WIST Quotations

Russell, Bertrand -- Conquest of Happiness, Part 1, ch. 2 “Byronic Unhappiness” (1930)

Dave — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 16:04:04 +0000

We must distinguish between a mood and its intellectual expression. There is no arguing with mood; it can be changed by some fortunate event, or by a change in our bodily condition, but it cannot be changed by argument.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 1, ch. 2 “Byronic Unhappiness” (1930)
(Source)

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler -- Poem (1911), “Love’s Language,” st. 2, Poems of Progress, Preface

Dave — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 18:45:01 +0000

There is no language that Love does not speak:
To-day commanding and to-morrow meek,
One hour laconic and the next verbose,
With hope triumphant and with doubt morose,
His varying moods all forms of speech employ.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) American author, poet, temperance advocate, spiritualist
Poem (1911), “Love’s Language,” st. 2, Poems of Progress, Preface
(Source)

Repplier, Agnes -- “Agrippina,” Essays in Idleness (1893)

Dave — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 16:53:56 +0000

She has frolicsome moods, in which a thimble, a shoe-buttoner, a scrap of paper, or a piece of string will drive her wild with delight; she has moods of inflexible gravity, in which she stares solemnly at her favorite ball rolling over the carpet, without stirring one lazy limb to reach it. “Have I seen this foolish toy before?” she seems to be asking herself with musing austerity; “and can it be possible that there are cats who run after such frivolous trifles? Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity, save only to lie upon the hearth-rug, and be warm, and think grave thoughts to feed a serious soul.”

Agnes Repplier (1855-1950) American writer
“Agrippina,” Essays in Idleness (1893)
(Source)

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 3743 (1732)

Dave — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 16:41:38 +0000

One cloud is enough to eclipse all the sun.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 3743 (1732)

Addison, Joseph -- Essay (1711-09-05), The Spectator, No. 162

Dave — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 22:09:23 +0000

A cloudy day, or a little sunshine, have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most real blessings or misfortunes.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1711-09-05), The Spectator, No. 162
(Source)

Nietzsche, Friedrich -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:53:58 +0000

When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German philosopher and poet
(Attributed)

Frequently attributed to Nietzsche, starting in the late 1950s, but never cited and not found in any of his writings. More discussion here.

Swetchine, Sophie -- Life and Letters of Madam Swetchine, ch. 5 [8th ed., 1875] (ed. de Falloux; tr. Preston]

Dave — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 00:39:52 +0000

How easy it is to be amiable in the midst of happiness and success!

Anne Sophie Swetchine (1782-1857) Russian-French author and salonist [Madame Swetchine]
Life and Letters of Madam Swetchine, ch. 5 [8th ed., 1875] (ed. de Falloux; tr. Preston]
(Source)

Addison, Joseph -- Essay (1712-05-17), The Spectator, No. 381

Dave — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 02:25:32 +0000

I have always preferred cheerfulness to mirth. The latter I consider as an act, the former as an habit of mind. Mirth is short and transient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent. Those are often raised into the greatest transports of mirth who are subject to the greatest depressions of melancholy. On the contrary, cheerfulness, though it does not give the mind such an exquisite gladness, prevents us from falling into any depths of sorrow. Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1712-05-17), The Spectator, No. 381
(Source)

Child, Lydia Maria -- Looking Toward Sunset (1874, 10th ed.)

Dave — Sat, 13 Aug 2016 03:33:50 +0000

You find yourself refreshed by the presence of cheerful people. Why not make earnest efforts to confer that pleasure on others? You will find half the battle is gained, if you never allow yourself to say anything gloomy.

Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) American abolitionist, activist, journalist, suffragist
Looking Toward Sunset (1874, 10th ed.)

Corey, James S. A. -- Leviathan Wakes, ch. 42 (2011) [with Ty Franck]

Dave — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 15:07:29 +0000

Liquor doesn’t make you feel better. Just makes you not so worried about feeling bad.

James S. A. Corey (contemp.) American writer [pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck]
Leviathan Wakes, ch. 42 (2011) [with Ty Franck]
(Source)

Horace -- Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 10 “To Aristius Fuscus,” l. 30ff (1.10.30-31) (20 BC) [tr. Fuchs (1977)]

Dave — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 13:32:49 +0000

A man who gets too happy when prosperity comes
trembles when it goes.

[Quem res plus nimio delectavere secundae,
mutatae quatient.]

Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 10 “To Aristius Fuscus,” l. 30ff (1.10.30-31) (20 BC) [tr. Fuchs (1977)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

Who so was to much ravished and to much joy did take
In flow of wealth, him chaunge of flow yea to much shall yshake.
[tr. Drant (1567)]

Him, whom a prosp'rous State did too much please;
Chang'd, it will shake.
[tr. Fanshawe; ed. Brome (1666)]

Those whom the smiles of Fate too much delight,
Their sudden Frowns more shake and more affright.
[tr. Creech (1684)]

They who in Fortune's smiles too much delight,
Shall tremble when the goddess takes her flight.
[tr. Francis (1747)]

Who prizes fortune at too high a rate,
Will shrink with horror at an alter'd state.
[tr. Howes (1845)]

He who has been overjoyed by prosperity, will be shocked by a change of circumstances.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]

Take too much pleasure in good things, you'll feel
The shock of adverse fortune makes you reel.
[tr. Conington (1874)]

Whoe'er hath wildly wantoned in success.
Him will adversity the more depress.
[tr. Martin (1881)]

Him whom prosperity too much elates adversity will shake.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]

One whom Fortune's smiles have delighted overmuch, will reel under the shock of change.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]

One overmuch elated with success
A change of fortune plunges in distress.
[tr. A. F. Murison (1931)]

One whom a favorable turn of events overjoys
A change for the worse undermines.
[tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]

If Fortune’s been kind
-- Too kind! -- loss will seem more than loss, will seem
Catastrophe.
[tr. Raffel (1983)]

Change will upset the man who's always been lucky.
[tr. Ferry (2001)]

Those who are overjoyed when the breeze of luck is behind them
are wrecked when it changes.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]

Those who’ve been quick to enjoy a following wind,
Are wrecked when it veers.
[tr. Kline (2015)]

Virgil -- The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 4, l. 569ff (4.469-570) [Mercury] (29-19 BC) [tr. Cranch (1872)]

Dave — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:10:26 +0000

A woman is a fickle, changeful thing!

[Varium et mutabile semper
femina.]

Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 4, l. 569ff (4.469-570) [Mercury] (29-19 BC) [tr. Cranch (1872)]
(Source)

Warning Aeneas that Dido is likely to attack Aeneas' forces now that she knows he is deserting her.

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Still inconstant is a womans minde.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]

Who knows what hazards thy delay may bring?
Woman's a various and a changeful thing.
[tr. Dryden (1697)]

Woman is a fickle and ever changeable creature.
[tr. Davidson/Buckley (1854)]

Away to sea! a woman's will
Is changeful and uncertain still.
[tr. Conington (1866)]

Woman is ever a fickle and changing thing.
[tr. Mackail (1885)]

For woman's heart is shifting evermore.
[tr. Morris (1900)]

Away!
Changeful is woman's mood, and varying with the day.
[tr. Taylor (1907), st. 73]

A mutable and shifting thing
is woman ever.
[tr. Williams (1910)]

A fickle and changeful thing is woman ever.
[tr. Fairclough (1916)]

A shifty, fickle object
Is woman, always.
[tr. Humphries (1951)]

Woman was ever
A veering, weathercock creature.
[tr. Day-Lewis (1952)]

An ever
uncertain and inconsistent thing is woman.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1971), l. 786-87]

Woman's a thing
Forever fitful and forever changing.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1981)]

Women are unstable creatures, always changing.
[tr. West (1990)]

Woman is ever fickle and changeable.
[tr. Kline (2002)]

A woman is a fickle and worrisome thing.
[tr. Lombardo (2005)]

Woman’s a thing
that’s always changing, shifting like the wind.
[tr. Fagles (2006), l. 710-11]

Females are a fickle thing, always prone to change.
[tr. Bartsch (2021)]