WIST Quotations

Washington, George -- Letter (1796-09-17), “Farewell Address” [with J. Madison, A. Hamilton]

Dave — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 05:33:15 +0000

Though in reviewing the incidents of my Administration I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence, and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

George Washington (1732–1799) American military leader, Founding Father, US President (1789–1797)
Letter (1796-09-17), “Farewell Address” [with J. Madison, A. Hamilton]
(Source)

Published in the American Daily Advertiser, Philadelphia (1796-09-19).

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Oblivion,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Dave — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 20:09:50 +0000

OBLIVION, n. The state or condition in which the wicked cease from struggling and the dreary are at rest. Fame’s eternal dumping ground. Cold storage for high hopes. A place where ambitious authors meet their works without pride and their betters without envy. A dormitory without an alarm clock.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Oblivion,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
(Source)

Originally published in the "Cynic's Word Book" column in the New York American (1904-09-27), and the "Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Examiner (1903-10-28).

Orwell, George -- Essay (1942-08), “Looking Back on the Spanish War, ch. 4, Such, Such Were the Joys, essay 8 (1953)

Dave — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 17:47:33 +0000

When I think of antiquity, the detail that frightens me is that those hundreds of millions of slaves on whose backs civilization rested generation after generation have left behind them no record whatever. We do not even know their names. In the whole of Greek and Roman history, how many slaves’ names are known to you? I can think of two, or possibly three. One is Spartacus and the other is Epictetus. Also, in the Roman room at the British Museum there is a glass jar with the maker’s name inscribed on the bottom, “Felix fecit.” I have a vivid mental picture of poor Felix (a Gaul with red hair and a metal collar round his neck), but in fact he may not have been a slave; so there are only two slaves whose names I definitely know, and probably few people can remember more. The rest have gone down into utter silence.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1942-08), “Looking Back on the Spanish War, ch. 4, Such, Such Were the Joys, essay 8 (1953)
(Source)

Russell, Bertrand -- Conquest of Happiness, Part 1, ch. 1 “What Makes People Unhappy?” (1930)

Dave — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 16:34:00 +0000

A man may feel so completely thwarted that he seeks no form of satisfaction, but only distraction and oblivion. He then becomes a devotee of “pleasure.” That is to say, he seeks to make life bearable by becoming less alive. Drunkenness, for example, is temporary suicide: the happiness that it brings is merely negative, a momentary cessation of unhappiness.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 1, ch. 1 “What Makes People Unhappy?” (1930)
(Source)

Guiterman, Arthur -- Betel-Nuts (1907)

Dave — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 16:09:36 +0000

When Life is woe,
And Hope is dumb,
The World says, “Go!”
The Grave says, “Come!”

Arthur Guiterman (1871-1943) American poet, humorist
Betel-Nuts (1907)
(Source)

Thurber, James -- In Clifton Fadiman, I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Twenty-Three Eminent Men and Women of Our Time (1940)

Dave — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 20:13:05 +0000

But what is all this fear of and opposition to Oblivion? What is the matter with the soft Darkness, the Dreamless Sleep?

James Thurber (1894-1961) American humorist, cartoonist, writer
In Clifton Fadiman, I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Twenty-Three Eminent Men and Women of Our Time (1940)
(Source)

Also published in Forum and Century (Jun 1939). Words spoken by Sylvester Blougram, the title character from Robert Browning's "Bishop Blougram's Apology" (1855).

Wylie, Philip Gordon -- Generation of Vipers (1942)

Dave — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 17:17:16 +0000

Ignorance is not bliss — it is oblivion. Determined ignorance is the hastiest kind of oblivion.

Philip Wylie (1902-1971) American author
Generation of Vipers (1942)
(Source)

Greeley, Horace -- Recollections of a Busy Life, ch. 18 (1868)

Dave — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:46:25 +0000

Fame is a vapor; popularity an accident; riches take wings; the only earthly certainty is oblivion ….

Horace Greeley (1881-1872) American newspaper editor, reformer, politician
Recollections of a Busy Life, ch. 18 (1868)
(Source)

Quoted by Mark Twain in his Notebook (1869), and often attributed to him. Frequently misquoted as "Fame is a vapor; popularity an accident; riches take wings; those who cheer today will curse tomorrow; only one thing endures: character." More discussion of this quotation here.

Hubbard, Elbert -- Little Journeys to the Homes of American Statemen, “William H. Seward” (1916)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

If you would escape moral and physical assassination, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing — court obscurity, for only in oblivion does safety lie.

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
Little Journeys to the Homes of American Statemen, “William H. Seward” (1916)
(Source)

Variants show up elsewhere in Hubbard's writings and and his quote epigrams.

To escape criticism -- do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
To avoid unkind criticism: do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing.

Often misattributed to Aristotle.

Browne, Thomas -- Hydriotaphia, or Urne-Buriall, ch. 5 (1658)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

But the iniquity of oblivion blindely scattereth her poppy, and deals with the memory of men without distinction to merit of perpetuity. […] Who knows whether the best of men be known? or whether there be not more remarkable persons forgot, then any that stand remembred in the known account of time?

Thomas Browne (1605-1682) English physician and author
Hydriotaphia, or Urne-Buriall, ch. 5 (1658)
(Source)