WIST Quotations

Diamond, Jared -- Guns, Germs and Steel, Introduction (1997)

Dave — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 17:59:58 +0000

There really are broad patterns in history, and the search for them is as fascinating as it is productive.

Jared Diamond (b. 1937) American geographer, historian, ornithologist, author
Guns, Germs and Steel, Introduction (1997)
(Source)

Twain, Mark -- The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-Day, ch. 47 (1874) [with Charles Dudley Warner]

Dave — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 18:14:21 +0000

History never repeats itself, but the Kaleidoscopic combinations of the pictured present often seem to be constructed of the broken fragments of antique legends.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-Day, ch. 47 (1874) [with Charles Dudley Warner]
(Source)

Probably the source of the Twain misquote "History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes" (which does not appear prior to 1970).

More discussion of this quotation: History Does Not Repeat Itself, But It Rhymes – Quote Investigator

Palahniuk, Chuck -- Diary (2003)

Dave — Wed, 27 May 2020 14:35:15 +0000

An artist’s job is to make order out of chaos. You collect details, look for a pattern, and organize. You make sense out of senseless facts. You puzzle together bits of everything. You shuffle and reorganize. Collage. Montage. Assemble.

Chuck Palahniuk (b. 1962) American novelist and freelance journalist
Diary (2003)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1837-1862)

Dave — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 23:48:03 +0000

Value of a Journal. A sentence now; a sentence last year; a sentence yesterday. Tomorrow a question comes that for the first time brings together these three and shows them to be the three fractions of Unit.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1837-1862)

"Notebook Delta"

Marx, Karl -- The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, ch. 1. (1852) [tr. Padover]

Dave — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 14:03:07 +0000

Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, ch. 1. (1852) [tr. Padover]
(Source)

Often paraphrased: "History repeats itself, first as tragedy then as farce."

Camus, Albert -- The Fall [La Chute] (1956)

Dave — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:19:15 +0000

Alas, after a certain age, every man is responsible for his face.

[Hélas! après un certain âge tout homme est responsable do son visage.]

Albert Camus (1913-1960) Algerian-French novelist, essayist, playwright
The Fall [La Chute] (1956)

Alt. trans.: "After a certain age, every man has the face he deserves."

See Orwell. See also discussion here.