WIST Quotations

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1990-10-18)

Dave — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 23:02:44 +0000

CALVIN: Hobbes, do you think our morality is defined by our actions, or by what’s in our hearts?

HOBBES: I think our actions show what’s in our hearts.

CALVIN: (after consideration) I resent that!

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1990-10-18)
(Source)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 3 (1963)

Dave — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 19:08:29 +0000

We can never understand other people’s motives, nor their furniture.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 3 (1963)
(Source)

Shakespeare, William -- Macbeth, Act 3, sc. 1, l. 121ff (3.1.121-128) (1606)

Dave — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 20:58:08 +0000

SECOND MURDERER: I am one, my liege,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incensed that I am reckless what
I do to spite the world.

FIRST MURDERER: And I another,
So weary with disasters, tugged with fortune,
That I would set my life on any chance,
To mend it, or be rid on ‘t.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 3, sc. 1, l. 121ff (3.1.121-128) (1606)
(Source)

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 422 (1725)

Dave — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 13:50:10 +0000

Look as much into the Intention of him that praises thee, as of him that calumniates thee.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 422 (1725)
(Source)

Taylor, Henry -- The Statesman: An Ironical Treatise on the Art of Succeeding, ch. 17 (1836)

Dave — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 01:50:02 +0000

Considering the temptations under which politicians are placed, of changing their opinions, or rather their professions of opinion, from motives of self interest, the world will not give them credit for motives of honest conviction, unless when the change shall be to their manifest loss and disadvantage.

Henry Taylor (1800-1886) English dramatist, poet, bureaucrat, man of letters
The Statesman: An Ironical Treatise on the Art of Succeeding, ch. 17 (1836)
(Source)

Wilde, Oscar -- The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 6 (1891)

Dave — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 15:07:05 +0000

Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 6 (1891)