WIST Quotations

Barrie, James -- Peter Pan, Act 1 (1904, pub. 1928)

Dave — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 17:50:13 +0000

WENDY:I shall give you a kiss if you like.

PETER: Thank you. (He holds out his hand.)

WENDY: (aghast) Don’t you know what a kiss is?

PETER. I shall know when you give it me. (Not to hurt his feelings she gives him her thimble.)

J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
Peter Pan, Act 1 (1904, pub. 1928)
(Source)

The original version of this scene (with the girl named Maimie, not Wendy) can be found in Barrie's earlier version of the Peter Pan tale, The Little White Bird, ch. 18 "Peter's Goat" (1902):

She said out of pity for him, "I shall give you a kiss if you like," but though he once knew, he had long forgotten what kisses are, and he replied, "Thank you," and held out his hand, thinking she had offered to put something into it. This was a great shock to her, but she felt she could not explain without shaming him, so with charming delicacy she gave Peter a thimble which happened to be in her pocket, and pretended that it was a kiss.

In Barrie's 1911 novelization of the play, Peter and Wendy, ch. 3 "Come Away, Come Away!" this scene is rendered:

She also said she would give him a kiss if he liked, but Peter did not know what she meant, and he held out his hand expectantly.
“Surely you know what a kiss is?” she asked, aghast.
“I shall know when you give it to me,” he replied stiffly, and not to hurt his feelings she gave him a thimble.

Martin, Judith -- Common Courtesy, “In the Quest for Equality, Civilization Itself Is Maligned” (1985)

Dave — Mon, 06 May 2024 14:59:32 +0000

The natural approach to human relations presumes that to know any person well enough is to love him, and that, therefore, the only human problem is a communication problem. It refuses to admit the possibility that people might be separated by basic, deeply held, genuinely irreconcilable differences — philosophical, political, or religious. Thus, the effort to trivialize etiquette as being a barrier to the happy mingling of souls, actually trivializes intellectual, emotional, and spiritual convictions by characterizing any difference between one person’s and another’s as no more than a simple misunderstanding, easily solved by frank exchanges or orchestrated “encounters.”

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
Common Courtesy, “In the Quest for Equality, Civilization Itself Is Maligned” (1985)
(Source)

Originally published in The New Republic in 1984.

Herbert, George -- Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 13 (1640 ed.)

Dave — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 14:24:29 +0000

The scalded dog feares cold water.

George Herbert (1593-1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 13 (1640 ed.)
(Source)

See Twain.

Kafka, Franz -- The Trial, ch. 1 (1925) [tr. Wyllie (2003)]

Dave — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 14:52:26 +0000

They’re talking about things of which they don’t have the slightest understanding, anyway. It’s only because of their stupidity that they’re able to be so sure of themselves.

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) Czech-Austrian Jewish writer
The Trial, ch. 1 (1925) [tr. Wyllie (2003)]
(Source)

The protagonist Josef K., musing over the minor functionaries who have arrested him on unknown charges.

Baudelaire, Charles -- Journaux Intimes [Intimate Journals], “Mon cœur mis à nu [My Heart Laid Bare],” § 99 (1864–1867; pub. 1887) [tr. Sieburth (2022)]

Dave — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 17:29:13 +0000

It’s through universal Misunderstanding that everybody comes to agreement.
If, by some misfortune, everybody understood each other, one could never come to agree.

[C’est par le malentendu universel que tout le monde s’accorde.
Car si, par malheur, on se comprenait, on ne pourrait jamais s’accorder.]

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) French poet, essayist, art critic
Journaux Intimes [Intimate Journals], “Mon cœur mis à nu [My Heart Laid Bare],” § 99 (1864–1867; pub. 1887) [tr. Sieburth (2022)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

It is by universal misunderstanding that all agree.
For if, by ill luck, people understood each other, they would never agree.
[tr. Isherwood (1930)]

It is by universal misunderstanding that we agree with each other.
If, by some misfortune, we understood each other, we would never agree.
[Source]

Euripides -- Bacchæ [Βάκχαι], l. 480 [Dionysus/Διόνυσος] (405 BC) [tr. Arrowsmith (1960)]

Dave — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 18:06:57 +0000

Talk sense to a fool
and he calls you foolish.

[δόξει τις ἀμαθεῖ σοφὰ λέγων οὐκ εὖ φρονεῖν.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Bacchæ [Βάκχαι], l. 480 [Dionysus/Διόνυσος] (405 BC) [tr. Arrowsmith (1960)]
(Source)

Replying to Pentheus' charge that he's being foolishly evasive.

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

He must seem devoid
Of reason, who mysterious truths unfolds
To those who lack discretion.
tr. Wodhull (1809)]

One will seem to be foolish if he speaks wisely to an ignorant man.
[tr. Buckley (1850)]

Who wiseliest speaks, to the fool speaks foolishness.
[tr. Milman (1865)]

Boors think a wise man’s words devoid of sense.
[tr. Rogers (1872), l. 457]

He were a fool, methinks, who would utter wisdom to a fool.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

Wise answers seem but folly to a fool.
[tr. Way (1898)]

Wise words being brought
To blinded eyes will seem as things of nought.
[tr. Murray (1902)]

He who talks wisdom to an ignorant man will seem out of his senses.
[tr. Kirk (1970)]

A wise speech sleeps in a foolish ear.
[tr. Vellacott (1973)]

Talk truth to a deaf man and he
Begs your pardon.
[tr. Soyinka (1973)]

Wise speech seems thoughtless to the ignorant.
[tr. Neuburg (1988)]

What makes no sense is talking sense to a fool.
[tr. Cacoyannis (1982)]

To the ignorant, wisdom will seem folly.
[tr. Blessington (1993)]

To the ignorant man, any speaker of wisdom will seem foolish.
[tr. Esposito (1998)]

Speak wisdom to a fool and he'll think you have no sense at all.
[tr. Woodruff (1999)]

Wise things to the ignorant will sound like nonsense.
[tr. Gibbons/Segal (2000)]

Speak wisdom to a fool and he will think you foolish.
[tr. Kovacs (2002)]

Wise words spoken in the ear of a fool turn into nothingness.
[tr. Rao/Wolf (2004)]

It is not wise for someone to say anything wise to the ignorant.
[tr. Theodoridis (2005)]

Wise words will appear foolishness -- to an idiot.
[tr. Valerie (2005)]

Yes, but, then,
a man can seem really ignorant
when speaking to a fool.
[tr. Johnston (2008)]

Sense is nonsense to a fool.
[tr. Robertson (2014)]

Wisdom always sounds silly to the unwise.
[tr. Pauly (2019)]

Only a fool takes a warning for an insult.
[tr. Behr/Foster (2019)]

One will seem to be foolish if he speaks wise things [sopha] to a senseless man.
[tr. Buckley/Sens/Nagy (2020)]

Goethe, Johann von -- Elective Affinities [Die Wahlverwandtschaften], Part 2, ch. 4, “From Ottilie’s Journal [Aus Ottiliens Tagebuche]” (1809) [Niles ed. (1872)]

Dave — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 15:52:05 +0000

No one would talk much in society, if he only knew how often he misunderstands others.

[Niemand würde viel in Gesellschaften sprechen, wenn er sich bewußt wäre, wie oft er die andern mißversteht.]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist
Elective Affinities [Die Wahlverwandtschaften], Part 2, ch. 4, “From Ottilie’s Journal [Aus Ottiliens Tagebuche]” (1809) [Niles ed. (1872)]
(Source)

(Source (German)). Alternate translation:

We would not say very much in company if we realized how often we misunderstand what others say.
[tr. Hollingdale (1971)]

Thurber, James -- “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ear Muffs,” New Yorker (20 Jun 1959)

Dave — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 22:03:22 +0000

Precision of communication is important, more important than ever, in our era of hair-trigger balances, when a false, or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act.

James Thurber (1894-1961) American humorist, cartoonist, writer
“Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ear Muffs,” New Yorker (20 Jun 1959)
(Source)

Collected in Lanterns and Lances (1961).

Amiel, Henri-Frédéric -- Journal Intime (1849-05-27) [tr. Ward (1885)]

Dave — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 17:39:25 +0000

To be misunderstood even by those whom one loves is the cross and bitterness of life.

Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881) Swiss philosopher, poet, critic
Journal Intime (1849-05-27) [tr. Ward (1885)]
(Source)

Adams, Abigail -- Letter to Hannah Lincoln (5 Oct 1761)

Dave — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 21:56:20 +0000

Many of our disappointments and much of our unhappiness arise from our forming false notions of things and persons. We strangely impose upon ourselves; we create a fairyland of happiness. Fancy is fruitful and promises fair, but, like the dog in the fable, we catch at a shadow, and when we find the disappointment, we are vexed, not with ourselves, who are really the imposters, but with the poor, innocent thing or person of whom we have formed such strange ideas.

Abigail Adams (1744-1818) American correspondent, First Lady (1797-1801)
Letter to Hannah Lincoln (5 Oct 1761)
(Source)

Huff, Darrell -- How to Lie with Statistics, Introduction (1954)

Dave — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:07:51 +0000

The secret language of statistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify. Statistical methods and statistical terms are necessary in reporting the mass data of social and economic trends, business conditions, “opinion” polls, the census. But without writers who use the words with honesty and understanding and readers who know what they mean, the result can only be semantic nonsense.

Darrell Huff (1913-2001) American writer
How to Lie with Statistics, Introduction (1954)

Hurston, Zora Neale -- Moses, Man of the Mountain [Moses] (1939)

Dave — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 01:13:28 +0000

If you want that good feeling that comes from doing things for other folks then you have to pay for it in abuse and misunderstanding.

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) American writer, folklorist, anthropologist
Moses, Man of the Mountain [Moses] (1939)
(Source)

Von Moltke, Helmuth -- Comment as Chief of the Prussian General Staff, Battle of Sedan (Sep 1870)

Dave — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 06:11:29 +0000

Remember, gentlemen, an order that can be misunderstood will be misunderstood.

Helmuth von Moltke (1800-1891) Prussian soldier
Comment as Chief of the Prussian General Staff, Battle of Sedan (Sep 1870)

Voltaire -- Philosophical Dictionary, “Madness” (1764)

Dave — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 02:04:51 +0000

What is madness? To have erroneous perceptions and to reason correctly from them.

Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Philosophical Dictionary, “Madness” (1764)
(Source)

Jay, Antony -- Management and Machiavelli: An Inquiry into the Politics of Corporate Life (1967)

Dave — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 16:22:07 +0000

The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a very creative mind to spot wrong questions.

Antony Jay (1930-2016) English writer, broadcaster, director
Management and Machiavelli: An Inquiry into the Politics of Corporate Life (1967)

Lorde, Audre -- “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” speech, Modern Language Association (28 Dec 1977)

Dave — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 14:43:32 +0000

I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.

Audre Lorde (1934-1992) American writer, feminist, civil rights activist
“The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” speech, Modern Language Association (28 Dec 1977)
(Source)

Richardson, James -- Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 5 (2001)

Dave — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 13:52:36 +0000

You’ve never said anything as stupid as what people thought you said.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays, # 5 (2001)

Quintilian, Marcus Fabius -- De Institutione Oratoria, Book 8, ch. 2, l. 24

Dave — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 14:17:44 +0000

Don’t write so you can be understood. Write so that you cannot be misunderstood.

Quintilian (39-90) Roman orator [Marcus Fabius Quintilianus]
De Institutione Oratoria, Book 8, ch. 2, l. 24

Alt. trans.: "We should not write so that it is possible for [the reader] to understand us, but so that it is impossible for him to misunderstand us."

Also attributed to Epictetus, Francis Bacon, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and William Taft.

Shaw, George Bernard -- The Apple Cart, Preface (1928)

Dave — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 16:43:04 +0000

Like many men of genius, he could not understand why things obvious to him should not be so at once to other people, and found it easier to believe that they were corrupt than that they could be so stupid.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish playwright and critic
The Apple Cart, Preface (1928)

Halifax, George Savile, Marquis of -- “False Learning,” Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections (1750)

Dave — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:28:43 +0000

A Little Learning misleadeth, and a great deal often stupifieth the Understanding.

George Savile, Marquis of Halifax (1633-1695) English politician and essayist
“False Learning,” Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections (1750)
(Source)

Shaw, George Bernard -- (Spurious)

Dave — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:34:33 +0000

The problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish playwright and critic
(Spurious)

Frequently attributed, but not found in Shaw's writings. It was most likely originated by William Hollingsworth Whyte, "Is Anybody Listening?" Fortune (1950-09).

Variant: "The problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."

More discussion: The Biggest Problem in Communication Is the Illusion That It Has Taken Place – Quote Investigator.

Twain, Mark -- Mark Twain’s Notebook, 4 Jul 1898 [ed. Paine (1935)]

Dave — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:53:54 +0000

Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Mark Twain’s Notebook, 4 Jul 1898 [ed. Paine (1935)]

Kerr, Jean -- Essay (1957), “Introduction,” Please Don’t Eat the Daisies

Dave — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:04:15 +0000

If you can keep your head when about you are losing theirs, it’s just possible you haven’t grasped the situation.

Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Essay (1957), “Introduction,” Please Don’t Eat the Daisies
(Source)

See Kipling, "If --".

Twain, Mark -- Following the Equator, ch. 11, epigraph (1897)

Dave — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:39:20 +0000

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it — and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again — and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Following the Equator, ch. 11, epigraph (1897)
(Source)

See Herbert.

Black, Hugo -- Interview with Eric Serverid and Martin Agronsky, CBS News (1968-12-09)

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

But they think they know it. And their idea is all the same. You can trace it to the same thing, doesn’t make any difference what it is, what their experience is, or why they’re mad with the Court. It’s all because each one of them believes that the Constitution prohibits that which they think should be prohibited, and it permits that which they think should be permitted.

Hugo Black (1886-1971) American politician and jurist, US Supreme Court Justice (1937-71)
Interview with Eric Serverid and Martin Agronsky, CBS News (1968-12-09)

On the public's misunderstanding of the Constitution. Reprinted in "Newsmakers, Objection Overruled," Newsweek (1968-12-09), and in "Justice Black and the Bill of Rights," Southwestern University Law Review (1977).

Black used the same idea on multiple occasions, e.g., at a news conference in Washington, D.C. (1971-02-25):

The layman's Constitutional view is that what he likes is constitutional and that which he doesn't like is unconstitutional. That about measures up the Constitutional acumen of the average person.

Austen, Jane -- Emma, Vol. 1, ch. 9 [Emma] (1816)

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

One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) English author
Emma, Vol. 1, ch. 9 [Emma] (1816)
(Source)

Kierkegaard, Soren -- Either/Or, “Diapsalmata” (1843)

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

In a theatre it happened that a fire started off stage. The clown came out to tell the audience. They thought it was a joke and applauded. He told them again, and they became still more hilarious. This is the way, I suppose, that the world will be destroyed — amid the universal hilarity of wits and wags who think it is all a joke.

Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Danish philosopher, theologian
Either/Or, “Diapsalmata” (1843)

Alternate translation: "It happened that a fire broke out backstage in a theater. The clown came out to inform the public. They thought it was a jest and applauded. He repeated his warning. They shouted even louder. So I think the world will come to an end amid the general applause from all the wits who believe that it is a joke."

Alternate translation: "A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that's just how the world will come to an end: to the general applause of wits who believe it's a joke"

Milne, A. A. -- House at Pooh Corner, ch. 8 “Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing” (1928)

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

“Rabbit’s clever,” said Pooh.
“Yes,” said Piglet. “Rabbit’s clever.”
“And he has a Brain.”
“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit has a Brain.”
There was a long silence.
“I suppose,” said Pooh, “that’s why he never understands anything.”

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
House at Pooh Corner, ch. 8 “Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing” (1928)
(Source)