WIST Quotations

Montaigne, Michel de -- Essays, Book 1, ch. 26 (1.26), “It Is Folly to Measure the True and the False by Our Own Capacity [C’est folie de rapporter le vray et le faux à nostre suffisance]” (1572) [tr. Screech (1987), 1.27]

Dave — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 20:35:50 +0000

Why cannot we remember all the contradictions which we feel within our own judgement, and how many things which were articles of belief for us yesterday are fables for us today?

[Que ne nous souvient il combien nous sentons de contradiction en nostre jugement mesmes ? combien de choses nous servoient hyer d’articles de foy, qui nous sont fables aujourd’huy?]

Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 26 (1.26), “It Is Folly to Measure the True and the False by Our Own Capacity [C’est folie de rapporter le vray et le faux à nostre suffisance]” (1572) [tr. Screech (1987), 1.27]
(Source)

In context, Montaigne is arguing here for full faith in the teachings of the Catholic Church, not picking and choosing among them as personal judgment sees fit.

This essay was first published in the 1st (1580) edition. Some translators use the 1588 sequence of chapters, not the 1595, and so identify this as ch. 27.

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Why remember we not, what, and how many contradictions we finde and feele even in our owne judgement? Howe many things served-us but yesterday as articles of faith, which to day wee deeme but fables?
[tr. Florio (1603)]

Why do not we recollect what contradiction we find in our own opinions? How many things were articles of faiith yesterday, which to-day we treat as no other than fables.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]

Why do we not consider what contradictions we find in our own judgments; how many things were yesterday articles of our faith, that to-day appear no other than fables?
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

Why do we not remember how much we are conscious of contradiction in our very judgment? how many things we regarded yesterday as articles of faith which are fables to us to-day?
[tr. Ives (1925), 1.27]

Why do we not remember how much contradiction we sense even in our own judgment? How many things were articles of faith to us yesterday, which are fables to us today?
[tr. Frame (1943), 1.27]

Why do we not remember how many contradictions we find even in our own opinions, how many things we regarded yesterday as articles of faith that seem to us only fables today?
[tr. Cohen (1958), 1.27]

~Other -- Murphy’s Law: Corollaries

Dave — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:06:03 +0000

1. Nothing is as easy as it looks.
2. Everything takes longer than you think.
3. If there is possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.

(Other Authors and Sources)
Murphy’s Law: Corollaries

In Arthur Bloch, Murphy's Law: And Other Reasons Why Things Go gnorW, "Murphyology" (1979). See Murphy's Law.

Orwell, George -- Diary Entry (1941-05-18), “First War-Time Diary”

Dave — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:08:59 +0000

If there is a wrong thing to do, it will be done, infallibly. One has come to believe in that as if it were a law of nature.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Diary Entry (1941-05-18), “First War-Time Diary”
(Source)

In context, Orwell is complaining about what he considers squandered opportunities by Britain to occupy Vichy French territories, such as Syria, before Germany could make use of them.

See Murphy's Law.

Mackay, Charles -- Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, “The Alchymists” (1841)

Dave — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:33:21 +0000

The study of the errors into which great minds have fallen in the pursuit of truth can never be uninstructive. As the man looks back to the days of his childhood and his youth, and recalls to his mind the strange notions and false opinions that swayed his actions at that time, that he may wonder at them; so should society, for its edification, look back to the opinions which governed the ages fled. He is but a superficial thinker who would despise and refuse to hear of them merely because they are absurd. No man is so wise but that he may learn some wisdom from his past errors, either of thought or action; and no society has made such advances as to be capable of no improvement from the retrospect of its past folly and credulity.

Charles Mackay (1814–1889) Scottish poet, journalist, song writer
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, “The Alchymists” (1841)
(Source)

Eldridge, Paul -- Maxims for a Modern Man, #144 (1965)

Dave — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 15:47:45 +0000

In youth our judgments are obscured by our hopes; in age, by our regrets.

Paul Eldridge (1888–1982) American educator, novelist, poet
Maxims for a Modern Man, #144 (1965)
(Source)