WIST Quotations

Housman, A. E. -- “Additional Poems,” No. 17 (pub. 1937)

Dave — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 16:28:46 +0000

The stars have not dealt me the worst they could do:
My pleasures are plenty, my troubles are two.
But oh, my two troubles they reave me of rest,
The brains in my head and the heart in my breast.

A. E. Housman (1859–1936) English scholar and poet [Alfred Edward Housman]
“Additional Poems,” No. 17 (pub. 1937)
(Source)

Ebner-Eschenbach, Marie von -- Aphorisms [Aphorismen], No. 4 (1880) [tr. Scrase/Mieder (1994)]

Dave — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 21:11:33 +0000

A judgment can be refuted, but never a prejudice.

[Ein Urtheil läßt ſich widerlegen, aber niemals ein Vorurtheil.]

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian writer
Aphorisms [Aphorismen], No. 4 (1880) [tr. Scrase/Mieder (1994)]
(Source)

(Source (German)). Other translation:

An opinion can be controverted; a prejudice, never.
[tr. Wister (1883)]

Martin, Judith -- “Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1981-03-29)

Dave — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 17:34:42 +0000

Machines do not have feelings. […] This is not to say that no inanimate objects have feelings — toys are loaded with feelings, for instance, and only a monster would break the heart of a rag doll.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (1981-03-29)
(Source)

Collected in Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Part 3 "Basic Civilization," "Common Courtesy for All Ages" (1983).

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas -- Fooled by Randomness, Prologue (2001)

Dave — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 18:10:26 +0000

Delivering advice assumes that our cognitive apparatus rather than our emotional machinery exerts some meaningful control over our actions.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (b. 1960) Lebanese-American essayist, statistician, risk analyst, aphorist
Fooled by Randomness, Prologue (2001)
(Source)

Antrim, Minna -- Naked Truth and Veiled Allusions (1902)

Dave — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 15:26:02 +0000

Life is a madrigal or a dirge, according to the singer’s temperament.

Minna Antrim (1861–1950) American epigrammatist, writer
Naked Truth and Veiled Allusions (1902)
(Source)

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 2, st. 24 (1812)

Dave — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 15:26:27 +0000

None are so desolate but something dear,
Dearer than self, possesses or possess’d
A thought, and claims the homage of a tear.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824) English poet
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 2, st. 24 (1812)
(Source)

Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 157 (1850 ed.) [tr. Collins (1928), ch. 22]

Dave — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 17:16:56 +0000

We find a book eloquent not only when it forms our emotions, but also when it fortifies our opinions.

[Nous trouvons éloquent dans les livres, non-seulement tout ce qui augmente nos passions, mais aussi tout ce qui augmente nos opinions.]

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 157 (1850 ed.) [tr. Collins (1928), ch. 22]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Another translation:

In books we take for eloquence not only all that strengthens our passions, but also whatever strengthens our opinions. [tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 22, ¶ 74]

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 9 (1963)

Dave — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 16:21:36 +0000

The neurotic doesn’t know how to cope with his emotional bills; some he keeps paying over and over, others he never pays at all.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 9 (1963)
(Source)

Jerome, Jerome K. -- Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Eating and Drinking” (1886)

Dave — Tue, 28 May 2024 14:15:41 +0000

Foolish people, I say, then, who have never experienced much of either, will tell you that mental distress is far more agonizing than bodily. Romantic and touching theory! so comforting to the love-sick young sprig who looks down patronizingly at some poor devil with a white starved face and thinks to himself, “Ah, how happy you are compared with me!” — so soothing to fat old gentlemen who cackle about the superiority of poverty over riches. But it is all nonsense — all cant. An aching head soon makes one forget an aching heart. A broken finger will drive away all recollections of an empty chair. And when a man feels really hungry he does not feel anything else.

Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) English writer, humorist [Jerome Klapka Jerome]
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Eating and Drinking” (1886)
(Source)

Ginott, Haim -- Between Parent and Child, Introduction (2003 ed.) [with A. Ginott and H. W. Goddard]

Dave — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 20:22:53 +0000

Like a trained surgeon who is careful where he cuts, parents, too, need to become skilled in the use of words. Because words are like knives. They can inflict, if not physical, many painful emotional wounds.

Haim Ginott (1922–1973) Israeli-American school teacher, child psychologist, psychotherapist [b. Haim Ginzburg]
Between Parent and Child, Introduction (2003 ed.) [with A. Ginott and H. W. Goddard]
(Source)

See Howell (1659).

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 8 (1963)

Dave — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 16:03:50 +0000

Despair is anger with no place to go.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 8 (1963)
(Source)

Fitzgerald, F. Scott -- Comment to Sheilah Graham (c. 1938)

Dave — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 21:00:03 +0000

That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American writer [Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald]
Comment to Sheilah Graham (c. 1938)

Quoted in her book, Beloved Infidel: The Education of a Woman, ch. 22 (1958). Variant, in the 1959 film adaptation of the book:

The beauty of literature is that it’s ageless. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.

See also Baldwin.

More discussion of this quotation: That Is Part of the Beauty of All Literature. You Discover that Your Longings Are Universal Longings – Quote Investigator.

Bronowski, Jacob -- “The Abacus and the Rose” [Potts], Science and Human Values (1965 ed.)

Dave — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 17:54:59 +0000

I, having built a house, reject
The feud of eye and intellect,
And find in my experience proof
One pleasure runs from root to roof,
One thrust along a streamline arches
The sudden star, the budding larches.

The force that makes the winter grow
Its feathered hexagons of snow,
and drives the bee to match at home
Their calculated honeycomb,
Is abacus and rose combined.
An icy sweetness fills my mind,

A sense that under thing and wing
Lies, taut yet living, coiled, the spring.

Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) Polish-English humanist and mathematician
“The Abacus and the Rose” [Potts], Science and Human Values (1965 ed.)
(Source)

Aristotle -- Rhetoric [Ῥητορική; Ars Rhetorica], Book 2, ch. 4, sec. 3 (2.4.3) / 1381a (350 BC) [tr. Jebb (1873)]

Dave — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 16:30:30 +0000

A friend is one who rejoices in our good and grieves for our pain, and this purely on our own account.

[τούτων δὲ ὑποκειμένων ἀνάγκη φίλον εἶναι τὸν συνηδόμενον τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς καὶ συναλγοῦντα τοῖς λυπηροῖς μὴ διά τι ἕτερον ἀλλὰ δι᾽ ἐκεῖνον.]

Aristotle (384–322 BC) Greek philosopher
Rhetoric [Ῥητορική; Ars Rhetorica], Book 2, ch. 4, sec. 3 (2.4.3) / 1381a (350 BC) [tr. Jebb (1873)]
(Source)

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

"He who rejoices with one in prosperity, and sympathises with one in pain, not with a view to anything else but for his friend's sake, is a friend." [Source (1847)]

"One who participates in another's joy at good fortune, and in his sorry at what aggrieves him, not from any other motive, but simply for his sake, is his friend." [tr. Buckley (1850)]

"Your friend is the sort of man who shares your pleasure in what is good and your pain in what is unpleasant, for your sake and for no other reason." [tr. Roberts (1924)]

"He is a friend who shares our joy in good fortune and our sorrow in affliction, for our own sake and not for any other reason." [tr. Freese (1926)]

"The following people are our friends: those who share our pleasure when good things happen and our distress when bad things happen for no other reason than for our sake." [tr. Waterfield (2018)]

"A friend is one who shares in the other fellow's pleasure at the good things and his pain at what is grievous, for no other reason than that fellow's sake." [tr. Bartlett (2019)]

"A friend is someone who is a partner in our happiness and a partner in our sorrow not for any other reason but for friendship." [tr. @sentantiq (2019)]

Orwell, George -- Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)

Dave — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 14:22:05 +0000

Political or military commentators, like astrologers, can survive almost any mistake, because their more devoted followers do not look to them for an appraisal of the facts but for the stimulation of nationalistic loyalties.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)
(Source)

Arendt, Hannah -- Interview (1973-10) with Roger Errera, Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF)

Dave — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 23:56:24 +0000

Totalitarianism appeals to the very dangerous emotional needs of people who live in complete isolation and in fear of one another.

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Interview (1973-10) with Roger Errera, Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF)

This portion of the interview was published in The New York Review of Books (1978-10-26).

Other parts of the interview were turned into an episode of the French TV series "Un certain regard," directed by Jean-Claude Lubtchansky, first broadcast 1974-07-06.

Jung, Carl -- Lecture (1942-12), “The Gifted Child [Der Begabte],” Basel School Council, Switzerland [tr. Hull (1954)]

Dave — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 23:31:15 +0000

One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.

Carl Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychologist
Lecture (1942-12), “The Gifted Child [Der Begabte],” Basel School Council, Switzerland [tr. Hull (1954)]
(Source)

Reprinted in Schweitzer Erziehungs Rundschau, 16 (1943) and Psychologie und Erziehung (1946), finally collected in The Development of Personality, ch. 5 (1954) [tr. Hull].

Post, Emily -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 16:12:52 +0000

Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.

Emily Post (1872–1960) American author, columnist [née Price]
(Attributed)

Often cited to her famous Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home (1922), but not found in that work. Claimed as genuine by the Emily Post Institute.

Beecher, Henry Ward -- Life Thoughts (1858)

Dave — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 00:39:35 +0000

The way to avoid evil is not by maiming our passions, but by compelling them to yield their vigor to our moral nature. Thus they become, as in the ancient fable, the harnessed steeds which bear the chariot of the sun.

Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) American clergyman and orator
Life Thoughts (1858)
(Source)

King, Martin Luther -- Sermon (1957-11-17), “Loving Your Enemies,” Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery

Dave — Sat, 01 Jul 2017 01:38:54 +0000

In the final analysis, love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It’s not merely an emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Sermon (1957-11-17), “Loving Your Enemies,” Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery
(Source)

Marcus Aurelius -- Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 11, ch. 18 (11.18) (AD 161-180) [tr. Staniforth (1964)]

Dave — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 15:42:10 +0000

Our anger and annoyance are more detrimental to us than the things themselves which anger or annoy us.

[Ὄγδοον, ὅσῳ χαλεπώτερα ἐπιφέρουσιν αἱ ὀργαὶ καὶ λῦπαι αἱ ἐπὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις, ἤπερ αὐτά ἐστιν ἐφ’ οἷς ὀργιζόμεθα καὶ λυπούμεθα.]

Marcus Aurelius (AD 121–180) Roman emperor (161–180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 11, ch. 18 (11.18) (AD 161-180) [tr. Staniforth (1964)]
(Source)

One of the points to consider when evaluating how others are behaving, especially when it makes us angry or aggravated.

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

How many things may and do oftentimes follow upon such fits of anger and grief; far more grievous in themselves, than those very things which we are so grieved or angry for.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 11.15]

Consider that our anger and impatience often proves much more mischievous than the provocation could possibly have done.
[tr. Collier (1701)]

What worse evils we suffer by anger and sorrow for such things, than by the things themselves about which those passions rise.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]

Consider, how much more we suffer from our anger and grief on those occasions, than from the things themselves which excite our anger or our grief.
[tr. Graves (1792)]

Consider how much more pain is brought on us by the anger and vexation caused by such acts than by the acts themselves, at which we are angry and vexed.
[tr. Long (1862)]

Consider that our anger and impatience often prove much more mischievous than the things about which we are angry or impatient.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]

How much mroe unconscionable are our anger and vexation at the acts, than the acts which make us angry and vexed!
[tr. Rendall (1898)]

How much worse evils we suffer from anger and grief about certain things than from the things themselves about which these passions arise.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]

Bethink thee how much more grievous are the consequences of our anger and vexation at such actions than are the acts themselves which arouse that anger and vexation.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]

How much more grievous are what fits of anger and the consequent sorrows bring than the actual things are which produce in us those angry fits and sorrows.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]

The anger and distress that we feel at such behaviour brings us more suffering than the very things that give rise to that anger and distress.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.), (2011 ed.)]

How much more damage anger and grief do than the things that cause them.
[tr. Hays (2003)]

The greater grief comes from the consequent anger and pain, rather than the original causes of our anger and pain.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]

Anger and the sorrow it produces are far more harmful than the things that make us angry.
[tr. Needleman/Piazza (2008)]

Carlyle, Thomas -- Lecture (1840-05-05), “The Hero as Divinity,” Home House, Portman Square, London

Dave — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:20:08 +0000

The thoughts they had were the parents of the actions they did; their feelings were the parents of their thoughts.

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-05), “The Hero as Divinity,” Home House, Portman Square, London
(Source)

The lecture notes were collected by Carlyle into On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, Lecture 1 (1841).

Hobbes, Thomas -- Leviathan, Part 1, ch. 11 (1651)

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

From the same it proceedeth that men give different names to one and the same thing from the difference of their own passions: as they that approve a private opinion call it opinion; but they that mislike it, heresy: and yet heresy signifies no more than private opinion; but has only a greater tincture of choler.

Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) English philosopher
Leviathan, Part 1, ch. 11 (1651)
(Source)