WIST Quotations

Kipling, Rudyard -- “Surgeons and the Soul,” speech, Royal College of Surgeons (14 Feb 1923)

Dave — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 01:09:20 +0000

I am, by calling, a dealer in words; and words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
“Surgeons and the Soul,” speech, Royal College of Surgeons (14 Feb 1923)
(Source)

Paracelsus -- “The Third Defense in Writing New Prescriptions [Die dritte Defension wegen des Schreibens der neuen Rezepte], Seven Defenses [Septem Defensiones] (1538)

Dave — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 00:07:11 +0000

All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; but the dose makes it clear that a thing is not a poison.

[Alle Ding sind Gift und nichts ohn’ Gift; allein die Dosis macht, daß ein Ding kein Gift ist.]

Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus (1493-1541) German alchemist and physician [Bombast von Hohenheim]
“The Third Defense in Writing New Prescriptions [Die dritte Defension wegen des Schreibens der neuen Rezepte], Seven Defenses [Septem Defensiones] (1538)

As quoted in F. Geerk, Paracelsus: Arzt unserer Zeit [Paracelsus: Doctor of Our Time] (1992). Variants:

"All drugs are poisons; the benefit depends on the dosage."
"All substances are poisons; there is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison and a remedy."

This is frequently (and misleadingly) paraphrased: "Everything is a drug; it depends on the dose."

Lowell, Amy -- “Sword Blades and Poppy Seed,” l. 291 (1914)

Dave — Thu, 06 Jul 2017 17:38:40 +0000

All books are either dreams or swords,
You can cut, or you can drug, with words.

Amy Lowell (1874-1925) American poet
“Sword Blades and Poppy Seed,” l. 291 (1914)
(Source)

See Howell (1659).