WIST Quotations

Dante Alighieri -- The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 2 “Purgatorio,” Canto 12, l. 95ff (12.95-96) (1314) [tr. Bang (2019)]

Dave — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 19:21:40 +0000

O human beings, you’re born to fly straight up,
Why does a little gust of wind bring you down?

[O gente umana, per volar sù nata,
perché a poco vento così cadi?]

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian poet
The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 2 “Purgatorio,” Canto 12, l. 95ff (12.95-96) (1314) [tr. Bang (2019)]

Some translators have this as a comment by Dante on how few takers there are to the Angel of Humility's invitation to ascend higher; others, including most modern translators, make it part of the Angel's speech.

(Source (Italian)). Other translations:

Ye Souls for Heav'n design'd! ye Sons of Day!
Why should a random breeze o'erset your fail
When heav'n-ward bound?
[tr. Boyd (1802), st. 18]

O ye race of men
Though born to soar, why suffer ye a wind
So slight to baffle ye?
[tr. Cary (1814)]

O human race! whose birthright is to soar,
How little wind will make your course give o'er!
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]

O human creatures, born to soar aloft,
Why fall ye thus before a little wind?
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]

O race of men, born to fly upward, why at a little wind fall ye so down?
[tr. Butler (1885)]

O human race, though born above to soar,
Why at the slightest breath dost thou thus fall ?
[tr. Minchin (1885)]

O human race, born to fly upward, why before a little wind dost thou so fall?
[tr. Norton (1892)]

O human folk, born to fly upward, why at a breath of wind thus fall ye down?
[tr. Okey (1901)]

O race of men, born to fly upward, why do you fall back so for a little wind?
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]

O human spirits, upward born to spring,
Why fall ye down at a brief blast of air?
[tr. Binyon (1943)]

O human race, born to take flight and soar,
Why fall ye, for one breath of wind, to earth?
[tr. Sayers (1955)]

O sons of man, born to ascend on high,
how can so slight a wind-puff make you fall?
[tr. Ciardi (1961)]

O race of men, born to fly upward,
why do you fall so at a breath of wind?
[tr. Singleton (1973)]

O race of men, born to fly heavenward,
how can a breath of wind make you fall back?
[tr. Musa (1981)]

O human race, born to fly upwards,
Why do you fall at such a little breeze?
[tr. Sisson (1981)]

O humankind, born for the upward flight,
why are you driven back by wind so slight?
[tr. Mandelbaum (1982)]

O human race, born to fly upward, why do you fall at so little wind?
[tr. Durling (2003)]

O human race, born to soar, why do you fall so, at a breath of wind?
[tr. Kline (2002)]

O human nature! You are born to fly!
Why fail and fall at, merely, puffs of wind?
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2007)]

O race of man, born to fly on high,
why does a puff of wind cause you to fall?
[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]

O human race, born to fly on high,
How can the slightest breeze blow dust in your eyes?
[tr. Raffel (2010)]

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 14, Maskerade (1995)

Dave — Tue, 18 May 2021 16:39:19 +0000

His progress through life was hampered by his tremendous sense of his own ignorance, a disability which affects all too few.

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Discworld No. 14, Maskerade (1995)

Brust, Steven -- The Phoenix Guards (1991)

Dave — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 06:15:16 +0000

It remains true, however, that an inconveniently placed railing or sharp corner will not remove itself from the path of a drunkard, even if that drunkard is unaware of the obstacles on the path he has set for himself; in other words, no matter to what degree we are oblivious to the world, it makes its own choices as to how oblivious it will be to us.

Steven Brust (b. 1955) American writer, systems programmer
The Phoenix Guards (1991)

Anderson, Poul -- Call Me Joe [Arne Viken] (1957)

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

After all my time here, I’ve yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, didn’t become still more complicated.

Poul Anderson (1926–2001) American writer
Call Me Joe [Arne Viken] (1957)

Sometimes attributed to Arthur Koestler (who attributed the quote to Anderson). See here for more details (and a reference to WIST).

Forbes, Bertie Charles -- Forbes, Issue No. 1 (Sep 1917)

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

History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.

Bertie Charles (B. C.) Forbes (1880–1954) American publisher
Forbes, Issue No. 1 (Sep 1917)

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 2, § 241 (1822)

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

Evils in the journey of life are like the hills which alarm travelers on their road. Both appear great at a distance, but when we approach them we find they are far less insurmountable than we had conceived.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780–1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 2, § 241 (1822)

Carlyle, Thomas -- (Misattributed)

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

The block of granite which was an obstacle in the path of the weak, becomes a steppingstone in the path of the strong.

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Misattributed)

This quotation is widely attributed to Carlyle (e.g. (1896)), but, though sounding like something he might have said, it does not appear in his works.

Instead, it is actually a quotation from from G. H. Lewes, Life of Goethe, ch. 3 (1855) [emphasis mine]:

Instead, therefore, of saying that man is the creature of circumstance, it would be nearer the mark to say that man is the architect of circumstance. Our strength is measured by our plastic power. From the same materials one man builds palaces, another hovels, one warehouses, another villas; bricks and mortar are mortar and bricks until the architect can make them something else. Thus it is that in the same family, in the same circumstances, one man rears a stately edifice, whilst his brother, vacillating and incompetent, lives for ever among ruins; the block of granite which was an obstacle on the pathway of the weak, becomes a stepping-stone on the pathway of the strong.

George Henry Lewes (1817–1878) was an English philosopher and literary critic (and enamorata of Mary Ann Evans, a.k.a. George Eliot). Life of Goethe was one of his most popular works.

The cross-pollination to Carlyle is likely from Carlyle's deep friendship with Goethe and the numerous essays he wrote about the man and his works, as well as Carlyle being a pervasively-known writer of the period. A casual citation of the pith of this quote to a work called Life of Goethe could easily have become misattributed to the better-known Goethe enthusiast, Carlyle.