WIST Quotations

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1877-11 (1877 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:32:38 +0000

Biographys are delitesum reading, we kompare all the virtews ov the persons karakter with our own, and all hiz failings with our nabors.

[Biographies are delightsome reading; we compare all the virtues of the person’s character with our own, and all his failings with our neighbors.]

Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1877-11 (1877 ed.)

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1880-01/02?), “Reflections and Remarks on Human Life,” § 4.6 “Solitude and Society”

Dave — Fri, 15 May 2026 17:23:42 +0000

Solitude is the climax of the negative virtues. When we go to bed after a solitary day we can tell ourselves that we have not been unkind nor dishonest nor untruthful; and the negative virtues are agreeable to that dangerous faculty we call the conscience. That they should ever be admitted for a part of virtue is what I cannot explain. I do not care two straws for all the nots.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1880-01/02?), “Reflections and Remarks on Human Life,” § 4.6 “Solitude and Society”

A collection of aphorisms and musings, first published in the Edinburgh Edition of his Works, vol. 28 (1898).

Moliere -- Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite [Le Tartuffe, ou L’Imposteur], Act 4, sc. 3 (1669) [tr. Wilbur (1963)]

Dave — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 21:03:41 +0000

ELMIRE: No, amorous men are gullible. Their conceit
So blinds them that they’re never hard to cheat.

[Non; on est aisément dupé par ce qu’on aime.
Et l’amour-propre engage à se tromper soi-même.]

Molière (1622–1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite [Le Tartuffe, ou L’Imposteur], Act 4, sc. 3 (1669) [tr. Wilbur (1963)]

When her maid is concerned that Tartuffe will see through Elmire's stratagem.

(Source (French)). Other translations:

No, People are easily Dup'd by what they love, and Self-love helps 'em to deceive themselves.
[tr. Clitandre (1672)]

No; people are easily duped by those whom they love, and conceit is apt to deceive itself.
[tr. Van Laun (1876)]

No, we are easily duped by those we love, and we deceive ourselves through our own conceit.
[tr. Wall (1879)]

No, people are easily duped by what they like; and self-love helps them to deceive themselves.
[tr. Mathew (1890), 4.2]

No; people are easily duped by those whom they love. Self-love leads the way to self-deceit.
[tr. Waller (1903)]

Oh no! A lover's never hard to cheat,
And self-conceit leads straight to self-deceit.
[tr. Page (1909)]

No, one is easily fooled by one's belovèd,
And self-conceit will end in self-deception.
[tr. Bishop (1957)]

Oh, no! A lover is not hard to cheat,
And self-deception springs from self-conceit.
[tr. Frame (1967)]

He loves me, and he's also vain,
That double drug will dull his brain.
[tr. Bolt (2002)]

No, it's easy to be fooled by what we want; our vanity is always ready to betray us.
[tr. Steiner (2008)]

We long to be fooled by the one we love,
And pride lends a hand in its own downfall.
[tr. Campbell (2013)]

Wills, Garry -- The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power, ch. 18 (1981)

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

This is always the danger with propaganda, that it becomes at last more credible to its disseminators than to its targets.

Garry Wills (b. 1934) American author, journalist, historian
The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power, ch. 18 (1981)

Referring to US government efforts in the early 60s to paint Castro's regime in Cuba as weak, eventually leading to the US government itself thinking the regime could be easily toppled.