WIST Quotations

Hugo, Victor -- Les Misérables, Part 4 “Saint Denis,” Book 12 “Corinth,” ch. 4 (4.12.4) (1862) [tr. Wilbour (1862)]

Dave — Wed, 14 May 2025 15:59:53 +0000

Great perils have this beauty, that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers.

[Les grands périls ont cela de beau qu’ils mettent en lumière la fraternité des inconnus.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Part 4 “Saint Denis,” Book 12 “Corinth,” ch. 4 (4.12.4) (1862) [tr. Wilbour (1862)]
(Source)

On the varied Parisians working together at building the barricades.

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Great dangers have this beauty about them, that they throw light on the fraternity of strangers.
[tr. Wraxall (1862)]

Great perils have this fine characteristic, that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers.
[tr. Hapgood (1887)]

It is the ennobling quality of danger that it brings to light the fraternity of strangers.
[tr. Denny (1976)]

Great perils share this beauty, that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers.
[tr. Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]

That is the beauty of great danger, it brings out the fraternity of strangers.
[tr. Donougher (2013)]

Russell, Bertrand -- Lecture (1948-12-26), “Social Cohesion and Human Nature,” Reith Lecture, No. 1 (14:16), BBC Radio

Dave — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 18:42:55 +0000

Instinctively we divide mankind into friends and foes — friends, towards whom we have the morality of co-operation; foes, towards whom we have that of competition. But this division is constantly changing; at one moment a man hates his business competitor, at another, when both are threatened by Socialism or by an external enemy, he suddenly begins to view him as a brother. Always when we pass beyond the limits of the family it is the external enemy which supplies the cohesive force. In times of safety we can afford to hate our neighbour, but in times of danger we must love him.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Lecture (1948-12-26), “Social Cohesion and Human Nature,” Reith Lecture, No. 1 (14:16), BBC Radio
(Source)

As collected, with edits, in Authority and the Individual (1949).

West, Rebecca -- “Pleasure Be Your Guide,” The Nation, “Living Philosophies” series #10 (25 Feb 1939)

Dave — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 15:01:47 +0000

The belief that all higher life is governed by the idea of renunciation poisons our moral life by engendering vanity and egotism. But if we take gratification as our ideal we thereby impose on ourselves a program of self-restraint; for if we claim that we are under the necessity of learning all that we can about reality, and that we learn most through pleasure, we must also admit that we are under the necessity of hearing what our fellow-creatures learn about it and of working out a system by which we will curb our pleasures so that they do not interfere with those of others. If, however, we claim that it is by renunciation that we achieve wisdom, we have no logical reason for feeling any disapproval of conditions that thrust pain and deprivation on others.

Rebecca West (1892-1983) British author, journalist, literary critic, travel writer [pseud. for Cicily Isabel Fairfield]
“Pleasure Be Your Guide,” The Nation, “Living Philosophies” series #10 (25 Feb 1939)
(Source)

Adapted into Clifton Fadiman, I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Certain Eminent Men and Women of Our Time (1952).

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1841), “Friendship,” Essays: First Series, No. 6

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Friendship,” Essays: First Series, No. 6
(Source)