WIST Quotations

Confucius -- The Classic of Poetry [詩經, 诗经], Part 3 “Major Court Hymns [大雅], Book 3 “Decade of Tang [蕩之什],” Ode 11, “Shaou min [召旻]” [Poem 265], st. 2 (10-9th C BC) [tr. Legge (1871)]

Dave — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 22:15:10 +0000

Heaven sends down its net of crime; —
Devouring insects, who weary and confuse men’s minds,
Ignorant, oppressive, negligent,
Breeders of confusion, utterly perverse:
These are the men employed to tranquilize our country.

天降罪罟、
蟊賊內訌、
昏椓靡共、
潰潰回遹、
實靖夷我邦。

Confucius (c. 551- c. 479 BC) Chinese philosopher, sage, politician [孔夫子 (Kǒng Fūzǐ, K'ung Fu-tzu, K'ung Fu Tse), 孔子 (Kǒngzǐ, Chungni), 孔丘 (Kǒng Qiū, K'ung Ch'iu)]
The Classic of Poetry [詩經, 诗经], Part 3 “Major Court Hymns [大雅], Book 3 “Decade of Tang [蕩之什],” Ode 11, “Shaou min [召旻]” [Poem 265], st. 2 (10-9th C BC) [tr. Legge (1871)]

(Source (Chinese)). One of the "Five Classics" (五經) said to have been edited by Confucius.

Carlyle, Thomas -- Sartor Resartus, Book 1, ch. 3 (1834)

Dave — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 16:48:40 +0000

Councillors of State sit plotting, and playing their high chess-game, whereof the pawns are Men.

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Sartor Resartus, Book 1, ch. 3 (1834)

Quoting Herr Teufelsdröckh.

This passage first appeared in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, Vol. 8, No. 47 (1833-11).

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 29, Night Watch (2002)

Dave — Fri, 17 May 2024 17:27:40 +0000

One of the hardest lessons of young Sam’s life had been finding out that the people in charge weren’t in charge. It had been finding out that governments were not, on the whole, staffed by people who had a grip, and that plans were what people made instead of thinking.

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Discworld No. 29, Night Watch (2002)

Twain, Mark -- Novel (1889), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Part 3 “The Tale of the Lost Land,” ch. 13 “Freemen!”

Dave — Mon, 06 May 2024 13:46:34 +0000

You see my kind of loyalty was loyalty to one’s country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death. To be loyal to rags, to shout for rags, to worship rags, to die for rags — that is a loyalty of unreason, it is pure animal; it belongs to monarchy, was invented by monarchy; let monarchy keep it.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Novel (1889), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Part 3 “The Tale of the Lost Land,” ch. 13 “Freemen!”