WIST Quotations

Wilde, Oscar -- “The Soul of Man Under Socialism” (1891)

Dave — Mon, 14 May 2018 19:50:24 +0000

What is said by great employers of labor against agitators is unquestionably true. Agitators are a set of interfering, meddling people, who come down to some perfectly contented class of the community and sow the seeds of discontent amongst them. That is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary. Without them, in our incomplete state, there would be no advance towards civilization.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
“The Soul of Man Under Socialism” (1891)
(Source)

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1759-09-01), The Idler, No. 72

Dave — Tue, 19 May 2015 12:03:10 +0000

The gloomy and the resentful are always found among those who have nothing to do or who do nothing.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-09-01), The Idler, No. 72
(Source)

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Article (1890-06), “Over the Teacups,” No. 7, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 66

Dave — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:10:46 +0000

That is what you have to expect if you invent anything that puts an old machine out of fashion, or solve a problem that has puzzled all the world up to your time. There never was a religion founded but its Messiah was called a crank. There never was an idea started that woke up men out of their stupid indifference but its originator was spoken of as a crank.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Article (1890-06), “Over the Teacups,” No. 7, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 66
(Source)

Collected in Over the Teacups, ch. 7 (1891).