WIST Quotations

Shelley, Percy Bysshe -- Poem (1820), “Death,” st. 3, Posthumous Poems (1824)

Dave — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 18:12:12 +0000

First our pleasures die — and then
Our hopes, and then our fears — and when
These are dead, the debt is due,
Dust claims dust — and we die too.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) English poet
Poem (1820), “Death,” st. 3, Posthumous Poems (1824)
(Source)

Yeats, William Butler -- “In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz” (1927)

Dave — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 18:22:26 +0000

The innocent and the beautiful
Have no enemy but time.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet and dramatist
“In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz” (1927)
(Source)

Counsel, Edward -- Maxims: Political, Philosophical, and Moral, #541 (2nd ed., 1892)

Dave — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 16:57:59 +0000

Beauty is but a lease from nature.

Edward Counsel (fl. 19th C) Australian author, composer
Maxims: Political, Philosophical, and Moral, #541 (2nd ed., 1892)
(Source)

Thorndike, Edward -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 22:27:56 +0000

Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure.

Edward Thorndike (1874-1949) American psychologist, educator
(Attributed)

Browne, Thomas -- Hydriotaphia, or Urne-Buriall, ch. 5 (1658)

Dave — Mon, 29 May 2017 18:53:58 +0000

Darkness and light divide the course of time, and oblivion shares with memory a great part even of our living beings; we slightly remember our felicities, and the smartest strokes of affliction leave but short smart upon us. Sense endureth no extremities and sorrows destroy us or themselves. To weep into Stones are fables. Afflictions induce callousities, miseries are slippery, or fall like Snow upon us, which notwithstanding is no unhappy stupidity. To be ignorant of evils to come, and forgetful of evils past, is a merciful provision in nature, whereby we digest the mixture of our few and evil days, and our delivered senses not relapsing into cutting remembrances, our sorrows are not kept raw by the edge of repetitions.

Thomas Browne (1605-1682) English physician and author
Hydriotaphia, or Urne-Buriall, ch. 5 (1658)
(Source)

Sallust -- Bellum Catilinae [The War of Catiline; The Conspiracy of Catiline], ch. 1, sent. 4 [tr. Rolfe (1931)]

Dave — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 12:14:37 +0000

For the renown which riches or beauty confer is fleeting and frail; mental excellence is a splendid and lasting possession.

[Nam divitiarum et formae gloria fluxa atque fragilis est, virtus clara aeternaque habetur.]

Sallust (c. 86-35 BC) Roman historian and politician [Gaius Sallustius Crispus]
Bellum Catilinae [The War of Catiline; The Conspiracy of Catiline], ch. 1, sent. 4 [tr. Rolfe (1931)]
(Source)

Original Latin. Alt. trans.:

"For what are all the advantages of wealth, and all the graces of form and feature? mere precarious gifts, that soon fade and moulder away. It is virtue, and virtue only, that ennobles the human character, and lives in the memory of the after-times." [tr. Murphy (1807)]
"For the splendour derived from riches and beauty is short-lived and frail, virtue alone confers immortality." [tr. Rose (1831)
"For the glory of riches and beauty is fickle and frail; virtue is accounted bright and everlasting." [Source (1841)]
"For the glory of wealth and beauty is fleeting and perishable; that of intellectual power is illustrious and immortal." [tr. Watson (1867)]
"The glory of wealth and beauty is fleeting and frail, but personal merit is held in eternal honour." [tr. Pollard (1882)]
"The glory of riches and appearance is fleeting and fragile, but to have prowess is something distinguished and everlasting. [tr. Woodman (2007)]
"For the fame of riches and beauty is fickle and frail, while virtue is eternally excellent."