Brodsky, Joseph -- “Speech at the Stadium,” Commencement Address, University of Michigan (18 Dec 1988)

Dave — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 18:39:50 +0000

Now and in the time to be, I think it will pay for you to zero in on being precise with your language. Try to build and treat your vocabulary the way you are to treat your checking account. Pay every attention to it and try to increase your earnings. The purpose here is not to boost your bedroom eloquence or your professional success — although those, too, can be consequences — nor is it to turn you into parlor sophisticates. The purpose is to enable you to articulate yourselves as fully and precisely as possible; in a word, the purpose is your balance.

Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996) Russian-American poet, essayist, Nobel laureate, US Poet Laureate [Iosif Aleksandrovič Brodskij]
“Speech at the Stadium,” Commencement Address, University of Michigan (18 Dec 1988)
(Source)

Hugo, Victor -- Ninety-Three [Quatrevingt-Treize], Part 3, Book 7, ch. 5 (1874) [tr. (1962)]

Dave — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:43:30 +0000

To put everything in balance is good, to put everything in harmony is better. Above the scales there’s the lyre.

[Mettre tout en équilibre, c’est bien; mettre tout en harmonie, c’est mieux. Au-dessus de la balance il y a la lyre.]

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician
Ninety-Three [Quatrevingt-Treize], Part 3, Book 7, ch. 5 (1874) [tr. (1962)]
(Source)

Gauvain, arguing for a "republic of the ideal" rather than Cimourdain's law-focused "republic of the absolute."

(Source (French)). Other translations:

Putting everything in equilibrium is good; making everything harmonious is better. Above the scales is the lyre.
[tr. Dole (1885)]

An accurate adjustment of proportions is a good thing, but harmony is still better. The lyre stands higher than the scales.
[tr. Delano (1888)]

To set all in equilibrium, is well; to put all in harmony, it is better. Above the balance is the lyre.
[tr. Gray (1903)]

To set all in equilibrium, it is well; to put all in harmony, it is better. Above the Balance is the Lyre.
[tr. Gray/Benedict (1988)]

WIST Quotations

Brodsky, Joseph -- “Speech at the Stadium,” Commencement Address, University of Michigan (18 Dec 1988)

Hugo, Victor -- Ninety-Three [Quatrevingt-Treize], Part 3, Book 7, ch. 5 (1874) [tr. (1962)]