WIST Quotations

Shakespeare, William -- Sir Thomas More, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 105ff (c. 1592)

Dave — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 16:19:08 +0000

SIR THOMAS MORE: Say now the king
(As he is clement, if th’ offender mourn)
Should so much come to short of your great trespass
As but to banish you, whether would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? Go you to France or Flanders,
To any German province, to Spain or Portugal,
Nay, any where that not adheres to England, —
Why, you must needs be strangers. Would you be pleased
To find a nation of such barbarous temper,
That, breaking out in hideous violence,
Would not afford you an abode on earth,
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed not nor made not you, nor that the claimants
Were not all appropriate to your comforts,
But chartered unto them, what would you think
To be thus used? This is the strangers’ case;
And this your mountanish inhumanity.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Sir Thomas More, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 105ff (c. 1592)
(Source)

Quelling rioting Englishmen who were demanding the expulsion of Flemish immigrants, telling them to consider what they themselves might do, and the conditions they might face, if they were forced to leave England.

The play was written by Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle, with revisions and edits by multiple writers. This particular scene and monologue are in what is considered to be Shakespeare's own hand.

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 6 (1963)

Dave — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 20:45:33 +0000

Every group of six or more has its inner circle, its outer circle, and its hangers-on.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 6 (1963)
(Source)

Banksy -- Wall and Piece, “Rats” (2005)

Dave — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:53:25 +0000

They exist without permission. They are hated, hunted and persecuted. They live in quiet desperation amongst the filth. And yet they are capable of bringing entire civilisations to their knees. If you are dirty, insignificant and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model.

Banksy (b. 1974?) England-based pseudonymous street artist, political activist, film director
Wall and Piece, “Rats” (2005)
(Source)

Hugo, Victor -- Les Misérables, Part 1 “Fantine,” Book 1 “An Upright Man,” ch. 1 (1.1.1) (1862) [tr. Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]

Dave — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 23:40:29 +0000

M. Myriel had to submit to the fate of every newcomer in a small town, where many tongues talk but few heads think.

[M. Myriel devait subir le sort de tout nouveau venu dans une petite ville où il y a beaucoup de bouches qui parlent et fort peu de têtes qui pensent.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Part 1 “Fantine,” Book 1 “An Upright Man,” ch. 1 (1.1.1) (1862) [tr. Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]
(Source)

This quotation is often given with just the second clause ("Many tongues ..."), making a more general statement than the context provides.

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

M. Myriel had to submit to the fate of every new-comer in a small town, where there are many tongues to talk, and but few heads to think.
[tr. Wilbour (1862)]

M. Myriel was fated to undergo the lot of every new-comer to a little town, where there are many mouths that speak, and but few heads that think.
[tr. Wraxall (1862)]

M. Myriel had to undergo the fate of every newcomer in a little town, where there are many mouths which talk, and very few heads which think.
[tr. Hapgood (1887)]

He had to accept the fate of every newcomer to a small town where are plenty of tongues that gossip and few minds that think.
[tr. Denny (1976)]

Monsieur Myriel had to undergo the fate of every newcomer to a small town where there are plenty of tongues given to wagging and very few minds given to reflection.
[tr. Donougher (2013)]

Buchwald, Art -- Speech, Horatio Alger Award Dinner, Washington, DC (May 1989)

Dave — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 15:37:27 +0000

If you attack the establishment long enough and hard enough, they will make you a member of it.

Art Buchwald (1925-2007) American humorist, columnist
Speech, Horatio Alger Award Dinner, Washington, DC (May 1989)

Buchwald used a number of variations of this phrase; this particular one was reported a week later in the International Herald Tribune (24 May 1989), but other versions go back to the 1960s (e.g., "Woe to the person in this country who attacks the establishment. It isn’t jail, nor even physical harm, that he must fear. His main problem is that by attacking the Establishment, he automatically becomes a member of it, and there is no greater punishment in the world," from his column of 7 May 1968). See here for more info.

Brown, H. Jackson "Jack" -- Life’s Little Instruction Book, Vol. 3, #1427 (1993)

Dave — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 14:25:42 +0000

Never make fun of someone who speaks broken English. It means they know another language.

H. Jackson "Jack" Brown, Jr. (b. 1940) American writer
Life’s Little Instruction Book, Vol. 3, #1427 (1993)
(Source)

Johnson, Lyndon -- Quoted in David Halberstam, book review, New York Times (1971-10-31)

Dave — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 13:28:17 +0000

It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Quoted in David Halberstam, book review, New York Times (1971-10-31)
(Source)

Review of the just-published Lyndon Johnson, Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency 1963-1969, regarding the difficulty for him to fire FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover. Halberstam notes this as a Johnson quotation not found in the book, complaining that it's far too sanitized a retelling of Johnson's presidency. This is generally accepted as the earliest printed mention of the quotation.

Tutu, Desmond -- “And God Smiles,” Sermon, All Saints Church, Pasadena, California (6 Nov 2005)

Dave — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:09:59 +0000

This family has no outsiders. Everyone is an insider. When Jesus said, “I, if I am lifted up, will draw …” Did he say, “I will draw some”? “I will draw some, and tough luck for the others”? He said, “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all.” All! All! All! — Black, white, yellow; rich, poor; clever, not so clever; beautiful, not so beautiful. All! All! It is radical. All! Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Bush — all! All! All are to be held in this incredible embrace. Gay, lesbian, so-called “straight;” all! All! All are to be held in the incredible embrace of the love that won’t let us go.

Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) South African cleric, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Laureate
“And God Smiles,” Sermon, All Saints Church, Pasadena, California (6 Nov 2005)

The Bible passage referenced is John 12:32.

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1874-05-03), “Heretics and Heresies,” Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago

Dave — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 13:36:18 +0000

Whoever has an opinion of his own, and honestly expresses it, will be guilty of heresy. Heresy is what the minority believe; it is the name given by the powerful to the doctrine of the weak.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1874-05-03), “Heretics and Heresies,” Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago
(Source)

Collected in The Gods and Other Lectures (1876).