WIST Quotations

La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶211 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]

Dave — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 19:42:09 +0000

There are people who resemble popular songs: they are sung for a time and then forgotten.

[Il y a des gens qui ressemblent aux vaudevilles, qu’on ne chante qu’un certain temps.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶211 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]
(Source)

The manuscripts of some early editions included a clause about those popular songs being distasteful (as seen in some of the translations below), but the phrase was not in the final (1678) edition:

[Il y a des gens qui ressemblent aux vaudevilles, que tout le monde chante un certain temps, quelques fades et dégoûtants qu’ils soient.]

(Source (French)). Other translations:

There are a sort of people may be compar'd to those trivial Songs, which all are in an humour to sing for a certain time, how flat and distasteful soever they may be.
[tr. Davies (1669), ¶64]

Some Men are like Ballads, that every body Sings at one time or other, though they be never so dull and insipid.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶212]

There are people who, like new songs, are in vogue only for a time.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶454; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶202]

There are those, who, like new songs, are favourites only for a time.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶491]

Some people resemble ballads, which are only sung for a certain time.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶220]

There are people who are like farces, which are praised but for a time (however foolish and distasteful they may be).
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶211]

Some people are like rag-time -- their popularity is short-lived.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶216]

Some people are like popular songs, which are sung only for a season.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶211]

Some people are like a popular song, taken up only for a time.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶211]

Some people are like popular songs that you only sing for a short time.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶211]

There are people who resemble certain kinds of popular music, which are sung only for a certain time, however insipid and disgusting they may be, and then forgotten.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶211]

Martial -- Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 6, epigram 79 (6.79) (AD 91) [tr. B. Hill (1972)]

Dave — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:01:34 +0000

Lucky yet sad? My friend, should Fortune find
You lacking gratitude, she’ll change her mind.

[Tristis es et felix. Sciat hoc Fortuna caveto:
Ingratum dicet te, Lupe, si scierit.]

Martial (AD c.39-c.103) Spanish Roman poet, satirist, epigrammatist [Marcus Valerius Martialis]
Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 6, epigram 79 (6.79) (AD 91) [tr. B. Hill (1972)]
(Source)

"To Lupus." (Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Th' art rich & sad; take heed lest fortune know;
She 'll call th' unthankefull, Lupus, if she do.
[tr. May (1629)]

How? sad and rich? Beware lest Fortune catch
Thee, Lupus, then she'll call thee thankless wretch.
[tr. Fletcher (1656)]

Th'art rich and sad; take heed lest Fortune see,
And, as ungrateful, do proceed with thee.
[tr. Killigrew (1695)]

What! sad and successfull! let Fortune not know.
Ingrate! would she brand thee, did she see thee so.
[tr. Elphinston (1782), Book 12, ep. 88]

You are sad in the midst of every blessing. Take care that Fortune does not observe, or she will call you ungrateful.
[tr. Bohn's Classical (1859)]

You are sad, although fortunate. Take care Fortune does not know this; "Ingrate" will be her name for you, Lupus, if she knows.
[tr. Ker (1919)]

In spite of your luck you seem gloomy of late:
Take care, or Dame Fortune will dub you 'Ingrate.'
[tr. Pott & Wright (1921)]

You are sad and lucky. Mind you don't let Fortune know. She will call you ungrateful, Lupus, if she gets to know.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1993)]

Lupus, you're sad, though lucky. Don't disclose it.
Fortune will call you thankless if she knows it.
[tr. McLean (2014)]

You've got it all, Lupus, but you're glum, moping, dour.
Do you want Fortune to think you're ungrateful to her?
[tr. D. Hill (2023)]

Montaigne, Michel de -- The Autobiography of Michel de Montaigne, ch. 34 [ed. Marven Lowenthal (1935)]

Dave — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 13:25:50 +0000

The man who makes it his business to please the multitude is never done.

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
The Autobiography of Michel de Montaigne, ch. 34 [ed. Marven Lowenthal (1935)]
(Source)

Lowenthal created an "autobiography" from the wide array of first-person statements, experiences, and observations made by Montaigne across his essays, letters, etc. I have been unable to find from where this particular statement is translated or interpolated.

Virgil -- The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 4, l. 569ff (4.469-570) [Mercury] (29-19 BC) [tr. Cranch (1872)]

Dave — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:10:26 +0000

A woman is a fickle, changeful thing!

[Varium et mutabile semper
femina.]

Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 4, l. 569ff (4.469-570) [Mercury] (29-19 BC) [tr. Cranch (1872)]
(Source)

Warning Aeneas that Dido is likely to attack Aeneas' forces now that she knows he is deserting her.

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Still inconstant is a womans minde.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]

Who knows what hazards thy delay may bring?
Woman's a various and a changeful thing.
[tr. Dryden (1697)]

Woman is a fickle and ever changeable creature.
[tr. Davidson/Buckley (1854)]

Away to sea! a woman's will
Is changeful and uncertain still.
[tr. Conington (1866)]

Woman is ever a fickle and changing thing.
[tr. Mackail (1885)]

For woman's heart is shifting evermore.
[tr. Morris (1900)]

Away!
Changeful is woman's mood, and varying with the day.
[tr. Taylor (1907), st. 73]

A mutable and shifting thing
is woman ever.
[tr. Williams (1910)]

A fickle and changeful thing is woman ever.
[tr. Fairclough (1916)]

A shifty, fickle object
Is woman, always.
[tr. Humphries (1951)]

Woman was ever
A veering, weathercock creature.
[tr. Day-Lewis (1952)]

An ever
uncertain and inconsistent thing is woman.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1971), l. 786-87]

Woman's a thing
Forever fitful and forever changing.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1981)]

Women are unstable creatures, always changing.
[tr. West (1990)]

Woman is ever fickle and changeable.
[tr. Kline (2002)]

A woman is a fickle and worrisome thing.
[tr. Lombardo (2005)]

Woman’s a thing
that’s always changing, shifting like the wind.
[tr. Fagles (2006), l. 710-11]

Females are a fickle thing, always prone to change.
[tr. Bartsch (2021)]