WIST Quotations

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1876-08 (1876 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 20:26:05 +0000

He who aims at perfekshun will probably miss the mark, but he who aims at nothing, iz sure to hit it every time.

[He who aims at perfection will probably miss the mark, but he who aims at nothing, is sure to hit it every time.]

Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1876-08 (1876 ed.)

See also Aristotle, Thoreau (1854), Lowell (1869).

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1876-06 (1876 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 19:25:35 +0000

It aint no disgrace for a man to fall, but to lay thare, and grunt, iz.

[It ain’t no disgrace for a man to fall, but to lay there, and grunt, is.]

Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1876-06 (1876 ed.)

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Article (1860-09), “The Professor’s Story [Elsie Venner],” ch. 18, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 35

Dave — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 16:24:04 +0000

The boldest thinker may have his moments of languor and discouragement, when he feels as if he could willingly exchange faiths with the old beldame crossing herself at the cathedral-door, — nay, that, if he could drop all coherent thought, and lie in the flowery meadow with the brown-eyed solemnly unthinking cattle, looking up to the sky, and all their simple consciousness staining itself blue, then down to the grass, and life turning to a mere greenness, blended with confused scents of herbs, — no individual mind-movement such as men are teased with, but the great calm cattle-sense of all time and all places that know the milky smell of herds, — if he could be like these, he would be content to be driven home by the cow-boy, and share the grassy banquet of the king of ancient Babylon. Let us be very generous, then, in our judgment of those who leave the front ranks of thought for the company of the meek non-combatants who follow with the baggage and provisions. Age, illness, too much wear and tear, a half-formed paralysis, may bring any of us to this pass.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Article (1860-09), “The Professor’s Story [Elsie Venner],” ch. 18, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 35

Originally serialized as “The Professor’s Story,” but collected as the novel Elsie Venner, ch. 18 (1861).

Banksy -- Wall and Piece, “Rats” (2005)

Dave — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 16:46:07 +0000

The human race is an unfair and stupid competition. A lot of the runners don’t even get decent sneakers or clean drinking water.
Some runners are born with a massive head start, every possible help along the way and still the referees seem to be on their side.
It’s not surprising a lot of people have given up competing altogether and gone to sit in the grandstand, eat junk food and shout abuse.
What we need in this race is a lot more streakers.

Banksy (b. 1974?) England-based pseudonymous street artist, political activist, film director
Wall and Piece, “Rats” (2005)

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Patience,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Dave — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 19:49:26 +0000

PATIENCE, n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) American writer and journalist
“Patience,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Originally published in the "Cynic's Word Book" column in the New York American (1904-12-26), and the "Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Examiner (1905-01-03).

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 2 (1963)

Dave — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 20:04:40 +0000

Learning too soon our limitations, we never learn our powers.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 2 (1963)

Jerome, Jerome K. -- Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Being In Love” (1886)

Dave — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 17:29:37 +0000

We take all things in a minor key as we grow older. There are few majestic passages in the later acts of life’s opera. Ambition takes a less ambitious aim. Honor becomes more reasonable and conveniently adapts itself to circumstances. And love — love dies. “Irreverence for the dreams of youth” soon creeps like a killing frost upon our hearts. The tender shoots and the expanding flowers are nipped and withered, and of a vine that yearned to stretch its tendrils round the world there is left but a sapless stump.

Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) English writer, humorist [Jerome Klapka Jerome]
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Being In Love” (1886)

The quoted line is from Longfellow, "The Ladder of St. Augustine."

Ennius -- Annales, Fragment 485

Dave — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 16:26:12 +0000

He who has conquered is not conqueror
Unless the conquered one confesses it.

[Qui vincit non est victor nisi victus fatetur.]

Ennius (239–169 BC) Roman poet, writer [Quintus Ennius]
Annales, Fragment 485

Quoted by Marcus Servius Honoratus, Commentaries on the Poems of Virgil [In Vergilii Carmina Comentarii], Book 11. Other translations:

"He who conquers is not the conqueror unless the conquered admits it." [Source, 493 (Vahlen)]
"He who conquers is no conqueror unless the conquered admits it." [Source, 513]
"The victor is not victorious if the vanquished does not consider himself so." [Source]

Lessing, Gotthold -- Letter (1771-01-09), to Moses Mendelssohn

Dave — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 12:33:38 +0000

For all but one in thousands the goal of their thinking is the point at which they have become tired of thinking.

[Tausenden für einen ist das Ziel ihres Nachdenkens die Stelle, wo sie des Nachdenkens müde geworden.]

Gotthold Lessing (1729–1781) German playwright, philosopher, dramaturg, writer
Letter (1771-01-09), to Moses Mendelssohn

(Source (German)). Other translations:

In a thousand cases to one, the goal of reflection is set at the point where one gets tired of reflection.
(Source)

For the vast majority of men, the object of their reflection lies at the point where they become tired of reflecting.
(Source)