WIST Quotations

Bible, Vol. 1. Old Testament -- Book 22. Song of Songs (of Solomon; Canticles) 8: 6ff, Poem 6 (Song (Cant) 8:6-7) [tr. KJV (1611)]

Dave — Tue, 12 May 2026 15:44:02 +0000

Set me as a seal upon thine heart,
as a seal upon thine arm:
for love is strong as death;
jealousy is cruel as the grave:
the coals thereof are coals of fire,
which hath a most vehement flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can the floods drown it:
if a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
it would utterly be contemned.

שִׂימֵ֨נִי כַֽחוֹתָ֜ם עַל־לִבֶּ֗ךָ כַּֽחוֹתָם֙ עַל־זְרוֹעֶ֔ךָ כִּֽי־עַזָּ֤ה כַמָּ֙וֶת֙ אַהֲבָ֔ה קָשָׁ֥ה כִשְׁא֖וֹל קִנְאָ֑ה רְשָׁפֶ֕יהָ רִשְׁפֵּ֕י אֵ֖שׁ שַׁלְהֶ֥בֶתְיָֽה׃
מַ֣יִם רַבִּ֗ים לֹ֤א יֽוּכְלוּ֙ לְכַבּ֣וֹת אֶת־הָֽאַהֲבָ֔ה וּנְהָר֖וֹת לֹ֣א יִשְׁטְפ֑וּהָ אִם־יִתֵּ֨ן אִ֜ישׁ אֶת־כׇּל־ה֤וֹן בֵּיתוֹ֙ בָּאַהֲבָ֔ה בּ֖וֹז יָב֥וּזוּ לֽוֹ׃ {ס}

The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Book 22. Song of Songs (of Solomon; Canticles) 8: 6ff, Poem 6 (Song (Cant) 8:6-7) [tr. KJV (1611)]
(Source)

(Source (Hebrew)). Alternate translations:

THE BRIDEGROOM: Set me like a seal on your heart,
like a seal on your arm.
For love is strong as Death,
jealousy relentless as Sheol.
The flash of it is a flash of fire,
a flame of Yahweh himself.
Love no flood can quench,
no torrents drown.
A SAGE: Were a man to offer all the wealth of his house to buy love, contempt is all he would purchase.
[tr. JB (1966)]

BELOVED: Set me like a seal on your heart,
like a seal on your arm.
For love is strong as Death,
passion as relentless as Sheol.
The flash of it is a flash of fire,
a flame of Yahweh himself.
Love no flood can quench,
no torrents drown.
Were a man to offer all his family wealth to buy love,
contempt is all that he would gain.
[tr. NJB (1985)]

THE WOMAN: Close your heart to every love but mine;
hold no one in your arms but me.
Love is as powerful as death;
passion is as strong as death itself.
It bursts into flame
and burns like a raging fire.
Water cannot put it out;
no flood can drown it.
But if any tried to buy love with their wealth,
contempt is all they would get.
[tr. GNT (1992 ed.)]

WOMAN: Set me as a seal over your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is as strong as death,
passionate love unrelenting as the grave.
Its darts are darts of fire --
divine flame!
Rushing waters can’t quench love;
rivers can’t wash it away.
If someone gave
all his estate in exchange for love,
he would be laughed to utter shame.
[tr. CEB (2011)]

Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
a raging flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
all the wealth of one’s house,
it would be utterly scorned.
[tr. NRSV (2021 ed.)]

Let me be a seal upon your heart,
Like the seal upon your hand.
For love is fierce as death,
Passion is mighty as Sheol;
Its darts are darts of fire,
A blazing flame.
Vast floods cannot quench love,
Nor rivers drown it.
If someone offered all his household’s wealth for love,
He would be laughed to scorn.
[tr. RJPS (2023 ed.)]

Stoppard, Tom -- Where Are They Now? [Gale] (1970)

Dave — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 19:27:59 +0000

Maturity is a high price to pay for growing up.

Tom Stoppard (1937-2025) Czech-English playwright and screenwriter
Where Are They Now? [Gale] (1970)
(Source)

The line in the play -- originally broadcast on BBC Radio 3 -- was based on an answer Stoppard himself gave in an interview by Peter Evans, reprinted in David Bailey and Peter Evans, Goodbye Baby and Amen: A Saraband for the Sixties (1969):

It is a very immature thing to worry about one’s stinking youth, but I don’t care: I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard Improved, “August” (1752)

Dave — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 23:30:05 +0000

Old Boys have their Playthings as well as young Ones; the Difference is only in the Price.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard Improved, “August” (1752)
(Source)

Cf. the contemporary "The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys." See Forbes.

Zweig, Stefan -- Marie Antoinette (1932)

Dave — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 16:27:24 +0000

Lightly, caressingly, Marie Antoinette picked up the crown as a gift. She was still too young to know that life never gives anything for nothing, and that a price is always exacted for what fate bestows. She did not think she would have to pay a price. She simply accepted the rights of her royal position and performed no duties in exchange. She wanted to combine two things which are, in actual human experience, incompatible; she wanted to reign and at the same time to enjoy.

Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist, biographer
Marie Antoinette (1932)
(Source)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1963)

Dave — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 13:59:25 +0000

What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1963)
(Source)

Teller, Edward -- “Fallout and Disarmament: A Debate Between Linus Pauling and Edward Teller,” KQED-TV, San Francisco (20 Feb 1958)

Dave — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 14:09:21 +0000

I don’t want to kill anybody. I am passionately opposed to killing, but I’m even more passionately fond of freedom.

Edward Teller (1908-2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
“Fallout and Disarmament: A Debate Between Linus Pauling and Edward Teller,” KQED-TV, San Francisco (20 Feb 1958)
(Source)

Scalzi, John -- Lock In, ch. 3 [Shane] (2014)

Dave — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 00:54:46 +0000

Rich people show their appreciation through favors. When everyone you know has more money than they know what to do with, money stops being a useful transactional tool. So instead you offer favors. Deals. Quid pro quos. Things that involve personal involvement rather than money. Because when you’re that rich, your personal time is your limiting factor.

John Scalzi (b. 1969) American writer
Lock In, ch. 3 [Shane] (2014)
(Source)

Verne, Jules -- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Part 2, ch. 8 “Vigo Bay” (1870)

Dave — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 12:54:19 +0000

Freedom is worth paying for.

[La liberté vaut qu’on la paye.]

Jules Verne (1828-1905) French novelist, poet, playwright
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Part 2, ch. 8 “Vigo Bay” (1870)
(Source)

Richardson, Samuel -- A Collection of the Moral and Instructive Sentiments (1755)

Dave — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 12:59:28 +0000

It is but shaping the bribe to the taste, and every one has his price.

Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) English writer and printer
A Collection of the Moral and Instructive Sentiments (1755)

Beaverbrook (Lord) -- “As O. O. McIntyre Sees It,” syndicated column (2 Jan 1937)

Dave — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:40:12 +0000

Someone sends me a clipping from Columnist Lyons with this honey: “They are telling this of Lord Beaverbrook and a visiting Yankee actress. In a game of hypothetical questions, Beaverbrook asked the lady: ‘Would you live with a stranger if he paid you one million pounds?’ She said she would. ‘And if be paid you five pounds?’ The irate lady fumed: ‘Five pounds. What do you think I am?’ Beaverbrook replied: ‘We’ve already established that. Now we are trying to determine the degree.'”

Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964) Anglo-Canadian business tycoon, publisher, politician, writer
“As O. O. McIntyre Sees It,” syndicated column (2 Jan 1937)

This anecdote has been attributed to a number of people, including Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw, usually in a bawdier form, e.g.:

SHAW: [To a woman seated by him at a dinner party.] Madam, if I gave you a million pounds, would you sleep with me?
WOMAN: I think I would.
SHAW: Would you do it for five?
WOMAN: Sir, what kind of woman do you think I am?
SHAW: I thought we had established that, and were merely haggling over the price.

The above, attributing the exchange to Lord Beaverbrook, is the earliest version found. See here and here for more discussion and research into its origins.

Huxley, Aldous -- “Religion and Time” (1943)

Dave — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 13:57:37 +0000

Reality cannot be ignored, except at a price; and the longer the ignorance is persisted in, the higher and more terrible becomes the price that must be paid.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
“Religion and Time” (1943)

Reprinted in Christopher Isherwood, Vedanta for Modern Man (1951).

Johnson, Samuel -- Poem (1738), “London: A Poem,” ll. 176-179

Dave — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:54:50 +0000

This mournful truth is ev’ry where confess’d,
SLOW RISES WORTH, BY POVERTY DEPRESS’D:
But here more slow, where all are slaves to gold,
Where looks are merchandise, and smiles are sold.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Poem (1738), “London: A Poem,” ll. 176-179
(Source)

Forbes, Malcolm -- The Sayings of Chairman Malcolm, “Simple Truths” (1978)

Dave — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:22:37 +0000

The difference between men and boys
Is the price of their toys.

Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990) American billionaire
The Sayings of Chairman Malcolm, “Simple Truths” (1978)

Also attributed to Liberace, J. T. Russell, Joyce Brothers, Mark Twain, Doris Rowland, and Dorothy Parker. The phrase can be found in this form in Millard Dale Baughman, Educator's Handbook of Stories, Quotes and Humor (1963), and in 1964 Senate testimony.

For a likely predecessor, see Franklin.

Gracián, Baltasar -- The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 157 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]

Dave — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:14:56 +0000

Better be cheated in the price than in the quality of goods.

[Más vale ser engañado en el precio que en la mercadería.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 157 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]
(Source)

(Source (Spanish)). Alternate translations:

It is better to be deceived in the Price, than in the Commodity.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]

Far better to be cheated in the price, than in the goods.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]

Better to be cheated by the price than by the merchandise.
[tr. Maurer (1992)]

Wilde, Oscar -- Lady Windermere’s Fan, Act 3 (1892)

Dave — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:56:39 +0000

CECIL GRAHAM: What is a cynic?
LORD DARLINGTON: A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
Lady Windermere’s Fan, Act 3 (1892)
(Source)

Paine, Thomas -- “The American Crisis” #4 (12 Sep 1777)

Dave — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:15:20 +0000

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) American political philosopher and writer
“The American Crisis” #4 (12 Sep 1777)
(Source)

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1992-04-08)

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

CALVIN: If I’ve learned one thing in life, it’s that everyone has his price. Raise the ante high enough and there’s no such thing as scruples! People will do anything if the price is right!

HOBBES: What’s your price?

CALVIN: Two bucks cold cash up front.

HOBBES: I don’t know which is worse, … that everyone has his price, or that the price is always so low.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1992-04-08)
(Source)

Straczynski, J. Michael "Joe" -- Babylon 5, 2×16 “In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum” (10 May 1995)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

VIR: I’d like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave, like this. Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?

J. Michael (Joe) Straczynski (b. 1954) American screenwriter, producer, author [a/k/a "JMS"]
Babylon 5, 2×16 “In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum” (10 May 1995)

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 1090 (1732)

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

Cheat me in the Price, but not in the Goods.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 1090 (1732)
(Source)

~Other -- Robert Siegmeister

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

Don’t expect perfect products unless you are willing to pay for perfection.

(Other Authors and Sources)
Robert Siegmeister