WIST Quotations

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 32, A Hat Full of Sky [Miss Level] (2004)

Dave — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 13:15:09 +0000

There isn’t a way things should be. There’s just what happens, and what we do.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 32, A Hat Full of Sky [Miss Level] (2004)
(Source)

Heinlein, Robert A. -- Friday [Brian] (1982)

Dave — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:34:51 +0000

In dealing with the law and with people I have found a vast difference between “should” and “is.”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Friday [Brian] (1982)

Kissinger, Henry -- The White House Years, ch. 3 (1979)

Dave — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 13:05:19 +0000

The convictions that leaders have formed before reaching high office are the intellectual capital they will consume as long as they continue in office. There is little time for leaders to reflect. They are locked in an endless battle in which the urgent constantly gains on the important. The public life of every political figure is a continual struggle to rescue an element of choice from the pressure of circumstance.

Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
The White House Years, ch. 3 (1979)

Churchill, Charles -- Gotham, 2.1.8 (1764)

Dave — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 16:12:57 +0000

If you mean to profit, learn to please.

Charles Churchill (1732-1764) English poet and satirist
Gotham, 2.1.8 (1764)

~Other -- Murphy’s Law for Grunts

Dave — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 13:08:32 +0000

If it’s stupid but works, it ain’t stupid.

(Other Authors and Sources)
Murphy’s Law for Grunts

In Paul Dixon, "Getting a Handle on Life's Slippery Truths," San Francisco Chronicle (24 Dec 1992)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Quoted in Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen, “How the President Works,” Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 173 (1936-06)

Dave — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:44:53 +0000

To accomplish almost anything worthwhile, it is necessary to compromise between the ideal and the practical.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Quoted in Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen, “How the President Works,” Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 173 (1936-06)
(Source)

Schlesinger, Arthur -- “The Necessary Amorality of Foreign Affairs,” Harper’s (Aug 1971)

Dave — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 22:32:16 +0000

Saints can be pure but statesmen must be responsible. As trustees for others, they must defend interests and compromise principles. In politics, practical and prudential judgment must have priority over moral verdicts.

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (1917-2007) American historian, author, social critic
“The Necessary Amorality of Foreign Affairs,” Harper’s (Aug 1971)

Lowell, James Russell -- “Abraham Lincoln, 1864-1865” (1869)

Dave — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 12:49:02 +0000

Doubtless he had an ideal, but it was the ideal of a practical statesman, — to aim at the best, and to take the next best, if he is lucky enough to get even that.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American diplomat, essayist, poet
“Abraham Lincoln, 1864-1865” (1869)
(Source)

Printed in The North American Review, #222 (Jan 1869) under the title "Before and After." Sometimes given as "The idea of a practical statesman is to aim ...."