WIST Quotations

Ibsen, Henrik -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 23:33:35 +0000

Money may be the husk of many things but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; acquaintance, but not friends; servants, but not loyalty; days of joy, but not peace or happiness.

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) Norwegian poet and playwright
(Attributed)

Widely cited to Ibsen, but I cannot find any actual citations for its origin. The furthest I was able to track back is a 1941 issue of Readers Digest.

Conrad, Joseph -- Nostromo, Part 3 “The Lighthouse,” ch. 10 (1904)

Dave — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 21:16:58 +0000

“No,” interrupted the doctor. “There is no peace and no rest in the development of material interests. They have their law, and their justice. But it is founded on expediency, and is inhuman; it is without rectitude, without the continuity and the force that can be found only in moral principle.”

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) Polish-English novelist [b. Teodor Josef Konrad Korzeniowski]
Nostromo, Part 3 “The Lighthouse,” ch. 10 (1904)
(Source)

Adams, John -- Letter (1775-07-07) to Abigail Adams

Dave — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:05:53 +0000

Cities may be rebuilt, and a People reduced to Poverty, may acquire fresh Property: But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty once lost is lost forever. When the People once surrender their share in the Legislature, and their Right of defending the Limitations upon the Government, and of resisting every Encroachment upon them, they can never regain it.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1775-07-07) to Abigail Adams
(Source)

On standing up to the British after the burning of Charleston, South Carolina.