WIST Quotations

Aesop -- Fables [Aesopica], “The Swallow and the Other Birds” (6th C BC) [tr. Jacobs (1894)]

Dave — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 18:51:03 +0000

Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.

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

Machiavelli, Niccolo -- The Discourses on Livy, Book 3, ch. 6 (1517) [tr. Detmold (1882)]

Dave — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:37:43 +0000

Necessity may force you to do unto the prince that which you see the prince about to do to you.

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist
The Discourses on Livy, Book 3, ch. 6 (1517) [tr. Detmold (1882)]

See Matthew 7:12.

Lincoln, Abraham -- Letter (1848-02-15) to William H. Herndon

Dave — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:13:41 +0000

Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you shall allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure. Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect. If to-day he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, “I see no probability of the British invading us”; but he will say to you, “Be silent: I see it if you don’t.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1848-02-15) to William H. Herndon
(Source)