WIST Quotations

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1888-09), “A Letter to a Young Gentleman Who Proposes to Embrace the Career of Art,” Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 3

Dave — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 15:30:34 +0000

If you adopt an art to be your trade, weed your mind at the outset of all desire of money. What you may decently expect, if you have some talent and much industry, is such an income as a clerk will earn with a tenth or perhaps a twentieth of your nervous output. Nor have you the right to look for more; in the wages of the life, not in the wages of the trade, lies your reward; the work is here the wages.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1888-09), “A Letter to a Young Gentleman Who Proposes to Embrace the Career of Art,” Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 3
(Source)

Collected in Across the Plains, ch. 10 (1892).

Russell, Bertrand -- Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 14 “Work” (1930)

Dave — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 17:05:35 +0000

Without self-respect genuine happiness is scarcely possible. And the man who is ashamed of his work can hardly achieve self-respect.

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 14 “Work” (1930)
(Source)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 6 (1963)

Dave — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 19:45:00 +0000

Revenge leads to an empty fullness, like eating dirt.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 6 (1963)
(Source)

Cervantes, Miguel de -- Don Quixote, Part 1, ch. 50 [Sancho] (1605) [tr. Cohen (1950)]

Dave — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 19:56:46 +0000

I’d be as good a king of my estate as any other King; and being so, I should do as I liked; and doing as I liked, I should take my pleasure; and taking my pleasure, I should be contented; and when one’s content, there’s nothing more to desire; and when there’s nothing more to desire, there’s an end of it.

[Tan Rey seria yo de mi estado, como cada uno del suyo: y siendolo, haria lo que quisiesse: y haziendo lo que quisiesse, haria mi gusto: y haziendo mi gusto, estaria contento: y en estando uno contento, no tiene mas que dessear: y no teniendo mas qu essear, acabose.]

Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist
Don Quixote, Part 1, ch. 50 [Sancho] (1605) [tr. Cohen (1950)]
(Source)

On being a king.

(Source (Spanish)). Other translations:

I should be as much king of my own dominion as any other king; and being so, I would do what I pleased; and, doing what I pleased, I should have my will; and, having my will, I should be contented; and, being content, there is no more to be desired: and when there is no more to desire, there's an end of it.
[tr. Motteux* (1700-1703); Part 1, ch. 39]

The first thing I would do in my government, I would have nobody to control me, I would be absolute: and who but I: now, he that is absolute, can do what he likes; he that can do what he likes, can take his pleasure; he that can take his pleasure, can be content; and he that can be content, has no more desire; so the matter is over.
[tr. Motteux*; Part 1, ch. 39]

I should be as much king of my own dominion, as any one of his: and being so, I would do what I pleased, and doing what I pleased, I should have my will, and having my will, I should be contented; and when one is contented, there is no more to be desired; and when there is no more to be desired, there is an end of it.
[tr. Jarvis (1819), Part 1, Book 4, ch. 23]

I shall be as much king of my realm as any other of his; and being so I should do as I liked, and doing as I liked I should please myself, and pleasing myself I should be content, and when one is content he has nothing more to desire, and when one has nothing more to desire there is an end of it.
[tr. Ormsby (1885); Vol. 1, ch. 50]

I shall be as much a king of my realm as any other of his; and being so I should do as I liked, and doing as I liked I should please myself, and pleasing myself I should be content, and when one is content he has nothing more to desire, and when one has nothing more to desire there is an end of it.
[ed. Pérezgonzález (2006); Vol. 1, ch. 50]

* I am unclear on why the two Motteux translations are so different; both sources list Pierre Antoine Motteux as the translator, and I can't find anything in the two texts

Thoreau, Henry David -- Letter (1848-03-27) to Harrison Blake

Dave — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 14:02:21 +0000

Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still. Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) American philosopher and writer
Letter (1848-03-27) to Harrison Blake
(Source)

Collected in F. B. Sanborn, ed., Familiar Letters (1865),

Friedan, Betty -- The Feminine Mystique (1963)

Dave — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 18:16:39 +0000

To do the work that you are capable of doing is the mark of maturity.

Betty Friedan (1921–2006) American writer, feminist, activist
The Feminine Mystique (1963)
(Source)

Dickinson, Emily -- Poem #1509 (c. 1881)

Dave — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 00:47:40 +0000

Anger as soon as fed is dead —
‘Tis starving makes it fat.

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet
Poem #1509 (c. 1881)
(Source)

La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶38 (1665-1678) [tr. Kronenberger (1959)]

Dave — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:28:41 +0000

We make promises to the extent that we hope, and keep them to the extent that we fear.

[Nous promettons selon nos espérances, et nous tenons selon nos craintes.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶38 (1665-1678) [tr. Kronenberger (1959)]
(Source)

Present from the 1st edition in 1665. See also Racine.

(Source (French)). Other translations:

Our Promises are always made with a reflection on our Hopes, and perform'd according to our fears.
[tr. Davies (1669), ¶16]

We promise in proportion to our Hopes,
and we keep in proportion to our Fears
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶39]

We promise in proportion to our Hopes, and we keep our Word in proportion to our Fears.
[tr. Stanhope (1706), ¶39]

We promise according to our hopes, and perform according to our fears.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶357; [ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797); ed. Gowens (1851), ¶39]

We promise according to our hopes; we perform according to our fears.
[ed. Carville (1835), ¶463; tr. Bund/Friswell (1871)]

Promises are measured by hope; performances by fear.
[tr. Heard (1917)]

Our promises are measured by our hopes; our performances by our fears.
[tr. Stevens (1939)]

Our promises are made in hope, and kept in fear.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]

Our promises are made in proportion to our hopes, but kept in proportion to our fears.
[tr. Tancock (1959)]

We make promises according to our hopes, and keep them according to our fears.
[tr. Whichello (2016)]