WIST Quotations

Einstein, Albert -- Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 5, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]

Dave — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 23:21:12 +0000

The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency.

[Die Majorität der Dummen ist unüberwindbar und für alle Zeiten gesichert. Der Schrecken ihrer Tyrannei ist indessen gemildert durch Mangel an Konsequenz.]

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 5, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]
(Source)

(Source (German))

Leo Baeck (1873-1956) was a noted a German rabbi, scholar, and theologian.

Manning, Brennan -- The Ragamuffin Gospel, ch. 1 “Something is Radically Wrong” (1990)

Dave — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 20:12:46 +0000

When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.

Brennan Manning (1934-2013) American author, laicized priest, theologian, speaker [Richard Francis Xavier Manning]
The Ragamuffin Gospel, ch. 1 “Something is Radically Wrong” (1990)
(Source)

Hitchens, Christopher -- Essay (2004-02), “I Fought the Law,” Vanity Fair

Dave — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 16:33:56 +0000

The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law.

Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) English intellectual, polemicist, socio-political critic
Essay (2004-02), “I Fought the Law,” Vanity Fair
(Source)

Collected as "I Fought the Law in Bloomburg's New York," Love, Poverty, and War (2004).

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 2, ch. 8 / sec. 18 (2.8/2.18.7) (44-10-24 BC) [tr. King (1877)]

Dave — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 22:08:34 +0000

But you were so utterly devoid of sense, that throughout the whole of your speech you were disputing with yourself, saying things which not only were inconsistent with each other, but involved direct contradiction and opposition, so that the contest was not so much between you and me as between Antonius and Antonius.

[Tam autem eras excors, ut tota in oratione tua tecum ipse pugnares, non modo non cohaerentia inter se diceres, sed maxime disiuncta atque contraria, ut non tanta mecum quanta tibi tecum esset contentio.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 2, ch. 8 / sec. 18 (2.8/2.18.7) (44-10-24 BC) [tr. King (1877)]
(Source)

Addressing Mark Antony (Marcus Antonius).

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

But you are so senseless that throughout the whole of your speech you were at variance with yourself; so that you said things which had not only no coherence with each other, but which were most inconsistent with and contradictory to one another; so that there was not so much opposition between you and me as there was between you and yourself.
[tr. Yonge (1903)]

And so void of sense were you that throughout your speech you were at war with yourself, were making not only inconsistent statements, but statements so entirely disjointed and contrary to one another that the contest was not so much with me as with yourself.
[tr. Ker (Loeb) (1926)]

Really, your speech was demented, it was so full of inconsistencies. From beginning to end, you were not merely incoherent but glaringly self-contradictory: indeed you contradicted yourself more often than you contradicted me.
[tr. Grant (1971 ed.)]

So obtuse were you that throughout your entire speech you were at issue with yourself, making statements that were not merely incoherent but actually inconsistent and incompatible: the result was that you seemed to be not so much in dispute with me as with yourself.
[tr. Berry (2006)]

But your speech was so senseless that throughout it you struggled only against yourself and said things that not only made no internal sense but were self-contradictory and inconsistent; in the end it was not so much a clash with me as with yourself.
[tr. McElduff (2011)]

But you were so stupid that in your whole speech you were fighting yourself; not only were your statements inconsistent, but so extremely disjoint and contrary that the argument was not so much with me as with yourself, against yourself.
[tr. Wiseman]

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

Dave — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 20:03:23 +0000

The person you are most afraid to contradict is yourself.

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

Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #209 (19 Dec 1749)

Dave — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 17:25:01 +0000

We must not suppose that, because a man is a rational animal, he will, therefore, always act rationally; or, because he has such or such a predominant passion, that he will act invariably and consequentially in the pursuit of it. No, we are complicated machines; and though we have one main spring that gives motion to the whole, we have an infinity of little wheels, which, in their turns, retard, precipitate, and sometimes stop that motion.

Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #209 (19 Dec 1749)
(Source)

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- Epistulae ad Atticum [Letters to Atticus], Book 16, Letter 7, sec. 3 (16.7.3) (44 BC) [tr. Shuckburgh (1900), # 780]

Dave — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 00:58:49 +0000

No philosopher ever yet — and there has been a great deal written upon the subject — defined a mere change of plan as vacillation.

[Nemo doctus umquam (multa autem de hoc genere scripta sunt) mutationem consili inconstantiam dixit esse.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Epistulae ad Atticum [Letters to Atticus], Book 16, Letter 7, sec. 3 (16.7.3) (44 BC) [tr. Shuckburgh (1900), # 780]
(Source)

Defending to his brother his change in plans, based on the changing political situation in Rome.

For quotation books, this is often given in a shorter form, without the parenthetical clause about much having been written on the subject (i.e., Nemo doctus unquam mutationem consilii inconstantiam dixit esse, or the shorter English translations below.)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

No philosopher, much as has been written on this subject, has ever yet affirmed that a change of plans is the same as inconsistency.
[tr. Jeans (1880), # 117]

No wise man ever called a change of plan inconsistency.
[ed. Harbottle (1906)]

No well-informed person has declared a change of opinion to be inconstancy.
[ed. Benham (1907), 16.8]

No philosopher ever called a change of plan inconsistency, though there has been a good deal written on the point.
[tr. Winstedt (Loeb) (1913)]

Well, in all the many writings on this theme, no philosopher has ever equated a change of plan with lack of firmness.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1968)]

Deng Xiaoping -- Comment (1983)

Dave — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 15:38:32 +0000

The United States brags about its political system, but the President says one thing during the election, something else when he takes office, something else at midterm and something else when he leaves.

Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) Chinese revolutionary, politician, statesman [Teng Hsiao-p'ing]
Comment (1983)
(Source)

When asked by a group of American professors about China's political stability. Quoted in Philip West and Frans A. M. Alting von Geusau, The Pacific Rim and the Western World: Strategic, Economic, and Cultural Perspectives (1987).

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett -- “The Lady’s ‘Yes'”, st. 1 (1844)

Dave — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:27:10 +0000

‘Yes,’ I answered you last night;
‘No,’ this morning, sir, I say.
Colors seen by candle-light,
Will not look the same by day.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) English poet
“The Lady’s ‘Yes'”, st. 1 (1844)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2

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

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2
(Source)

This thought continues here.

This essay was inspired by his reading of Walter Savage Landor in 1833, with passages pulled from his lecture "Individualism," last in his course on "The Philosophy of History" (1836–1837), with other passages from the lectures "School," "Genius," and "Duty" in his course on "Human Life" (1838–1839).

Lowell, James Russell -- “Abraham Lincoln” (1864), My Study Windows (1871)

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

This imputation of inconsistency is one to which every sound politician and every honest thinker must sooner or later subject himself. The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American diplomat, essayist, poet
“Abraham Lincoln” (1864), My Study Windows (1871)
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:00:00 +0000

With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think to-day in words as hard as cannon-balls and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2
(Source)

Inspired by his reading of Walter Savage Landor in 1833, with passages pulled from his lecture "Individualism," last in his course on "The Philosophy of History" (1836–1837), with other passages from the lectures "School," "Genius," and "Duty" in his course on "Human Life" (1838–1839).