WIST Quotations

Shakespeare, William -- Sir Thomas More, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 105ff (c. 1592)

Dave — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 16:19:08 +0000

SIR THOMAS MORE: Say now the king
(As he is clement, if th’ offender mourn)
Should so much come to short of your great trespass
As but to banish you, whether would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? Go you to France or Flanders,
To any German province, to Spain or Portugal,
Nay, any where that not adheres to England, —
Why, you must needs be strangers. Would you be pleased
To find a nation of such barbarous temper,
That, breaking out in hideous violence,
Would not afford you an abode on earth,
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed not nor made not you, nor that the claimants
Were not all appropriate to your comforts,
But chartered unto them, what would you think
To be thus used? This is the strangers’ case;
And this your mountanish inhumanity.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Sir Thomas More, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 105ff (c. 1592)
(Source)

Quelling rioting Englishmen who were demanding the expulsion of Flemish immigrants, telling them to consider what they themselves might do, and the conditions they might face, if they were forced to leave England.

The play was written by Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle, with revisions and edits by multiple writers. This particular scene and monologue are in what is considered to be Shakespeare's own hand.

Shakespeare, William -- Sir Thomas More, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 55ff (c. 1592)

Dave — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:54:41 +0000

SIR THOMAS MORE: Grant them removed, and grant that this your noise
Hath chid down all the majesty of England;
Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding tooth ports and costs for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silent by your brawl,
And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
What had you got? I’ll tell you. You had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man,
For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Would feed on one another.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Sir Thomas More, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 55ff (c. 1592)
(Source)

Quelling rioting Englishmen who were demanding the expulsion of Flemish immigrants, noting that being part of pitiless mob violence makes one a target for future violence by others.

The play was written by Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle, with revisions and edits by multiple writers. This particular scene and monologue are in what is considered to be Shakespeare's own hand.

Ivins, Molly -- Bill of Wrongs, Introduction (2007) [with Lou Dubose]

Dave — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 16:09:37 +0000

This has happened before in our history — in fact, it’s a pretty predictable reaction to fear. We get so rattled by some big Scary Thing — communism or crime or drugs or illegal aliens or terrorism — something that scares us so much, we think we can make ourselves safer by giving up some of our freedom. Now, not only does that not hold a drop of water as a logical proposition but it has consistently proved to be an illusion as a practical matter. Empirically, when you make yourself less free, you are not safe, you are just less free.

Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Bill of Wrongs, Introduction (2007) [with Lou Dubose]
(Source)

See Franklin (1755).

Asquith, Margot -- More or Less about Myself, ch. 11 (1934)

Dave — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 17:11:54 +0000

It is not often that you can say a political conviction coincides with a religious belief; but I think to look upon foreigners as enemies and try and draw a tight string round ourselves and our possessions to keep them out, is not only profoundly anti-Christ but contrary to all wisdom.

Margot Asquith (1864-1945) British socialite, author, wit [Emma Margaret Asquith, Countess Oxford and Asquith; Margot Oxford; née Tennant]
More or Less about Myself, ch. 11 (1934)
(Source)

Buck, Pearl S. -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 03:12:31 +0000

We send missionaries to China so the Chinese can get to heaven, but we won’t let them into our country.

Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) American writer
(Attributed)

Quoted in Clifton Fadiman, The American Treasury: 1455-1955 (1955).

Bush, George W. -- Inaugural Address (2001-01-20)

Dave — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 13:56:42 +0000

America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests, and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them; and every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.

George W. Bush (b. 1946) US President (2001-2009)
Inaugural Address (2001-01-20)
(Source)

Bailey, Philip James -- Festus, Sc. “The Surface” [Festus] (1839)

Dave — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:42:18 +0000

America! half-brother of the world!
With something good and bad of every land.

Philip James Bailey (1816-1902) English poet, lawyer
Festus, Sc. “The Surface” [Festus] (1839)
(Source)