WIST Quotations

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Autobiography, Introduction (1913)

Dave — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:23:46 +0000

We of the great modern democracies must strive unceasingly to make our several countries lands in which a poor man who works hard can live comfortably and honestly, and in which a rich man cannot live dishonestly nor in slothful avoidance of duty; and yet we must judge rich man and poor man alike by a standard which rests on conduct and not on caste, and we must frown with the same stern severity on the mean and vicious envy which hates and would plunder a man because he is well off and on the brutal and selfish arrogance which looks down on and exploits the man with whom life has gone hard.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer; US President (1901–09)
Autobiography, Introduction (1913)

Euripides -- Medea [Μήδεια], l. 1389ff (431 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1963)]

Dave — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 21:55:00 +0000

JASON: The curse of children’s blood be on you!
Avenging Justice, blast your being!
MEDEA: What god will hear your imprecation,
Oath-breaker, guest-deceiver, liar?

[ἸΆΣΩΝ: ἀλλά σ᾽ Ἐρινὺς ὀλέσειε τέκνων
φονία τε Δίκη.
ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: τίς δὲ κλύει σοῦ θεὸς ἢ δαίμων,
τοῦ ψευδόρκου καὶ ξειναπάτου;]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 1389ff (431 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1963)]

Jason and Medea bickering after she has murdered their children.

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

JASON: May the Erinnys of our slaughter'd Sons,
And Justice, who requites each murderous deed,
Destroy you utterly!
MEDEA:Will any God
Or Demon hear thy curses, O thou wretch,
False to thy oath, and to the sacred laws of hospitality?
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]

JASON: May th' Erinnys of thy sons destroy,
And Justice, which for blood vindictive calls
For blood.
MEDEA:What god will hear thee, or what fury,
Thou perjur'd base betrayer of the rights
Of hospitality?
[tr. Potter (1814)]

JASON: But thee may thy children's Erinnys slay
And Vengeance for blood.
MEDEA: And who among gods and friends will hear thee,
Betrayer of strangers and breaker of oaths?
[tr. Webster (1868)]

JASON: The curse of our sons' avenging spirit and of Justice, that calls for blood, be on thee!
MEDEA: What god or power divine hears thee, breaker of oaths and every law of hospitality?
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

JASON: But may the Fury of the children, and Justice the avenger of murder, destroy thee.
MEDEA: But what God or Deity hears thee, thou perjured man, and traitor to the rights of hospitality?
[tr. Buckley (1892)]

JASON: Now the Fury-avenger of children smite thee,
And Justice that looketh on murder requite thee!
MEDEA: What God or what spirit will heed thy request,
Caitiff forsworn, who betrayest the guest?
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]

JASON: May They that hear the weeping child
Blast thee, and They that walk in blood!
MEDEA: Thy broken vows, thy friends beguiled
Have shut for thee the ears of God.
[tr. Murray (1906)]

JASON: May a Fury for the children’s sake destroy you,
And justice, Requitor of blood.
MEDEA: What heavenly power lends an ear
To a breaker of oaths, a deceiver?
[tr. Warner (1944)]

JASON: May the children’s avenging Fury and Justice
For murder destroy you?
MEDEA: What god, what spirit, listens to you,
Breaker of oaths, deceiver of friends?
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]

JASON: May the Fury that punishes your children's death, and Justice the murderous, destroy you utterly!
MEDEA: What god or power above will listen to you, who broke your oath and deceived a stranger?
[tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]

JASON: May you be struck down by our children's avenging curse and Justice who punishes murder!
MEDEA: What god, what spirit listens to you, the breaker of oaths, the deceiver of hosts?
[tr. Davie (1996)]

JASON: But the Fury will punish you! The Fury and Justice will destroy you, for committing the murder of your own children.
MEDEA: Which god or spirit will listen to you, Jason? You, who tells lies to foreigners and dishonours them?
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]

JASON: But may the Avenger of children destroy you
and Justice that haunts murderers.
MEDEA: What god or divine spirit would listen to you
an oath-breaker and deceiver of guests?
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]

JASON: May the avenging Fury of our children
destroy you — may you find blood justice.
MEDEA: What god or spirit listens to you,
a man who does not keep his promises,
a man who deceives and lies to strangers?
[tr. Johnston (2008)]

JASON: May the children's Fury destroy you, and bloody Justice.
MEDEA: What god, what spirit hears you -- breaker of oaths, deceiver of a stranger's trust.
[tr. Kovacs / Kitzinger (2016)]

JASON: May the avenging Fury of the children and Justice destroy you.
MEDEA: What god or other power will listen to you, a man who breaks oaths and deceives his friends?
[tr. Ewans (2022)]

JASON: May the Fury [Erinys] of our children and bloody Dikē destroy you!
MEDEA: What god or daimōn listens to you, oath-breaker and deceiver of xenoi?
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]

Douglass, Frederick -- Speech (1852-07-05), “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York

Dave — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 22:42:54 +0000

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.

Frederick Douglass (1817–1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
Speech (1852-07-05), “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York

Manning, Brennan -- The Ragamuffin Gospel, ch. 7 “Paste Jewelry and Sawdust Hot Dogs” (1990)

Dave — Mon, 11 May 2026 23:57:11 +0000

At Sunday worship, as in every dimension of our existence, many of us pretend to believe we are sinners. Consequently all we can do is pretend to believe we have been forgiven. As a result, our whole spiritual life is pseudo repentance and pseudo bliss.

Brennan Manning (1934–2013) American author, laicized priest, theologian, speaker [Richard Francis Xavier Manning]
The Ragamuffin Gospel, ch. 7 “Paste Jewelry and Sawdust Hot Dogs” (1990)

Montaigne, Michel de -- Essays, Book 2, ch. 17 (2.17), “Of Presumption [De la Presomption]” (1578) [tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

Dave — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 22:23:07 +0000

A man must not always tell all, for that were folly: but what a man says should be what he thinks, otherwise ’tis knavery.

[Il ne faut pas tousjours dire tout, car ce seroit sottise : Mais ce qu’on dit, il faut qu’il soit tel qu’on le pense : autrement, c’est meschanceté.]

Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 2, ch. 17 (2.17), “Of Presumption [De la Presomption]” (1578) [tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

Both this essay and this passage were in the 1st (1580) edition.

(Source (French)). Other translations:

A man must not alwayes say al he knows, for that were folie: But what a man speaks ought to be agreeing to his thoughts, otherwise it is impietie.
[tr. Florio (1603)]

A man must not always tell all, for that were folly; but what a man says should be what he thinks, otherwise it is knavery.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]

Every thing must not always be said, for that would be folly; but what one says should be what one thinks; otherwise it is knavery.
[tr. Ives (1925)]

A man must not always say everything, for that were folly; but what a man does say should be what he thinks; otherwise it is knavery.
[tr. Zeitlin (1934)]

We must not always say everything, for that would be folly; but what we say must be what we think; otherwise it is wickedness.
[tr. Frame (1943)]

It is not necessary always to say everything, for that would be foolish; but what we say should be what we think, the contrary is wicked.
[tr. Cohen (1958)]

We should not always say everything: that would be stupid; but what we do say must be what we think: to do otherwise is wicked.
[tr. Screech (1987)]

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1745 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 18:34:10 +0000

It’s common for Men to give 6 pretended Reasons instead of one real one.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1745 ed.)

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1884-01-20), “Orthodoxy,” Tabor Opera House, Denver, Colorado

Dave — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 20:38:32 +0000

And yet I am held responsible for my belief. Then why does not God give me the evidence? They say he has. In what? In an inspired book. But I do not understand it as they do. Must I be false to my understanding? They say: “When you come to die you will be sorry if you do not.” Will I be sorry when I come to die that I did not live a hypocrite? Will I be sorry that I did not say I was a Christian when I was not? Will the fact that I was honest put a thorn in the pillow of death? Cannot God forgive me for being honest? They say that when he was in Jerusalem he forgave his murderers, but now he will not forgive an honest man for differing from him on the subject of the Trinity.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1884-01-20), “Orthodoxy,” Tabor Opera House, Denver, Colorado

Published as its own book in 1884.

Montaigne, Michel de -- Essays, Book 2, ch. 18 (2.18), “Of Giving the Lie [Du Démentir]” (1578–79) [tr. Ives (1925)]

Dave — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 21:51:02 +0000

Lying is a villainous vice, and an ancient writer depicts it as most shameful when he says that to lie is to manifest contempt of God together with fear of man. It is not possible to represent more fully the horror, the vileness, the outrageousness of it. For what can be conceived more villainous than to be cowardly with respect to men, and audacious with respect to God?

[C’est un vilain vice, que le mentir; & qu’un ancien peint bien honteusement, quand il dit, que c’est donner tesmoignage de mespriser Dieu, & quand & quand de craindre les hommes. Il n’est pas possible d’en representer plus richement l’horreur, la vilité & le desreiglement: Car que peut on imaginer plus vilain, que d’estre couart à l’endroit des hommes, & brave à l’endroit de Dieu?]

Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 2, ch. 18 (2.18), “Of Giving the Lie [Du Démentir]” (1578–79) [tr. Ives (1925)]

This essay (and passage) appeared in the 1st (1580) edition, and was expanded in each succeeding edition.

The ancient writer mentioned is Plutarch in his Life of Lysander.

(Source (French)). Other translations:

To ly is a horrible-filthy vice; and which an auncient writer setteth forth very shamefully, when he saith, that whosoever lieth, witnesseth that he contemneth God and therewithal feareth men. It is impossible more richly to represent the horrour, the vilenesse and the disorder of it: For, What can be imagined so vile, and base, as to be a coward towardes men, and a boaster towardes God?
[tr. Florio (1603)]

Lying is a base vice; a vice that one of the ancients paints in the most odious colours when he says, "That it is too manifest a contempt of God, and a fear of man." It is not possible more copiously to represent the horror, baseness, and irregularity of it; for what can be imagined more vile, than a man, who is a coward towards man, so courageous as to defy his Maker?
[tr. Cotton (1686)]

Lying is a base vice; a vice that one of the ancients portrays in the most odious colors when he says, “that it is to manifest a contempt of God, and withal a fear of men.” It is not possible more fully to represent the horror, baseness, and irregularity of it; for what can a man imagine more hateful and contemptible than to be a coward toward men, and valiant against his Maker?
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

Lying is a base vice, and painted in its most shameful colours by one of the ancients, who says that to lie is to give proof that you despise god and at the same time are afraid of men. It is impossible to state its horror, its vileness, and its outrageousness more felicitously. For what baser thing can we imagine than to be a coward toward men and act the brave fellow toward God?
[tr. Zeitlin (1934)]

Lying is an ugly vice, which an ancient paints in most shameful colors when he says that it is giving evidence of contempt for God, and at the same time of fear of men. It is not possible to represent more vividly the horror, the vileness, and the profligacy of it. For what can you imagine uglier than being a coward toward men and bold toward God?
[tr. Frame (1943)]

Lying is a villein's vice, a vice which an Ancient paints full shamefully when he says that it gives testimony to contempt for God together with fear of men. It is not possible to show more richly the horror of it, its vileness and its disorderliness. For what can one imagine more serf-like than to be cowardly before men and defiant towards God?
[tr. Screech (1987)]

Montaigne, Michel de -- Essays, Book 2, ch. 18 (2.18), “Of Giving the Lie [Du Démentir]” (1578–79) [tr. Screech (1987)]

Dave — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 05:00:22 +0000

The first sign of corrupt morals is the banishing of truth.

[Le premier traict de la corruption des mœurs, c’est le bannissement de la verité]

Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 2, ch. 18 (2.18), “Of Giving the Lie [Du Démentir]” (1578–79) [tr. Screech (1987)]

This essay (and this passage) appeared in the 1st (1580) edition, and was expanded in each succeeding edition.

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

The first part of customs-corruption, is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Florio (1603)]

The first step to the corruption of manners is banishing of truth.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]

The first thing done in the corruption of manners is banishing truth.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

The first feature of corruption of morals is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Ives (1925)]

The first feature in the corruption of morals is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Zeitlin (1934)]

The first stage in the corruption of morals is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Frame (1943)]

Euripides -- Medea [Μήδεια], l. 580ff (431 BC) [tr. Ewans (2022)]

Dave — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 18:39:32 +0000

MEDEA: I think the unjust man who can speak cleverly
incurs the greatest penalty for, feeling confident
to cloak injustice in fair speech,
he dares the utmost villainy.

[ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: ἐμοὶ γὰρ ὅστις ἄδικος ὢν σοφὸς λέγειν
πέφυκε, πλείστην ζημίαν ὀφλισκάνει:
γλώσσῃ γὰρ αὐχῶν τἄδικ᾽ εὖ περιστελεῖν
τολμᾷ πανουργεῖν.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 580ff (431 BC) [tr. Ewans (2022)]

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

In my judgement, he
Who tramples on the laws, but can express
His thoughts with plausibility, deserves
Severest punishment: for that injustice
On which he glories, with his artful tongue.
That he a fair appearance can bestow,
He dares to practise.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]

Th' injurious man, whose tongue
Flows with pernicious rhetoric, I hold
To merit the severest punishment.
For confident his speech can varnish o'er
The blackest deeds, his craft dares venture on them.
[tr. Potter (1814)]

For him who does wrong and is wise to gloze it
I hold worth worser doom. For making sure
He'll show wrong gracious with his tongue, he's bold
To every crime.
[tr. Webster (1868)]

To my mind, whoso hath skill to fence with words in an unjust cause, incurs the heaviest penalty; for such an one, confident that he can cast a decent veil of words o'er his injustice, dares to practise it.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

In my judgment, whatever man being unjust, is deeply skilled in argument, merits the severest punishment. For vaunting that with his tongue he can well gloze over injustice, he dares to work deceit.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]

For in my sight the villain subtle-tongued
Getteth himself for gain exceeding loss,
Who, confident his tongue can gloze the wrong,
Becomes a bold knave.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]

To me it seemeth, when
A crafty tongue is given to evil men
'Tis like to wreck, not help them. Their own brain
Tempts them with lies to dare and dare again,
Till .... [tr. Murray (1906)]

I think that the plausible speaker
Who is a villain deserves the greatest punishment.
Confident in his tongue’s power to adorn evil,
He stops at nothing.
[tr. Warner (1944)]

To me, a wicked man who is also eloquent
Seems the most guilty of them all. He’ll cut your throat
As bold as brass, because he knows he can dress up murder
In handsome words.
[tr. Vellacott (1963)]

For me, the man who is a villain, but clever
In speech, would have to pay the highest fine;
Confident of cloaking his villainy in fine words,
He dares anything.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]

To my mind, the plausible speaker who is a scoundrel incurs the greatest punishment. For since he is confident that he can cleverly cloak injustice with his words, his boldness stops at no knavery.
[tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]

For in my eyes the criminal with a gift for speaking deserves the worst of punishments. So confident is he in his tongue’s ability to dress his foul thoughts in fair words, there is nothing he dares not do.
[tr. Davie (1996)]

What I believe, for example is the more eloquent the misfit, the greater the punishment he deserves because, thinking that his eloquence and his pretty words will get him out of any injustice, he has the audacity to commit even greater evils.
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]

In my opinion,
the unjust man who speaks so plausibly
brings on himself the harshest punishment.
Since he’s sure his tongue can hide injustice,
he dares anything.
[tr. Johnston (2008), l. 689ff]

To my mind, whoever is naturally sophos in speaking but has no dikē deserves the heaviest punishment. Such a man boasts that he can cast a decent veil of words over his unjust deeds, and boldly proceeds to wickedness.
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]

To my mind, the plausible speaker who is a scoundrel incurs the greatest punishment. For since he is confident that he can cleverly cloak injustice with his words, his boldness stops at no dishonesty.
[tr. Kovacs / Zhang / Rogak]

Doctor Who (1963) -- 16×01 “The Ribos Operation,” Part 2 (1978-09-09 [w. Robert Holmes]

Dave — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 23:28:55 +0000

ROMANA: You mean you didn’t believe his story?

THE DOCTOR: No.

ROMANA: But he had such an honest face.

THE DOCTOR: Romana, you can’t be a successful crook with a dishonest face, can you?

Doctor Who (1963–1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
16×01 “The Ribos Operation,” Part 2 (1978-09-09 [w. Robert Holmes]

(Source (Video))

Martin, Judith -- “Miss Manners,” syndicated column (2014-12-19)

Dave — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 16:35:50 +0000

Dishonesty is not the only alternative to honesty. There is also the highly underrated virtue of shutting up.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (2014-12-19)

Collected in Minding Miss Manners: In an Era of Fake Etiquette (2020), though with a slight rephrasing:

The only alternative to honesty is not dishonesty. There is also the highly underrated virtue of shutting up.

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1742 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 15:03:55 +0000

What knowing Judgment, or what piercing Eye,
Can Man’s mysterious Maze of Falshood try?
Intriguing Man, of a suspicious Mind,
Man only knows the Cunning of his Kind;
With equal Wit can counter-work his Foes,
And Art with Art, and Fraud with Fraud oppose.
Then heed ye Fair, e’er you their Cunning prove,
And think of Treach’ry, while they talk of Love.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1742 ed.)

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things, ch. 23 “Lying” (1868)

Dave — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 15:47:27 +0000

Lieing is the lowest grade of sin, — it is more cowardly than stealing, bekause thare is less risk in it — it is more demoralising than burglary, bekause there is no cure for it, — it is more dangerous than swareing, bekause swareing don’t hurt enny boddy else, — it waz the fust sin committed, bekause it was the easiest and most natral, and it will probably be the last one committed, bekause no man ever gits so poor and degraded but what he kan tell quite a respectabel lie.

[Lying is the lowest grade of sin — it is more cowardly than stealing, because there is less risk in it — it is more demoralizing than burglary, because there is no cure for it — it is more dangerous than swearing, because swearing doesn’t hurt anybody else — it was the first sin committed, because it was the easiest and most natural, and it will probably be the last one committed, because no man ever gets so poor and degraded but what he can tell quite a respectable lie.]

Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things, ch. 23 “Lying” (1868)

Marcus Aurelius -- Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 6, ch. 47 (6.47) (AD 161-180) [tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]

Dave — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 17:05:55 +0000

In a word, there is only one thing here worth the minding, and that is, to be true and just, and to show benevolence, even to the untrue and unjust.

[Ἓν ὧδε πολλοῦ ἄξιον, τὸ μετ᾿ ἀληθείας καὶ δικαιοσύνης εὐμενῆ τοῖς ψεύσταις καὶ ἀδίκοις διαβιοῦν.]

Marcus Aurelius (AD 121–180) Roman emperor (161–180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 6, ch. 47 (6.47) (AD 161-180) [tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

One thing there is, and that only, which is worth our while in this world, and ought by us much to be esteemed; and that is, according to truth and righteousness, meekly and lovingly to converse with false, and unrighteous men.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 6.42]

In a word. There's only one thing here worth the minding; And that is, not to imitate the Degeneracy of Mortals: But to be True, Honest, and Good-natur'd, even amongst Knaves, and Sharpers.
[tr. Collier (1701)]

The one thing valuable in this life, is, to spend it in a steady course of truth, justice, and humanity, toward even the false and unjust.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]

In short, there is nothing here much worth our attention, but to act on all occasions with a regard to truth and justice, and to live peaceably even with those who act with fraud and injustice.
[tr. Graves (1792), 6.41]

One thing here is worth a great deal, to pass thy life in truth and justice, with a benevolent disposition even to liars and unjust men.
[tr. Long (1862)]

Here one thing is of real worth, to live out life in truth and justice, with charity even to the false and the unjust.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]

The one precious thing in life is to spend it in a steady course of truth and justice, with kindliness even for the false and the unjust.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]

One thing on earth is worth much -- to live out our lives in truth and justice, and in charity with liars and unjust men.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]

One thing here is of great price, to live out life with truth and righteousness, gracious to liars and to the unrighteous.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]

In this life one thing only is of precious worth: to live out one's days in truthfulness and fair dealing, and in charity even with the false and unjust.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]

In this world there is only one thing of real value, to pass our days in truth and justice, and yet be gracious to those who are false and unjust.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]

The only thing that isn’t worthless: to live this life out truthfully and rightly. And be patient with those who don't.
[tr. Hays (2003)]

In this world there is only one thing of value, to live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]

In this world there is only one thing of real value, to pass our days in truth and justice, and yet be gracious to those who are false and unjust.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]

So there is one thing that is of most value: to live out your life in truth and justice and be kind to those who are false and unjust.
[tr. Gill (2013)]

So one thing is worth much: to keep on living with truth and justice and in good will even among liars and unjust men.
[tr. @sentantiq (2019)]

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1740 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 15:18:18 +0000

Tricks and Treachery are the Practice of Fools, that have not Wit enough to be honest.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1740 ed.)

Borrowed without attribution from La Rochefoucauld (1665).

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Message (1908-01-31) to Congress, on Workers Compensation

Dave — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 23:06:40 +0000

[…] [P]redatory wealth — of the wealth accumulated on a giant scale by all forms of iniquity, ranging from the oppression of wageworkers to unfair and unwholesome methods of crushing out competition, and to defrauding the public by stock jobbing and the manipulation of securities.
Certain wealthy men of this stamp, whose conduct should be abhorrent to every man of ordinarily decent conscience, and who commit the hideous wrong of teaching our young men that phenomenal business success must ordinarily be based on dishonesty, have during the last few months made it apparent that they have banded together to work for a reaction. Their endeavor is to overthrow and discredit all who honestly administer the law, to prevent any additional legislation which would check and restrain them, and to secure if possible a freedom from all restraint which will permit every unscrupulous wrongdoer to do what he wishes unchecked provided he has enough money.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer; US President (1901–09)
Message (1908-01-31) to Congress, on Workers Compensation

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 2 (1963)

Dave — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 15:06:18 +0000

Our children know we lie to them, but not — thank God — how much.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 2 (1963)

Hoffer, Eric -- Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 61 (1955)

Dave — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 17:21:46 +0000

The weakness of a soul is proportionate to the number of truths that must be kept from it.

Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 61 (1955)

Banksy -- Wall and Piece, “Art,” “Making an Exhibition of Yourself” (2005)

Dave — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 16:47:33 +0000

Become good at cheating and you never need to become good at anything else.

Banksy (b. 1974?) England-based pseudonymous street artist, political activist, film director
Wall and Piece, “Art,” “Making an Exhibition of Yourself” (2005)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 6 (1963)

Dave — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 17:31:15 +0000

It is important to our friends to believe that we are unreservedly frank with them, and important to friendship that we are not.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 6 (1963)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-08-29) “The Nation and the States,” Colorado State Legislature, Denver

Dave — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 15:03:29 +0000

After awhile, when accusations are continually and sweepingly made against all men, good and bad, the public as a whole grow to believe that there is a little something bad about the decent man and that there is not much bad about the crook. No greater harm can be done to the body politic than by those men who, through reckless and indiscriminate accusation of good men and bad men, honest men and dishonest men alike, finally so hopelessly puzzle the public that they do not believe that any man in public life is entirely straight; while, on the other hand, they lose all indignation against the man who really is crooked.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer; US President (1901–09)
Speech (1910-08-29) “The Nation and the States,” Colorado State Legislature, Denver

Collected in Roosevelt, The New Nationalism, Part 1 (1910).

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1736 ed.)

Dave — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 19:55:46 +0000

Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion,
Instead of Truth they use Equivocation,
And eke it out with mental Reservation,
Which to good Men is an Abomination.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1736 ed.)

Anstey, F. -- The Brass Bottle, ch. 9 “Persicos Odi, Puer, Apparatus” (1900)

Dave — Wed, 29 May 2024 14:31:16 +0000

These statements were, as he felt even in making them, not only gratuitous, but utterly unconvincing, but he had arrived at that condition in which a man discovers with terror the unsuspected amount of mendacity latent in his system.

F. Anstey (1856–1934) English novelist and journalist (pseud. of Thomas Anstey Guthrie)
The Brass Bottle, ch. 9 “Persicos Odi, Puer, Apparatus” (1900)

Originally published in The Strand Magazine (1900-04).

Pasternak, Boris -- Doctor Zhivago [До́ктор Жива́го], Part 2, ch. 15 “Conclusion,” sec. 6 [Yury] (1955) [tr. Hayward & Harari (1958), UK ed.]

Dave — Tue, 14 May 2024 17:50:22 +0000

The great majority of us are required to live a life of constant, systematic duplicity. Your health is bound to be affected if, day after day, you say the opposite of what you feel, if you grovel before what you dislike and rejoice at what brings you nothing but misfortune. Your nervous system isn’t a fiction, it’s a part of your physical body, and your soul exists in space and is inside you, like the teeth in your head. You can’t keep violating it with impunity.

Boris Pasternak (1890–1960) Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator
Doctor Zhivago [До́ктор Жива́го], Part 2, ch. 15 “Conclusion,” sec. 6 [Yury] (1955) [tr. Hayward & Harari (1958), UK ed.]

Other translations:

The great majority of us are required to live a life of constant, systematic duplicity. Your health is bound to be affected if, day after day, you say the opposite of what you feel, if you grovel before what you dislike and rejoice at what brings you nothing but misfortune. Our nervous system isn’t just a fiction, it’s a part of our physical body, and our soul exists in space and is inside us, like the teeth in our mouth. It can’t be forever violated with impunity.
[tr. Hayward & Harari (1958), US ed.]

A constant, systematic dissembling is required of the vast majority of us. It’s impossible, without its affecting your health, to show yourself day after day contrary to what you feel, to lay yourself out for what you don’t love, to rejoice over what brings you misfortune. Our nervous system is not an empty sound, not a fiction. It’s a physical body made up of fibers. Our soul takes up room in space and sits inside us like the teeth in our mouth. It cannot be endlessly violated with impunity.
[tr. Pevear & Volokhonsky (2010)]

Lehane, Dennis -- A Drink Before the War, ch. 7 [Kenzie] (1996)

Dave — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 23:22:48 +0000

Vanity is a weakness. I know this. It’s a shallow dependence on the exterior self, on how one looks instead of what one is. I know this well. But I have a scar the size and texture of a jellyfish on my abdomen already, and you’d be surprised how your sense of self changes when you can’t take your shirt off at the beach. In my more private moments, I pull up my shirt and look at it, tell myself it doesn’t matter, but every time a woman has felt it under her palm late at night, propped herself up on a pillow and asked me about it, I’ve made my explanation as quick as possible, closed the doors to my past as soon as they’ve opened, and not once, even when Angie’s asked, have I told the truth. Vanity and dishonesty may be vices, but they’re also the first forms of protection I ever knew.

Dennis Lehane (b. 1965) American novelist, screenwriter
A Drink Before the War, ch. 7 [Kenzie] (1996)

O'Malley, Austin -- Keystones of Thought (1914)

Dave — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 16:00:29 +0000

Those who believe it permissible to tell white lies soon grow color-blind.

Austin O'Malley (1858–1932) American ophthalmologist, professor of literature, aphorist
Keystones of Thought (1914)

Dante Alighieri -- The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 1 “Inferno,” Canto 11, l. 22ff (11.22-27) [Virgil] (1309) [tr. Binyon (1943)]

Dave — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 20:56:00 +0000

Of all malice that makes of Heaven a foe
The end is injury, and all such end won
By force or fraud worketh another’s woe.
But since fraud is a vice of man’s alone,
It more offends God: so are lowest set
The fraudulent, and the heavier is their groan.

[D’ogne malizia, ch’odio in cielo acquista,
ingiuria è ‘l fine, ed ogne fin cotale
o con forza o con frode altrui contrista.
Ma perché frode è de l’uom proprio male,
più spiace a Dio; e però stan di sotto
li frodolenti, e più dolor li assale.]

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian poet
The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 1 “Inferno,” Canto 11, l. 22ff (11.22-27) [Virgil] (1309) [tr. Binyon (1943)]

(Source (Italian)). Other translations:

Of ev'ry Vice which odious is in Heav'n
To injure is the purport, and the end;
Either by Force, or Fraud. But as to Man
Fraud is peculiar, it more God offends:
Therefore the fraudulent are lower plac'd,
And greater punishment and pains endure.
[tr. Rogers (1782), l. 21ff]

Above the Sons of Violence reside,
The bands of Fraud below together hide;
(Vile Fraud! The heav'n-born soul's peculiar blot!)
For this, in fiercer pains, the traitors keep
Their horrid vigils far in yonder deep;
Hated of Heav'n, and fill the lowest lot.
[tr. Boyd (1802), st. 5]

Of all malicious act abhorr’d in heaven,
The end is injury; and all such end
Either by force or fraud works other’s woe
But fraud, because of man peculiar evil,
To God is more displeasing; and beneath
The fraudulent are therefore doom’d to’ endure
Severer pang.
[tr. Cary (1814)]

Of each malicious act, abhorred on high.
Injustice is the end: for others' woe
Must all such ends or force or fraud apply.
But fraud in man his proper vice doth show,
To God more odious; wherefore deeper here
The fraudful sink, and mourn a sharper throe.
[tr. Dayman (1843)]

Of all malice, which gains hatred in Heaven, the end is injury; and every such end, either by force or by fraud, aggrieveth others.
But because fraud is a vice peculiar to man, it more displeases God; and therefore the fraudulent are placed beneath, and more pain assails them.
[tr. Carlyle (1849)]

Of evil deed, that's stamped with hate in heaven,
Is injury the end. Each end's attained
With force or fraud, by which another's pained.
Since fraud is then the native ill of man,
It more displeases God; beneath the vault,
The fraudulent the deeper pains assault.
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]

Of ev'ry malice which just heav'n abhors,
To injure is the end; and each such end,
Either by force or fraud, makes others grieve.
But since of man fraud is the proper sin,
More it displeases God; and so beneath
Are plac'd the fraudulent with heavier pains.
[tr. Johnston (1867)]

Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven,
⁠Injury is the end; and all such end
⁠Either by force or fraud afflicteth others.
But because fraud is man's peculiar vice, ⁠
⁠More it displeases God; and so stand lowest
⁠The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them.
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]

Of every badness which earns hatred in heaven, injury is the end; and every such end either by force or by fraud causes grief to another.
But because fraud is an ill peculiar to man, it more displeases God; and for this cause the fraudulent have their station below, and woe assails them more.
[tr. Butler (1885)]

Of every malice that in Heaven wins hate
The end is injury, and each such plan
By force or fraud on some wreaks woeful fate.
Since fraud is ill peculiar unto man
God it displeases more, and hence more low
The fraudulent are doomed to greater pain.
[tr. Minchin (1885)]

Of every malice that wins hate in heaven injury is the end, and every such end afflicts others either by force or by fraud. But because fraud is the peculiar sin of man, it most displeaseth God; and therefore the fraudulent are the lower, and more woe assails them.
[tr. Norton (1892)]

Of every evil act that earneth hate in Heaven, the end is injury; and every such end, by either violence or fraud, heapeth sorrow upon others. But forasmuch as fraud is man's peculiar vice, it is the more displeasing unto God ; and therefore they who dealt in fraud are set beneath, and greater is the torture that doth afflict them.
[tr. Sullivan (1893)]

All wickedness that lays up hate in heaven
Injustice hath for end, and such end alway,
Either by force or fraud, afflicts another:
But, seeing that fraud is man's peculiar evil,
More it displeases God: therefore are lowest
The fraudulent, and greater woe assails them.
[tr. Griffith (1908)]

Every kind of wickedness that gains the hatred of Heaven has injustice for its end, and every such end afflicts someone either by force or fraud; but because fraud is sin peculiar to man it is more offensive to God, and for that reason the fraudulent have their place lower nad more pain assails them.
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]

Of all malicious wrong that earns Heaven's hate
The end is injury; all such ends are won
Either by force or fraud. Both perpetuate
Evil to others; but since man alone
Is capable of fraud, God hates that worst;
The fraudulent lie lowest, then and groan
Deepest.
[tr. Sayers (1949)]

Malice is the sin most hated by God
And the aim of malice is to injure others
whether by fraud or violence. But since fraud
is the vice fo which man alone is capable,
God loathes it most. Therefore, the fraudulent
are place below, and their torment is more painful.
[tr. Ciardi (1954)]

Of every malice that gains hatred in Heaven the end is injustice; and every such end, either by force or by fraud, afflicts another. But because fraud is an evil peculiar to man, it more displeases God, and therefore the fraudulent are the lower, and more pain assails them.
[tr. Singleton (1970)]

All malice has injustice as its end,
an end achieved by violence or by fraud;
while both are sins that earn the hate of Heaven,
since fraud belongs exclusively to man,
God hates it more and, therefore, far below,
the fraudulent are placed and suffer most.
[tr. Musa (1971)]

Of every malice that earns hate in Heaven,
injustice is the end; and each such end
by force or fraud brings harm to other men.
However, fraud is man's peculiar vice;
God finds it more displeasing -- and therefore,
the fraudulent are lower, suffering more.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1980)]

The object of all malice, which earns heaven's hatred,
Is injury; every object of that kind
Causes distress to others by force or fraud.
And because fraud is an evil peculiar to men,
It displeases God the more; and therefore the fraudulent
are placed beneath and greater pain assail them.
[tr. Sisson (1981)]

The end of every wickedness that feels
Heaven's s hatred is injustice -- and each end
Of this kind, whether by force or fraud, afflicts
Some other person. But since fraud is found
In humankind as its peculiar vice,
It angers God more: so the fraudulent
Are lower, and suffer more unhappiness.
[tr. Pinsky (1994), l. 21ff]

Of every malice gaining the hatred of Heaven, injustice is the goal, and efvery such goal injures someone either with force or with fraud.
But because fraud is an evil proper to man, it is more displeasing to God; and therefore the fraudulent have a lower place and greater pain assails them.
[tr. Durling (1996)]

The outcome of all maliciousness, that Heaven hates, is harm: and every such outcome, hurts others, either by force or deceit. But because deceit is a vice peculiar to human beings, it displeases God more, and therefore the fraudulent are placed below, and more pain grieves them.
[tr. Kline (2002)]

Malice is aimed in all its forms -- and thus
incurs the hatred of Heaven -- at gross injustice,
and, aiming so, harms others, by deceit or force.
Deceit, though, is specifically a human wrong,
and hence displeases God the more. Liars
are therefore deeper down, and tortured worse.
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2006)]

Every evil deed despised in Heaven
has as its end injustice. Each such end
harms someone else through either force or fraud.
But since the vice of fraud is man's alone,
it more displeases God, and thus the fraudulent
are lower down, assailed by greater pain.
[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]

Hated by Heaven, every conscious
sin will end in injustice, and each new sin,
By force or fraud, creates the same result.
But since such fraud is a sin unique to men,
God hates it more. So sinners guilty of fraud
Go farther down, and deeper pain attacks them.
[tr. Raffel (2010)]

Crimes Heaven hates have for their end
Injustice, and that end afflicts someone
Either by force or fraud, and must offend
The Lord, for fraud is human, and ills done
By humans please Him least, and therefore they,
The tricksters, lie down and suffer more.
[tr. James (2013)]

Obama, Barack -- Speech, Miami (2 Nov 2018)

Dave — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 16:45:22 +0000

When words stop meaning anything, when truth doesn’t matter, when people can just lie with abandon, democracy can’t work.

Barack Obama (b. 1961) American politician, US President (2009–2017)
Speech, Miami (2 Nov 2018)

Gorokhova, Elena -- A Mountain of Crumbs: A Memoir, ch. 13 (2010)

Dave — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 17:43:00 +0000

The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they’re lying, they know we know they’re lying but they keep lying anyway, and we keep pretending to believe them.

Elena Gorokhova (b. 1955) Russo-American novelist, linguist, educator
A Mountain of Crumbs: A Memoir, ch. 13 (2010)

On the relationship between the Soviet government and media and the Soviet people. Sometimes attributed to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Speech (1887-05) to the Jury, Trial of C. B. Reynolds for Blasphemy, Morristown, New Jersey

Dave — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 20:40:46 +0000

What is blasphemy? I will give you a definition; I will give you my thought upon this subject. What is real blasphemy?
To live on the unpaid labor of other men — that is blasphemy.
To enslave your fellow-man, to put chains upon his body — that is blasphemy.
To enslave the minds of men, to put manacles upon the brain, padlocks upon the lips — that is blasphemy.
To deny what you believe to be true, to admit to be true what you believe to be a lie — that is blasphemy.
To strike the weak and unprotected, in order that you may gain the applause of the ignorant and superstitious mob — that is blasphemy.
To persecute the intelligent few, at the command of the ignorant many — that is blasphemy.
To forge chains, to build dungeons, for your honest fellow-men — that is blasphemy.
To pollute the souls of children with the dogma of eternal pain — that is blasphemy.
To violate your conscience — that is blasphemy.
The jury that gives an unjust verdict, and the judge who pronounces an unjust sentence, are blasphemers.
The man who bows to public opinion against his better judgment and against his honest conviction, is a blasphemer.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Speech (1887-05) to the Jury, Trial of C. B. Reynolds for Blasphemy, Morristown, New Jersey

Havel, Vaclav -- Essay (1978-10), “The Power of the Powerless,” ch. 7 [tr. Wilson], The Power of the Powerless [ed. John Keane] (1985)

Dave — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 14:33:18 +0000

If the main pillar of the system is living a lie, then it is not surprising that the fundamental threat to it is living in truth. This is why it must be suppressed more severely than anything else.

Václav Havel (1936–2011) Czech playwright, essayist, dissident, politician
Essay (1978-10), “The Power of the Powerless,” ch. 7 [tr. Wilson], The Power of the Powerless [ed. John Keane] (1985)

Homer -- The Iliad [Ἰλιάς], Book 9, l. 312ff (9.312-313) [Achilles to Odysseus] (c. 750 BC) [tr. Pope (1715-20)]

Dave — Wed, 04 Nov 2020 20:11:25 +0000

Who dares think one thing, and another tell,
My heart detests him as the gates of hell.

[Ἐχθρὸς γάρ μοι κεῖνος ὁμῶς Ἀΐδαο πύλῃσιν
ὅς χ’ ἕτερον μὲν κεύθῃ ἐνὶ φρεσίν, ἄλλο δὲ εἴπῃ.]

Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Iliad [Ἰλιάς], Book 9, l. 312ff (9.312-313) [Achilles to Odysseus] (c. 750 BC) [tr. Pope (1715-20)]

Original Greek. Other translations:

For, like hell mouth I loath, Who holds not in his words and thoughts one indistinguish’d troth. [tr. Chapman (1611), ll. 300-01]

For I abhor the man, not more the gates Of hell itself, whose words belie his heart. [tr. Cowper (1791), ll. 385-86]

Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is he who conceals one thing in his mind and utters another. [tr. Buckley (1860)]

Him as the gates of hell my soul abhors,
Whose outward words his inmost thoughts conceal.
[tr. Derby (1864), ll. 373-74]

For hateful to me even as the gates of hell is he that hideth one thing in his heart and uttereth another. [tr. Leaf/Lang/Myers (1891)]

Him do I hate even as the gates of hell who says one thing while he hides another in his heart.
[tr. Butler (1898)]

I hate
as I hate Hell's own gate that man who hides
one thought within him while he speaks another.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1974), l. 381ff]

I hate that man like the very Gates of Death
who says one thing but hides another in his heart.
[tr. Fagles (1990), ll. 378-79]

Wills, Garry -- Confessions of a Conservative, ch. 15 (1979)

Dave — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 19:40:03 +0000

Politics demands a great capacity for self-deception, which rescues the politician from hypocrisy. He can normally manage to believe what he is saying for the time it takes him to say it. This gives him a certain sincerity even when he is saying opposite things to opposite people.

Garry Wills (b. 1934) American author, journalist, historian
Confessions of a Conservative, ch. 15 (1979)

Evans, Bergen -- Quoted in “The Euphemism: Telling It Like It Isn’t,” Time (19 Sep 1969)

Dave — Wed, 20 May 2020 19:32:51 +0000

Lying is an indispensable part of making life tolerable.

Bergen Evans (1904–1978) American educator, writer, lexicographer
Quoted in “The Euphemism: Telling It Like It Isn’t,” Time (19 Sep 1969)

Sometimes misquoted with the words "Euphemisms persist because," but these are non-quoted text leading up to the quotation.

Forster, E. M. -- “What I Believe,” The Nation (16 Jul 1938)

Dave — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 20:23:10 +0000

As soon as people have power they go crooked and sometimes dotty as well, because the possession of power lifts them into a region where normal honesty never pays.

E. M. Forster (1879–1970) English novelist, essayist, critic, librettist [Edward Morgan Forster]
“What I Believe,” The Nation (16 Jul 1938)

See Lord Acton.

Eldridge, Paul -- Maxims for a Modern Man, #1095 (1965)

Dave — Mon, 01 May 2017 22:35:28 +0000

The amount of temptation required differentiates the honest from the dishonest.

Paul Eldridge (1888–1982) American educator, novelist, poet
Maxims for a Modern Man, #1095 (1965)

Bronte, Emily -- Wuthering Heights, ch. 17 [Isabella Linton] (1847)

Dave — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 02:41:24 +0000

Treachery and violence are spears pointed at both ends — they wound those who resort to them worse than their enemies.

Emily Brontë (1818–1848) British novelist, poet [pseud. Ellis Bell]
Wuthering Heights, ch. 17 [Isabella Linton] (1847)

Twain, Mark -- Note (1898-07-04), Mark Twain’s Notebook, ch. 21 “In Vienna” (1935) [ed. Albert Bigelow Paine]

Dave — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 18:45:33 +0000

Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Note (1898-07-04), Mark Twain’s Notebook, ch. 21 “In Vienna” (1935) [ed. Albert Bigelow Paine]

While summering in Kaltenleutgeben, Austria.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1860), “Worship,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 6

Dave — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 18:07:44 +0000

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1860), “Worship,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 6

Based on a course of lectures, "The Conduct of Life," delivered in Pittsburg (1851-03).

See Johnson.

Rich, Adrienne -- “Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying” (1975)

Dave — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 14:49:19 +0000

Lying is done with words, and also with silence.

Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) American poet, essayist, feminist
“Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying” (1975)

Jonson, Ben -- Timber, or Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter (1641)

Dave — Tue, 12 May 2015 12:08:55 +0000

Wisdom without honesty is mere craft and cozenage.

Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English playwright and poet
Timber, or Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter (1641)

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard’s Almanack (May 1755)

Dave — Fri, 08 May 2015 13:39:16 +0000

The honest Man takes Pains, and then enjoys Pleasures;
the Knave takes Pleasure, and then suffers Pains.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard’s Almanack (May 1755)

Hawthorne, Nathaniel -- The Scarlet Letter, ch. 17 (1850)

Dave — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 13:06:01 +0000

I have laughed in bitterness and agony of heart, at the contrast between what I seem and what I am!

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) American writer
The Scarlet Letter, ch. 17 (1850)

Carlyle, Thomas -- Lecture (1840-05-22), “The Hero as King,” Home House, Portman Square, London

Dave — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 13:45:31 +0000

Self-deception once yielded to, all other deceptions follow naturally more and more.

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-22), “The Hero as King,” Home House, Portman Square, London

The lecture notes were collected by Carlyle into On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, Lecture 6 (1841).

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1785-08-19) to Peter Carr

Dave — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 12:30:42 +0000

If ever you find yourself environed with difficulties and perplexing circumstances out of which you are at a loss how to extricate yourself, do what is right, and be assured that that will extricate you the best out of the worst situations. Though you cannot see when you take one step what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice and plain dealing, and never fear their leading you out of the labyrinth in the easiest manner possible. The knot which you thought a Gordian one will untie itself before you. Nothing is so mistaken as the supposition that a person is to extricate himself from a difficulty by intrigue, by chicanery, by dissimulation, by trimming, by an untruth, by an injustice. This increases the difficulties tenfold; and those who pursue these methods get themselves so involved at length that they can turn no way but their infamy becomes more exposed.

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801–09)
Letter (1785-08-19) to Peter Carr

Gracián, Baltasar -- The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 157 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]

Dave — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:14:56 +0000

Better be cheated in the price than in the quality of goods.

[Más vale ser engañado en el precio que en la mercadería.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601–1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 157 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]

(Source (Spanish)). Other translations:

It is better to be deceived in the Price, than in the Commodity.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]

Far better to be cheated in the price, than in the goods.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]

Better to be cheated by the price than by the merchandise.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]

Hoffer, Eric -- Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 70 (1955)

Dave — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:43:26 +0000

We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.

Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 70 (1955)

Tolkien, J.R.R. -- The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 2: The Two Towers, Book 3, ch. 10 “The Voice of Saruman” [Gandalf] (1954)

Dave — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:16:09 +0000

The treacherous are ever distrustful.

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 2: The Two Towers, Book 3, ch. 10 “The Voice of Saruman” [Gandalf] (1954)

Arendt, Hannah -- Essay (1971-11-18), “Lying in Politics,” The New York Review of Books

Dave — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 12:47:42 +0000

For the trouble with lying and deceiving is that their efficiency depends entirely upon a clear notion of the truth that the liar and deceiver wishes to hide. In this sense, truth, even if it does not prevail in public, possesses an ineradicable primacy over all falsehoods.

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Essay (1971-11-18), “Lying in Politics,” The New York Review of Books

Revised and collected in Crises of the Republic (1972).

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Article (1859-06), “The Professor at the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly

Dave — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:50:21 +0000

Why can’t somebody give us a list of things that everybody thinks and nobody says, and another list of things that everybody says and nobody thinks?

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Article (1859-06), “The Professor at the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly

Collected in The Professor at the Breakfast-Table, ch. 6 (1859).

Adams, John -- Letter (1776-01-08) to Mercy Otis Warren

Dave — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:28:27 +0000

Virtue and Simplicity of Manners, are indispensably necessary in a Republic, among all orders and Degrees of Men. But there is So much Rascallity, so much Venality and Corruption, so much Avarice and Ambition, such a Rage for Profit and Commerce among all Ranks and Degrees of Men even in America, that I sometimes doubt whether there is public Virtue enough to support a Republic.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founder, statesman; US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1776-01-08) to Mercy Otis Warren

Ebner-Eschenbach, Marie von -- Aphorisms [Aphorismen], No. 528 (1880) [tr. Scrase & Mieder (1994)]

Dave — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:13:43 +0000

There are very few honest friends — the demand is not particularly great.

[Es gibt wenig aufrichtige Freunde. Die Nachfrage ist auch gering.]

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian writer
Aphorisms [Aphorismen], No. 528 (1880) [tr. Scrase & Mieder (1994)]

(Source (German))

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 2, § 6 (1822)

Dave — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:55:32 +0000

Corruption is like a ball of snow, when once set a rolling it must increase. It gives momentum to the activity of the knave, but it chills the honest man, and makes him almost weary of his calling: and all that corruption attracts, it also retains, for it is easier not to fall, than only to fall once, and not to yield a single inch than having yielded to regain it.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780–1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 2, § 6 (1822)

Orwell, George -- Essay (1944-06-01), “Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on Salvador Dali,” Dickens, Dali & Others (1946), opening words

Dave — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:52:28 +0000

Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1944-06-01), “Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on Salvador Dali,” Dickens, Dali & Others (1946), opening words

The essay was originally printed in Saturday Book magazine, but the publisher decided it had to be "suppressed on grounds of obscenity" and had the essay physically cut out of each printed copy.

The passage is referring to, among others, Dali's The Secret Life of Salvador Dali (1942).

Orwell, George -- Essay (1946-04), “Politics and the English Language,” Horizon Magazine

Dave — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 15:53:23 +0000

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1946-04), “Politics and the English Language,” Horizon Magazine

Johnson, Samuel -- Comment (1763-07-14)

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

But if he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, Sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (1763-07-14)

In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 1: 1709-1765 (1791). Regarding an unnamed "impudent fellow from Scotland" Boswell told him of.

Stevenson, Adlai -- Speech (1951-01), Springfield, Illinois

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

It reminds me of the small boy who jumbled his Biblical quotations and said: “A lie is an abomination unto the Lord, and a very present help in trouble.”

Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1951-01), Springfield, Illinois

Jumbling together parts of Proverbs 12:22 and Psalms 46:1.

The quotation is attributed to Stevenson in Bessie James and Mary Waterstreet (ed.), Adlai's Almanac (1952) and Bill Adler (ed.), The Stevenson Wit (1965). It is also repeated in an interview (1953-03), "Pageant Visits: Adlai E. Stevenson," Pageant Magazine.

The quote is sometimes given without the preface (making it sound as if Stevenson used the phrase directly).

The anecdote was not original with Stevenson. Historian David McCullough in his history of the building of the Panama Canal, The Path Between the Seas (1977) says the phrase was used on the floor of the US Senate by John T. Morgan, who served there 1877-1907. I have also found versions of it in 1899 and 1902.

See also Elizabeth Knowles, What They Didn't Say (2006).

Marcus Aurelius -- Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 3, ch. 7 (3.7) [tr. Hays (2003)]

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

Never regard something as doing you good if it makes you betray a trust, or lose your sense of shame, or makes you show hatred, suspicion, ill will, or hypocrisy, or a desire for things best done behind closed doors.

[Μὴ τιμήσῃς ποτὲ ὡς συμφέρον σεαυτοῦ, ὃ ἀναγκάσει σέ ποτε τὴν πίστιν παραβῆναι, τὴν αἰδῶ ἐγκαταλιπεῖν, μισῆσαί τινα, ὑποπτεῦσαι, καταράσασθαι, ὑποκρίνασθαι, ἐπιθυμῆσαί τινος τοίχων καὶ παραπετασμάτων δεομένου.]

Marcus Aurelius (AD 121–180) Roman emperor (161–180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 3, ch. 7 (3.7) [tr. Hays (2003)]

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

Never esteem of anything as profitable, which shall ever constrain thee either to break thy faith, or to lose thy modesty; to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to dissemble, to lust after anything, that requireth the secret of walls or veils.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), ch. 8]

Don't be fond of any Thing, or think that for your Interest, which makes you break your Word, quit your Modesty, be of a Dissembling, Suspicious, or Outragious Humour; which puts you upon Hating any Person, and enclines you to any Practice, which wont bear the Light, and look the World in the Face.
[tr. Collier (1701)]

Never value that as advantageous, which may force you to break your faith; to quit your modesty, or sense of honour; to hate, suspect, or imprecate evil on any one; to dissemble; or to desire any of these things which need walls or curtains to conceal them.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]

Never adopt any measure as conducing to your interest, which lays you under a necessity of violating your honour or your modesty; or may excite your hatred or your suspicion, or provoke you to execrate any one, or to practice dissimulation; or, in short, to entertain a wish which will not bear the light, but must be concealed from the world by walls and curtains.
[tr. Graves (1792)]

Never value anything as profitable to thyself which shall compel thee to break thy promise, to lose thy self-respect, to hate any man, to suspect, to curse, to act the hypocrite, to desire anything which needs walls and curtains.
[tr. Long (1862)]

Think nothing for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, hate, suspect, or curse any person, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light and look the world in the face.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]

Never esteem anything as of advantage to thee that shall make thee break thy word or lose thy self-respect.
[tr. Morgan, in Bartlett's (1894)]

Never prize anything as self-advantage, which will compel you to break faith, to forfeit self-respect, to suspect or hate or execrate another, to play false, to desire anything which requires screens or veils.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]

Never esteem aught of advantage which will oblige you to break your faith, or to desert your honour; to hate, to suspect, or to execrate any man; to play a part; or to set your mind on anything that needs to be hidden by wall or curtain.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]

Prize not anything as being to thine interest that shall ever force thee to break thy troth, to surrender thine honour, to hate, suspect, or curse anyone, to play the hypocrite, to lust after anything that needs walls and curtains.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]

Never value as an advantage to yourself what will force you one day to break your word, to abandon self-respect, to hate, suspect, execrate another, to act a part, to covet anything that calls for walls or coverings to conceal it.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]

Never value the advantages derived from anything involving breach of faith, loss of self-respect, hatred, suspicion, or execration of others, insincerity, or the desire for something which hast to be veiled and curtained.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]

Never prize as advantageous to yourself anything that will compel you some day to break your word, to offend against propriety, to hate, suspect or curse another, to dissemble, or to desire anything that needs to be veiled behind walls and curtains.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]

Never regard as a benefit to yourself anything which will force you at some point to break your faith, to leave integrity behind, to hate, suspect, or curse another, to dissemble, to covet anything needing the secrecy of walls and drapes.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]

Never consider anything to be beneficial to you, which could ever compel you to violate your faith in yourself, to abandon your modesty, to hate anybody, to be overly suspicious, cursing, disingenuous, or to lust after anything which must be hidden behind walls or veils.
[tr. Needleman/Piazza (2008)]

Never prize as advantageous to yourself anything that will compel you some day to break your word, to offend against propriety, to hate, suspect, or curse another, to pretend, or to desire anything that needs to be veiled behind walls and curtains.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]

Never value as beneficial to yourself something that will force you one day to break your word, abandon your sense of shame, hate, suspect, or curse someone else, pretend, or desire something that needs the secrecy of walls or curtains.
[tr. Gill (2013)]

Value nothing which compels you to break your promise, to abandon your honor, to hate, suspect or curse anyone, to be a hypocrite, or to lust after anything which needs walls or decorations.
[tr. @sentantiq (2019)]

Never value anything you find profitable, to the extent that you have to break a promise, lose your self-respect, hate any person or act the hypocrite.
[tr. McNeill (2019)]

Some causes will force you to betray faith, abandon shame, hate or suspect another person, call down curses, put forward explanations, or desire something that requires walls and fences. Do not regard these causes as necessary or beneficial to yourself.
[Source]

Lincoln, Abraham -- Letter (1842-02-22) to George E. Pickett (forgery)

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

I never encourage deceit, and falsehood, especially if you have got a bad memory, is the worst enemy a fellow can have. The fact is, truth is your truest friend, no matter what the circumstances are.

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861–65)
Letter (1842-02-22) to George E. Pickett (forgery)

This appears to be the connection between Lincoln and sayings such as:

"No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar."
"To be a successful liar one must have a good memory."

The sentiment itself was proverbial when Quintilian mentioned it in AD 95 in his Institutio Oratoria, reinforced by Montaigne in 1572.

The origin of the specific quote are the various biographical sketches done of Confederate General George E. Pickett by his wife, LaSalle "Sally" Corbell Pickett. According to her, Lincoln wrote this letter as advice to the young Pickett who had just won (through Lincoln's assistance) appointment to West Point (class of 1846).

She recounted this story in her book Pickett and His Men, ch. 16 (1899). She repeated it in various publications during her life, including:

Essay (1908-03), "My Soldier," McClure's Magazine, Vol. 30, No. 5.
Essay (1913-11), "The Wartime Story of General Pickett", Cosmopolitan, Vol. 50, No. 6.

In her book What Happened to Me: A Confederate Wife's Memoir, ch. 19 (1917), Pickett says her husband related the story to her in the closing days of the Civil War. She later claimed to others, like Ida Tarbell, that while she had seen the actual letter, the original had been destroyed in a fire.

The quote is also referenced in:

John Nicolay and John Hay (ed.), Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 12, "Anthology of Sayings of Abraham Lincoln" (1894) -- present in an abbreviated form.
Ida Tarbell, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 2, Appendix (1895; 1900 ed.) -- she notes "original owned by LaSalle Corbell Pickett. Extracts published in Pickett and His Men (1899)." Sally Pickett sent Tarbell a transcription of the letter, which Tarbell accepted. Pickett used Tarbell's bestselling work (first published in McClure's Magazine) to give the story credibility.
Arthur Lapsley (ed.), The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 1 1832–1843 (1905)

Modern Lincoln scholarship tends to consider the letter a fake, one of many forged by Sally Pickett. Lincoln scholar Roy P. Basler identified it as a forgery (e.g., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 8, Appendix 2). In various works, he noted there was no authenticated original manuscript (Sally Pickett claimed the original had been lost in a fire), and that Sally Pickett had only written of it decades after the war (1899). The letter was written in far more flowery a tone than Lincoln's actual writing at the time and, further, the letter to Pickett was supposedly dated in late February, but Pickett had already entered West Point as a cadet in January.

The intent seems to have been to posthumously improve the reputation of her husband by showing a relationship (which, if it existed, would have been distant) between George Pickett and Lincoln. This, and promotion of the "Lost Cause" trope, took up much of Pickett's time after her husband's death, and she has been shown to be an unreliable narrator and forger of documents.

Van Dyke, Henry -- “The Foot-path to Peace,” Tacoma Times (1 Jan 1904)

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

To be glad of life because it gives you to chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars — to be satisfied with your possessions but not content with yourself until you have made the best of them — to despise nothing in the world except falsehood and meanness, and to fear nothing except cowardice — to be governed by you admirations rather than by your disgusts — to covet nothing that is your neighbors except his kindness of heart and gentleness of manners — to think seldom of your enemies, often of your friends, and every day of Christ; to spend as much time as you can in God’s out-of doors — these are the little guideposts on the foot-path to peace.

Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933) American clergyman and writer
“The Foot-path to Peace,” Tacoma Times (1 Jan 1904)

Often shortened to: "Be glad for life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to look up at the stars."

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1785-08-19) to Peter Carr

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

It is of great importance to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual, he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all it’s good dispositions.

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801–09)
Letter (1785-08-19) to Peter Carr

Plutarch -- Parallel Lives, “Lysander” [tr. Leman (1688)]

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

He who cheats with an oath acknowledges that he is afraid of his enemy, but that he also thinks little of God.

[ὁ γὰρ ὅρκῳ παρακρουόμενος τὸν μὲν ἐχθρὸν ὁμολογεῖ δεδιέναι, τοῦ δὲ θεοῦ καταφρονεῖν.]

Plutarch (AD 46–127) Greek historian, biographer, essayist [Mestrius Plutarchos]
Parallel Lives, “Lysander” [tr. Leman (1688)]

(Source (Greek))

Criticizing the Spartan leader's use of oathbreaking to gain advantage over his enemies.

See Montaigne (1578).