WIST Quotations

Orwell, George -- Essay (1942-08), “Looking Back on the Spanish War, ch. 4, Such, Such Were the Joys, essay 8 (1953)

Dave — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 17:47:33 +0000

When I think of antiquity, the detail that frightens me is that those hundreds of millions of slaves on whose backs civilization rested generation after generation have left behind them no record whatever. We do not even know their names. In the whole of Greek and Roman history, how many slaves’ names are known to you? I can think of two, or possibly three. One is Spartacus and the other is Epictetus. Also, in the Roman room at the British Museum there is a glass jar with the maker’s name inscribed on the bottom, “Felix fecit.” I have a vivid mental picture of poor Felix (a Gaul with red hair and a metal collar round his neck), but in fact he may not have been a slave; so there are only two slaves whose names I definitely know, and probably few people can remember more. The rest have gone down into utter silence.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1942-08), “Looking Back on the Spanish War, ch. 4, Such, Such Were the Joys, essay 8 (1953)
(Source)

Milne, A. A. -- House at Pooh Corner, ch. 7 “Tigger Is Unbounced” (1928)

Dave — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 15:39:55 +0000

“Lucky we know the forest so well, or we might get lost,” said Rabbit half an hour later, and he gave the careless laugh which you give when you know the Forest so well that you can’t get lost.

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
House at Pooh Corner, ch. 7 “Tigger Is Unbounced” (1928)
(Source)

Dante Alighieri -- The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 1 “Inferno,” Canto 1, l. 1ff (1.1-3) (1309) [tr. Minchin (1885)]

Dave — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 22:42:43 +0000

Upon the journey of my life midway,
I found myself within a darkling wood,
Where from the straight path I had gone astray.

[Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita,
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
ché la diritta via era smarrita.]

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet
The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 1 “Inferno,” Canto 1, l. 1ff (1.1-3) (1309) [tr. Minchin (1885)]
(Source)

Opening words of the work. (Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:

When in my middle State of Life I found
Myself entangl'd in a wood obscure,
Having the right path miss'd ...
[tr. Rogers (1782)]

When life had labour'd up her midmost stage,
And, weary with her mortal pilgrimage,
Stood in suspense upon the point of Prime;
Far in a pathless grove I chanc'd to stray ...
[tr. Boyd (1802), st. 1]

In the midway of this our mortal life,
I found me in a gloomy wood, astray
Gone from the path direct.
[tr. Cary (1814)]

Midway the journey of our life along,
I found me in a gloomy woodland dell,
The right road all confounded with the wrong.
[tr. Dayman (1843)]

In the middle of the journey of our life I [came to] myself in a dark wood [where] the straight way was lost.
[tr. Carlyle (1849)]

Halfway through our mortal life I found
In a dark forest's wild and rugged ground,
Where the right way was lost in shaggy wood,
A rude and savage woodland solitude.
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]

In our life's journey at its midway stage
I found myself within a wood obscure,
Where the right path which guided me was lost.
[tr. Johnston (1867)]

Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straight-forward pathway had been lost.
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]

Halfway upon the road of our life, I came to myself amid a dark wood where the straight path was confused.
[tr. Butler (1885)]

Midway upon the road of our life I found myself within a dark wood, for the right way had been missed.
[tr. Norton (1892)]

Midway on the journey of our life I found myself within a darksome wood, for the right way was lost.
[tr. Sullivan (1893)]

Midway upon the road of our life's journey
I found myself within a dark wood faring;
For the straight way was lost by misadventure.
[tr. Griffith (1908)]

In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost.
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]

Midway life's journey I was made aware
That I had strayed into a dark forest,
And the right path appeared not anywhere.
[tr. Binyon (1943)]

Midway this way of life we're bound upon,
I woke to find myself in a dark wood,
Where the right road was wholly lost and gone.
[tr. Sayers (1949)]

Midway in our life's journey, I went astray
from the straight road and woke to find myself
alone in a dark wood.
[tr. Ciardi (1954)]

Midway in the journey of our life I found myself in a dark wood, for the straight way was lost.
[tr. Singleton (1970)]

Midway along the journey of our life
I woke to find myself in some dark woods,
for I had wandered off from the straight path.
[tr. Musa (1971)]

When I had journeyed half of our life's way,
I found myself within a shadowed forest,
for I had lost the path that does not stray.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1980)]

Half way along the road we have to go,
I found myself obscured in a great forest,
Bewildered, and I knew I had lost the way.
[tr. Sisson (1981)]

Midway on our life's journey, I found myself
In dark woods, the right road lost.
[tr. Pinsky (1994)]

In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself in a dark wood, for the straight way was lost.
[tr. Durling (1996)]

In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself, in a dark wood, where the direct way was lost.
[tr. Kline (2002)]

Halfway through the story of my life
I came to in a gloomy wood, because I'd
wandered off the path, away from the light.
[tr. Carson (2002)]

At one point midway on our path in life,
I came around and found myself now searching
through a dark wood, the right way blurred and lost.
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2006)]

Midway in the journey of our life
I came to myself in a dark wood,
for the straight way was lost.
[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]

Halfway along the road of this our life
I woke to find myself in a wood so dark
That straight and honest ways were gone, and light
Was lost.
[tr. Raffel (2010)]

At the mid-point of the path through life, I found
Myself lost in a wood so dark, the way
Ahead was blotted out.
[tr. James (2013)]

Stopped mid-motion in the middle
Of what we call a life, I looked up and saw no sky --
Only a dense cage of leaf, tree, and twig. I was lost.
[tr. Bang (2013)]

~Proverbs and Sayings -- Danish Proverb

Dave — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 18:43:00 +0000

Better ask twice than lose your way once.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
Danish Proverb

~Proverbs and Sayings -- Turkish proverb

Dave — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 19:52:11 +0000

No matter how far you have gone on the wrong road, turn back.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
Turkish proverb

Kipling, Rudyard -- “Gentlemen-Rankers,” (1892)

Dave — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 17:15:40 +0000

We’re poor little lambs who’ve lost our way,
Baa! Baa! Baa!
We’re little black sheep who’ve gone astray,
Baa-aa-aa!
Gentlemen rankers out on a spree,
Damned from here to Eternity.
God ha’ mercy on such as we,
Baa! Yah! Bah!

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
“Gentlemen-Rankers,” (1892)
(Source)

Berra, Yogi -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 19:34:46 +0000

You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.

Yogi Berra (1925-2015) American baseball player, coach, manager [b. Lawrence Peter Berra]
(Attributed)

Variants:

"If you don't know where you're going, you might not get there."
"If you don't know where you're going, you'll wind up somewhere else."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1867-07-02, after)

Dave — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 16:53:59 +0000

I suppose every old scholar has had the experience of reading something in a book which was significant to him, but which he could never find again. Sure he is that he read it there, but no one else ever read it, nor can he find it again, though he buy the book and ransack every page.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1867-07-02, after)

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth -- Hyperion, Book 2, ch. 3 (1839)

Dave — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 14:15:47 +0000

It is folly to pretend that one ever wholly recovers from a disappointed passion. Such wounds always leave a scar. There are faces I can never look upon without emotion. There are names I can never hear spoken without almost starting.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
Hyperion, Book 2, ch. 3 (1839)

Straczynski, J. Michael "Joe" -- rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, “ATTN JMS: Warner Bros” (8 Dec 1996)

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

So we’re just in this maze for now, trying to figure out if that glint in the distance is daylight, or a Minotaur with an Uzi.

J. Michael (Joe) Straczynski (b. 1954) American screenwriter, producer, author [a/k/a "JMS"]
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, “ATTN JMS: Warner Bros” (8 Dec 1996)
(Source)