WIST Quotations

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 37 (1820)

Dave — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 17:21:23 +0000

Ambition is to the mind, what the cap is to the falcon; it blinds us first, and then compels us to tower, by reason of our blindness. But alas, when we are at the summit of a vain ambition, we are also at the depth of real misery. We are placed where time cannot improve, but must impair us; where chance and change cannot befriend, but may betray us; in short, by attaining all we wish, and gaining all we want, we have only reached a pinnacle, where we have nothing to hope, but every thing to fear.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 37 (1820)
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Shaw, George Bernard -- Candida, Act 3 (1898)

Dave — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 17:18:50 +0000

Man can climb to the highest summits; but he cannot dwell there long.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish playwright and critic
Candida, Act 3 (1898)
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Lorenz, Konrad -- On Aggression, ch. 12 “On the Virtue of Scientific Humility” (1963)

Dave — Mon, 01 May 2017 22:11:05 +0000

If I thought of man as the final image of God, I should not know what to think of God. But when I consider that our ancestors, at a time fairly recent in relation to the earth’s history, were perfectly ordinary apes, closely related to chimpanzees, I see a glimmer of hope. It does not require very great optimism to assume that from us human beings something better and higher may evolve. Far from seeing in man the irrevocable and unsurpassable image of God, I assert — more modestly and, I believe, in greater awe of the Creation and its infinite possibilities — that the long-sought missing link between animals and the really humane being is ourselves!

Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) Austrian zoologist, ethologist, ornithologist
On Aggression, ch. 12 “On the Virtue of Scientific Humility” (1963)
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Steele, Richard -- Essay (1710-02-06), The Tatler, No. 130

Dave — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 15:59:50 +0000

Methinks a Man cannot, without a secret Satisfaction, consider the Glory of the present Age, which will shine as bright as any other in the History of Mankind. It is still big with great Events, and has already produced Changes and Revolutions which will be as much admired by Posterity, as any that have happened in the Days of our Fathers, or in the old Times before them.

Richard Steele (1672-1729) Irish writer and politician
Essay (1710-02-06), The Tatler, No. 130
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