic
Almansor: A Tragedy, l. 245 (1823)

Alt trans:

"Where they burn books, at the end they also burn people."
"Where they burn books, they will also burn people."
"It is there, where they burn books, that eventually they burn people."
"Where they burn books, so too will they in the end burn human beings."
"Where they burn books, they also burn people."
"Them that begin by burning books, end by burning men."
"Wherever books are burned, sooner or later men are also burned."

Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 9 “De la Sagesse, de la Vertu, etc. [On Wisdom and Virtue],” ¶ 10 (1850 ed.) [tr. Calvert (1866)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

Never cut what you can untie.

[Ne coupez pas ce que vous pouvez dénouer.]

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 9 “De la Sagesse, de la Vertu, etc. [On Wisdom and Virtue],” ¶ 10 (1850 ed.) [tr. Calvert (1866)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Never cut what you can unravel.
[tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 8, ¶ 10]

Don't cut what you can untie.
[tr. Auster (1983), 1797 entry]