WIST Quotations

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1995-01-16)

Dave — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 20:53:16 +0000

CALVIN: Some days you get up and you already know that things aren’t going to go well. They’re the type of days when you should just give in, put your pajamas back on, make some hot chocolate, and read comic books in bed with the covers up until the world looks more encouraging.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1995-01-16)
(Source)

Adams, Richard -- Watership Down, ch. 5 “In the Woods” (1972)

Dave — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 19:41:01 +0000

To rabbits, everything unknown is dangerous.

Richard Adams (1920-2016) English novelist
Watership Down, ch. 5 “In the Woods” (1972)
(Source)

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas -- The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms, “Ethics” (2010)

Dave — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:59:56 +0000

Just as dyed hair makes older men less attractive, it is what you do to hide your weaknesses that makes them repugnant.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (b. 1960) Lebanese-American essayist, statistician, risk analyst, aphorist
The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms, “Ethics” (2010)
(Source)

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas -- The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms, “Preludes” (2010)

Dave — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 22:01:09 +0000

People are much less interested in what you are trying to show them than in what you are trying to hide.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (b. 1960) Lebanese-American essayist, statistician, risk analyst, aphorist
The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms, “Preludes” (2010)
(Source)

Coffin, William Sloane -- “Spirituality,” sermon, Riverside Church, New York City (1986-10-26)

Dave — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 17:12:44 +0000

Most of the time we aren’t really present one to another, we just bump masks.

William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (1924-2006) American minister, social activist
“Spirituality,” sermon, Riverside Church, New York City (1986-10-26)
(Source)

Sermon on Psalm 46, Galatians 5:16-26.

Like most writers of sermons, Coffin used the phrase on multiple occasions, e.g., in A Passion for the Possible, ch. 6 "Sexism" (1993):

Vulnerability is a great virtue, as Paul realized when he said, "Whenever I am weak, then I am strong." Without it there can be neither honesty nor intimacy. Without vulnerability we don't really meet each other, we just bump masks.

(Referencing 2 Corinthians 12:10.)

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- De Officiis [On Duties; On Moral Duty; The Offices], Book 3, ch. 9 (3.9) / sec. 38 (44 BC) [tr. Edmonds (1865)]

Dave — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 16:41:54 +0000

For virtue, not secrecy, is sought by good men.

[Honesta enim bonis viris, non occulta quaeruntur.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
De Officiis [On Duties; On Moral Duty; The Offices], Book 3, ch. 9 (3.9) / sec. 38 (44 BC) [tr. Edmonds (1865)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

For good men desire to be virtuous and honest, and not to be secret, that so they may sin without danger.
[tr. Cockman (1699)]

What is honorable, and not what is concealed, is the object of pursuit with wise men.
[tr. McCartney (1798)]

For it is right things, not hidden things, that are sought by good men.
[tr. Peabody (1883)]

The good man seeks to do what is right, not to hide what he does.
[tr. Gardiner (1899)]

For good men aim to secure not secrecy but the right.
[tr. Miller (1913)]

Good men seek right conduct, not conduct that has to remain concealed.
[tr. Edinger (1974)]

Honorable things, not secretive things, are sought by good men.

Sexton, Anne -- “Small Wire”

Dave — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 15:48:17 +0000

As it has been said:
Love and a cough
cannot be concealed.
Even a small cough.
Even a small love.

Anne Sexton (1928-1974) American poet
“Small Wire”
(Source)

Lorde, Audre -- “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” The Cancer Journals (1980)

Dave — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 17:00:24 +0000

We can sit in our corners, mute forever, while our sisters and ourselves are wasted, while our children are distorted and destroyed, while our earth is poisoned. We can sit silently in our corners, mute as bottles, and we will still be no less afraid.

Audre Lorde (1934-1992) American writer, feminist, civil rights activist
“The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” The Cancer Journals (1980)
(Source)

Originally given as a speech at the Modern Language Association meeting (28 Dec 1977).

Hemry, John G. -- The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Invincible (2012)

Dave — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 12:02:41 +0000

Security is not a license for people in authority to hide tactics they would never openly admit to using.

John G. Hemry (b. 1956) American naval officer, author [pseud. Jack Campbell]
The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Invincible (2012)

La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶245 (1665-1678) [tr. Heard (1917), ¶253]

Dave — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:15:57 +0000

It takes a clever man to hide his cleverness.

[C’est une grande habileté que de savoir cacher son habileté.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶245 (1665-1678) [tr. Heard (1917), ¶253]
(Source)

In the 1665 edition, this read: Le plus grand art d’un habile homme est celui de savoir cacher son habileté.

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

It is a Great Act of Wisdom to be able to Conceal one's being Wise.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶246]

It requires no small degree of ability to know when to conceal it.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), "Ability," ¶4]

It is a great ability to be able to conceal one's ability.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶257]

There is great ability in knowing how to conceal one's ability.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶245]

It is the height of art to conceal art.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶245]

A very clever man will know how to hide his cleverness.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶245]

It is exceedingly clever to know how to hide your cleverness.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶245]

To conceal ingenuity is ingenuity indeed.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶245]

It is great cleverness to know how to hide our cleverness.
[tr. Whichello (2016), ¶245]

Mauldin, Bill -- Interview by Donald R. Katz, “Bill Mauldin: Drawing Fire,” Rolling Stone (4 Nov 1976)

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

Law and order is like patriotism — anyone who comes on strong about patriotism has got something to hide — it never fails. They always turn out to be a crook or an asshole or a traitor or something.

Bill Mauldin (1921-2003) American editorial cartoonist, writer
Interview by Donald R. Katz, “Bill Mauldin: Drawing Fire,” Rolling Stone (4 Nov 1976)
(Source)