WIST Quotations

Aesop -- Fables [Aesopica], “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse” (6th C BC) [tr. Jacobs (1894)]

Dave — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:05:36 +0000

Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear.

Aesop (620?-560? BC) Legendary Greek storyteller
Fables [Aesopica], “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse” (6th C BC) [tr. Jacobs (1894)]
(Source)

Alternate translations:

"The Difference betwixt a Court and a Country Life. The Delights, Innocence, and Security of the One, Compar'd with the Anxiety, the Lewdness, and the Hazards of the Other." [tr. L'Estrange (1692)]
"Give me my barley-bread in peace and security before the daintiest feast where Fear and Care are in waiting." [tr. James (1848)]
"A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety."

Compare to Proverbs 17:1 "Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife."

Twain, Mark -- “What Is Man?” (1906)

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

From his cradle to his grave a man never does a single thing which has any FIRST AND FOREMOST object but one — to secure peace of mind, spiritual comfort, for HIMSELF.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
“What Is Man?” (1906)
(Source)

Van Dyke, Henry -- “The Foot-path to Peace,” Tacoma Times (1 Jan 1904)

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

To be glad of life because it gives you to chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars — to be satisfied with your possessions but not content with yourself until you have made the best of them — to despise nothing in the world except falsehood and meanness, and to fear nothing except cowardice — to be governed by you admirations rather than by your disgusts — to covet nothing that is your neighbors except his kindness of heart and gentleness of manners — to think seldom of your enemies, often of your friends, and every day of Christ; to spend as much time as you can in God’s out-of doors — these are the little guideposts on the foot-path to peace.

Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933) American clergyman and writer
“The Foot-path to Peace,” Tacoma Times (1 Jan 1904)
(Source)

Often shortened to: "Be glad for life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to look up at the stars."