WIST Quotations

Maurois, Andre -- The Art of Living [Un Art de Vivre], ch. 8 “The Art of Growing Old” (1939) [tr. Whitall (1940)]

Dave — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 01:44:49 +0000

Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form.

[Vieillir n’est qu’une mauvaise habitude; l’homme occupé n’a pas le temps de la prendre.]

André Maurois (1885–1967) French author [b. Émile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog]
The Art of Living [Un Art de Vivre], ch. 8 “The Art of Growing Old” (1939) [tr. Whitall (1940)]

(Source (French))

Baudelaire, Charles -- Journaux Intimes [Intimate Journals], “Mon cœur mis à nu [My Heart Laid Bare],” § 40 (1864–1867; pub. 1887) [tr. Sieburth (2022)]

Dave — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 20:36:04 +0000

One must work, if not out of inclination, at least out of despair. All things considered, work is far less boring than entertaining oneself.

[Il faut travailler, sinon par goût, au moins par désespoir, puisque, tout bien vérifié, travailler est moins ennuyeux que s’amuser.]

Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) French poet, essayist, art critic
Journaux Intimes [Intimate Journals], “Mon cœur mis à nu [My Heart Laid Bare],” § 40 (1864–1867; pub. 1887) [tr. Sieburth (2022)]

(Source (French)). Other translations:

One must work, if not from inclination at least from despair, since, as I have fully proved, to work is less wearisome than to amuse oneself.
[tr. Isherwood (1930)]

It is necessary to work, if not from inclination, at least from despair. As it turns out, work is less boring than amusing oneself.
[Source, e.g.]

One must work, if not from inclination, at least out of despair -- since it proves, on close examination, that work is less boring than amusing oneself.
[Source, e.g.]

Austen, Jane -- Mansfield Park, ch. 46 (1814)

Dave — Thu, 11 May 2023 15:41:27 +0000

There is nothing like employment, active indispensable employment, for relieving sorrow. Employment, even melancholy, may dispel melancholy, and her occupations were hopeful.

Jane Austen (1775–1817) English author
Mansfield Park, ch. 46 (1814)

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- The Two Foscari, Act 4, sc. 1 [Loredano] (1821)

Dave — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 15:51:16 +0000

Sorrow preys upon
Its solitude, and nothing diverts it
From its sad visions of the other world
Than calling it at moments back to this.
The busy have no time for tears.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824) English poet
The Two Foscari, Act 4, sc. 1 [Loredano] (1821)

Martin, Steve -- L. A. Story (1991)

Dave — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:53:07 +0000

HARRIS: Sitting there at that moment I thought of something else Shakespeare said. He said, “Hey … life is pretty stupid; with lots of hubbub to keep you busy, but really not amounting to much.” Of course I’m paraphrasing: “Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Steve Martin (b. 1945) American comedian, actor, writer, producer, musician
L. A. Story (1991)

(Source (Video))

See Shakespeare.

Hoffer, Eric -- True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 1, ch. 2, § 10 (1951)

Dave — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:21:29 +0000

A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people’s business.

Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 1, ch. 2, § 10 (1951)

Thoreau, Henry David -- Essay (1863-10), “Life without Principle,” Atlantic Monthly, No. 72

Dave — Tue, 20 May 2008 10:24:41 +0000

This world is a place of business. What an infinite bustle! I am awaked almost every night by the panting of the locomotive. It interrupts my dreams. There is no sabbath. It would be glorious to see mankind at leisure for once. It is nothing but work, work, work. I cannot easily buy a blank-book to write thoughts in; they are commonly ruled for dollars and cents. An Irishman, seeing me making a minute in the fields, took it for granted that I was calculating my wages. If a man was tossed out of a window when an infant, and so made a cripple for life, or scared out of his wits by the Indians, it is regretted chiefly because he was thus incapacitated for — business! I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself, than this incessant business.

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) American philosopher and writer
Essay (1863-10), “Life without Principle,” Atlantic Monthly, No. 72

Based his lecture (1854-12-06) "What Shall It Profit?" Railroad Hall, Providence, Rhode Island. He had edited it for publication before his death, and it was published posthumously.

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1759-03-17), The Idler, No. 48

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

There is no kind of idleness by which we are so easily seduced as that which dignifies itself by the appearance of business, and by making the loiterer imagine that he has something to do which must not be neglected, keeps in perpetual agitation and hurries him from place to place.

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-03-17), The Idler, No. 48