WIST Quotations

McGinley, Phyllis -- “A Jewel in the Pocket,” Sixpence in Her Shoe (1964)

Dave — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 17:32:29 +0000

For a liberal arts education is not a tool like a hoe or a blueprint or an electric mixer. It is a true and precious stone which can glow just as wholesomely on a kitchen table as when it is put on exhibition in a jeweler’s window or bartered for bread and butter. Learning is a boon, a personal good. It is a light in the mind, a pleasure for the spirit, an object to be enjoyed. It is refreshment, warmth, illumination, a window from which we get a view of the world. To what barbarian plane are we descending when we demand that it serve only the economy?

Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978) American author, poet
“A Jewel in the Pocket,” Sixpence in Her Shoe (1964)
(Source)

Adams, John -- (Misattributed)

Dave — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 00:24:26 +0000

There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
(Misattributed)

Actually American writer and historian James Truslow Adams (1878-1949). Variants:

"There are two types of education. One should teach us how to make a living, and the other how to live."
"There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live."

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

Dave — Thu, 19 May 2016 14:53:32 +0000

He that studies books alone, will know how things ought to be; and he that studies men will know how things are.

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

Terence -- Heauton Timoroumenos [The Self-Tormentor], l. 77

Dave — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 03:04:51 +0000

I am human, I consider nothing human is alien to me.

[Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto.]

Terence (186?-159 BC) African-Roman dramatist [Publius Terentius Afer]
Heauton Timoroumenos [The Self-Tormentor], l. 77

Alt. trans.:

"I am human [being], I consider nothing human to be alien to me."
"I am a human being, so there is nothing human I do not feel to be my concern."
"I am a human being; nothing human is alien to me."