WIST Quotations

Einstein, Albert -- Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 1, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]

Dave — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 22:08:04 +0000

I salute the man who is going through life always helpful, knowing no fear, and to whom aggressiveness and resentment are alien. Such is the stuff of which the great moral leaders are made who proffer consolation to mankind in their self-created miseries.

[Heil dem Manne, der stets helfend durchs Leben ging, keine Furcht kannte und dem jede Aggressivität und jedes Ressentiment fremd war! Von solchem Holz sind die Idealgestalten geschnitzt, die der Menschheit Trost bieten in den Situationen selbstgeschaffenen Leidens.]

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 1, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]
(Source)

(Source (German))

Leo Baeck (1873-1956) was a noted a German rabbi, scholar, and theologian.

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1744 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:08:17 +0000

If you’d be belov’d, make yourself amiable.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1744 ed.)
(Source)

Antrim, Minna -- Sweethearts and Beaux (1905)

Dave — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 17:41:44 +0000

Wives who are chummy with their husbands are apt to live contented lives.

Minna Antrim (1861-1950) American epigrammatist, writer
Sweethearts and Beaux (1905)
(Source)

Della Casa, Giovanni -- Galateo: Or, A Treatise on Politeness and Delicacy of Manners [Il Galateo overo de’ costumi], ch. 9 (1558) [tr. Einsenbichler/Bartlett (1986)]

Dave — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 15:13:12 +0000

I want you to know that a man is considered pleasant if his manners conform to the common practices between friends, whereas someone who is eccentric will, in all situations, appear to be a stranger, that is, alien. On the contrary, men who are affable and polite will appear to have friends and acquaintances wherever they may be.

[E sappi che colui è piacevole i cui modi sono tali nell’usanza comune, quali costumano di tenere gli amici infra di loro, là dove chi è strano pare in ciascun luogo «straniero», che tanto viene a dire come «forestiero»; sì come i domestici uomini, per lo contrario, pare che siano ovunque vadano conoscenti et amici di ciascuno.]

Giovanni della Casa (1503-1556) Florentine poet, author, diplomat, bishop
Galateo: Or, A Treatise on Politeness and Delicacy of Manners [Il Galateo overo de’ costumi], ch. 9 (1558) [tr. Einsenbichler/Bartlett (1986)]
(Source)

(Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:

And you must understand, that he is pleasaunt and courteous: whose manners bee suche in his common behaviour, as practise to keepe, and maintaine him friendeship amongst them: where hee that is solleyne and way warde, makes him selfe a straunger whersoever hee comes: a straunger, I meane, as much as a forreigne or alienborne.
[tr. Peterson (1576)]

We ought to esteem him alone an agreeable and good-natured man, who, in his daily intercourse with others, behaves in such a manner as friends usually behave to each other. For as a person of that rustic character appears, wherever he comes, like a mere stranger: so, on the contrary, a polite man, wherever he goes, seems as easy as if he were amongst his intimate friends and acquaintance.
[tr. Graves (1774)]

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1843-02-22), Temperance Address, Washington Temperance Society, Second Presbyterian Church, Springfield, Illinois

Dave — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 20:33:36 +0000

When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and a true maxim, that a “drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.” So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the great high road to his reason, and which, when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause really be a just one.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1843-02-22), Temperance Address, Washington Temperance Society, Second Presbyterian Church, Springfield, Illinois
(Source)

Reported in the Sangamo Journal (1843-03-25).

Adams, John -- Diary (1779-02-09)

Dave — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 18:30:46 +0000

Virtue is not always amiable.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Diary (1779-02-09)
(Source)

Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #298, enclosed maxims (15 Jan 1758)

Dave — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 23:59:37 +0000

A cheerful, easy countenance and behavior are very useful: they make fools think you a good-natured man, and they make designing men think you an undesigning one.

Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #298, enclosed maxims (15 Jan 1758)
(Source)

Labeled as letter #297 in the linked source, but #298 in the volume I am using as reference, which does not include the maxims.

Rogers, Will -- Motto

Dave — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:28:39 +0000

I never met a man I didn’t like.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Motto
(Source)

Rogers' first use of the phrase in writing comes from "Letters of a Self-Made Diplomat to His President," Saturday Evening Post (1926-11-06):

I bet you if I had met him and had a chat with him, I would have found him a very interesting and human fellow, for I never yet met a man that I dident like. When you meet people, no matter what opinion you might have formed about them beforehand, why, after you meet them and see their angle and their personality, why, you can see a lot of good in all of them.

(Misspelling of "didn't" in the original.) Rogers was writing of his regrets over not having met Leon Trotsky while visiting the Soviet Union. The article was incorporated into a book Rogers published about the trip, "There's Not a Bathing Suit in Russia & Other Bare Facts, ch. 4 (1927).

Two other early references, the first from his "Weekly Article" column (1930-06-29):

You know I have often said in answer to inquiries as to how I got away with kidding some of our public men, that it was because I liked all of them personally, and that if there was no malice in your heart there could be none in your "Gags," and I have always said I never met a man I didn't like.

And from a speech at a Boston church, the same month:

I’ve got my epitaph all worked out. When I’m tucked away in the old graveyard west of Oologah [Oklahoma], I hope they will cut this epitaph -- or whatever you call them signs they put over gravestones -- on it, 'Here lies Will Rogers. He joked about every prominent man in his time, but he never met a man he didn’t like.'

That reference was picked up in AP news stories, and Rogers used the phrase for the rest of his life.

More info on Rogers' motto and the above quotations: here, here, and here.

Twain, Mark -- The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, ch. 16 (1896)

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

He liked to like people, therefore people liked him.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, ch. 16 (1896)
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1841), “Friendship,” Essays: First Series, No. 6

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Friendship,” Essays: First Series, No. 6
(Source)