WIST Quotations

Billings, Josh -- Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 148 “Affurisms: Ink Brats” (1874)

Dave — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 15:03:08 +0000

People travel to learn; most ov them (before they start) should learn to travel.

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 148 “Affurisms: Ink Brats” (1874)
(Source)

Publilius Syrus -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 18:59:41 +0000

It is a good thing to learn caution by the misfortunes of others.

Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
(Attributed)

Cited by Sir Richard Steele, The Guardian, #147 (29 Aug 1713).

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- “Blotting Book 1,” (1826-1827)

Dave — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 16:27:58 +0000

What we have learned from others becomes our own by reflection.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Blotting Book 1,” (1826-1827)

Lewis, C.S. -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 13:19:14 +0000

Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God, do you learn.

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
(Attributed)

There are several variants, but no citation for this quotation. See Pliny the Younger.

Adams, Douglas -- Interview (2001-04-05) by Brendan Buhler, “Man of the Galaxy,” Daily Nexus, University of California, Santa Barbara

Dave — Mon, 04 May 2015 12:04:01 +0000

These are life’s little learning experiences. You know what a learning experience is is one of those things that says, “You know that thing you just did? Don’t do that.”

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Interview (2001-04-05) by Brendan Buhler, “Man of the Galaxy,” Daily Nexus, University of California, Santa Barbara
(Source)

Collected in The Salmon of Doubt, Part 3 "And Everything" (2002) [ed. Peter Guzzardi].

Hazlitt, William -- Men and Manners, “On Prejudice” (1852)

Dave — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 12:08:57 +0000

We never do anything well till we cease to think about the manner of doing it.

William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
Men and Manners, “On Prejudice” (1852)

Burgh, James -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 13:48:04 +0000

If you would not have affliction visit you twice, listen at once to what it teaches.

James Burgh (1714-1775) British politician and writer
(Attributed)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Autobiography (1913)

Dave — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 14:14:00 +0000

Americans learn only from catastrophes and not from experience.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Autobiography (1913)

Leonard, Elmore -- Darryl, Be Cool (1999)

Dave — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 13:22:42 +0000

What do you tell a man with two black eyes? Nothing, he’s already been told twice.

Elmore Leonard (1925-2013) American novelist and screenwriter
Darryl, Be Cool (1999)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- “Old Age,” Society and Solitude (1870)

Dave — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 13:25:28 +0000

Skill to do comes of doing.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Old Age,” Society and Solitude (1870)