WIST Quotations

Bible, Vol. 1. Old Testament -- Book 22b. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 20:18 (Sir 20:18) [tr. NRSV (2021 ed.), Ecclesiasticus]

Dave — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 16:33:23 +0000

A slip on the pavement is better than a slip of the tongue;
the downfall of the wicked will occur just as speedily.

[Ὀλίσθημα ἀπὸ ἐδάφους μᾶλλον ἢ ἀπὸ γλώσσης.
οὕτως πτῶσις κακῶν κατὰ σπουδὴν ἥξει.]

The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Book 22b. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 20:18 (Sir 20:18) [tr. NRSV (2021 ed.), Ecclesiasticus]
(Source)

More on the history and acceptance of this Apocryphal book here and here.

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

To slip upon a pavement is better than to slip with the tongue: so the fall of the wicked shall come speedily.
[tr. KJV (1611), Ecclesiasticus]

The slipping of a false tongue is as one that falleth on the pavement: so the fall of the wicked shall come speedily.
[tr. DRA (1899); Sirach 20:20]

Better a slip on the pavement than a slip of the tongue;
this is how ruin takes the wicked by surprise.
[tr. [tr. JB (1966), NJB (1985); Ecclesiasticus]

A slip of the tongue is worse than a slip on the pavement; the wicked will go to ruin just as suddenly as a person slips and falls.
[tr. GNT (1992 ed.), Sirach]

A slip on the pavement is preferable
to a slip of the tongue;
so the downfall of evil people
will come quickly.
[tr. CEB (2011), Sirach]

Shakespeare, William -- Sonnet 94, ll. 13-14 (pub. 1609)

Dave — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:33:58 +0000

For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Sonnet 94, ll. 13-14 (pub. 1609)
(Source)

Mackay, Charles -- Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, “The South-Sea Bubble” (1841)

Dave — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 15:37:57 +0000

Nations, like individuals, cannot become desperate gamblers with impunity. Punishment is sure to overtake them sooner or later.

Charles Mackay (1814-1889) Scottish poet, journalist, song writer
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, “The South-Sea Bubble” (1841)
(Source)

Durant, William James -- The Story of Civilization, Vol. 3: Caesar and Christ (1944)

Dave — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:11:34 +0000

A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within. The essential causes of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.

William James (Will) Durant (1885-1981) American historian, teacher, philosopher
The Story of Civilization, Vol. 3: Caesar and Christ (1944)
(Source)

Napoleon Bonaparte -- Comment to the Abbé du Pradt (10 Dec 1812)

Dave — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 12:51:15 +0000

From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor, military leader
Comment to the Abbé du Pradt (10 Dec 1812)
(Source)

During the retreat from Moscow, a repeated comment during a discussion with one of his ambassadors. Quoted by Archibald Alison, History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution in 1789, to the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1815, Vol. 16, ch. 73 (1842). See also Paine.

Alt. trans.:

"There is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous."
"There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous."
"From the sublime to the ridiculous there is but a step."