WIST Quotations

L'Engle, Madeleine -- Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

Dave — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 17:36:07 +0000

When I find myself hotly defending something, when I am, in fact, zealous, it is time for me to step back and examine whatever it is that has me so hot under the collar. Do I think it’s going to threaten my comfortable rut? Make me change and grow? — and growing always causes growing pains. Am I afraid to ask questions?

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
(Source)

Adams, John -- Letter (1776-01-08) to Mercy Otis Warren

Dave — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 17:08:14 +0000

However, it is the Part of a great Politician to make the Character of his People; to extinguish among them the Follies and Vices that he sees, and to create in them the Virtues and Abilities which he sees wanting. I wish I was sure that America has one such Politician, but I fear she has not.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1776-01-08) to Mercy Otis Warren
(Source)

Feynman, Richard -- (Spurious)

Dave — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 21:49:25 +0000

You are under no obligation to remain the same person you were a year ago, a month ago, or even a day ago. You are here to create yourself, continuously.

Richard Feynman (1918-1988) American physicist
(Spurious)

Not found in his writings, lectures, or speeches. See Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Feynman – Terence Eden’s Blog for more discussion.

It is possibly a misattributed variant of something said by Alan Watts ...

You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago.

... which may or may not actually be authentic, either.

Hoffer, Eric -- Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 196 (1955)

Dave — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 16:13:04 +0000

The control of our being is not unlike the combination of a safe. One turn of the knob rarely unlocks the safe. Each advance and retreat is a step toward one’s goal.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 196 (1955)
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1878-03), “Crabbed Age and Youth,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37

Dave — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 17:51:42 +0000

When the old man waggles his head and says, “Ah, so I thought when I was your age,” he has proved the youth’s case. Doubtless, whether from growth of experience or decline of animal heat, he thinks so no longer; but he thought so while he was young; and all men have thought so while they were young, since there was dew in the morning or hawthorn in May; and here is another young man adding his vote to those of previous generations and riveting another link to the chain of testimony.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1878-03), “Crabbed Age and Youth,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37
(Source)

Collected in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, ch. 2 (1881).

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1878-03), “Crabbed Age and Youth,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37

Dave — Fri, 16 May 2025 16:47:32 +0000

Because I have reached Paris, I am not ashamed of having passed through Newhaven and Dieppe. They were very good places to pass through, and I am none the less at my destination. All my old opinions were only stages on the way to the one I now hold, as itself is only a stage on the way to something else.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1878-03), “Crabbed Age and Youth,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37
(Source)

Collected in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, ch. 2 (1881).

Peters, Ellis -- The Heretic’s Apprentice, ch. 13 [Elave] (1990)

Dave — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 18:14:36 +0000

Did you ever think what a waste it would be if you burned a man for what he believed at twenty, when what he might believe and write at forty would be hailed as the most blessed of holy writ?

Ellis Peters (1913-1995) English writer, translator [pseud. of Edith Mary Pargeter, who also wrote under the names John Redfern, Jolyon Carr, Peter Benedict]
The Heretic’s Apprentice, ch. 13 [Elave] (1990)
(Source)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris

Dave — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 21:14:25 +0000

In a republic, to be successful we must learn to combine intensity of conviction with a broad tolerance of difference of conviction. Wide differences of opinion in matters of religious, political, and social belief must exist if conscience and intellect alike are not to be stunted, if there is to be room for healthy growth. Bitter internecine hatreds, based on such differences, are signs not of earnestness of belief but of that fanaticism which, whether religious or anti-religious, democratic or anti-democratic, is itself but a manifestation of the gloomy bigotry which has been the chief factor in the downfall of so many, many nations.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris
(Source)

Nin, Anais -- Diary (1943, Fall)

Dave — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 17:29:41 +0000

There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.

Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) Catalan-Cuban-French author, diarist
Diary (1943, Fall)
(Source)

Goethe, Johann von -- Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, Book 8, ch. 4 (1796) [tr. Carlyle (1824)]

Dave — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 22:18:52 +0000

When we take people merely as they are, we make them worse; when we treat them as if they were what they should be, we improve them as far as they can be improved.

[Wenn wir die Menschen nur nehmen, wie sie sind, so machen wir sie schlechter; wenn wir sie behandeln, als wären sie, was sie sein sollten, so bringen wir sie dahin, wohin sie zu bringen sind.]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, Book 8, ch. 4 (1796) [tr. Carlyle (1824)]
(Source)

Theresa, quoting Wilhelm in a letter to him.

(Source (German)). Alternate translation:

If all we do is take people as they are, we shall make them worse; if we treat them as if they were what they ought to be, we shall lead them to that place where they are to be led.
[tr. Waidson (1972)]

The following very similar passage is often cited to Haim Ginott, Teacher and Child: A Book for Parents and Teachers (1972), but does not appear in that work:

If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.

Carlyle, Thomas -- “Jean Paul Friedrich Richter,” Edinburgh Review No. 91, Art. 7 (1827-06)

Dave — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 21:51:33 +0000

For the great law of culture is: Let each become all that he was created capable of being; expand, if possible, to his full growth; resisting all impediments, casting off all foreign, especially all noxious adhesions; and show himself at length in his own shape and stature, be these what they may.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
“Jean Paul Friedrich Richter,” Edinburgh Review No. 91, Art. 7 (1827-06)
(Source)

A review of Heinrich Döring, Jean Paul Friedrich Richter's Life, with a Sketch of His Works (1826).

Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 178 (1850 ed.) [tr. Attwell (1896), ¶ 375]

Dave — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 17:00:58 +0000

Few books can please us throughout life. For some we lose all liking as we grow in age, wisdom, or good sense.

[Peu de livres peuvent plaire toute la vie. Il y en a dont on se dégoûte avec le temps, la sagesse ou le bon sens.]

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 178 (1850 ed.) [tr. Attwell (1896), ¶ 375]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Few books give life-long pleasure. There are some for which, with the growth of time, wisdom, and good sense, we lose all taste.
[tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 22, ¶ 84]

Hand, Learned -- Speech (1955-01-29), “A Fanfare for Prometheus,” American Jewish Committee annual dinner, New York City

Dave — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 15:45:57 +0000

By some happy fortuity, man is a projector, a designer, a builder, a craftsman; it is among his most dependable joys to impose upon the flux that passes before him some mark of himself, aware though he always must be of the odds against him. His reward is not so much in the work as in its making; not so much in the prize as in the race. We may win when we lose, if we have done what we can; for by so doing we have made real at least some part of that finished product in whose fabrication we are most concerned: ourselves.

Learned Hand (1872-1961) American jurist
Speech (1955-01-29), “A Fanfare for Prometheus,” American Jewish Committee annual dinner, New York City
(Source)

Landers, Ann -- “Parenthood: What Do You Owe Your Children?” Family Circle (1977-11)

Dave — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 15:42:26 +0000

Children have an uncanny way of living up — or down — to what is expected of them.

Ann Landers (1918-2002) American advice columnist [pseud. for Eppie Lederer]
“Parenthood: What Do You Owe Your Children?” Family Circle (1977-11)
(Source)

Collected in The Ann Landers Encyclopedia (1978).

Omar Khayyam -- Rubáiyát [رباعیات], Bod. # 135, ll. 3-4 [tr. M. K. (1888)]

Dave — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 05:30:10 +0000

Go, sit in the shade of the rose, for every rose
That springs from the earth, again to earth soon goes away!

Omar Khayyám (1048-1123) Persian poet, mathematician, philosopher, astronomer [عمر خیام]
Rubáiyát [رباعیات], Bod. # 135, ll. 3-4 [tr. M. K. (1888)]
(Source)

Alternate translations:

And look -- a thousand Blossoms with the Day
Woke -- and a thousand scatter'd into Clay
[tr. FitzGerald, 1st ed. (1859), # 8]

Morning a thousand Roses brings, you say;
Yes, but where leaves the Rose of yesterday?
[tr. FitzGerald, 2nd Ed (1868), # 9]

Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say:
Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?
[tr. FitzGerald, 3rd ed. (1872), # 9; same in later editions]

Sit in the shade of the rose, for many times this rose from earth has come, and unto earth has gone.
[tr. McCarthy (1879), # 463]

Sit we beneath this rose, which many a time
Has sunk to earth, and sprung from earth again.
[tr. Whinfield (1883), # 414]

Sit in the shade of the rose, for, by the wind, many roses
have been scattered to earth and have become dust.
[tr. Heron-Allen (1898), # 135]

Sit we 'neath this rose shade, for many a rose
Wind strewn in earth has turned to earth again!
[tr. Thompson (1906), # 522]

Sit in her fragrant bower, for oft the wind
Hath strewn and turn'd to dust such flowers as these.
[tr. Talbot (1908), # 135]

Rest in the shadow of the rose, for many of its leaves will the rose
Shed on the earth while we lie under the earth.
[tr. Rosen (1928), # 270]

Stay, Dearest One! beneath the rosy shade,
The roses bloom for Thee but soon would blight.
[tr. Tirtha (1941), # 3.7]

Rest in the rose's shade, though winds have burst
A world of blossoml petals fall to dust --
[tr. Graves & Ali-Shah (1967), # 74, ll. 1-2]

Sit in the rose's shadow, for oftentimes this rose shall spill upon the dust, when we are dust.
[tr. Bowen (1976), # 5a]

The Rosetree spills her petals in the dust,
And nothing of her fragrant harvest saves;
And yet this Rose, a plaything of the breeze,
Will bloom each year when we are in our graves.
[tr. Bowen (1976), # 5b]

James, P. D. -- Time To Be in Earnest: A Fragment of Autobiography, “Diary 1997” (1999)

Dave — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 14:36:51 +0000

Children live in occupied territory. The brave and the foolhardy openly rebel against authority, whether harsh or benign. But most tread warily, outwardly accommodating themselves to alien mores and edicts while living in secret their iconoclastic and subversive lives.

P. D. James (1920-2014) British mystery writer [Phyllis Dorothy James White]
Time To Be in Earnest: A Fragment of Autobiography, “Diary 1997” (1999)
(Source)

Hoffer, Eric -- Reflections on the Human Condition, ch. 1, # 32 (1973)

Dave — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 15:50:31 +0000

The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Reflections on the Human Condition, ch. 1, # 32 (1973)
(Source)

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

Dave — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 17:20:47 +0000

But we are so blind to our own shortcomings, so wide awake to those of others. Everything that happens to us is always the other person’s fault. Angelina would have gone on loving Edwin forever and ever and ever if only Edwin had not grown so strange and different. Edwin would have adored Angelina through eternity if Angelina had only remained the same as when he first adored her.
It is a cheerless hour for you both when the lamp of love has gone out and the fire of affection is not yet lit, and you have to grope about in the cold, raw dawn of life to kindle it. God grant it catches light before the day is too far spent. Many sit shivering by the dead coals till night come.

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

Hellman, Lillian -- Toys in the Attic, Act 3 (1959)

Dave — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 23:19:32 +0000

ANNA: Well, people change, and forget to tell each other. Too bad — causes so many mistakes.

Lillian Hellman (1905-1984) American playwright, screenwriter
Toys in the Attic, Act 3 (1959)
(Source)

Virgil -- Eclogues [Eclogae, Bucolics, Pastorals], No. 9 “Lycidas and Moeris,” l. 50 (9.50) (42-38 BC) [tr. Rieu (1949)]

Dave — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 04:30:14 +0000

Graft your pears, Daphnis, now; your children’s children will enjoy the fruit.

[Insere, Daphni, piros: carpent tua poma nepotes.]

Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
Eclogues [Eclogae, Bucolics, Pastorals], No. 9 “Lycidas and Moeris,” l. 50 (9.50) (42-38 BC) [tr. Rieu (1949)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Daphnis set pears, thy race shall fruit injoy.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]

Under this influence, graft the tender Shoot;
Thy Childrens Children shall enjoy the Fruit.
[tr. Dryden (1709), ll. 68-69]

Plant, Daphnis, for the rising race thy pears.
[tr. Wrangham (1830), l. 59]

Daphnis, plant thy pear-trees. Posterity shall pluck the fruit of thy plantations.
[tr. Davidson (1854)]

Sow, Daphnis, pears, whereof thy sons shall eat.
[tr. Calverley (c. 1871)]

Engraft your peartrees, Daphnis; your children's children shall enjoy their fruits.
[tr. Wilkins (1873)]

Graft, Daphnis, graft thy trees, nor fear
Thy sons shall all the produce share.
[tr. King (1882), ll. 897-898]

You may graft new rows
Of pears; your progeny will shake the boughs.
[tr. Palmer (1883)]

Now, the pears;
so shall your children's children pluck their fruit.
[tr. Greenough (1895)]

Daphnis, plant your pear-trees. Posterity will pluck the fruit due to your care.
[tr. Bryce (1897)]

Engraft thy pear-trees, Daphnis; thy children's children shall pluck their fruit.
[tr. Mackail (1899)]

Now, Daphnis, graft
Thy pear trees, that thy children's children may
Eat of their fruit.
[tr. Mackail/Cardew (1908)]

Go, Daphnis, graft thy pears!
Sons of thy sons shall gather them in joy.
[tr. Williams (1915)]

Graft you pears, Daphnis; your children’s children shall gather the fruits you have sown.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1916)]

Daphnis, engraft thy pears, for thee, thy sons,
And their seed after them.
[tr. Royds (1922)]

Daphnis, graft you pears; your children's children
Shall pluck them in peace.
[tr. Johnson (1960)]

Daphnis, graft your pears now: your sons’ sons will enjoy them.
[tr. Day Lewis (1963)]

Daphnis, plant your pear trees ... years from now
The children of your children will gather the pears ...
[tr. Ferry (1999)]

Graft
your pears, Daphnis: your grandchildren will gather their fruit.
[tr. Kline (2001)]

Bradbury, Ray -- “The Secret Mind,” The Writer (1965-11)

Dave — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 21:32:29 +0000

We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.
The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) American writer, futurist, fabulist
“The Secret Mind,” The Writer (1965-11)
(Source)

Reprinted in Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing (1990).

Rogers, Carl -- On Becoming a Person, Part 4, ch. 9 (1961)

Dave — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 23:45:30 +0000

This process of the good life is not, I am convinced, a life for the faint-hearted. It involves the stretching and growing of becoming more and more of one’s potentialities. It involves the courage to be. It means launching oneself fully into the stream of life.

Carl Rogers (1902-1987) American psychologist
On Becoming a Person, Part 4, ch. 9 (1961)
(Source)

Kitt, Eartha -- In Lon Tuck, “It’s Been a Long Time But … Eartha’s Back!” Washington Post (1978-01-19)

Dave — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 05:29:37 +0000

I don’t think there is anything I have done that I wish I hadn’t done. Because I learn from everything I do. I’m in school every day. My diploma will be my tombstone.

Eartha Kitt (1927-2008) American singer and actress
In Lon Tuck, “It’s Been a Long Time But … Eartha’s Back!” Washington Post (1978-01-19)
(Source)

When a citation is given to this quotation, it's usually "Playbill 1978." It does indeed show up in an (unknown month) of Playbill Magazine in 1978, also in association with her starring role in the stage show Timbuktu, which opened on Broadway March 1st of that year, but this article appears to be the source. (see comments for the helpful tip).

Asimov, Isaac -- Commencement speech, Connecticut College (1975-05-25)

Dave — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 15:01:43 +0000

The day you stop learning is the day you begin decaying, and then you are no longer a human being.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Commencement speech, Connecticut College (1975-05-25)
(Source)

Quoted in Peter Smith, ed., Onward! 25 Years of Advice, Exhortation, and Inspiration from America's Best Commencement Speeches (2000).

Virgil -- Georgics [Georgica], Book 2, l. 323ff (2.323) (29 BC) [tr. Williams (1915)]

Dave — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 21:23:50 +0000

But, sooth, ’tis Spring
Lends leafing orchard and the woodside green
Her help and succor; in the Spring the earth
Swells warm and bids the seeds of life begin.
Then will th’ almighty Sire from heights of air
Descend in life-engendering showers to fill
Earth’s bosom, his glad spouse, and mightily
With her vast body mingling, brings to power
All unborn things she bears. With song-birds then
The tangled brakes are loud, and lowing herds —
Their season due — live o’er their mating days.
The whole earth’s womb is travailing; the land
Spreads bare its bosom to the warm west wind.
And gentle dews feed all. The bladed grass
Climbs boldly upward to the sun’s young beams;
The tendrilled vine shrinks not from gathering storm
Nor rout of wind-swept northern rains, but thrusts
Her soft buds forth and every leaf unfolds.

[Ver adeo frondi nemorum, ver utile silvis;
vere tument terrae et genitalia semina poscunt.
Tum pater omnipotens fecundis imbribus Aether
coniugis in gremium laetae descendit et omnis
magnus alit magno commixtus corpore fetus.
Avia tum resonant avibus virgulta canoris
et Venerem certis repetunt armenta diebus;
parturit almus ager Zephyrique tepentibus auris
laxant arva sinus; superat tener omnibus humor;
inque novos soles audent se germina tuto
credere, nec metuit surgentis pampinus austros
aut actum caelo magnis aquilonibus imbrem,
sed trudit gemmas et frondes explicat omnis.]

Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
Georgics [Georgica], Book 2, l. 323ff (2.323) (29 BC) [tr. Williams (1915)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Spring cloaths the woods with leaves, and groves attires,
Earth swels with spring, and genitall seed requires.
In fruitfull showrs th' Almighty from above
Descends ith' lap, of his delighted love:
And great, he with the mighty body joyn'd,
Both propagates, and fosters every kinde.
Harmonious birds then sing in every grove,
And cattell taste the sweet delights of love.
Earth blest, now teems: soft winds dissolve the Meads,
With cheering warmth through all sweet moysture spreads.
To the new sun, the tender herbage dare
Open their leaves, nor vines rough Auster fear:
Nor thundering Boreas ushering dreadfull showrs;
But all things bud with blossome, leaf and flowers.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]

The Spring adorns the Woods, renews the Leaves;
The Womb of Earth the genial Seed receives.
For then Almighty Jove descends, and pours ⁠
Into his buxom Bride his fruitful Show'rs.
And mixing his large Limbs with hers, he feeds
Her Births with kindly Juice, and fosters teeming Seeds.
Then joyous Birds frequent the lonely Grove,
And Beasts, by Nature stung, renew their Love. ⁠
Then Fields the Blades of bury'd Corn disclose,
And while the balmy Western Spirit blows,
Earth to the Breath her Bosom dares expose.
With kindly Moisture then the Plants abound,
The Grass securely springs above the Ground;
The tender Twig shoots upward to the Skies,
And on the Faith of the new Sun relies.
The swerving Vines on the tall Elms prevail,
Unhurt by Southern Show'rs or Northern Hail.
They spread their Gems the genial Warmth to share:
And boldly trust their Buds in open Air.
[tr. Dryden (1709), l. 438ff]

In spring the groves, in spring the woods delight,
In spring swoll'n lands the genial seeds invite.
Then on his glad Wife's breast in fertile show'rs
Himself th' all-potent Father Ether pours;
Mixt with the Mother in a vast embrace
The mighty Sire refreshes all her race.
The lone brakes echo with the plumy quire,
And on set days herds burn with fierce desire:
Earth bounteous teems; the fields their bosom bare
To the kind warmth of Zephyr's balmy air:
A subtile moisture wide prevails: the land
Dares to new suns her verdant vest expand.
Nor then the Vine dreads Auster's threat'ning pow'r,
Or, by rough Boreas driv'n, the weighty show'r;
But all her gems, and all her leaves displays.
[tr. Nevile (1767), l. 361ff]

Spring comes, new bud the field, the flower, the grove,
Earth swells, and claims the genial seeds of love:
Aether, great lord of life, his wings extends,
And on the bosom of his bride descends,
With show'rs prolific feeds the vast embrace
That fills all nature, and renews her race.
Birds on their branches hymeneals sing,
The pastur'd meads with bridal echoes ring;
Bath'd in soft dew, and fann'd by western winds,
Each field its bosom to the gale unbinds:
The blade dares boldly rise new suns beneath,
The tender vine puts forth her flexile wreath,
And, freed from southern blast and northern shower,
Spreads without fear, each blossom, leaf, and flower.
[tr. Sotheby (1800)]

The spring, too, is beneficial to the foliage of the groves, the spring is beneficial to the woods: in spring the lands swell, and demand the genial seeds. Then almighty father Aether descends in fertilizing showers into the bosom of his joyous spouse, and great himself, mingling with her great body, nourishes all her offspring. Then the retired brakes resound with tuneful birds,; and the herds renew their loves on the stated days. the bounteous earth is teeming to the birth, and the and the fields open their bosoms to the warm breezes of the Zephyr: in all a gentle moisture abounds; and the herbs dare safely trust themselves to the infant suns; nor do the vine's tender shoots fear the rising south winds, or the shower precipitated from the sky by the violent north winds; but put forth their buds, and unfold all their leaves.
[tr. Davidson (1854)]

So Spring befriends the forest and the mead,
In Spring the plump earth craves the vital seed:
Then Air, almighty father, raining life,
Sinks on the bosom of his laughing wife;
All growth he feeds, commingling with the same,
The mighty Spirit in the mighty frame.
Then birds make music to the pathless groves,
And herds and flocks prove faithful to their loves:
The kind earth gives her increase, and the West
With fluttering warmth unzones the meadow's breast.
Soft dew is shed on all, and flowers are won
To trust their beauty to the stranger sun.
No more the vine-growth dreads the southern blast,
Or showers from heaven by mighty north winds cast;
But pushes forth the gems herself conceives,
And opes the crinkled modesty of the leaves.
[tr. Blackmore (1871), l. 383ff]

Spring ministers to the foliage of the groves, spring to the woods: in springtime earth swells with fruitfulness, and asks the seed that giveth life. 'Tis then that the almighty father air descends in fertilising showers into the leap of his joyous spouse, and in his might, mingling with her mighty frame, nourishes all the embryos within. Then pathless brakes with tuneful birds resound, and herds on certain days renews their loves; bounteous earth teems with life, and the fields open their bosoms to the Zephyr's balmy breezes; a delicate moisture abounds everywhere; the herbage safely dares to trust itself to meet the newborn suns; nor does the vine-leaf dread the rising of the southern gales, or the shower driven from the sky by the north's impetuous blast, but puts forth its buds and all its leaves unfolds.
[tr. Wilkins (1873)]

Spring it is
Blesses the fruit-plantation, Spring the groves;
In Spring earth swells and claims the fruitful seed.
Then Aether, sire omnipotent, leaps down
With quickening showers to his glad wife's embrace,
And, might with might commingling, rears to life
All germs that teem within her; then resound
With songs of birds the greenwood-wildernesses,
And in due time the herds their loves renew;
Then the boon earth yields increase, and the fields
Unlock their bosoms to the warm west winds;
Soft moisture spreads o'er all things, and the blades
Face the new suns, and safely trust them now;
The vine-shoot, fearless of the rising south,
Or mighty north winds driving rain from heaven,
Bursts into bud, and every leaf unfolds.
[tr. Rhoades (1881)]

Green leaves unfold, the woods in spring rejoice;
Swells the warm glebe, and with impatient voice
The seed demands; the god who fills all space,
All earth compresses in one vast embrace;
All earth, now conscious of almighty power,
Waits the glad advent of the genial shower.
The tuneful birds in lonely thickets sing
Their amorous descant, and proclaim the spring;
The lowing herd the soft infection feels;
Earth teems prolific as the warm breath steals
Of zephyr o’er her; dews refreshing rise;
The tender grasses dare the sunny skies.
Secure the vine puts forth each polished gem,
Hope of the vintage, from the bursting stem.
[tr. King (1882), l. 334ff]

Spring especially is beneficial to the foliage of the groves; spring is beneficial to the woods: in spring earth swells and demands generative seeds. Then almighty father ther descends in fertilizing showers into the lap of his happy spouse, and mighty himself, mingling with her mighty body, nourishes all her offspring. Then the retired brakes resound with the songs of birds, and the herds renew their loves at their appointed times. Then bounteous earth is teeming to the birth, and the fields open their bosoms to the balmy breezes of the Zephyr: in all a kindly moisture abounds; and the herbs safely venture to trust themselves to the early suns; nor do the vine’s tender shoots fear the rising south winds, or the shower precipitated from the sky by the violent north winds; but put forth their buds, and unfold all their leaves.
[tr. Bryce (1897)]

Spring aids woodland leaf and forest tree; in spring earth yearns and cries for the life-giving seed. Then the lord omnipotent of Sky descends in fruitful showers into the lap of his laughing consort, and mingling with her mighty body nourishes all her fruits in might. Then pathless copses ring with warbling birds, and at the appointed days the herds renew their loves; the bountiful land breaks into birth, and the fields unbosom to warm breezes of the West: everywhere delicate moisture overflows, and the grasses dare in safety to trust themselves to spring suns, nor does the vine-tendril fear gathering gales or sleet driven down the sky by the blustering North, but thrusts forth her buds and uncurls all her leaves.
[tr. Mackail (1899)]

Spring it is
Blesses the fruit-plantation, Spring the groves;
In Spring earth swells and claims the fruitful seed.
Then Aether, sire omnipotent, leaps down
With quickening showers to his glad wife's embrace,
And, might with might commingling, rears to life
All germs that teem within her; then resound
With songs of birds the greenwood-wildernesses,
And in due time the herds their loves renew;
Then the boon earth yields increase, and the fields
Unlock their bosoms to the warm west winds;
Soft moisture spreads o'er all things, and the blades
Face the new suns, and safely trust them now;
The vine-shoot, fearless of the rising south,
Or mighty north winds driving rain from heaven,
Bursts into bud, and every leaf unfolds.
[tr. Greenough (1900), l. 323ff]

With blessing to woodland-frondage and forest Spring returns.
In spring earth heaves with desire, for the seed life-laden she yearns:
Then Heaven, the Father almighty, in quickening showers descends
Into the lap of his gladsome bride: in his might he blends
with her mighty frame, and to all her offspring life doth he bring;
Then pathless copses with music of birds re-echoing ring;
And the beasts are rekindled with love in the days ordained of the Spring.
The land with her boons is in travail, to west-winds warmly blowing
Fields open their arms; all things are with delicate sap overflowing.
In the suns new-born all seedlings safely and fearlessly trust.
No vine-shoot dreadeth the south-wind's suddenly rising gust,
Or the rain-storm that over the sky the mighty north-wind hurls;
But each pushes gem-buds forth, and her green leaf-banners unfurls.
[tr. Way (1912)]

Spring it is that clothes the glades and forests with leaves, in spring the soil swells and carves the vital seed. Then does Heaven, sovereign father, descend in fruitful showers into the womb of his joyful consort and, mightily mingling with her mighty frame, gives life to every embryo within. Then secluded thickets echo with melodious birdsong and at the trysting hour the herds renew their loves; the bounteous earth prepares to give birth, and the meadows ungirdle to the Zephyr’s balmy breeze; the tender moisture avails for all. The grass safely dares to face the nascent suns, nor does the vine tendril fear the South Wind’s rising or showers launched from the skies by the blustering North, but puts forth buds and unfurls its every leaf.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1916)]

Oh, spring is good for leaves in the spinney, good to forests,
In spring the swelling earth aches for the seed of new life.
Then the omnipotent Father of air in fruitful showers
Comes down to his happy consort
And greatly breeds upon her great body manifold fruit.
Then are the trackless copses alive with the trilling of birds,
And the beasts look for love, their hour come round again:
Lovely the earth in labour, under a tremulous west wind
The fields unbosom, a mild moisture is everywhere.
Confident grows the grass, for the young sun will not harm it;
The shoots of the vine are not scared of a southerly gale arising
Or the sleety rain that slants from heaven beneath a north wind, --
No, bravely now they bud and all their leaves display.
[tr. Day-Lewis (1940)]

Spring fills the groves with leaves,
Is good to forests; earth expands in the Spring,
And sends out calls for life-inspiring seed.
Then Heaven, the father almighty, comes down to earth
In pregnant rains to embrace his joyous bride,
Infusing her massive frame with vital strength.
Then pathless thickets ring with songs of birds,
And herds comply with Venus’ set demands;
The kindly field gives birth, and furrowed lands
Release their folds to the West Wind’s ruffling breeze;
Soft moisture floods all things, the green blades dare
To face the newborn suns, the budding vines
Have no fear of the South Wind’s springing up,
Nor of rain the North Wind lashes through the sky.
But put forth buds, unfolding all their leaves.
[tr. Bovie (1956)]

... Father omnipotent, the sky, with fruitful showers comes down into the womb of his joyful wife, in his greatness joins with her great body and nourishes all young. ... the tepid breezes of the west wind ... gentle moisture ... grasses date entrust themselves safely to mild suns ... the vine shoot does not fear either rising south winds or rain driven from the sky by great north winds, but it thrusts out its buds and unfolds its leaves, all of them.
[tr. Miles 1, 2 (1980)]

Spring is the friend of woods, spring is the friend
Of forest leaves, in spring the country swells
Clamouring for the fertilizing seeds.
Then the almighty father Heaven descends
Into the lap of his rejoicing bride
With fecund showers, and with her mighty body
Mingling in might begets all manner of fruits.
Then are wild thickets loud with singing birds
And in their season herds renew their loves.
The nurturing earth is pregnant; warmed by breezes
Of Zephyrus the fields unloose their bosoms
Mild moisture is all-pervading, and unharmed
The grasses brave the unaccustomed suns;
Nor do the vine-shoots fear a southern gale.
Or northern rainstorms driving down the sky.
But put forth buds and all their leaves unfold.
[tr. Wilkinson (1982)]

Spring benefits the leaves of the groves and woods,
in Spring soil swells and demands life-bringing seed.
Then Heaven, the omnipotent father, descends as fertile rain,
into the lap of his joyful consort, and joining his power
to her vast body nourishes all growth.
Then the wild thickets echo to the songs of birds,
and in the settled days the cattle renew their loves:
the kindly earth gives birth, and the fields open their hearts,
in the warm West winds: gentle moisture flows everywhere,
and the grasses safely dare to trust to the new sun.
the vine-shoots don’t fear a rising Southerly,
or rain driven through the sky, by great Northerly gales,
but put out their buds, and unfold all their leaves.
[tr. Kline (2001)]

It is spring that decks the groves in leaves, spring that serves the woods;
in spring, Earth swells moistly and begs for bursting seed.
Then Sky, all-powerful father, descends to the womb
of his fertile spouse with inseminating rain and, uniting
his strength with her strong body, nourishes all they conceive.
The remotest thickets resound then with birdsong, and the herds
seek once again to mate in this appointed season.
The fair land longs to give birth; fields plowed but not yet sown open
themselves to the West Wind's ardor. Sweet moisture abounds for all.
Plants dare in safety to trust the sun's new light and warmth,
nor do the tendrils of the vines fear the South Wind's rising
or showers driven down from heaven by the forceful North Wind.
No, they spout plump buds, and unfurl all their leaves.
[tr. Lembke (2004)]

O spring the leafy groves, spring the forest speeds,
in spring the acres swell and beg for pregnant seed.
Then Heaven, almighty Father, in vital showers comes down
into the lap of his ecstatic wife, where his potence
with her potent loins commingling engenders all florescence.
Then trackless thickets trill with birdsong
and in their hour appointed the herds renew the rut.
Bountiful broods the earth and under warm westerlies
the fields unloose their bosom -- soft moisture soaks into everything
and the cotyledons dare resign themselves to the new suns,
the shoots fear not the south wind's surge
nor showers drive through the sky by the gusting North,
but push out buds and all their leaves unfold.
[tr. Johnson (2009)]

It's spring that adorns the woods and groves with leaves;
In spring, the soil, desiring seed, is tumid,
And then the omnipotent father god descends
In showers from the sky and enters into
The joyful bridal body of the earth,
His greatness in their union
Bringing to life the life waiting to live.
Birdsong is heard in every secluded thicket,
And all the beasts of the field have become aware
That love's appointed days have come again.
The generous earth is ready to give birth
And the meadows ungirdle for Zephyr's warming breezes;
The tender dew is there on everything;
The new grass dares entrust itself to the new
Suns of the new days and the little tendrils
Of the young vines have no fear of a South Wind coming
Nor of a North Wind from a stormy sky;
The vine brings forth its buds; its leaves unfold.
[tr. Ferry (2015)]

Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. -- “Despite Tough Guys, Life Is Not the Only School for Real Novelists,” New York Times (1999-05-24)

Dave — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 16:41:56 +0000

The primary benefit of practicing any art, whether well or badly, is that it enables one’s soul to grow.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007) American novelist, journalist
“Despite Tough Guys, Life Is Not the Only School for Real Novelists,” New York Times (1999-05-24)
(Source)

Part of the Times "Writers on Writing" series.

In Man Without a Country, ch. 3 "Here Is a Lesson in Creative Writing" (2005), Vonnegut expanded on this:

Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.

Hogan, Robert -- Quoted in Jeffrey Kluger, The Narcissist Next Door, ch. 6 (2014)

Dave — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 21:41:21 +0000

There’s a reason narcissists don’t learn from mistakes and that’s because they never get past the first step, which is admitting that they made one. It’s always an assistant’s fault, an adviser’s fault, a lawyer’s fault. Ask them to account for a mistake any other way and they’ll say, “What mistake?”

Robert Hogan (b. 1937) American psychologist
Quoted in Jeffrey Kluger, The Narcissist Next Door, ch. 6 (2014)
(Source)

Browne, Jackson -- “For a Dancer” (1974)

Dave — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 21:09:47 +0000

Into a dancer you have grown,
From a seed somebody else has thrown.
Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own,
And somewhere between the time you arrive and the time you go,
May lie a reason you were alive but you’ll never know.

Jackson Browne (b. 1948) American musician, songwriter, political activist
“For a Dancer” (1974)
(Source)

Schattschneider, E. E. -- Two Hundred Million Americans in Search of a Government (1969)

Dave — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 18:24:54 +0000

Democracy is based on a profound insight into human nature, the realization that all men are sinful, all are imperfect, all are prejudiced, and none knows the whole truth. That is why we need liberty and why we have an obligation to hear all men. Liberty gives us a chance to learn from other people, to become aware of our own limitations, and to correct our bias. Even when we disagree with other people we like to think that they speak from good motives, and while we realize that all men are limited, we do not let ourselves imagine that any man is bad. Democracy is a political system for people who are not sure that they are right.

E. E. Schattschneider (1892-1971) American political scientist [Elmer Eric Schattschneider]
Two Hundred Million Americans in Search of a Government (1969)
(Source)

Barton, Bruce -- Article Title, The American Magazine (1929?)

Dave — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 18:53:16 +0000

When you are through changing, you are through.

Bruce Barton (1886-1967) American author, advertising executive, politician
Article Title, The American Magazine (1929?)
(Source)

Barton was a regular contributor to The American Magazine. Both the cited source (from 1929) and this suggest this was an article he contributed no later than 1929.

The saying has been misattributed to a number of more recent consultants, motivational speakers, etc.

Ackerman, Diane -- Cultivating Delight; A Natural History of My Garden, ch. 6 (2001)

Dave — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 14:06:10 +0000

Living things tend to change unrecognizably as they grow. Who would deduce the dragonfly from the larva, the iris from the bud, the lawyer from the infant? Flora or fauna, we are all shape-shifters and magic reinventors. Life is really a plural noun, a caravan of selves.

Diane Ackerman (b. 1948) American poet, author, naturalist
Cultivating Delight; A Natural History of My Garden, ch. 6 (2001)
(Source)

Covey, Stephen R. -- First Things First, ch. 15 (1994) [with Merrill & Merrill]

Dave — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 17:41:42 +0000

Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition, such as lifting weights, we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.

Stephen R. Covey (1932-2012) American consultant, author
First Things First, ch. 15 (1994) [with Merrill & Merrill]
(Source)

Rilke, Rainer Maria -- “The Beholder [Der Schauende]”, The Book of Images [Buch der Bilder], Second Book, Part 2 (1902) (paraphrase)

Dave — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 18:46:38 +0000

The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1963) German poet
“The Beholder [Der Schauende]”, The Book of Images [Buch der Bilder], Second Book, Part 2 (1902) (paraphrase)

This looks to be a paraphrase from a couplet in the poem (also known as "The Man Watching"):

Sein Wachstum ist: der Teifbesiegte
von immer Größerem zu sein.
[Source]

Which translates variously as:

His growth is: to be the deeply defeated
by ever greater things.
[tr. Snow (1991)]

This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively,
by constantly greater beings.
[tr. Bly]

His growth is this: to be defeated
by ever greater forces.
[tr. Barrows and Macy]

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1816-07-12) to “Henry Tompkinson” (Samuel Kercheval)

Dave — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 16:29:28 +0000

I am certainly not an advocate for frequent & untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. but I know also that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. as that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. we might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilised society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1816-07-12) to “Henry Tompkinson” (Samuel Kercheval)
(Source)

Inscribed (elided) on southeast side of the Jefferson Memorial:

I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as a civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

Sarton, May -- “The Invocation to Kali,” Part 5, Poetry (Feb 1971)

Dave — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 16:49:51 +0000

Without darkness, nothing comes to birth,
As without light, nothing flowers.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
“The Invocation to Kali,” Part 5, Poetry (Feb 1971)
(Source)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1963)

Dave — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 13:59:25 +0000

What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1963)
(Source)

Adams, Abigail -- Letter to John Quincy Adams (19 Jan 1780)

Dave — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 14:43:44 +0000

These are times in which a Genious would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. Would Cicero have shone so distinguished an orater, if he had not been roused, kindled and enflamed by the Tyranny of Catiline, Millo, Verres and Mark Anthony. The Habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. All History will convince you of this, and that wisdom and penetration are the fruits of experience, not the Lessons of retirement and leisure. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the Heart, then those qualities which would otherways lay dormant, wake into Life, and form the Character of the Hero and the Statesman.

Abigail Adams (1744-1818) American correspondent, First Lady (1797-1801)
Letter to John Quincy Adams (19 Jan 1780)
(Source)

Written when John Quincy was twelve, in Paris with his father for the peace negotiations with Britain.

Boreham, Frank W. -- “So It’s Your Birthday!” The Tide Comes In (1958)

Dave — Fri, 07 May 2021 20:34:08 +0000

Yet, when all is said and done, birthdays are mere records of time, not registers of distance. They are chronometers, not speedometers. They tell us how long we have been upon the road, not how far we have travelled.

Frank W. Boreham (1871-1959) Anglo-Australian preacher
“So It’s Your Birthday!” The Tide Comes In (1958)

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- You Learn By Living, Introduction (1960)

Dave — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 19:53:29 +0000

Learning and living. But they are really the same thing, aren’t they? There is no experience from which you can’t learn something. … And the purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
You Learn By Living, Introduction (1960)

Abbey, Edward -- “Arizona: How Big is Enough?”One Life at a Time, Please (1988)

Dave — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 18:13:12 +0000

The religion of endless growth — like any religion based on blind faith rather than reason — is a kind of mania, a form of lunacy, indeed a disease. And the one disease to which the growth mania bears an exact analogical resemblance is cancer. Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. Cancer has no purpose but growth; but it does have another result — the death of the host.

Edward Abbey (1927-1989) American anarchist, writer, environmentalist
“Arizona: How Big is Enough?”One Life at a Time, Please (1988)
(Source)

Bible, Vol. 2. New Testament -- John 12: 24 (Jesus) [NJB (1985)]

Dave — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 17:17:38 +0000

In all truth I tell you, unless a wheat grain falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies it yields a rich harvest.

[ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ἐὰν μὴ ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου πεσὼν εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀποθάνῃ αὐτὸς μόνος μένει ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ πολὺν καρπὸν φέρει.]

The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
John 12: 24 (Jesus) [NJB (1985)]
(Source)

No Synoptic parallels.

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
[KJV (1611)]

I tell you, most solemnly, unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.
[JB (1966)]

I am telling you the truth: a grain of wheat remains no more than a single grain unless it is dropped into the ground and dies. If it does die, then it produces many grains.
[GNT (1976)]

I assure you that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can only be a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
[CEB (2011)]

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]

Scott-Maxwell, Florida -- The Measure of My Days (1968)

Dave — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 19:54:31 +0000

Life does not accommodate you, it shatters you. It is meant to, and it couldn’t do it better. Every seed destroys its container or else there would be no fruition.

Florida Scott-Maxwell (1883-1979) American-British playwright, author, psychologist
The Measure of My Days (1968)
(Source)

Packard, David -- (Misattributed)

Dave — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 18:37:51 +0000

More businesses die of indigestion than starvation.

David Packard (1912-1996) American electrical engineer, businessman, government official
(Misattributed)

The quote is frequently attributed to Packard, but actually he (anonymously) quoted in his book, The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company (1995): "Wells Fargo sent a retired engineer to visit us. I spent a full afternoon with him and I have remembered ever since some advice he gave me. He said that more businesses die of indigestion than starvation. I have observed the truth of that advice many times since then."

Variants of the saying include "entrepreneurs," "companies," and "start-ups" in place of "businesses." See here for more information.

Brault, Robert -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 15:15:19 +0000

How often in life we complete a task that was beyond the capability of the person we were when we started it.

Robert Brault (b. c. 1945) American aphorist, programmer
(Attributed)

Lindbergh, Anne Morrow -- The Wave of the Future (1940)

Dave — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 23:18:45 +0000

Only in growth, reform, and change, paradoxically enough, is true security to be found.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001) American writer, pilot
The Wave of the Future (1940)
(Source)

Newman, John -- Apologia Pro Vita Sua, ch. 1 (1879)

Dave — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 19:28:36 +0000

Growth is the only evidence of life.

John Henry Newman (1801-1890) English prelate, Catholic Cardinal, theologian
Apologia Pro Vita Sua, ch. 1 (1879)
(Source)

A favorite phrase of his, which he felt was drawn directly from the work of Thomas Scott.

Gilman, Charlotte -- His Religion and Hers, ch. 10 (1923)

Dave — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 14:56:05 +0000

No matter what the belief, if it had modestly said, “This is our best thought, go on, think farther!” then we could have smoothly outgrown our early errors and long since have developed a religion such as would have kept pace with an advancing world. But we were made to believe and not allowed to think. We were told to obey, rather than to experiment and investigate.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) American sociologist, writer, reformer, feminist
His Religion and Hers, ch. 10 (1923)

Solon -- Quoted in Plutarch, “Solon,” Parallel Lives [tr. Dryden (1693); ed. Clough (1859)]

Dave — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 20:52:44 +0000

Each day grew older, and learnt something new.

Solon (c. 638 BC - 558 BC) Athenian statesman, lawmaker, poet
Quoted in Plutarch, “Solon,” Parallel Lives [tr. Dryden (1693); ed. Clough (1859)]
(Source)

Alt. trans.:

"Old to grow, but ever learning." [tr. Stewart & Long (1881)]
"I grow old in the pursuit of learning." [tr. Langhorne & Langhorne (1831)]

Garfield, James A. -- “Elements of Success,” speech at Spencerian Business College, Washington, DC (29 Jun 1869)

Dave — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 19:57:00 +0000

Be fit for more than the thing you are now doing. Let everyone know that you have a reserve in yourself, — that you have more power than you are now using. If you are not too large for the place you occupy, you are too small for it.

James A. Garfield (1831-1881) US President (1881), lawyer, lay preacher, educator
“Elements of Success,” speech at Spencerian Business College, Washington, DC (29 Jun 1869)
(Source)

Reprinted in in B. A. Hinsdale, ed., President Garfield and Education: Hiram College Memorial, ch. 8 (1882).

Hanks, Tom -- Interview with Larry King, CNN (30 Jun 1995)

Dave — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 23:51:10 +0000

You learn more from getting your butt kicked than from getting it kissed.

Tom Hanks (b. 1956) American actor and filmmaker [Thomas Jeffrey Hanks]
Interview with Larry King, CNN (30 Jun 1995)

May, Rollo -- Foreword to Ronald S. Valle and Mark King, Existential-Phenomenological Alternatives for Psychology (1978)

Dave — Fri, 15 May 2020 20:07:48 +0000

One does not become fully human painlessly.

Rollo May (1909-1994) American psychotherapist
Foreword to Ronald S. Valle and Mark King, Existential-Phenomenological Alternatives for Psychology (1978)

Mannes, Marya -- More in Anger: Some Opinions, Uncensored and Unteleprompted (1958)

Dave — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 20:46:12 +0000

There is no “trick” in being young: it happens to you. But the process of maturing is an art to be learned, an effort to be sustained. By the age of fifty you have made yourself what you are, and if is good, it is better than your youth. If it is bad, it is not because you are older, but because you have not grown.

Marya Mannes (1904-1990) American author and critic [pen name "Sec"]
More in Anger: Some Opinions, Uncensored and Unteleprompted (1958)
(Source)

Bergson, Henri-Louis -- Creative Evolution, ch. 1 (1907) [tr. Mitchell (1911)]

Dave — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 01:39:59 +0000

For a conscious being, to exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.

Henri-Louis Bergson (1859-1941) French philosopher
Creative Evolution, ch. 1 (1907) [tr. Mitchell (1911)]
(Source)

Brown, Rita Mae -- Riding Shotgun, ch. 17 (1996)

Dave — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 20:13:57 +0000

Sorrow is how we learn to love. Your heart isn’t breaking. It hurts because it’s getting larger. The larger it gets, the more love it holds.

Rita Mae Brown (b. 1944) American author, playwright
Riding Shotgun, ch. 17 (1996)
(Source)

Wolfenden, John -- In Sunday Times (London) (13 Jul 1958)

Dave — Sat, 26 Aug 2017 22:39:27 +0000

Schoolmasters and parents exist to be grown out of.

John Wolfenden (1906-1985) British educator, author
In Sunday Times (London) (13 Jul 1958)

Kingsolver, Barbara -- Animal Dreams (1990)

Dave — Mon, 03 Jul 2017 21:38:45 +0000

It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn’t.

Barbara Kingsolver (b. 1955) American novelist, essayist, poet
Animal Dreams (1990)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1841), “Compensation,” Essays: First Series, No. 3

Dave — Mon, 22 May 2017 16:13:03 +0000

In general, every evil to which we do not succumb is a benefactor. As the Sandwich Islander believes that the strength and valor of the enemy he kills passes into himself, so we gain the strength of the temptation we resist.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Compensation,” Essays: First Series, No. 3
(Source)

Talmud -- Midrash Rabba, Bereshit 10:6

Dave — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 15:26:46 +0000

Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, “Grow, grow.”

The Talmud (AD 200-500) Collection of Jewish rabbinical writings
Midrash Rabba, Bereshit 10:6

Usually attributed to the Talmud, but actually from a Midrash. Alt. trans.:

"R. Shimon said: There is not a single herb but has a mazal [constellation] in the heavens which strikes it and says, 'Grow!'" [tr. Rabbi Ruth Adar]
"Said Rabbi Simon: 'Every single blade of grass has a corresponding 'mazal' in the sky which hits it and tells it to grow." [Source]

Maugham, W. Somerset -- Cakes and Ale (1930)

Dave — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 03:07:47 +0000

It’s no good trying to keep up old friendships. It’s painful for both sides. The fact is, one grows out of people, and the only thing is to face it.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) English novelist and playwright [William Somerset Maugham]
Cakes and Ale (1930)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1837-1862)

Dave — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 23:48:03 +0000

Value of a Journal. A sentence now; a sentence last year; a sentence yesterday. Tomorrow a question comes that for the first time brings together these three and shows them to be the three fractions of Unit.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1837-1862)

"Notebook Delta"

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, Book 5, ch. 58

Dave — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 00:53:56 +0000

The beginnings of all things are small.

[Omnium rerum principia parva sunt.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, Book 5, ch. 58

Alt. trans.: "Everything has a small beginning."

Quarles, Francis -- Enchyridion, Book 2, ch. 24 (1641)

Dave — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 14:46:20 +0000

Be very circumspect in the choice of thy company. In the society of thine equals thou shalt enjoy more pleasure; in the society of thy superiors thou shalt find more profit. To be the best in the company is the way to grow worse. The best means to grow better is to be the worst there.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English poet
Enchyridion, Book 2, ch. 24 (1641)
(Source)

Davenant, William -- Gondibert, Canto 2 (1650)

Dave — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 14:54:16 +0000

Small are the seeds fate does unheeded sow
Of slight beginnings to important ends.

William Davenant (1606-1668) English poet and playwright [a.k.a. William D'Avenant]
Gondibert, Canto 2 (1650)

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 28 (1820)

Dave — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 17:51:22 +0000

Times of general calamity and confusion have ever been productive of the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace, and the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storm.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 28 (1820)
(Source)

Patrick, John -- The Teahouse of the August Moon, Act 1, sc. 1 (1957)

Dave — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 21:08:45 +0000

Pain makes man think. Thought makes man wise. Wisdom makes life endurable.

John Patrick (1905-1995) American playwright and screenwriter
The Teahouse of the August Moon, Act 1, sc. 1 (1957)

Proust, Marcel -- Remembrance of Things Past (1913-27)

Dave — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 15:28:20 +0000

Happiness is beneficial for the body but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind.

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) French author
Remembrance of Things Past (1913-27)

Lewis, C.S. -- Prince Caspian (1951)

Dave — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 16:42:37 +0000

“Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.”
“That is because you are older, little one,” answered he.
“Not because you are?”
“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
Prince Caspian (1951)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1841-10-28)

Dave — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 14:50:01 +0000

We are very near to greatness: one step and we are safe: can we not take the leap?

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1841-10-28)

Mill, John Stuart -- On Liberty, ch. 3 “Of Individuality, as One of the Elements of Well-Being” (1859)

Dave — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 13:24:48 +0000

It is not by wearing down into uniformity all that is individual in themselves, but by cultivating it and calling it forth, within the limits imposed by the rights and interests of others, that human beings become a noble and beautiful object of contemplation; and as the works partake the character of those who do them, by the same process human life also becomes rich, diversified, and animating, furnishing more abundant aliment to high thoughts and elevating feelings, and strengthening the tie which binds every individual to the race, by making the race infinitely better worth belonging to. In proportion to the development of his individuality, each person becomes more valuable to himself, and is therefore capable of being more valuable to others

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) English philosopher and economist
On Liberty, ch. 3 “Of Individuality, as One of the Elements of Well-Being” (1859)

Gulliver, Julia -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 13:48:49 +0000

Let us never be betrayed into saying we have finished our education; because that would mean we had stopped growing.

Julia H. Gulliver (1856-1940) American philosopher, educator, academician
(Attributed)

Shakespeare, William -- Henry VI, Part 3, Act 4, sc. 8, l. 7ff (4.8.7-8) (1590)

Dave — Thu, 09 Apr 2015 13:00:47 +0000

CLARENCE: A little fire is quickly trodden out,
Which, being suffered, rivers cannot quench.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry VI, Part 3, Act 4, sc. 8, l. 7ff (4.8.7-8) (1590)
(Source)

Markham, Edwin -- “Brotherhood,” The Man with the Hoe and Other Poems (1899)

Dave — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 15:40:27 +0000

Come, clear the way, then, clear the way:
Blind creeds and kings have had their day.
Break the dead branches from the path;
Our hope is in the aftermath —
Our hope is in heroic men,
Star-led to build the world again.
To this Event the ages ran:
Make way for Brotherhood — make way for Man.

Edwin Markham (1852-1940) American poet
“Brotherhood,” The Man with the Hoe and Other Poems (1899)

Miller, Olin -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 14:43:00 +0000

If you realize you aren’t so wise today as you thought you were yesterday, you’re wiser today.

Olin Miller (fl. early 20th C) American humorist
(Attributed)

Lerner, Max -- “Fifty,” New York Post (18 Dec 1952)

Dave — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:25:14 +0000

The real sadness of fifty is not that you change so much but that you change so little.

Maxwell "Max" Lerner (1902-1992) American journalist, columnist, educator
“Fifty,” New York Post (18 Dec 1952)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1860), “Considerations by the Way,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 7

Dave — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 09:30:24 +0000

We acquire the strength we have overcome.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1860), “Considerations by the Way,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 7
(Source)

Based on a course of lectures by that name first delivered in Pittsburg (1851-03).

Scalzi, John -- Zoe’s Tale, ch. 1 (2008)

Dave — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 12:55:34 +0000

When you’re a kid, a rural, agriculturally-based colony town is a lot of fun to grow up in. It’s life on a farm, with goats and chickens and fields of wheat and sorghum, harvest celebrations and winter festivals. There’s not an eight- or nine-year-old kid who’s been invented who doesn’t find all of that unspeakably fun. But then you become a teenager and you start thinking about everything you might possibly want to do with your life, and you look at the options available to you. And then all farms, goats and chickens — and all the same people you’ve known all your life and will know all your life — begin to look a little less than optimal for a total life experience. It’s all the same, of course. That’s the point. It’s you who’s changed.

John Scalzi (b. 1969) American writer
Zoe’s Tale, ch. 1 (2008)

Wollstonecraft, Mary -- Thoughts on the Education of Daughters, “Matrimony” (1787)

Dave — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 12:33:13 +0000

Nothing, I am sure, calls forth the faculties so much as the being obliged to struggle with the world.

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) English social philosopher, feminist, writer
Thoughts on the Education of Daughters, “Matrimony” (1787)
(Source)

Clarke, John -- Proverbs: English and Latine [Paroemiologia Anglo-Latina] (1639)

Dave — Thu, 08 May 2014 14:44:13 +0000

Soon ripe, soon rotten.

John Clarke (d. 1658) British educator
Proverbs: English and Latine [Paroemiologia Anglo-Latina] (1639)

Shakespeare, William -- Henry IV, Part 2, Act 5, sc. 5, l. 60ff (5.5.60-62) (c. 1598)

Dave — Wed, 09 Apr 2014 12:57:10 +0000

HAL: Presume not that I am the thing I was;
For God doth know — so shall the world perceive —
That I have turn’d away my former self.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry IV, Part 2, Act 5, sc. 5, l. 60ff (5.5.60-62) (c. 1598)
(Source)

Spengler, Oswald -- Aphorisms, #147 [tr. O’Brien (1967)]

Dave — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 13:02:37 +0000

One grows or dies. There is no third possibility.

Oswald Spengler (1880–1936), German author
Aphorisms, #147 [tr. O’Brien (1967)]

Dylan, Bob -- “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” (1965)

Dave — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 14:01:06 +0000

He not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Bob Dylan (b. 1941) American singer, songwriter
“It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” (1965)

Gracián, Baltasar -- The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 69 (1647) [tr. Maurer (1992)]

Dave — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 14:50:42 +0000

Self-correction begins with self-knowledge.

[Principio es de corregirse el conocerse]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 69 (1647) [tr. Maurer (1992)]
(Source)

(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:

The knowledge of one's self is the beginning of amendment.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]

Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement.
[tr. Jacobs (1892)]

It is a first principle that in order to improve yourself, you must first know yourself.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1878-03), “Crabbed Age and Youth,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37

Dave — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 12:27:38 +0000

To hold the same views at forty as we held at twenty is to have been stupefied for a score of years, and take rank, not as a prophet, but as an unteachable brat, well birched and none the wiser. It is as if a ship captain should sail to India from the Port of London; and having brought a chart of the Thames on deck at his first setting out, should obstinately use no other for the whole voyage.

Jonson, Ben -- Timber: Or, Discoveries, “Explorata” (1640)

Dave — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:29:15 +0000

He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity.

Ben Jonson (1572-1637) English playwright and poet
Timber: Or, Discoveries, “Explorata” (1640)

Johnson, Lyndon -- Speech (1964-05-22), Graduation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Dave — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:30:48 +0000

Your imagination, your initiative, and your indignation will determine whether we build a society where progress is the servant of our needs, or a society where old values and new visions are buried under unbridled growth. For in your time we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1964-05-22), Graduation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
(Source)

Johnson had been awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law. This speech was the first formal presentation of his new domestic agenda, the Great Society.

Hoffer, Eric -- Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 151 (1955)

Dave — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:52:50 +0000

To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 151 (1955)
(Source)

Mackay, Charles -- Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, “The Alchymists” (1841)

Dave — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:33:21 +0000

The study of the errors into which great minds have fallen in the pursuit of truth can never be uninstructive. As the man looks back to the days of his childhood and his youth, and recalls to his mind the strange notions and false opinions that swayed his actions at that time, that he may wonder at them; so should society, for its edification, look back to the opinions which governed the ages fled. He is but a superficial thinker who would despise and refuse to hear of them merely because they are absurd. No man is so wise but that he may learn some wisdom from his past errors, either of thought or action; and no society has made such advances as to be capable of no improvement from the retrospect of its past folly and credulity.

Charles Mackay (1814-1889) Scottish poet, journalist, song writer
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, “The Alchymists” (1841)
(Source)

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Article (1858-09), “The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly

Dave — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:21:33 +0000

Every now and then a man’s mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Article (1858-09), “The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly
(Source)

Collected in The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. 11 (1858).

Phillips, Wendell -- Speech, Pilgrim Society, Plymouth (21 Dec 1855)

Dave — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:44:45 +0000

Goethe says that, if you plant an oak in a flower-vase, either the oak must wither or the vase crack; some men go for saving the vase. Too many nowadays have that anxiety; the Puritans would have let it crack. So say I. If there is anything that cannot bear free thought, let it crack.

Wendell Phillips (1811-1884) American abolitionist, orator, social activist
Speech, Pilgrim Society, Plymouth (21 Dec 1855)
(Source)

Ellis, Havelock -- “The Individual and the Race,” Little Essays of Love and Virtue (1922)

Dave — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:00:16 +0000

All civilization has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution.

Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) British sexologist, physician, social reformer [Henry Havelock Ellis]
“The Individual and the Race,” Little Essays of Love and Virtue (1922)
(Source)

In a passage describing the cost of population growth under the Biblical commandment of "Be ye fruitful and multiply." The above is only a fraction of the sentence, which reads in full:

It has meant that all civilisation has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution, and the human race has gone on lightly dancing there, striving to forget that ancient warning from a soul of things even deeper than the voice of Jehovah: "At the hand of man will I require the life of man."

Hawthorne, Nathaniel -- The Scarlet Letter, “Introduction: The Custom-House” (1850)

Dave — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:00:15 +0000

It contributes greatly towards a man’s moral and intellectual health, to be brought into habits of companionship with individuals unlike himself, who care little for his pursuits, and whose sphere and abilities he must go out of himself to appreciate.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) American writer
The Scarlet Letter, “Introduction: The Custom-House” (1850)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- “The Fortune of the Republic,” lecture, Boston (1878-03-30)

Dave — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:27:28 +0000

Divine Providence sends the chiefest benefits under the mask of calamities.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“The Fortune of the Republic,” lecture, Boston (1878-03-30)

Final version of a lecture first given in 1863, and his last public speech.

Aeschylus -- Agamemnon, ll. 175-183 [tr. Johnston (2007)]

Dave — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:16:31 +0000

Zeus, who guided mortals to be wise,
has established his fixed law —
wisdom comes through suffering.
Trouble, with its memories of pain,
drips in our hearts as we try to sleep,
so men against their will
learn to practice moderation.
Favours come to us from gods
seated on their solemn thrones —
such grace is harsh and violent.

τὸν φρονεῖν βροτοὺς ὁδώ-
σαντα, τὸν [πάθει μάθος]
θέντα κυρίως ἔχειν.
στάζει δ’ ἀνθ’ ὕπνου πρὸ καρδίας
μνησιπήμων πόνος· καὶ παρ’ ἄ-
κοντας ἦλθε σωφρονεῖν.
δαιμόνων δέ που χάρις βίαιος
σέλμα σεμνὸν ἡμένων.

Aeschylus (525-456 BC) Greek dramatist (Æschylus)
Agamemnon, ll. 175-183 [tr. Johnston (2007)]
(Source)

Alt. trans.:

"It is through suffering that learning comes." [In Arnold Toynbee, "Christianity and Civilization" (1947), Civilization on Trial (1948)]
"God, whose law it is that he who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despite, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God." [tr. Hamilton (1930)]
"Guide of mortal man to wisdom, he who has ordained a law, knowledge won through suffering. Drop, drop -- in our sleep, upon the heart sorrow falls, memory’s pain, and to us, though against our very will, even in our own despite, comes wisdom by the awful grace of God." [tr. Hamilton (1937)]

The first Hamilton alternate was used, slightly modified, by Robert Kennedy in his speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (4 Apr 1968). Kennedy's family used it as an epitaph on his grave Arlington National Cemetery: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God."

See here for more discussion.

~Proverbs and Sayings -- Chinese proverb

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

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
Chinese proverb

Publilius Syrus -- Sententiae [Moral Sayings]

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

There is no fruit which is not bitter before it is ripe.

Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings]

Deming, W. Edwards -- “Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position” seminar (24-28 Feb 1986)

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

Learning is not compulsory; it’s voluntary. Improvement is not compulsory; it’s voluntary. But to survive, we must learn.

W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993) American management consultant, educator
“Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position” seminar (24-28 Feb 1986)
(Source)

Often paraphrased: "Learning is not compulsory. Neither is survival."

Barrie, James -- The Little Minister, ch. 3 [Mr. Carfrae] (1891)

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

The useless men are those who never change with the years. Many views that I held to in my youth and long afterwards are a pain to me now, and I am carrying away from Thrums memories of errors into which I fell at every stage of my ministry. When you are older you will know that life is a long lesson in humility.

J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
The Little Minister, ch. 3 [Mr. Carfrae] (1891)
(Source)

Twain, Mark -- Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894)

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

But, on the other hand, Uncle Abner said that the person that had took a bull by the tail once had learnt sixty or seventy times as much as a person that hadn’t, and said a person that started in to carry a cat home by the tail was gitting knowledge that was always going to be useful to him, and warn’t ever going to grow dim or doubtful.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894)

Full text.

Variants sometimes seen:

The man who sets out to carry a cat by its tail learns something that will always be useful and which never will grow dim or doubtful.
A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.

Confucius -- (Spurious)

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

Trickling water, if not stopped, will become a mighty river.

Confucius (c. 551- c. 479 BC) Chinese philosopher, sage, politician [孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ, K'ung Fu-tzu, K'ung Fu Tse), 孔子 (Kǒngzǐ, Chungni), 孔丘 (Kǒng Qiū, K'ung Ch'iu)]
(Spurious)

No citations found. Not found in the Analects.

Butler, Samuel -- The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)

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

If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do.

Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)

Butler, Samuel -- The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, ch. 1 “Life” (1912)

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

All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.

Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, ch. 1 “Life” (1912)
(Source)

Shakespeare, William -- Hamlet, Act 4, sc. 5, l. 48ff (4.5.48-49) (c. 1600)

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

OPHELIA: Lord, we know what we are but know not what we may be.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Hamlet, Act 4, sc. 5, l. 48ff (4.5.48-49) (c. 1600)
(Source)

~Other -- Sandor McNab

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

Nothing determines who we will become so much as those things we choose to ignore.

(Other Authors and Sources)
Sandor McNab

Stravinsky, Igor -- “Contingencies,” Themes and Episodes (1966)

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

I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge.

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) American composer
“Contingencies,” Themes and Episodes (1966)
(Source)

Dewey, John -- Reconstruction in Philosophy, ch. 7 “Moral Reconstruction” (1919)

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

No individual or group will be judged by whether they come up to or fall short of some fixed result, but by the direction in which they are moving. The band mans is the man who no matter how good he has been is beginning to deteriorate, to grow less good. The good man in the man who no matter how morally unworthy he has been is moving to become better. Such a conception makes one severe in judging himself and humane in judging others.

John Dewey (1859-1952) American teacher and philosopher
Reconstruction in Philosophy, ch. 7 “Moral Reconstruction” (1919)
(Source)

Gracián, Baltasar -- The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 176 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]

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

Many would be wise if they did not think themselves wise.

[Serían sabios algunos si no creyesen que lo son.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 176 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]
(Source)

(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:

Some would be wise, if they did not think themselves so.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]

Some would be wise if they did not believe themselves wise.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]

Some would be sages if they did not believe they were so already.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]