Eliot, George -- Adam Bede, ch. 17 (1859)

Dave — Fri, 28 Dec 2018 20:20:24 +0000

You’re mighty fond o’ Craig; but for my part, I think he’s welly like a cock as think’s the sun’s rose o’ purpose to hear him crow.

George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist [pseud. of Mary Ann Evans]
Adam Bede, ch. 17 (1859)
(Source)

Mrs. Poyser, about Mr. Craig. Sometimes paraphrased, "He was like a cock, who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow."

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 5, ¶ 321 (1795) [tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 205]

Dave — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:18:03 +0000

Education must be based on two things: ethics and prudence; ethics in order to develop your good qualities, prudence to protect you from other people’s bad ones. If you attach too great an importance to goodness, you produce credulous fools; if you’re too prudent, you produce self-serving, scheming rogues.

[L’Éducation doit porter sur deux bases, la morale et la prudence ; la morale, pour appuyer la vertu ; la prudence, pour vous défendre contre les vices d’autrui. En faisant pencher la balance du côté de la morale, vous ne faites que des dupes ou des martyrs; en la faisant pencher de l’autre côté, vous faites des calculateurs égoïstes.]

Nicolas Chamfort (1741–1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 5, ¶ 321 (1795) [tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 205]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Other translations:

Education must have two foundations -- morality as a support for virtue, prudence as a defence for self against the vices of others. By letting the balance incline to the side of morality, you only make dupes or martyrs; by letting it incline to the other, you make calculating egoists.
[tr. Hutchinson (1902)]

Education should rest on the dual support of moral philosophy and prudence, moral philosophy as the stay of virtue, and prudence as a shield against the vice in others. If you tip the scale on the moral side you will produce none but dupes and martyrs, and by tilting it in the other direction you will develop a quality of selfish calculation only.
[tr. Mathers (1926)]

Education should be constructed on two bases: morality and prudence. Morality in order to assist virtue, and prudence in order to defend you against the vices of others. In tipping the scales toward morality, you merely produce dupes and martyrs. In tipping it the other way, you produce egotistical schemers.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]

Education must have two foundations, morality and carefulness: morality to support virtue; carefulness to defend against others' vices. By inclining this balance to the side of morality, you only make dupes and martyrs; by inclining it to carefulness, you make calculating egoists.
[tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]

Lec, Stanislaw -- Unkempt Thoughts [Myśli nieuczesane] (1957) [tr. Gałązka (1962)]

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

The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.

Stanislaw Lec (1909–1966) Polish aphorist, poet, satirist
Unkempt Thoughts [Myśli nieuczesane] (1957) [tr. Gałązka (1962)]

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Egotist,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:00:00 +0000

EGOTIST, n. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) American writer and journalist
“Egotist,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
(Source)

Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911). Originally published in the "Devil's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Wasp (1884-05-17).

WIST Quotations

Eliot, George -- Adam Bede, ch. 17 (1859)

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 5, ¶ 321 (1795) [tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 205]

Lec, Stanislaw -- Unkempt Thoughts [Myśli nieuczesane] (1957) [tr. Gałązka (1962)]

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Egotist,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)