WIST Quotations

Gracián, Baltasar -- The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 138 (1647) [tr. Fischer (1937)]

Dave — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 16:11:22 +0000

The way to quiet the turbulence of a mob is to withdraw your hand, and let it quiet itself; to concede today, may be the best way to succeed tomorrow.

[Sea modo de sosegar vulgares torbellinos el alzar mano y dejar sosegar; ceder al tiempo ahora será vencer después.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601–1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 138 (1647) [tr. Fischer (1937)]

(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:

The way then to calm popular gusts, is to be quiet. Then to yield to the times, will get the victory afterwards.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]

The way to still storms in great multitudes is to hold one's hand and let them go down of themselves. A timely giving way for the present assures victory later.
[tr. Duff (1877)]

The proper way to still the storms of the vulgar is to hold your hand and let them calm down of themselves. To give way now is to conquer by and by.
[tr. Jacobs (1892)]

Throwing up your hands is sometimes a good way to put down vulgar storms. If you bow to time for the present, you will conquer in the future.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]

Carlyle, Thomas -- Letter (1822-03-15) to John Carlyle

Dave — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 19:02:26 +0000

The last quality, perseverance, I particularly respect: it is the very hinge of all virtues. — On looking over the world, the cause of nine parts in ten of the lamentable failures which occur in men’s undertakings & darken and degrade so much of their history, lies not in the want of talents or the will to use them, but in the vacillating and desultory mode of using them — in flying from object to object, in starting away at each little disgust, and thus applying the force which might conquer any one difficulty to a series of difficulties so large that no human force can conquer them.
The smallest brook on earth, by continual running, has hollowed out for itself a considerable valley to flow in: the wildest tempest, by its occasional raging, over-turns a few cottages, uproots a few trees, and leaves after a short space no mark behind it. Commend me therefore to the Dutch virtue of perseverance! Without it all the rest are little better than fairy gold, which glitters in your purse, but when taken to the market proves to be — slate or cinders.

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Letter (1822-03-15) to John Carlyle

Writing to his brother.

King, Martin Luther -- Strength to Love, ch. 10 “Shattered Dreams,” sec. 2 (1963)

Dave — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:52:39 +0000

We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. Only in this way shall we live without the fatigue of bitterness and the drain of resentment.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Strength to Love, ch. 10 “Shattered Dreams,” sec. 2 (1963)