WIST Quotations

Millay, Edna St. Vincent -- Poem (1920-11), “The Singing-Woman from the Wood’s Edge,” Vanity Fair, Vol. 14, No. 3

Dave — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 18:29:44 +0000

With him for a sire and her for a dam,
What should I be but just what I am?

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American poet
Poem (1920-11), “The Singing-Woman from the Wood’s Edge,” Vanity Fair, Vol. 14, No. 3

Collected in A Few Figs from Thistles (1921).

"Singing-Woman" is usually hyphenated in collections, but in Vanity Fair it was rendered "Singin' Woman" and in the original publication in Figs as "Singingwoman".

Walker, Alice -- “Beyond the Peacock: The Reconstruction of Flannery O’Connor,” In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens (1983)

Dave — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 16:30:15 +0000

I believe that the truth about any subject only comes when all sides of the story are put together, and all their different meanings make one new one.

Alice Walker (b. 1944) American writer, activist
“Beyond the Peacock: The Reconstruction of Flannery O’Connor,” In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens (1983)

Steinem, Gloria -- Commencement address, Tufts University (1987-05-17)

Dave — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 05:55:13 +0000

When I was a student, we used to sit around discussing whether a particular end justified a particular means. On the assumption of everyone from Marx or Machiavelli, I thought that was the question. It took me twenty years to figure out that the means are the ends — and vice versa. Whatever means you use become an organic part of the ends you achieve.

Gloria Steinem (1934–2026) American feminist, journalist, activist
Commencement address, Tufts University (1987-05-17)

Bell, Daniel -- The End of Ideology, Introduction (1961 ed.)

Dave — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 14:40:31 +0000

A society is most vigorous, and appealing, when both partisan and critic are legitimate voices in the permanent dialogue that is the testing of ideas and experience. One can be a critic of one’s country without being an enemy of its promise.

Daniel Bell (1919–2011) American sociologist, writer, editor, academic
The End of Ideology, Introduction (1961 ed.)

Inge, William Ralph -- “Institutionalism and Mysticism” (1914), Outspoken Essays: First Series (1914)

Dave — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 22:20:32 +0000

It happens sometimes that two opposite tendencies flourish together, deriving strength from a sense of the danger with which each is threatened by the popularity of the other. Where the antagonism is not absolute, each may gain by being compelled to recognise the strong points in the rival position. In a serious controversy the right is seldom or never all on one side; and in the normal course of events both theories undergo some modification through the influence of their opponents, until a compromise, not always logically defensible, brings to an end the acute stage of the controversy.

William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
“Institutionalism and Mysticism” (1914), Outspoken Essays: First Series (1914)

Bernstein, Leonard -- “A Sabbatical Report,” sec. 1, New York Times (24 Oct 1965)

Dave — Fri, 08 May 2020 14:27:03 +0000

A work of art does not answer questions: it provokes them; and its essential meaning is in the tension between their contradictory answers.

Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer, pianist
“A Sabbatical Report,” sec. 1, New York Times (24 Oct 1965)

Reprinted in The Infinite Variety of Music (1966)

McRaney, David -- You Are Not So Smart, ch. 27 “Selling Out” (2011)

Dave — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 17:37:49 +0000

The very act of trying to run counter to the culture is what creates the next wave of culture people will in turn attempt to counter.

David McRaney (contemp.) American journalist, author, lecturer
You Are Not So Smart, ch. 27 “Selling Out” (2011)

Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], Introduction, “L’auteur Peint par Lui-Même [The Author’ Self-Portrait]” (1850 ed.) [tr. Auster (1983)], 1796]

Dave — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:03:37 +0000

I love to see two truths at the same time. Every good comparison gives the mind this advantage.

[J’aime à voir deux vérités à la fois. Toute bonne comparaison donne à l’esprit cet avantage.]

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], Introduction, “L’auteur Peint par Lui-Même [The Author’ Self-Portrait]” (1850 ed.) [tr. Auster (1983)], 1796]

(Source (French)). Other translations:

I like to see two truths at once. Every good comparison gives the mind this advantage.
[tr. Calvert (1866), "Notice"]

I like to see two truths at once. Every good comparison gives the mind that advantage.
[tr. Collins (1928)]

Mill, John Stuart -- On Liberty, ch. 2 “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion” (1859)

Dave — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 12:08:20 +0000

First, if any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is to assume our own infallibility.

Secondly, though the silenced opinion be an error, it may, and very commonly does, contain a portion of truth; and since the general or prevailing opinion on any subject is rarely or never the whole truth, it is only by the collision of adverse opinions that the remainder of the truth has any chance of being supplied.

Thirdly, even if the received opinion be not only true, but the whole truth; unless it is suffered to be, and actually is, vigorously and earnestly contested, it will, by most of those who receive it, be held in the manner of a prejudice, with little comprehension or feeling of its rational grounds.

And not only this, but, fourthly, the meaning of the doctrine itself will be in danger of being lost, or enfeebled, and deprived of its vital effect on the character and conduct: the dogma becoming a mere formal profession, inefficacious for good, but cumbering the ground, and preventing the growth of any real and heartfelt conviction, from reason or personal experience.

John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) English philosopher and economist
On Liberty, ch. 2 “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion” (1859)

Burke, Edmund -- Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

Dave — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:13:46 +0000

He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman, orator, philosopher
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- Letter (1818-05-09) to John Murray

Dave — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:44:37 +0000

Opinions are made to be changed — or how is truth to be got at?

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824) English poet
Letter (1818-05-09) to John Murray

Keynes, John Maynard -- The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Book 6, ch. 24, sec. 5 (1936)

Dave — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 18:18:09 +0000

The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.

John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) English economist
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Book 6, ch. 24, sec. 5 (1936)