He listens well
Who takes notes.[Bene ascolta chi la nota.]
Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian poet
The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 1 “Inferno,” Canto 15, l. 99ff (15.99) (1309) [tr. James (2013)]
(Source)
Virgil either warning Dante to consider all the predictions / warnings he's receiving from the damned about "future" political troubles, or else praising him for appearing to have remembered them (interpretations vary).
(Source (Italian)). Other translations:He listens well, who what he hears remarks.
[tr. Rogers (1782), l. 96]"Unhappy is the man," exclaim'd my Guide,
"From whose weak mind the words of wisdom glide."
[tr. Boyd (1802), st. 18]He listens to good purpose who takes note.
[tr. Cary (1814)]Well doth he hear, who marks what he hath heard.
[tr. Dayman (1843)]He listens well who notes it.
[tr. Carlyle (1849)]He listens well who notes.
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]He listens well who noteth well.
[tr. Johnston (1867)]He listeneth well who noteth it.
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]Well listens he who marks it.
[tr. Butler (1885)]Who noteth well, he well doth hear.
[tr. Minchin (1885)]He listens well who notes it.
[tr. Norton (1892)]He listeneth well that layeth it to heart.
[tr. Sullivan (1893)]He listens well who notes the matter.
[tr. Griffith (1908)]He is a good listener who takes note.
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]He listens well who noteth well the word.
[tr. Binyon (1943)]Well-heeded is well-heard.
[tr. Sayers (1949)]Well heeded is well heard.
[tr. Ciardi (1954)]He who notes it listens well.
[tr. Singleton (1970)]He listens well who notes well what he hears.
[tr. Musa (1971)]He who takes note of this has listened well.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1980)]Those are the words of a good listener!
[tr. Sisson (1981)]He who has listened well will understand.
[tr. Pinsky (1994)]He listens well who takes note.
[tr. Durling (1996)]He listens closely, who notes it.
[tr. Kline (2002)]"Those listen well," he said, "who take good note."
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2006)]He listens well who takes in what he hears.
[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]It's good
To hear such words, for they are truly profound.
[tr. Raffel (2010)]
Quotations about:
notetaking
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Often an idea about it would occur to me which seemed to have force and make perfect answer to some of the things that were said and written about my actions. I never let one of those ideas escape me, but wrote it on a scrap of paper and put it in that drawer. In that way I saved my best thoughts on the subject, and, you know, such things often come in a kind of intuitive way more clearly than if one were to sit down and deliberately reason them out.
To save the results of such mental action is true intellectual economy. It not only saves time and labor, but also the very best material the mind can supply for unexpected emergencies.Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861–65)
Remark (1863) to James F. Wilson (Attributed)
(Source)
Recounted in an essay (1896-12), "Some Memories of Lincoln," North American Review, Vol. 163, No. 481. Wilson references the remarks as having been made in late 1863, 33 years earlier.
Wilson was at the time a US Representative from Iowa (1861–1869); he went on to be US Senator (1883-1895). He had offered praise to a letter Lincoln had written (1862-06-13) to organizers of a public meeting which had criticized his suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and subsequent arrests. Lincoln described how the letter had come from a collection of ideas he had put aside in a drawer as he considered the question.
A variant of this was given in Henry Llewellyn Williams (ed.), Lincolnics: Familiar Sayings of Abraham Lincoln (1906), noted as "Lincoln to Senator Wilson, 1862."I never let any idea escape me, but write it on a scrap of paper, and put it in a drawer. In that way I save my best thoughts on a subject, and such things often come in a kind of intuitive way more clearly than if one were to sit down and deliberately reason them out. To save the results of such mental action is true intellectual economy. It not only saves time and labor, but also the very best material the mind can supply for unexpected emergencies.
