WIST Quotations

Austen, Jane -- Letter (1814-09-28) to Anna Austen

Dave — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 21:41:50 +0000

The Webbs are really gone! When I saw the waggons at the door, and thought of all the trouble they must have in moving, I began to reproach myself for not having liked them better, but since the waggons have disappeared my conscience has been closed again, and I am excessively glad they are gone.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) English author
Letter (1814-09-28) to Anna Austen
(Source)

Shakespeare, William -- Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, sc. 1, l. 76ff (1.1.76-78) (1598)

Dave — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 15:49:34 +0000

MESSENGER: I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books.

BEATRICE: No. An he were, I would burn my study.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, sc. 1, l. 76ff (1.1.76-78) (1598)
(Source)

Freeman, Lucy -- Fight Against Fears, ch. 17 [John] (1951)

Dave — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 19:24:34 +0000

Usually the things you dislike in a person are his defenses against fear.

Lucy Freeman (1916-2004) American journalist, author
Fight Against Fears, ch. 17 [John] (1951)
(Source)

A comment she records from John, her psychoanalyst, but usually attributed to her.

Martial -- Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 1, epigram 32 (1.32) (AD 85-86) [tr. Bohn’s (1859)]

Dave — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 19:03:44 +0000

I do not love thee, Sabidius, nor can I say why;
I can only say this, I do not love thee.

[Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare:
Hoc tantum possum dicere, non amo te.]

Martial (AD c.39-c.103) Spanish Roman poet, satirist, epigrammatist [Marcus Valerius Martialis]
Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 1, epigram 32 (1.32) (AD 85-86) [tr. Bohn’s (1859)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

I love thee not, Sabidius; ask you why?
I do not love thee, let that satisfy!
[tr. Wright (1663)]

I love thee not, but why, I can't display.
I love thee not, is all that I can say.
[tr. Killigrew (1695)]

SABBY, I love thee not, nor can say why.
One thing I can say, SAB: thee love not I.
[tr. Elphinston (1782)]

I love you not, Sabidis, I cannot tell why.
This only can I tell, I love you not.
[tr. Amos (1858), 3.86, cited as 1.33]

I do not love you, Sabidius, nor can I say why;
I can only say this, I do not love you.
[tr. Bohn's Classical (1897)]

I do not love you, Sabidius; and I can't say why.
This only I can say: I do not love you.
[tr. Ker (1919)]

I like you not, Sabidius, and I can't tell why. All I can tell is this: I like you not.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1993)]

I don’t love you, Sabidius, no, I can’t say why:
All I can say is this, that I don’t love you.
[tr. Kline (2006)]

Mister Sabidius, you pain me.
I wonder (some) why that should be
And cannot tell -- a mystery.
You inexplicably pain me.
[tr. Wills (2007)]

Sabidius, I dislike you, but why this is so true
I can't say, I can only say I don't like you.
[tr. Bovie (1970)]

Sabinus, I don’t like you. You know why?
Sabinus, I don’t like you. That is why.
[tr. Cunningham (1971)]

Sabidius, I don't like you. Why? No clue.
I just don't like you. That will have to do.
[tr. McLean (2014)]

There are some variations of this epigram of note. The first is from Thomas Forde (b. 1624):

I love thee not, Nell,
But why I can't tell;
Yet this I know well,
I love thee not, Nell.
[Letter to Thomas Fuller in Virtus Rediviva (1661)]

This seemingly served as a prototype for a more famous variant, attributed to Thomas Brown (1663-1704) (sometimes ascribed to "an Oxford wit") on Dr. John Fell, the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, c. 1670:

I do not like thee, Dr. Fell,
The reason why I cannot tell;
But this, I'm sure, I know full well,
I do not like thee, Dr. Fell.
[Works, Vol. 4 (1774)]

This is sometimes rendered:

I do not love you, Dr. Fell,
But why I cannot tell;
But this I know full well,
I do not love you, Dr. Fell.

Along these same lines:

I do not like you, Jesse Helms.
I can’t say why I’m underwhelmed,
but I know one thing sure and true:
Jesse Helms, I don’t like you.
[tr. Matthews (1995)]

Nietzsche, Friedrich -- Thus Spoke Zarathustra [Also Sprach Zarathustra], Part 2, “Of the Compassionate [Von den Mitleidigen]” (1892) [tr. Hollingdale (1961)]

Dave — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 19:21:50 +0000

We are the most unfair, not towards him whom we do not like, but toward him for whom we feel nothing at all.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
Thus Spoke Zarathustra [Also Sprach Zarathustra], Part 2, “Of the Compassionate [Von den Mitleidigen]” (1892) [tr. Hollingdale (1961)]
(Source)

Keller, James -- Three Minutes a Day (1950)

Dave — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 14:31:12 +0000

A psychologist once asked a group of college students to jot down, in thirty seconds, the initials of the people they disliked. Some of the students taking the test could think of only one person. Others listed as many as fourteen. The interesting fact that came out of this bit of research was this: Those who disliked the largest number were themselves the most widely disliked. When we find ourselves continually disliking others, we ought to bring ourselves up short and ask ourselves the question: “What is wrong with me?”

James Keller (1900-1977) American Catholic priest, inspirational speaker, television personality
Three Minutes a Day (1950)

Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #187 (20 Jul 1749)

Dave — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:30:20 +0000

Great merit, or great failings, will make you be respected or despised; but trifles, little attentions, mere nothings, either done or neglected, will make you either liked or disliked, in the general run of the world.

Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #187 (20 Jul 1749)
(Source)