WIST Quotations

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1875-07 (1875 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 16:04:54 +0000

He who expekts to be praized every time he duz a virtewous thing will soon git tired of the bizzness.

[He who expects to be praised every time he does a virtuous thing will soon get tired of the business.]

Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1875-07 (1875 ed.)

Ebner-Eschenbach, Marie von -- Aphorisms [Aphorismen], No. 60 (1880) [tr. Scrase/Mieder (1994)]

Dave — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 15:39:16 +0000

Whatever you think you have to do is simply what you want to do.

[Was Du zu müssen glaubst, ist das, was Du willst.]

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian writer
Aphorisms [Aphorismen], No. 60 (1880) [tr. Scrase/Mieder (1994)]

(Source (German)). Other translation:

What you wish to do you are apt to think you ought to do.
[tr. Wister (1883)]

Billings, Josh -- Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 132 “Affurisms: Chips” (1874)

Dave — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 22:44:29 +0000

It is not the whole ov our duty tew foller the examples ov good men, but tew leave behind us sum decent tracks for others tew foller.

[It is not the whole of our duty to follow the examples of good men, but to leave behind us some decent tracks for others to follow.]

Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 132 “Affurisms: Chips” (1874)

Gandhi, Mohandas -- Statement at his sedition trial (1922-03-18)

Dave — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 23:23:04 +0000

In my humble opinion, noncooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.

Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, political ethicist [Mahatma Gandhi]
Statement at his sedition trial (1922-03-18)

Following the riots in Chauri Chaura, India, on 5 February 1922, which killed 22 police officers, Gandhi was arrested for sedition for articles he'd written against the British government in India, in what is called the "Great Trial of 1922." After this statement he was sentenced to six years (serving two).

Gandhi had previously used the same phrase in "The Poet's Anxiety," Young India (1921-06-01), reprinted in Gandhi's Satyagraha, ch. 69 (1961).

(Note: searching out this quotation is complicated by the varied and evolving spellings of non-co-operation, non-cooperation, and noncooperation.)

Orwell, George -- Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)

Dave — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 14:25:57 +0000

I think one must engage in politics — using the word in a wide sense — and that one must have preferences: that is, one must recognise that some causes are objectively better than others, even if they are advanced by equally bad means. As for the nationalistic loves and hatreds that I have spoken of, they are part of the make-up of most of us, whether we like it or not. Whether it is possible to get rid of them I do not know, but I do believe that it is possible to struggle against them, and that this is essentially a moral effort. It is a question first of all of discovering what one really is, what one’s own feelings really are, and then of making allowance for the inevitable bias.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)

Orwell, George -- Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)

Dave — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:05:39 +0000

By “nationalism” I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labeled “good” or “bad.” But secondly — and this is much more important — I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1860-02-27), Cooper Institute, New York

Dave — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:36:13 +0000

Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861–65)
Speech (1860-02-27), Cooper Institute, New York