WIST Quotations

Montesquieu -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 22:39:47 +0000

Happy the people whose annals are tiresome.

[Heureux le peuple dont l’histoire est ennuyeuse.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689–1755) French political philosopher
(Attributed)

The phrase is widely attributed to Montesquieu, but not found as such in his works. The earliest use of it in those words is in Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution, Book 2, ch. 1 (1837).

Variants:

"Happy the people whose history is boring."
"Happy the nation whose history is dull."
"Happy the nation whose history is tedious."
"Happy the people whose annals are vacant." [Also from Carlyle, as an extreme of the attributed Montesquieu quote.]
"Happy the people whose annals are blank in history-books!"

See also Franklin (1740).

The phrase is the complement to the (spurious) Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times."

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler -- Poem (1879), “Advice,” st. 4, Maurine and Other Poems (1882 ed.)

Dave — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 16:37:37 +0000

’T were a dull old world, methinks, my friend,
If we all just went one way;
Yet our paths will meet no doubt at the end,
Though they lead apart today.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) American author, poet, temperance advocate, spiritualist
Poem (1879), “Advice,” st. 4, Maurine and Other Poems (1882 ed.)

La Bruyere, Jean de -- The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 1 “Of Works of the Mind [Des Ouvrages de l’Esprit],” § 7 (1.7) (1688) [tr. Stewart (1970)]

Dave — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 17:48:49 +0000

There are certain things in which mediocrity is intolerable: poetry, music, painting, public eloquence.
What torture it is to hear a frigid speech being pompously declaimed, of second-rate verse spoken with all a bad poet’s bombast!

[Il y a de certaines choses dont la médiocrité est insupportable: la poésie, la musique, la peinture, le discours public.
Quel supplice que celui d’entendre déclamer pompeusement un froid discours, ou prononcer de médiocres vers avec toute l’emphase d’un mauvais poète!]

Jean de La Bruyère (1645–1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 1 “Of Works of the Mind [Des Ouvrages de l’Esprit],” § 7 (1.7) (1688) [tr. Stewart (1970)]

(Source (French)). Other translations:

Several things are insupportable if they are but indifferent, as Poetry, Music, Painting and Public Speeches.
'Tis the worst punishment in the world to hear a dull Declamation deliver'd with Pomp and Solemnity, and bad Verses rehears'd with the Emphasis of a wretched Poet.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]

Somethings are insupportable if they are but indifferent, as Poetry, Musick, Painting, and Publick Speeches.
What a Punishment is it to hear a cold Declamation deliver'd with Pomp and Solemnity, and indifferent Verses repeated with all the Emphasis of a bad Poet!
[Curll ed. (1713)]

Some things won't bear a Mediocrity, as Poetry, Musick, Painting and Oratory.
What a cruel Torture is it to hear a dull Declamation delivered with Pomp and Solemnity, or bad Verses rehearsed with the Emphasis of a wretched Poet!
[Browne ed. (1752)]

In certain things mediocrity is unbearable, as in poetry, music, painting, and eloquence. How we are tortured when we hear a dull soliloquy delivered in a pompous tone, or indifferent verses read with all the emphasis of a wretched poet!
[tr. Van Laun (1885)]

There are some things that will not bear mediocrity; poetry, music, painting, oratory.
[tr. Lee (1903)]

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 3 (1855)

Dave — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:34:35 +0000

Preaching has become a bye-word for long and dull conversation of any kind; and whoever wishes to imply, in any piece of writing, the absence of everything agreeable and inviting, calls it a sermon.

Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 3 (1855)

Hitchcock, Alfred -- Interview (1962-08) by François Truffaut

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

Making a film means, first of all, to tell a story. That story can be an improbable one, but it should never be banal. It must be dramatic and human. What is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out.

Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) English film director
Interview (1962-08) by François Truffaut

Why he avoids making "slice of life" films. Sometimes paraphrased as "Drama is life with the dull bits cut out."

From a series of interviews (with Helen Scott as the translator) of Hitchcock by Truffaut, edited and collected in the Truffaut book Hitchcock: A Definitive Study [Le Cinéma Selon Hitchcock], ch. 4 (1966) [tr. Truffaut (1967)].