WIST Quotations

Hoffer, Eric -- True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 2, ch. 5, § 34 (2.5.34) (1951)

Dave — Thu, 28 May 2026 15:57:29 +0000

A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrine and promises but by the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness and meaninglessness of an individual existence. It cures the poignantly frustrated not by conferring on them an absolute truth or by remedying the difficulties and abuses which made their lives miserable, but by freeing them from their ineffectual selves — and it does this by enfolding and absorbing them into a closely knit and exultant corporate whole.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 2, ch. 5, § 34 (2.5.34) (1951)
(Source)

Marcus Aurelius -- Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 11, ch. 18 (11.18) (AD 161-180) [tr. Staniforth (1964)]

Dave — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 17:25:27 +0000

Tell yourself, when you feel exasperated and out of all patience, that this mortal life endures but a moment; it will not be long before we shall one and all have been laid to rest.

[ὅταν λίαν ἀγανακτῇς ἢ καὶ δυσπαθῇς, ἀκαριαῖος ὁ ἀνθρώπειος βίος καὶ μετ᾿ ὀλίγον πάντες ἐξετάθημεν.]

Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 11, ch. 18 (11.18) (AD 161-180) [tr. Staniforth (1964)]
(Source)

Marcus' 6th point to remember when aggravated by another's actions.

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

That whensoever thou doest take on grievously, or makest great woe, little doest thou remember then that a man's life is but for a moment of time, and that within a while we shall all be in our graves.
[tr. Casaubon (1634)]

When you are most Angry and Gall'd, remember that Humane Life lasts but a Moment, and that we shall all of us very quickly , be laid in our Graves.
[tr. Collier (1701)]

When your anger and resentment is highest, remember human life is but for a moment. We shall be all presently stretched out dead corpses.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]

When you are excessively provoked and suffer some real injury, reflect that human life is but of a moment's duration, and that in a short time we shall all be laid in our tombes together.
[tr. Graves (1792)]

Consider when thou art much vexed or grieved, that man's life is only a moment, and after a short time we are all laid out dead.
[tr. Long (1862)]

When you are most angry and vexed remember that human life lasts but a moment, and that we shall all of us very quickly be laid in our graves.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]

When sorely provoked and out of patience, remember that man's life is but for a moment; a little while, and we all lie stretched in death.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]

When you are vexed or worried overmuch, remember that man’s life is but for a moment, and that in a little we shall all be laid to rest.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]

When thou art above measure angry or even out of patience, bethink thee that man's life is momentary, and in a little while we shall all have been laid out.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]

When you are highly indignant or actually suffering, that man's life is but a moment, and in a little we are one and all laid low in death.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]

When you are annoyed beyond measure and losing all patience, remember that human life lasts but a moment, and that in a short while we shall all have been laid to rest.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed. and 2011 ed.)]

When you lose your temper, or even feel irritated: that human life is very short. Before long all of us will be laid out side by side.
[tr. Hays (2003)]

When you are high in indignation and perhaps losing patience, remember that human life is a mere fragment of time and shortly we are all in our grave.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]

Whenever you are excessively disturbed or even suffering, remember that human life lasts only a moment and that in a short time we will all be laid out for burial.
[tr. Needleman/Piazza (2008)]

Whenever you are really angry and upset, [remember] that human life is short and soon we will all be in the ground.
[tr. @sentantiq (2020)]

Knebel, Fletcher -- Seven Days in May, “Tuesday Afternoon” [Lyman] (1962)[with Charles W. Bailey II]

Dave — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 16:29:54 +0000

But a democracy is different. Each of us has got to feel that we can influence events, no matter how slight the influence. When people start believing they can’t they get frustrated, and angry. They feel helpless and they start going to extremes.

Fletcher Knebel (1911-1993) American author
Seven Days in May, “Tuesday Afternoon” [Lyman] (1962)[with Charles W. Bailey II]
(Source)

Russell, Bertrand -- Conquest of Happiness, Part 1, ch. 1 “What Makes People Unhappy?” (1930)

Dave — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 16:34:00 +0000

A man may feel so completely thwarted that he seeks no form of satisfaction, but only distraction and oblivion. He then becomes a devotee of “pleasure.” That is to say, he seeks to make life bearable by becoming less alive. Drunkenness, for example, is temporary suicide: the happiness that it brings is merely negative, a momentary cessation of unhappiness.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 1, ch. 1 “What Makes People Unhappy?” (1930)
(Source)

Catullus -- Carmina # 85 [tr. Symons-Jeune (1923)]

Dave — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 19:51:58 +0000

“I love and hate.” “At once?” you ask, “Now pray explain.”
“I know not how; I feel ’tis so, I’m rent in twain.”

[Odi et amo. quare id faciam fortasse requiris
nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.]

Catullus (c. 84 BC – c. 54 BC) Latin poet [Gaius Valerius Catullus]
Carmina # 85 [tr. Symons-Jeune (1923)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Tho' I hate, yet I love! -- you'll perhaps ask me, how?
I can't tell; but I'm vext, and feel that I do.
[tr. Nott (1795), # 82 "On His Love"]

I hate and love -- ask why -- I can't explain,
I feel 'tis so, and feel it racking pain.
[tr. Lamb (1821), "On His Own Love"]

I hate and love -- wherefore I cannot tell,
But by my tortures know the fact too well.
[tr. T. Martin (1861), "Love's Unreason"]

I have and love. "Why do I so?"
Perhaps you ask. I can't explain:
The bitter fact I only know,
And torture racks my brain.
[tr. Cranstoun (1867), "On His Love"]

Half I hate, half love. How so? one haply requireth.
Nay, I know not; alas feel it, in agony groan.
[tr. Ellis (1871)]

Hate I, and love I. Haps thou'lt ask me wherefore I do so.
Wot I not, yet so I do feeling a torture of pain.
[tr. Burton (1893), "How the Poet Loves"]

I hate and I love. Why I do this, perhaps you ask. I know not, but I feel it happening and I am tortured.
[tr. Smithers (1894)]

I hate and love. Why I do so, perhaps you ask. I know not, but I feel it, and I am in torment.
[tr. Warre Cornish (1904)]

I hate and yet I love; perhaps you ask how this can be. I do not know, but that it is so I feel too well, and live in torment.
[tr. Stuttaford (1912)]

I hate and love. You question "How?" I lack
An answer, but I feel it on the rack.
[tr. MacNaghten (1925)]

I hate and love, nor can the reason tell;
But that I love and hate I know too well.
[tr. Wright (1926), "Odi et Amo"]

I hate and love.
And if you ask me why,
I have no answer, but I discern,
can feel, my senses rooted in eternal torture.
[tr. Gregory (1931)]

I hate & love. And if you should ask how I can do both,
I couldn't say; but I feel it, and it shivers me.
[tr. C. Martin (1979)]

I hate and love. And why, perhaps you’ll ask.
I don’t know: but I feel, and I’m tormented.
[tr. Kline (2001), "Love-Hate"]

I hate and love. You wonder, perhaps, why I'd do that?
I have no idea. I just feel it. I am crucified.
[tr. Green (2005)]

I hate and I love. How do I do that, perhaps you ask?
I don't know. But I feel it is happening and I am tormented.
[tr. Wikibooks (2017)]

I hate and I love. Why I do this, perhaps you ask.
I do not know, but I feel it being done and I am tormented.
[tr. Wikisource (2018)]

I hate and I love: you might ask why I do this --
I don’t know, but I see it happen and it’s killing me.
[tr. @sententique (2023)]

I hate, I love; I love, I hate.
But why, you ask again.
I don't know if it's fault, or fate,
This such exquisite pain.
[tr. Hill (2024)]

La Bruyere, Jean de -- The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 6 “Of Gifts of Fortune [Des Biens de Fortune],” § 48 (6.48) (1688) [tr. Stewart (1970)]

Dave — Tue, 14 May 2024 15:04:22 +0000

We know that the poor are distressed by their many wants, and that nobody relieves them; but if the rich feel resentment, it is at lacking any single thing, or meeting with resistance from a single person.

[On sait que les pauvres sont chagrins de ce que tout leur manque, et que personne ne les soulage; mais s’il est vrai que les riches soient colères, c’est de ce que la moindre chose puisse leur manquer, ou que quelqu’un veuille leur résister.]

Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 6 “Of Gifts of Fortune [Des Biens de Fortune],” § 48 (6.48) (1688) [tr. Stewart (1970)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

The Poor are troubled that they want all things, and no body comforts them. The Rich are angry that they can want the least thing, or that any one would resist them.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]

The Poor are troubled that they want every thing, and no body comforts them. The Rich are angry that they should want the least thing, or that any one should oppose them.
[Curll ed. (1713)]

The Grief of the Poor is, that they want all Things, and no body comforts them. The Rich are angry if they want the least Thing, is any one contradict or oppose them.
[Browne ed. (1752)]

It is well known that the poor are sad because they want everything and nobody comforts them; but if it be true that the rich are irascible, it is because they may want the smallest thing, or that some one might oppose them.
[tr. Van Laun (1885)]

Barzun, Jacques -- God’s Country and Mine, Part 3, ch. 12 (1954)

Dave — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 23:02:27 +0000

Many of us affect a tone of irony about gadgets, as if we lived always in realms above and dealt with trifles only during rare descents from sublime thoughts. The truth is that more and more of the important things in life turn on pinpoints. Our frustrations begin in trivialities — a telephone out of order, a car that will not start, a claim check whose number has been misread. The thing in cellophane that cannot be got at — plain to the sight but sealed like an egg — is the modern version of the torture of Tantalus. Catastrophes we will deal with like heroes, but the bottle top that defies us saps our morale, like the tiny arrows of the Lilliputians that maddened Gulliver and set his strength at naught.

Jacques Barzun (1907-2012) French-American historian, educator, polymath
God’s Country and Mine, Part 3, ch. 12 (1954)
(Source)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 8 (1963)

Dave — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 16:03:50 +0000

Despair is anger with no place to go.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 8 (1963)
(Source)

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- Lara, Canto 1, st. 3 (1814)

Dave — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 15:35:03 +0000

“Yet doth he live!” exclaims th’ impatient heir,
And sighs for sables which he must not wear.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Lara, Canto 1, st. 3 (1814)
(Source)

Lewis, John -- Twitter (15 Mar 2016)

Dave — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 17:32:45 +0000

People keep telling me they are frustrated and ask, “What can I do?” I say organize, get registered, and vote like you’ve never voted before.

John Lewis (1940-2020) American politician and civil rights leader
Twitter (15 Mar 2016)
(Source)

Lewis used the phrase multiple times in his career.

Shaw, George Bernard -- (Spurious)

Dave — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 20:17:24 +0000

Common sense is not a gift. It’s a punishment, because you have to deal with everyone who doesn’t have it.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish playwright and critic
(Spurious)

Author unknown. Frequently attributed to Shaw, but not found in his writing.

Senge, Peter -- The Fifth Discipline, Part 3, ch. 8 (1990)

Dave — Thu, 19 May 2022 17:58:05 +0000

Scratch the surface of most cynics and you find a frustrated idealist — someone who made the mistake of converting his ideals into expectations.

Peter Senge (b. 1947) American systems scientist, lecturer, academic
The Fifth Discipline, Part 3, ch. 8 (1990)
(Source)

Zelazny, Roger -- “Blood of Amber, ch. 2 (1986)

Dave — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 14:21:17 +0000

Life is full of doors that don’t open when you knock, equally spaced amid those that open when you don’t want them to.

Roger Zelazny (1937-1995) American writer
“Blood of Amber, ch. 2 (1986)
(Source)

King, Martin Luther -- Playboy interview (Jan 1965)

Dave — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 23:28:10 +0000

It is not a threat but a fact of history that if an oppressed people’s pent-up emotions are not nonviolently released, they will be violently released. So let the Negro march. Let him make pilgrimages to city hall. Let him go on freedom rides. And above all, make an effort to understand why he must do this. For if his frustration and despair are allowed to continue piling up, millions of Negroes will seek solace and security in black-nationalist ideologies. And this, inevitably, would lead to a frightening racial nightmare.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Playboy interview (Jan 1965)
(Source)

De Botton, Alain -- The Consolations of Philosophy, ch. 3 “Consolation for Frustration” (2000)

Dave — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 00:14:54 +0000

Rage is caused by a conviction, almost comic in its optimistic origins (however tragic in its effects), that a given frustration has not been written into the contract of life.

Alain de Botton (b. 1969) Swiss-British author
The Consolations of Philosophy, ch. 3 “Consolation for Frustration” (2000)
(Source)

Eliot, George -- Middlemarch, Book 3, ch. 24 (1871)

Dave — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 17:51:29 +0000

To have a discussion coolly waived when you feel that justice is all on your side is even more exasperating in marriage than in philosophy.

George Eliot (1819-1880) English novelist [pseud. of Mary Ann Evans]
Middlemarch, Book 3, ch. 24 (1871)
(Source)

De Botton, Alain -- The Consolations of Philosophy, ch. 3 “Consolation For Frustration” (2000)

Dave — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 18:35:25 +0000

Though the terrain of frustration may be vast — from a stubbed toe to an untimely death — at the heart of every frustration lies a basic structure: the collision of a wish with an unyielding reality.

Alain de Botton (b. 1969) Swiss-British author
The Consolations of Philosophy, ch. 3 “Consolation For Frustration” (2000)

Greenwood, Kerry -- Phryne Fisher, Book 5, The Green Mill Murder (1993)

Dave — Thu, 19 Oct 2017 16:45:09 +0000

Even the best cooks were saucepan throwers when the soufflé collapsed.

Kerry Greenwood (b. 1954) Australian author and lawyer
Phryne Fisher, Book 5, The Green Mill Murder (1993)
(Source)

Cowper, William -- “Hope, like the short-lived ray that gleams awhile”

Dave — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 00:28:12 +0000

Absence from whom we love is worse than death,
And frustrate hope severer than despair.

William Cowper (1731-1800) English poet
“Hope, like the short-lived ray that gleams awhile”
(Source)

Brown, H. Jackson "Jack" -- Live and Learn and Pass It On (1991)

Dave — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 17:34:40 +0000

I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a man by the way he handles these three things: a rainy holiday, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

H. Jackson "Jack" Brown, Jr. (b. 1940) American writer
Live and Learn and Pass It On (1991)

Attributed by Brown to a 52-year old person. Often misattributed (with the phrase "rainy day") to Maya Angelou. For more see here.

Bovee, Christian Nestell -- Intuitions and Summaries of Thought, Vol. 1 (1862)

Dave — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 16:40:38 +0000

There is, indeed, no wild beast more to be dreaded than a communicative man having nothing to communicate.

Christian Nestell Bovee (1820-1904) American epigrammatist, writer, publisher
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought, Vol. 1 (1862)

Fairlie, Henry -- The Seven Deadly Sins Today (1978)

Dave — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 16:05:01 +0000

We live in an age of Wrath. It is to be found in the terrorist, the kidnapper, the hijacker, the looter, and in the clenched fist of the demonstrator. […] When we ask what is their justification, they hardly have to give an answer, because our age finds it for them. They are angry. That is apparently enough. We justify their Wrath, so we justify their violence. If someone thinks that he has cause to be angry, he may act from his Anger as destructively as he sees fit. In fact, we have come close to the point of giving to Wrath an incontestable license to terrorize our society, just as an angry man may terrorize his family, but whereas we do not excuse the husband or the father, we extend our sympathy and understanding to the terrorist.

Henry Fairlie (1924-1990) British journalist and social critic
The Seven Deadly Sins Today (1978)

Housman, A. E. -- “The Chestnut Casts His Flambeaux and the Flowers,” st. 3, Last Poems, # 9 (1922)

Dave — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:05:33 +0000

We for a certainty are not the first
Have sat in taverns while the tempest hurled
Their hopeful plans to emptiness, and cursed
Whatever brute and blackguard made the world.

A. E. Housman (1859-1936) English scholar and poet [Alfred Edward Housman]
“The Chestnut Casts His Flambeaux and the Flowers,” st. 3, Last Poems, # 9 (1922)
(Source)

Hoffer, Eric -- True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 14, § 100 (1951)

Dave — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:20:45 +0000

The awareness of their individual blemishes and shortcomings inclines the frustrated to detect ill will and meanness in their fellow men. Self-contempt, however vague, sharpens our eyes for the imperfections of others. We usually strive to reveal in others the blemishes we hide in ourselves.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 14, § 100 (1951)
(Source)

Adams, Scott -- Dilbert (11 Jan. 2001)

Dave — Wed, 12 May 2004 19:28:09 +0000

DILBERT: Lately, the only think keeping me from being a serial killer is my distaste for manual labor.

Scott Adams (b. 1957) American cartoonist
Dilbert (11 Jan. 2001)

Moliere -- George Dandin, or the Confounded Husband [oui le Mari confondu], Act 1, sc. 7 (1668)

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

DANDIN: It infuriates me to be wrong when I know I’m right.

[J’enrage de bon cœur d’avoir tort, lorsque j’ai raison.]

Molière (1622-1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
George Dandin, or the Confounded Husband [oui le Mari confondu], Act 1, sc. 7 (1668)
(Source)

This unsourced translation is widely attributed to Molière, but almost never with a citation to a particular play.

Interestingly, in context, this aside is not about stubbornly sticking to a point, even when demonstrably incorrect. In Dandin's case, he's complaining about how his righteous accusation of his wife being unfaithful has been turned around by others into him being the offending party. This is clearer in some of the translations below.

As with so many Molière plays, the attribution to scene 7 can vary between translations.

(Source (French)). Other translations:

I'm vex'd at my Heart to be found Fault with when I am in the Right.
[Source (1748)]

It makes me mad to be put in the wrong, when I am in the right.
[tr. Van Laun (1860?)]

I shall go mad at thus being made to be wrong when I am right.
[tr. Wall (1876)]

It makes me savage to seem wrong when I am right.
[tr. Wormeley (1894)]

I am wild at being put in the wrong when I am right.
[tr. Waller (1907)]

This tears me open: to be in the wrong when I'm right.
[tr. Bermel (1987)]