WIST Quotations

Taylor, Barbara Brown -- Essay (1999-11-03), “Divine Subtraction,” Christian Century

Dave — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 18:05:06 +0000

I do not mean to make an idol of health, but it does seem to me that at least some of us have made an idol of exhaustion. The only time we have done enough is when we are running on empty and when the ones we love most are the ones we see the least.

Barbara Brown Taylor (b. 1951) American minister, academic, author
Essay (1999-11-03), “Divine Subtraction,” Christian Century
(Source)

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1738 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 15:55:09 +0000

Drive thy business; let not that drive thee.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1738 ed.)
(Source)

See previous passages from Fuller in 1725 and 1732.

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 32 (1725)

Dave — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:32:01 +0000

Do thou drive thy Business; let not that drive thee.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 32 (1725)
(Source)

See Franklin and also Fuller.

Jerome, Jerome K. -- Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), ch. 15 (1889)

Dave — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 21:46:08 +0000

It always does seem to me that I am doing more work than I should do. It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart.

Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) English writer, humorist [Jerome Klapka Jerome]
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), ch. 15 (1889)
(Source)

Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 53 (1805) (1850 ed.) [tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 22, ¶ 20]

Dave — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 19:46:54 +0000

Idleness is a necessity for the mind, as much as work. Talent is ruined by writing too much, and rusted by not writing at all.

[L’oisiveté est nécessaire aux esprits, aussi bien que le travail. On se ruine l’esprit à trop écrire; on se rouille à n’écrire pas.]

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 53 (1805) (1850 ed.) [tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 22, ¶ 20]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

The mind must rest as well as work. To write too much ruins it; to leave off writing rusts it.
[tr. Attwell (1896), ¶ 336]

One ruins the mind with too much writing. One rusts it by not writing at all.
[tr. Auster (1983), 1805 entry]

Montaigne, Michel de -- Essays, Book 3, ch. 13 (3.13), “Of Experience [De l’Experience] (1587) [tr. Cotton (1686)]

Dave — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 00:53:28 +0000

‘Tis for little Souls, that truckle under the Weight of Affairs, not to know how clearly to disengage themselves, and not to know how to lay them aside, and take them up again.

[C’est aux petites ames ensevelies du poix des affaires, de ne s’en sçavoir purement desmesler : de ne les sçavoir et laisser et reprendre.]

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 3, ch. 13 (3.13), “Of Experience [De l’Experience] (1587) [tr. Cotton (1686)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

It is for base and pettie mindes, dulled and overwhelmed with the weight of affaires, to be ignorant how to leave them, and not to know how to free themselves from them; nor how to leave and take them againe.
[tr. Florio (1603)]

’Tis for little souls, that truckle under the weight of affairs, not from them to know how clearly to disengage themselves, not to know how to lay them aside and take them up again.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

It is for small souls, buried under the weight of affairs, not to know how to free themselves therefrom entirely; not to know how to leave them and return to them.
[tr. Ives (1925)]

It is for little souls, buried under the weight of business, to be unable to detach themselves cleanly from it or to leave it and pick it up again.
[tr. Frame (1943)]

It is for petty souls overwhelmed by the weight of affairs to be unable to disentangle themselves for them completely, not knowing how to drop them and then take them up again.
[tr. Screech (1987)]

Brandeis, Louis -- Letter to Alfred Brandeis (8 Mar 1897)

Dave — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 12:23:21 +0000

When a man feels that he cannot leave his work, it is a sure sign of an impending collapse. … When men are so tired, they cannot be trusted in their business judgment and cannot properly tend to their affairs.

Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) American lawyer, activist, Supreme Court Justice (1916-39)
Letter to Alfred Brandeis (8 Mar 1897)
(Source)

Thurber, James -- “The Shrike and the Chipmunks”, The New Yorker (1939-02-18)

Dave — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 05:26:32 +0000

Early to rise and early to bed makes a male healthy and wealthy and dead.

James Thurber (1894-1961) American humorist, cartoonist, writer
“The Shrike and the Chipmunks”, The New Yorker (1939-02-18)

Often misquoted as "Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy, wealthy, and dead."

See Franklin.

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 1304 (1732)

Dave — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:47:28 +0000

Do Business, but be not a Slave to it.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 1304 (1732)
(Source)

See Franklin and also Fuller.