No winde makes for him, that hath no intended port to saile-unto.
[tr. Florio (1603)]

No helpe serves him that runnes uncertain courses (or knows not where to end them).
[tr. Cotgrave (1611)]

No wind serves him who is bound to no certain port.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]

No wind serves him who addresses his voyage to no certain port.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

No wind is fair for him who has no purposed port.
[tr. Ives (1925)]

No wind works for the man who has no port of destination.
[tr. Frame (1943)]

No wind is right for a seaman who has no predetermined harbour.
[tr. Screech (1987)]

Hark ye Friend; you have been a Burgher of this Great City; what's matter tho' you have lived in't but a few Years; if you have observ'd the Laws of the Corporation, the length or shortness of the Time, makes no difference.
[tr. Collier (1701)]

You have lived, O man, as a denizen of this great state: Of what consequence to you, whether it be only for five years? What is according to the laws, is equal and just to all.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]

O! my friend, you have lived a citizen of this great commonwealth, the world; of what consequence is it to you, whether you have lived precisely five years or not? What is according to the laws of the community, is equal and just to all.
[tr. Graves (1792)]

Man, thou hast been a citizen in this great state [the world]; what difference does it make to thee whether for five years [or three]? for that which is conformable to the laws is just for all.
[tr. Long (1862)]

Hark ye friend; you have been a burgher of this great city, what matter though you have lived in it five years or three; if you have observed the laws of the corporation, the length or shortness of the time makes no difference.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]

Man, you have been a citizen of the great world city. Five years or fifty, what matters it? To every man his due, as law allots.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]

You have lived, O man, as a citizen of this great city; of what consequence to you whether for five years or for three? What comes by law is fair to all.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]

Man, thou hast been a citizen in this World-City, what matters it to thee if for five years or a hundred? For under its laws equal treatment is meted out to all.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]

Mortal man, you have been a citizen in this great City; what does it matter to you whether for five or fifty years? For what is according to its laws is equal for every man.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]

O man, citizenship of this great world-city has been yours. Whether for five years or fivescore, what is that to you? Whatever the law of that city decrees is fair to one and all alike.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]

My friend, you have been a citizen of this great city [of the universe]. What difference if you live in it for five years or a hundred? For what is laid down in its laws is equitable for all.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.; 2011 ed.)]

You've lived as a citizen in a great city. Five years or a hundred -- what's the difference? The laws make no distinction.
[tr. Hays (2003)]

Mortal man, you have lived as a citizen in this great city. What matter if that life is five or fifty years? The laws of the city apply equally to all.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]

Man, you have been a citizen in this world city; what does it matter whether for five years or fifty? [...]
[tr. Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (2004)]

All men are made one for another: either then teach them better, or bear with them.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 8.56]

Men are born to be serviceable to one another, therefore either Reform the World, or bear with it.
[tr. Collier (1701); Collier/Zimmern (1887)]

Men were formed for each other. Teach them better, then, or bear with them.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]

Men were born for the service and benefit of each other. Eitehr teach them this obvious truth, or bear with their ignorance.
[tr. Graves (1792), 8.57]

Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then, or bear with them.
[tr. Long (1862)]

Men exist for one another. Teach them then, or bear with them.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]

Men were created the one for the other. Teach them better then, or bear with them.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]

Mankind have been created for the sake of one another. Either instruct therefore or endure.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]

Men have come into the world for the sake of one another. Either instruct them then or bear with them.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]

Men exist for each other. Then either improve them, or put up with them.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]

Human beings are here for the sake of one another; either instruct them, then, or put up with them.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]

People exist for one another. You can instruct or endure them.
[tr. Hays (2003)]

[Human beings have come into the world for the sake of one another; either instruct them, then, or put up with them.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]

Men were created for one another; either teach them, or endure them.
[ed. Taplin (2016)]

My arte and profession, is to live. Who forbids mee to speake of it, according to my sense, experience, and custome? Let him appoint the Architect to speake of buildings, not according to himselfe, but his neighbours, according to anothers skill, and not his owne.
[tr. Florio (1603)]

My art and business is to live. He that forbids me to speak according to my own sense, experience, and practice, may as well enjoin an architect to speak of buildings not in his own style, but in his neighbour's; not according to his own science, but according to another man's.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]

My trade and art is to live; he that forbids me to speak according to my own sense, experience, and practice, may as well enjoin an architect not to speak of building according to his own knowledge, but according to that of his neighbor; according to the knowledge of another, and not according to his own.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

My profession and my art is living. Whoever forbids me to speak of this according to my perceptions, experience, and habit, let him bid the architect talk about buildings, not according to his own ideas, but according to those of his neighbour; according to another's knowledge, not according to his own.
[tr. Ives (1925)]

My trade and my art is to live. He that forbids me to speak of it according to my own sense, experience, and practice, let him command an architect to speak of buildings not in his own style but his neighbour's, according to another man's knowledge, not according to his own.
[tr. Zeitlin (1934)]

My trade and my art is living. He who forbids me to speak about it according to my sense, experience, and practice, let him order the architect to speak of buildings not according to himself but according to his neighbor; according to another man’s knowledge, not according to his own.
[tr. Frame (1943)]

Living is my job and my art.
[ed. Rat (1958)]

Living is my work, and my art. Let anyone who forbids me to speak of it according to my understanding, experience, and practice order an architect to speak of his buildings according, not to himself, but to his neighbor; according to his knowledge, not his own.
[tr. Atkinson/Sices (2012)]

Is the cucumber bitter? set it away. Brambles are in the way? avoid them. Let this suffice. Add not presently speaking unto thyself, What serve these things for in the world? For, this, one that is acquainted with the mysteries of nature, will laugh at thee for it; as a carpenter would or a shoemaker, if meeting in either of their shops with some shavings, or small remnants of their work, thou shouldest blame them for it.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 8.48]

Does your Cucumber taste bitter? Let it alone. Are there Brambles in your way? Avoid them then. Thus far you are well: But then don't ask what does the World with such stuff as this is? This is to be too Bold, and Impertinent; And a Natural Philosopher would laugh at you: This Expostulation is just as Wise as it would be to find fault with a Carpenter for having Saw-dust, or a Taylor Shreds in his Shop.
[tr. Collier (1701)]

Is the cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there thorns in the way? Walk aside. That is enough. Don’t be adding; “Why were such things in the universe?” A naturalist would laugh at you, as would a carpenter, too, or a shoe-maker, if you were finding fault, because shavings and parings of their Works are lying about in their work-houses.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]

Is the cucumber which you are eating, bitter? let it alone. Are there thorns int he path where you are walking? avoid them. This is sufficient for your particular purpose. But do not peevishly ask, "why are such things permitted in the world?" For a naturalist would laugh at you; and with as much reason as a carpenter or a tailor would do, if you should blame them for having shavings or shreds in their respective shops.
[tr. Graves (1792), 8.49]

A cucumber is bitter -- Throw it away. -- There are briers in the road -- Turn aside from them. -- This is enough. Do not add, And why were such things made in the world? For thou wilt be ridiculed by a man who is acquainted with nature, as thou wouldst be ridiculed by a carpenter and shoemaker if thou didst find fault because thou seest in their workshop shavings and cuttings from the things which they make.
[tr. Long (1862)]

Does your cucumber taste bitter? Let it alone. Are there brambles in your way? Avoid them then. Thus far you are well. But, then, do not ask what does the world with such things as this, for a natural philosopher would laugh at you. This expostulation is just as wise as it would be to find fault with a carpenter for having saw-dust, or a tailor shreds in his shop.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]

The gourd is bitter: drop it then! There are brambles in the path: then turn aside! It is enough. Do not go on to argue, Why pray have these things a place int he world? The natural philosopher would laugh at you, just as a carpenter or cobbler would laugh, if you began finding fault because you saw chips or parings lying about their shop.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]

Is the gourd bitter? Put it from you. Are there thorns in the way? Walk aside. That is enough. Do not add, “Why were such things brought into the world?” The naturalist would laugh at you, just as would a carpenter or a shoemaker, if you began fault-finding because you saw shavings and parings from their work strewn about the workshop.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]

The gherkin is bitter. Toss it away. There are briars in the path. Turn aside. That suffices, and thou needest not to add: Why are such things found in the world? For thou wouldst be a laughing stock to any student of nature; just as thou wouldst be laughed at by a carpenter and a cobbler if thou tookest them to task because in their shops are seen sawdust and parings from what they are making.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]

The cucumber is bitter? Put it down. There are brambles in the path? Step to one side. That is enough, without also asking: "Why did these things come into the world at all?" Because the student of Nature will ridicule the question, exactly as a carpenter or cobbler would laugh at you if you found fault because you see shavings and clippings from their work in their shops.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]

The cucumber is bitter? Cast it aside. There are brambles in the path? Step out of the way. That will suffice, and you need not ask in addition, "Why did such things ever come into the world?" For anyone who has made a study of nature would laugh at you, just as a carpenter or shoemaker would laugh at you if you criticised them because you could see in their workshop the shavings or parings form what they were working on.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]

The cucumber is bitter? Then throw it out.
There are brambles in the path? Then go around them.
That's all you need to know. Nothing more. Don't demand to know "why such things exist." Anyone who understands the world will laugh at you, just as a carpenter would if you seemed shocked at finding sawdust in his workshop, or a shoemaker at scraps of leather left over from work.
[tr. Hays (2003)]

A bitter cucumber? Throw it away. Brambles in the path? Go round them. That is all you need, without going on to ask, "So why are these things in the world anyway?" That question would be laughable to a student of nature, just as any carpenter or cobbler would laugh at you if you objected to the sight of shavings or off-cuts from their work on the shop floor.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]

The cucumber is bitter? Then cast it aside. There are brambles in the path? Step out of the way. That will suffice, and you need not ask in addition, "Why did such things ever come into the world?" For anyone who has made a study of nature would laugh at you, just as a carpenter or shoemaker would laugh at you if you criticized them because you could see in their workshop the shavings or parings from the items that they were working on.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]

One thing there is, and that only, which is worth our while in this world, and ought by us much to be esteemed; and that is, according to truth and righteousness, meekly and lovingly to converse with false, and unrighteous men.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 6.42]

In a word. There's only one thing here worth the minding; And that is, not to imitate the Degeneracy of Mortals: But to be True, Honest, and Good-natur'd, even amongst Knaves, and Sharpers.
[tr. Collier (1701)]

The one thing valuable in this life, is, to spend it in a steady course of truth, justice, and humanity, toward even the false and unjust.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]

In short, there is nothing here much worth our attention, but to act on all occasions with a regard to truth and justice, and to live peaceably even with those who act with fraud and injustice.
[tr. Graves (1792), 6.41]

One thing here is worth a great deal, to pass thy life in truth and justice, with a benevolent disposition even to liars and unjust men.
[tr. Long (1862)]

Here one thing is of real worth, to live out life in truth and justice, with charity even to the false and the unjust.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]

The one precious thing in life is to spend it in a steady course of truth and justice, with kindliness even for the false and the unjust.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]

One thing on earth is worth much -- to live out our lives in truth and justice, and in charity with liars and unjust men.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]

One thing here is of great price, to live out life with truth and righteousness, gracious to liars and to the unrighteous.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]

In this life one thing only is of precious worth: to live out one's days in truthfulness and fair dealing, and in charity even with the false and unjust.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]

In this world there is only one thing of real value, to pass our days in truth and justice, and yet be gracious to those who are false and unjust.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]

The only thing that isn’t worthless: to live this life out truthfully and rightly. And be patient with those who don't.
[tr. Hays (2003)]

In this world there is only one thing of value, to live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]

In this world there is only one thing of real value, to pass our days in truth and justice, and yet be gracious to those who are false and unjust.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]

So there is one thing that is of most value: to live out your life in truth and justice and be kind to those who are false and unjust.
[tr. Gill (2013)]

So one thing is worth much: to keep on living with truth and justice and in good will even among liars and unjust men.
[tr. @sentantiq (2019)]

So I am going away, my children. Love each other dearly always. There is scarcely anything else in the world but that: to love one another.
[tr. Wilbour (1862)]

I am going away, my children. Love each other dearly and always. There is no other thing in the world but that; love one another.
[tr. Wraxall (1862)]

I am on the verge of departure, my children. Love each other well and always. There is nothing else but that in the world: love for each other.
[tr. Hapgood (1887)]

And now I must leave you, my children. Love one another always. There is nothing else that matters in this world except love.
[tr. Denny (1976)]

So I am going away, my children. Love each other dearly always. There is scarcely anything else in the world but that: to love one another.
[tr. Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]

For we are all born to be fellow-workers, as the feet, the hands, and the eyelids; as the rows of the upper and under teeth: for such therefore to be in opposition, is against nature; and what is it to chafe at, and to be averse from, but to be in opposition?
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 1.15]

For we are all made for mutual Assistance, no less than the Parts of the Body are for the Service of the whole; From whence it follows that Clashing and Opposition is perfectly Unnatural: Now such an unfriendly Disposition is imply'd in Resentment and Aversion.
[tr. Collier (1701)]

We were formed by nature for mutual assistance, as the two feet, the hands, the eye¬ lids, the upper and lower rows of teeth. Opposition to each other is contrary to nature: All anger and aversion is an opposition.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]

For we are all born for our mutual assistance; as the hands and feet, and every part of the human body, are for the service of the whole; to thwart and injure each other, therefore, is contrary to nature. Now injuries and hostilities are generally the consequence of hatred and resentment.
[tr. Graves (1792)]

For we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another, then, is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away.
[tr. Long (1862)]

For we are all made for mutual assistance, as the feet, the hands, and the eyelids, as the rows of the upper and under teeth, from whence it follows that clashing and opposition is perfectly unnatural. Now such an unfriendly disposition is implied in resentment and aversion.
[tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]

For we are made for co-operation, like the feet, the hands, the eyelids, the upper and the lower rows of teech. To thwart one another is contrary to nature; and one form of thwarting is resentment and estrangement.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]

For we are made by nature for mutual assistance, like the feet, the hands, the eyelids, the upper and lower rows of teeth. It is against nature for men to oppose each other; and what else is anger and aversion?
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]

For we have come into being for co-operation, as have the feet, the hands, the eyelids, the rows of upper and lower teeth. Therefore to thwart one another is against Nature; and we do thwart one another by shewing resentment and aversion.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]

For we have come into the world to work together, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper and lower teeth. To work against one another therefore is to oppose Nature, and to be vexed with another or to turn away from him is to tend to antagonism.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]

For he and I were born to work together, like a man’s two hands, feet, or eyelids, or like the upper and lower rows of his teeth. To obstruct each other is against Nature’s law -- and what is irritation or aversion but a form of obstruction?
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]

For we have come into being to work together, like feet, hands, or eyelids, or the two rows of teeth in our upper and lower jaws. To work against one another is therefore contrary to nature; and to be angry with another and turn away form him is surely to work against him.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]

We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions.
[tr. Hays (2003)]

We were born for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper and lower teeth. So to work in opposition to one another is against nature: and anger or rejection is opposition.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]

For we have been made for cooperation, just like the feet, the hands, the eyelids, and the upper and lower teeth. To hinder one another, then, is contrary to Nature, and this is exactly what happens when we are angry and turn away from each other.
[tr. Needleman/Piazza (2008)]

For we have come into being to work together, like feet, hands, eyelids, or the two rows of teeth in our upper and lower jaws. To work against one another is therefore contrary to nature; and to be angry with another person and turn away from him is surely to work against him.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]

For both they and I need each other. To act against them would be to act against myself. And to become angry and turn away from them is also to act against them.
[tr. McNeill (2019)]

Man has gradually become a visionary animal, who has to fulfil one more condition of existence than the other animals: man must from time to time believe that he knows why he exists; his species cannot flourish without periodically confiding in life! Without the belief in reason in life!
[tr. Common (1911)]

Gradually, man has become a fantastic animal that has to fulfil one more condition of existence than any other animal: man has to believe, to know, from time to time why he exists; his race cannot flourish without a periodic trust in life -- without faith in reason in life.
[tr. Kaufmann (1974)]

Man has gradually become a fantastic animal that must fulfil one condition of existence more than any other animal: man must from time tot time believes he knows why he exists; his race cannot thrive without a periodic trust in life -- without faith in the reason in life!
[tr. Nauckhoff (2001)]

He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.

To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty. To find the best in others; to give one’s self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exaltation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived -- this is to have succeeded.

• He Has Achieved Success Who Has Lived Well, Laughed Often and Loved Much – Quote Investigator
• Stanley, Bessie A. - "Success" (1905) | WIST ]]> https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/46825/feed/ 1 46825 https://wist.info/bellow-saul/46572/ https://wist.info/bellow-saul/46572/#respond Wed, 14 Apr 2021 16:25:47 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=46572 Boredom therefore can arise from the cessation of habitual functions, even though these may be boring too. It is also the shriek of unused capacities, the doom of serving no great end or design, or contributing to no master force.
  
  Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-American writer
  The Adventures of Augie March (1953)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/bellow-saul/46572/feed/ 0 46572 https://wist.info/bell-daniel/46120/ https://wist.info/bell-daniel/46120/#respond Mon, 08 Mar 2021 15:58:11 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=46120 But no moral philosopher, from Aristotle to Aquinas, to John Locke and Adam Smith, divorced economics from a set of moral ends or held the production of wealth to be an end in itself; rather it was seen as a means to the realization of virtue, a means of leading a civilized life.
  
  Daniel Bell (1919–2011) American sociologist, writer, editor, academic
  The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (1976) ]]> https://wist.info/bell-daniel/46120/feed/ 0 46120 https://wist.info/young-andrew/46007/ https://wist.info/young-andrew/46007/#respond Thu, 25 Feb 2021 21:39:52 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=46007 It’s a blessing to die for a cause, because you can so easily die for nothing.
  
  Andrew Young (b. 1932) American politician, diplomat, activist
  Interview by Peter Ross Range, Playboy (Jul 1977)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/young-andrew/46007/feed/ 0 46007 https://wist.info/king-stephen/45562/ https://wist.info/king-stephen/45562/#respond Thu, 04 Feb 2021 20:21:02 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=45562 Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy. […] Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.
  
  Stephen King (b. 1947) American author
  On Writing (2000)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/king-stephen/45562/feed/ 0 45562 https://wist.info/aristotle/44780/ https://wist.info/aristotle/44780/#respond Fri, 18 Dec 2020 20:36:20 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=44780 It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.

  [ἄπειρος γὰρ ἡ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας φύσις, ἧς πρὸς τὴν ἀναπλήρωσιν οἱ πολλοὶ]

  
  Aristotle (384–322 BC) Greek philosopher
  Politics [Πολιτικά], Book 2, ch. 7, sec. 19 / 1267b.4 [tr. Jowett (1885)]
      (Source)
  
  Original Greek. Alt. trans.:
  
  
  • "For it is the nature of our desires to be boundless, and many live only to gratify them." [tr. Ellis (1912)]
  
  
  • "For appetite is in its nature unlimited, and the majority of mankind live for the satisfaction of appetite." [tr. Rackham (1924)]
  
  
  • "For the nature of desire is without limit, and it is with a view to satisfying this that the many live. [tr. Lord (1984)]
  ]]> https://wist.info/aristotle/44780/feed/ 0 44780 https://wist.info/kazantzakis-nikos/43978/ https://wist.info/kazantzakis-nikos/43978/#respond Mon, 02 Nov 2020 16:02:21 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=43978 Three kinds of souls, three prayers:
  1) I am a bow in your hands, Lord. Draw me, lest I rot.
  2) Do not overdraw me, Lord. I shall break.
  3) Overdraw me, Lord, and who cares if I break.
  
  Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) Greek writer and philosopher
  Report to Greco, Epigraph (1965) [tr. Bien (1973)]
      (Source)
  
  In the Epilogue, this is repeated: "There are three kinds of souls, three kinds of prayers. One: I am a bow in your hands, Lord. Draw me lest I rot. Two: Do not overdraw me, Lord. I shall break. Three: Overdraw me, and who cares if I break!" ]]> https://wist.info/kazantzakis-nikos/43978/feed/ 0 43978 https://wist.info/straczynski-joe/43002/ https://wist.info/straczynski-joe/43002/#respond Thu, 27 Aug 2020 14:24:29 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=43002 DEXTER: You know, before I got married, Emily used to come by sometimes and help me clean out my apartment. Well, I asked her, “How come you’re so eager to help clean up my place when your place is just as bad?” She said, “Because cleaning up your place helps me to forget what a mess I’ve made of mine, and — when I sweep my floor, all I’ve done is sweep my floor. But, when I help you clean up your place, I am helping you.”
  
  J. Michael (Joe) Straczynski (b. 1954) American screenwriter, producer, author [a/k/a "JMS"]
  Babylon 5, 3×20 “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place” (14 Oct 1996) ]]> https://wist.info/straczynski-joe/43002/feed/ 0 43002 https://wist.info/shelley-mary-wallstonecraft/42007/ https://wist.info/shelley-mary-wallstonecraft/42007/#respond Mon, 08 Jun 2020 22:34:07 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=42007 I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose — a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.
  
  Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851) English novelist
  Frankenstein, “Letter 1” (1818)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/shelley-mary-wallstonecraft/42007/feed/ 0 42007 https://wist.info/richter-wd/41712/ https://wist.info/richter-wd/41712/#respond Wed, 13 May 2020 20:15:20 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=41712 JACK BURTON: I don’t get this at all. I thought Lo Pan —
  LO PAN: Shut up, Mr. Burton! You are not brought upon this world to “get it”!
  
  W. D. Richter (b. 1945) American screenwriter, producer, director [Walter Duch Richter]
  Big Trouble in Little China (1986) [with Gary Goldman, David Z Weinstein] ]]> https://wist.info/richter-wd/41712/feed/ 0 41712 https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/41346/ https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/41346/#respond Tue, 14 Apr 2020 19:42:04 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=41346 Good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.
  
  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
  Essay (1860), “Wealth,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 3
      (Source)
  
  Based on a course of lectures, "The Conduct of Life," delivered in Pittsburg (1851-03). ]]> https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/41346/feed/ 0 41346 https://wist.info/oliver-mary/41066/ https://wist.info/oliver-mary/41066/#respond Tue, 17 Mar 2020 23:09:33 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=41066 You can have the other words — chance, luck, coincidence, serendipity. I’ll take grace. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I’ll take it.
  
  Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American poet
  “Sand Dabs, Five,” Winter Hours (1999)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/oliver-mary/41066/feed/ 0 41066 https://wist.info/oliver-mary/40797/ https://wist.info/oliver-mary/40797/#respond Tue, 25 Feb 2020 18:13:38 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=40797 The universe could have been created ugly, and would have functioned. And yet there is beauty everywhere in creation. Beauty gives us an ache, to be worthy of that creation.

  

  
  Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American poet
  Comments at Wellesley College (20 Oct 2010)
      (Source)
  
  The last phrase is frequently paraphrased, "We need beauty because it makes us ache to be worthy of it." ]]> https://wist.info/oliver-mary/40797/feed/ 0 40797 https://wist.info/orwell-george/39794/ https://wist.info/orwell-george/39794/#respond Mon, 28 Oct 2019 21:22:18 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=39794 O’Brien knew everything. A thousand times better than Winston, he knew what the world was really like, in what degradation the mass of human beings lived and by what lies and barbarities the Party kept them there. He had understood it all, weighed it all, and it made no difference: all was justified by the ultimate purpose. What can you do, thought Winston, against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?
  
  George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
  Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/orwell-george/39794/feed/ 0 39794 https://wist.info/ackerman-diane/39013/ https://wist.info/ackerman-diane/39013/#respond Fri, 28 Dec 2018 20:18:13 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=39013 One of the things I like best about animals in the wild is that they’re always off on some errand. They have appointments to keep. It’s only we humans who wonder what we’re here for.
  
  Diane Ackerman (b. 1948) American poet, author, naturalist
  “In Praise of Bats,” The Moon by Whale Light (1991)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/ackerman-diane/39013/feed/ 0 39013 https://wist.info/pratchett-terry/38441/ https://wist.info/pratchett-terry/38441/#respond Fri, 23 Feb 2018 23:58:51 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=38441 In short, Mort was one of those people who are more dangerous than a bag full of rattlesnakes. He was determined to discover the underlying logic behind the universe. Which was going to be hard, because there wasn’t one.
  
  Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
  Discworld No. 4, Mort (1987)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/pratchett-terry/38441/feed/ 0 38441 https://wist.info/van-dyke-henry/38355/ https://wist.info/van-dyke-henry/38355/#respond Wed, 13 Dec 2017 23:34:47 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=38355 There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher. There is a nobler character than that which is merely incorruptible. It is the character which acts as an antidote and preventive of corruption.
  
  Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933) American clergyman and writer
  “Salt,” Baccalaureate Sermon, Harvard University (19 Jun 1898)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/van-dyke-henry/38355/feed/ 0 38355 https://wist.info/kubrick-stanley/38306/ https://wist.info/kubrick-stanley/38306/#comments Thu, 23 Nov 2017 06:09:19 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=38306 HAL9000: I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
  
  Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) American film director, screenwriter, producer
  2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) [with Arthur C. Clarke] ]]> https://wist.info/kubrick-stanley/38306/feed/ 2 38306 https://wist.info/oliver-mary/38179/ https://wist.info/oliver-mary/38179/#respond Wed, 01 Nov 2017 16:12:37 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=38179 Tell me, what is it you plan to do
  With your one wild and precious life?

  

  
  Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American poet
  “The Summer Day,” New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1 (1992) ]]> https://wist.info/oliver-mary/38179/feed/ 0 38179 https://wist.info/jacob-francois/38003/ https://wist.info/jacob-francois/38003/#respond Mon, 18 Sep 2017 22:22:44 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=38003 What Man seeks, to the point of anguish, in his gods, in his art, in his science, is meaning. He cannot bear the void. He pours meaning on events like salt on his food. He denies that life bounces along at random, at the mercy of events, in sound and in fury. He wants it always to be directed, aimed toward a goal, like an arrow.

  

  
  François Jacob (1920–2013) French biologist, Nobel prize winner in Medicine
  The Statue Within: An Autobiography (1987) [tr. Philip (1988)]
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/jacob-francois/38003/feed/ 0 38003 https://wist.info/de-botton-alain/37938/ https://wist.info/de-botton-alain/37938/#respond Thu, 07 Sep 2017 15:45:11 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37938 There may be no good reason for things to be the way they are.
  
  Alain de Botton (b. 1969) Swiss-British author
  The Consolations of Philosophy, ch. 1 “Consolations for Unpopularity,” sec. 4 (2000)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/de-botton-alain/37938/feed/ 0 37938 https://wist.info/heinlein-robert-a/37707/ https://wist.info/heinlein-robert-a/37707/#respond Fri, 11 Aug 2017 23:42:32 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37707 Man is so built that he cannot imagine his own death. This leads to endless invention of religions. While this conviction by no means proves immortality to be a fact, questions generated by it are overwhelmingly important. The nature of life, how ego hooks into the body, the problem of ego itself and why each ego seems to be the center of the universe, the purpose of life, the purpose of the universe — these are paramount questions, Ben; they can never be trivial. Science hasn’t solved them — and who am I to sneer at religions for trying, no matter how unconvincingly to me? Old Mumbo Jumbo may eat me yet; I can’t rule him out because he owns no fancy cathedrals. Nor can I rule out one godstruck boy leading a sex cult in an upholstered attic; he might be the Messiah. The only religious opinion I feel sure of is this: self-awareness is not just a bunch of amino acids bumping together!
  
  Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American writer
  Stranger in a Strange Land, Part 4, ch. 33 [Jubal] (1961)
      (Source)
  
  In the "uncut" original version (1960): "Self-aware man is so built that he cannot believe in his own extinction ... and this automatically leads to endless invention of religions. While this involuntary conviction of immortality by no means proves immortality to be a fact, the questions generated by this conviction are overwhelmingly important ... whether we can answer them or not, or prove what answers we suspect. The nature of life, how the ego hooks into the physical body, the problem of the ego itself and why each ego seems to be the center of the universe, the purpose of life, the purpose of the universe -- these are paramount questions Ben; they can never be trivial. Science can't, or hasn't, coped with any of them -- and who am I to sneer at religions for trying to answer them, no matter how unconvincingly to me? Old Mumbo Jumbo may eat me yet; I can't rule Him out because He owns no fancy cathedrals. Nor can I rule out one godstruck boy leading a sex cult in an upholstered attic; he might be the Messiah. The only religious opinion that I feel sure of is this: self-awareness is not just a bunch of amino acids bumping together!" ]]> https://wist.info/heinlein-robert-a/37707/feed/ 0 37707 https://wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/37517/ https://wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/37517/#respond Fri, 14 Jul 2017 23:48:16 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37517 The mind that has no fixed goal loses itself; for as they say, to be everywhere is to be nowhere.
   
  [L’âme qui n’a point de but établi, elle se perd: car comme on dit, c;est n’ètre en aucun lieu que d’être partout.]

  

  
  Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) French essayist
  Essays, Book 1, ch. 8 (1.8), “Of Idleness [De l’Oisiveté]” (1572) [tr. Ives (1925)]
      (Source)
  
  This essay appeared in the 1st ed. (1580), and was modified in each of the following.
  
  The proverb referenced is from Martial (ep. 7.73); it was paraphrased as indicated in the 1st ed., and then the actual Latin quotation ("Quisquis ubique habitat, Maxime, nusquam habitat") was added in the 2nd ed. (1588).
  
  (Source (French)). Other translations:
  
  

  The minde that hath no fixed bound, will easilie loose it selfe: For, as wee say, To be everie where, is to be no where.
  [tr. Florio (1603)]

  
  

  The Soul that has no establish’d Limit to circumscribe it, loses it self, as the Epigrammist says, He that lives every where, does no where live.
  [tr. Cotton (1686)]

  
  

  The soul that has no established aim loses itself, for, as it is said -- "Quisquis ubique habitat, Maxime, nusquam habitat."
  [tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

  
  

  The soul that has no established limits to circumscribe itself, loses itself. As the epigrammatist says, "He that is everywhere is nowhere."
  [tr. Rector (1899)]

  
  

  The soul that has no fixed goal loses itself; for as they say, to be everywhere is to be nowhere.
  [tr. Frame (1943)]

  
  

  When the soul is without a definite aim, she gets lost; for, as they say, if you are everywhere you are nowhere.
  [tr. Screech (1987)]

  
  

  The mind that has no fixed aim loses itelf, for, as they say, to be everywhere is to be nowhere.
  [tr. Cohen (1993)]

  
  

  A soul with no fixed goal is sure to lose its way for, as they say, to be everywhere is to be nowhere.
  [tr. HyperEssays (2023)]

  
  ]]> https://wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/37517/feed/ 0 37517 https://wist.info/stevenson-robert-louis/37337/ https://wist.info/stevenson-robert-louis/37337/#respond Sat, 01 Jul 2017 01:38:24 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37337 An aim in life is the only fortune worth the finding; and it is not to be found in foreign lands, but in the heart itself.
  
  Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
  The Amateur Emigrant, ch. 4 “Steerage Types” (1895)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/stevenson-robert-louis/37337/feed/ 0 37337 https://wist.info/levi-primo/37268/ https://wist.info/levi-primo/37268/#respond Fri, 16 Jun 2017 20:48:29 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37268 The aims of life are the best defense against death, and not only in the Lager.
  
  Primo Levi (1919–1987) Italian Jewish chemist and writer
  The Drowned and the Saved, ch. 6 “The Intellectual at Auschwitz” (1986) [tr. Rosenthal (1888)]
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/levi-primo/37268/feed/ 0 37268 https://wist.info/kingsley-charles/37219/ https://wist.info/kingsley-charles/37219/#respond Wed, 14 Jun 2017 01:44:48 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37219 Let us be content to do little, if God sets us at little tasks. It is but pride and self-will which says, “Give me something huge to fight, — and I should enjoy that — but why make me sweep the dust?”
  
  Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) English clergyman, historian, essayist, novelist (pseud. "Parson Lot")
  Letter, “To a lady who consulted him about Sisterhoods” (24 Jul 1854)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/kingsley-charles/37219/feed/ 0 37219 https://wist.info/bronte-charlotte/37191/ https://wist.info/bronte-charlotte/37191/#respond Fri, 09 Jun 2017 04:23:04 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37191 It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.

  

  
  Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855) British novelist [pseud. Currer Bell]
  Jane Eyre, ch. 12 [Jane] (1847)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/bronte-charlotte/37191/feed/ 0 37191 https://wist.info/miller-walter-m/36198/ https://wist.info/miller-walter-m/36198/#respond Mon, 06 Feb 2017 21:27:51 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=36198 There is a difference between tragedy and blind brutal calamity. Tragedy has meaning, and there is dignity in it. Tragedy stands with its shoulders stiff and proud. But there is no meaning, no dignity, no fulfillment, in the death of a child.
  
  Walter M. Miller Jr. (1923–1996) American writer
  “The Will” (1953) ]]> https://wist.info/miller-walter-m/36198/feed/ 0 36198 https://wist.info/adams-douglas/34927/ https://wist.info/adams-douglas/34927/#respond Mon, 29 Aug 2016 23:56:48 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=34927 SLARTIBARTFAST: Perhaps I’m old and tired, but I always think that the chances of finding out what really is going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is say hang the sense of it and just keep yourself occupied.

  

  
  Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
  Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Phase 1, “Fit the 4th” (BBC Radio) (1978-03-29)
  
  The same text is found in the book form, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, ch. 30 (1979). ]]> https://wist.info/adams-douglas/34927/feed/ 0 34927 https://wist.info/lorde-audre/32736/ https://wist.info/lorde-audre/32736/#respond Mon, 22 Feb 2016 15:07:47 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=32736 Art is not living. It is a use of living.

  

  
  Audre Lorde (1934–1992) American writer, feminist, civil rights activist
  “My Words Will Be There”
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/lorde-audre/32736/feed/ 0 32736 https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/32145/ https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/32145/#respond Wed, 13 Jan 2016 15:56:55 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=32145 The human soul, the world, the universe are laboring on to their magnificent consummation. We are not fashioned thus marvelously for nought.

  

  
  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
  Journal (1820-12) ]]> https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/32145/feed/ 0 32145 https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/31882/ https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/31882/#respond Thu, 17 Dec 2015 15:12:13 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=31882 The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure for it is occupation, because occupation means pre-occupation; and the pre-occupied person is neither happy nor unhappy, but simply alive and active, which is pleasanter than any happiness until you are tired of it.

  

  
  George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright and critic
  Treatise on Parents and Children, “Children’s Happiness” (1914)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/31882/feed/ 0 31882 https://wist.info/lewis-cs/31654/ https://wist.info/lewis-cs/31654/#respond Wed, 02 Dec 2015 13:55:45 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=31654 This is the whole of Christianity. There is nothing else. It is so easy to get muddled about that. It is easy to think that the Church has a lot of different objects — education, building, missions, holding services. Just as it is easy to think the State has a lot of different objects — military, political, economic, and what not. But in a way things are much simpler than that. The State exists simply to promote and to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband and wife chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging in his own garden — that is what the State is there for. And unless they are helping to increase and prolong and protect such moments, all the laws, parliaments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc., are simply a waste of time. In the same way the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.
  
  C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
  Mere Christianity, ch. 8 (1952)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/lewis-cs/31654/feed/ 0 31654 https://wist.info/lewis-cs/31332/ https://wist.info/lewis-cs/31332/#respond Wed, 11 Nov 2015 14:00:23 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=31332 I am sorry to hear of the little dog’s death. The animal creation is a strange mystery. We can make some attempt to understand human suffering: but the sufferings of animals from the beginning of the world till now (inflicted not only by us but by one another) — what is one to think? And again, how strange that God brings us into such intimate relations with creatures of whose real purpose and destiny we remain forever ignorant. We know to some degree what angels and men are for. But what is a flea for, or a wild dog?
  
  C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
  Letter to Mary Willis Shelburne (26 Oct 1962) ]]> https://wist.info/lewis-cs/31332/feed/ 0 31332 https://wist.info/kettering-charles/30974/ https://wist.info/kettering-charles/30974/#respond Fri, 09 Oct 2015 16:33:32 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=30974 The whole fun of living is trying to make something better.
  
  Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American inventor, engineer, researcher, businessman
  (Attributed) ]]> https://wist.info/kettering-charles/30974/feed/ 0 30974 https://wist.info/pratchett-terry/30793/ https://wist.info/pratchett-terry/30793/#respond Wed, 23 Sep 2015 13:15:09 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=30793 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) ]]> https://wist.info/pratchett-terry/30793/feed/ 0 30793 https://wist.info/lewis-cs/30119/ https://wist.info/lewis-cs/30119/#respond Wed, 05 Aug 2015 14:04:56 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=30119 A great many people (not you) do now seem to think that the mere state of being worried is in itself meritorious. I don’t think it is. We must, if it so happens, give our lives for others: but even while we’re doing it, I think we’re meant to enjoy Our Lord and, in Him, our friends, our food, our sleep, our jokes, and the birds’ song and the frosty sunrise.
  
  C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
  Letter to Alan Griffiths (20 Dec 1946)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/lewis-cs/30119/feed/ 0 30119 https://wist.info/chapin-edwin-hubbel/29074/ https://wist.info/chapin-edwin-hubbel/29074/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2015 12:25:49 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=29074 Consider and act with reference to the true ends of existence. This world is but the vestibule of an immortal life. Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity.
  
  Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–1880) American clergyman
  (Attributed)
      (Source)
  
  Quoted in Charles Northend, Memory Gems (1890).
  
  Variant: "Every action of your life touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity." ["Advice to the Young," quoted in Charles W. Sanders, Sanders' Union Fourth Reader (1873)] ]]> https://wist.info/chapin-edwin-hubbel/29074/feed/ 0 29074 https://wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/28903/ https://wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/28903/#respond Mon, 06 Apr 2015 12:17:38 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28903 The great and glorious masterpiece of man is to know how to live to purpose; all other things, to reign, to lay up treasure, to build, are, at most, but little appendices and props.

  [Le glorieux chef-d’oeuvre de l’homme, c’est vivre à propos. Toutes autres choses ; regner, thesauriser, bastir, n’en sont qu’appendicules et adminicules, pour le plus.]

  
  Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) French essayist
  Essays, Book 3, ch. 13 (3.13), “Of Experience [De l’Experience] (1587) [tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]
      (Source)
  
  This passage was added to the original version of the essay, published 1588, for the 1595 edition.
  
  (Source (French)). Other translations:
  
  

  The glorious master-piece of man, is, to live to the purpose. All other things, as to raigne, to governe, to hoarde up treasure, to thrive and to build, are for the most part but appendixes and supportes thereunto.
  [tr. Florio (1603)]

  
  

  The glorious Master-piece of Man is to know how to live to purpose; all other things, to reign, to lay up Treasure, and to build, are at the most but little Appendixes, and little Props.
  [tr. Cotton (1686)]

  
  

  Man's great and glorious master-work is to live befittingly; all other things -- to reign, to lay up treasure, to build -- are at the best mere accessories and aids.
  [tr. Ives (1925)]

  
  

  Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately. All other things, ruling, hoarding, building, are only little appendages and props, at most.
  [tr. Frame (1943)]

  
  

  Our most great and glorious achievement is to live our life fittingly. Everything else -- reigning, building, laying up treasure -- are at most tiny props and small accessories.
  [tr. Screech (1987)]

  
  ]]> https://wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/28903/feed/ 0 28903 https://wist.info/stanley-bessie-a/28428/ https://wist.info/stanley-bessie-a/28428/#respond Fri, 27 Feb 2015 13:03:39 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28428 He achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much;
  Who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children;
  Who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;
  Who has never lacked appreciation of Earth’s beauty or failed to express it;
  Who has left the world better than he found it,
  Whether an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul;
  Who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had;
  Whose life was an inspiration;
  Whose memory a benediction.
  
  Elisabeth-Anne "Bessie" Anderson Stanley (1879–1952) American poet
  “Success” (1905)
  
  The essay was written for a poetry contest to answer the question "What is success?" in 100 words or less. It (especially the first 13 words) is often misattributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, or Elbert Hubbard (the latter probably because the essay appeared in an advertisment in his series of books Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Lovers (e.g.).
  
  More information: Bessie Anderson Stanley - Wikipedia. ]]> https://wist.info/stanley-bessie-a/28428/feed/ 0 28428 https://wist.info/markham-edwin/28421/ https://wist.info/markham-edwin/28421/#respond Fri, 27 Feb 2015 12:32:20 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28421 There is a destiny that makes us brothers:
  None goes his way alone:
  All that we send into the lives of others
  Comes back onto our own.
  
  Edwin Markham (1852–1940) American poet
  “A Creed To Mr. David Lubin”, st. 1, Lincoln & Other Poems (1901) ]]> https://wist.info/markham-edwin/28421/feed/ 0 28421 https://wist.info/whedon-joss/28165/ https://wist.info/whedon-joss/28165/#respond Thu, 29 Jan 2015 12:53:52 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28165 BENDIS: We’re gonna die.
  MAL: We’re not gonna die. We can’t die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so — very — pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die.
  
  Joss Whedon (b. 1964) American screenwriter, author, producer [Joseph Hill Whedon]
  Firefly, 1×01 “Serenity” (pilot) (20 Dec 2002) ]]> https://wist.info/whedon-joss/28165/feed/ 0 28165 https://wist.info/brooks-thomas/27810/ https://wist.info/brooks-thomas/27810/#respond Wed, 24 Dec 2014 17:42:54 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27810 Time is a jewel more worth than a world. Time is not yours to dispose of as you please; it is a glorious talent that men must be accountable for as well as any other talent.
  
  Thomas Brooks (1608–1680) English Puritan divine, writer
  The Hypocrite Detected, Anatomized (1650) ]]> https://wist.info/brooks-thomas/27810/feed/ 0 27810 https://wist.info/wilder-laura-ingalls/27661/ https://wist.info/wilder-laura-ingalls/27661/#respond Thu, 04 Dec 2014 14:47:26 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27661 The trouble with organizing a thing is that pretty soon folks get to paying more attention to the organization than to what they’re organized for.
  
  Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957) American writer
  Little Town on the Prairie (1941) ]]> https://wist.info/wilder-laura-ingalls/27661/feed/ 0 27661 https://wist.info/dalrymple-theodore/27641/ https://wist.info/dalrymple-theodore/27641/#respond Tue, 02 Dec 2014 13:56:22 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27641 Life is a biography, not a series of disconnected moments, more or less pleasurable but increasingly tedious and unsatisfying unless one imposes a purposive pattern upon them.
  
  Theodore Dalrymple (b. 1949) English writer, journalist, psychiatrist [pen name for Anthony (A.M.) Daniels]
  Life at the Bottom (2001) ]]> https://wist.info/dalrymple-theodore/27641/feed/ 0 27641 https://wist.info/kaveney-roz/27275/ https://wist.info/kaveney-roz/27275/#respond Wed, 22 Oct 2014 13:59:14 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27275 I am an agnostic partly because I don’t think it is part of the human condition ever to have very much certainty about anything but moments of pleasure and of imminent and immanent death. I don’t think we have a language, will ever have a language, that can describe transcendence in any useful way and am aware that transcendence may be nothing more than the illusory aspiration of a decaying piece of meat on a random rock. The thing is to be humble enough to be content with that while acting to other people as generously as if better things were true, and making art as if it might survive and do good in the world. Because what else are we going to do with the few short years of our life?
  
  Roz Kaveney (b. 1949) British writer, critic, poet
  “On Good Friday, I may not have faith, but that doesn’t make me an atheist,” The Guardian (29 Mar 2013)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/kaveney-roz/27275/feed/ 0 27275 https://wist.info/greer-germaine/26756/ https://wist.info/greer-germaine/26756/#respond Tue, 02 Sep 2014 12:27:24 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=26756 The struggle which is not joyous is the wrong struggle. The joy of the struggle is not hedonism and hilarity, but the sense of purpose, achievement, and dignity.
  
  Germaine Greer (b. 1939) Australian-English feminist, reformer, author, educator
  The Female Eunuch, Introduction (1970) ]]> https://wist.info/greer-germaine/26756/feed/ 0 26756 https://wist.info/scalzi-john/26676/ https://wist.info/scalzi-john/26676/#respond Tue, 26 Aug 2014 12:04:15 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=26676 Those people you saw — the realborn — are born without a plan. They’re born because biology tells humans to make more humans; but it doesn’t consider what to do with them after that. Realborn go for years without the slightest clue what they’re going to do with themselves. From what I understand, some of them never actually figure it out. They just walk through life in a daze and then fall into their graves at the end of it. Sad. And inefficient.
  
  John Scalzi (b. 1969) American writer
  The Ghost Brigades, ch. 5 (2006) ]]> https://wist.info/scalzi-john/26676/feed/ 0 26676 https://wist.info/woolf-virginia/25735/ https://wist.info/woolf-virginia/25735/#respond Mon, 16 Jun 2014 12:39:20 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=25735 What is the meaning of life? That was all — a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one. This, that, and the other….
  
  Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English modernist writer [b. Adeline Virginia Stephen]
  To the Lighthouse, Part 3, ch. 3 (1927) ]]> https://wist.info/woolf-virginia/25735/feed/ 0 25735 https://wist.info/churchill-winston/25502/ https://wist.info/churchill-winston/25502/#respond Mon, 26 May 2014 17:47:49 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=25502 What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone?
  
  Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British statesman and author
  Speech, Dundee (10 Oct 1908) ]]> https://wist.info/churchill-winston/25502/feed/ 0 25502 https://wist.info/steinem-gloria/24672/ https://wist.info/steinem-gloria/24672/#respond Thu, 27 Mar 2014 15:02:19 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=24672 Writing is the only thing that passes the three tests of metier. first, when I’m doing it, I don’t feel that I should be doing something else; second, it produces a sense of accomplishment and, once in a while, pride; and third, it’s frightening.
  
  Gloria Steinem (b. 1934) American feminist, journalist, activist
  “What’s in It for Me?”, Harper’s (Nov 1965) ]]> https://wist.info/steinem-gloria/24672/feed/ 0 24672 https://wist.info/lardner-ring/24435/ https://wist.info/lardner-ring/24435/#respond Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:15:33 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=24435 Making money is easy, knowing what to do with it becomes a problem.
  
  Ring Lardner (1885–1933) American sports columnist and writer [Ringgold Wilmer Lardner]
  (Attributed) ]]> https://wist.info/lardner-ring/24435/feed/ 0 24435 https://wist.info/butcher-jim/24358/ https://wist.info/butcher-jim/24358/#respond Tue, 11 Mar 2014 12:40:41 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=24358 There is the world that should be and the world that is. We live in one and must create the other.
  
  Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
  Turn Coat (2009) ]]> https://wist.info/butcher-jim/24358/feed/ 0 24358 https://wist.info/holland-josiah-g/23512/ https://wist.info/holland-josiah-g/23512/#respond Wed, 15 Jan 2014 12:59:28 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=23512 What do you think God gave you more wealth than is requisite to satisfy your rational wants for, when you look around and see how many are in absolute need of that which you do not need? Can you not take the hint?
  
  J. G. Holland (1819–1881) American novelist, poet, editor [Josiah Gilbert Holland; pseud. Timothy Titcomb]
  (Attributed)
  
  Quoted in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895) ]]> https://wist.info/holland-josiah-g/23512/feed/ 0 23512 https://wist.info/einstein-albert/23140/ https://wist.info/einstein-albert/23140/#respond Mon, 09 Dec 2013 12:39:22 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=23140 There is no greater satisfaction for a just and well-meaning person than the knowledge that he has devoted his best energies to the service of a good cause.
  
  Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-American physicist
  “A Message to My Adopted Country,” Pageant (Jan 1946)
      (Source)
  
  Later reprinted as "The Negro Question." ]]> https://wist.info/einstein-albert/23140/feed/ 0 23140 https://wist.info/johnson-lyndon/21282/ https://wist.info/johnson-lyndon/21282/#respond Wed, 29 May 2013 11:33:03 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=21282 The central fact of American civilization — one so hard for others to understand — is that freedom and justice and the dignity of man are not just words to us. We believe in them. Under all the growth and the tumult and abundance, we believe. And so, as long as some among us are oppressed — and we are part of that oppression — it must blunt our faith and sap the strength of our high purpose.
  
  Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963–69)
  Speech (1965-08-06), Signing of the Voting Rights Act, Washington, D.C.
      (Source)
  
  (Source (Video)) ]]> https://wist.info/johnson-lyndon/21282/feed/ 0 21282 https://wist.info/feynman-richard/18132/ https://wist.info/feynman-richard/18132/#respond Wed, 30 May 2012 13:14:18 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=18132 Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it.
  
  Richard Feynman (1918–1988) American physicist
  (Attributed)
  
  Many variations can be found for this quotation (none of them with citation); the word "Science" and "Physics" are often interchanged:
  • "Science is like sex, it has its practical purposes, but that's not why we do it."
  • "Science is like sex. Sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not why we are doing it."
  • Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it."
  As noted here, Frank Oppenheimer (a colleague of Feynman's) was quoted saying, "There's a lot of practical fruits to understanding, but it's like sex. There are practical fruits to sex, but nobody would say that's why you do it, normally." Feynman and Oppenheimer may well have collaborated on the general phrasing, or taken it from one another. ]]> https://wist.info/feynman-richard/18132/feed/ 0 18132 https://wist.info/hoffer-eric/17825/ https://wist.info/hoffer-eric/17825/#respond Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:45:56 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=17825 To have a grievance is to have a purpose in life. A grievance can almost serve as a substitute for hope; it not infrequently happens that those who hunger for hope give their allegiance to him who offers them a grievance.
  
  Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
  Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 166 (1955)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/hoffer-eric/17825/feed/ 0 17825 https://wist.info/ivins-molly/16887/ https://wist.info/ivins-molly/16887/#respond Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:52:54 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=16887 Me, I think government is a tool, like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build with or you can use a hammer to destroy with. Whether government is good or bad depends on what you use it for and how well you use it. On the whole, it’s a poor idea to put people in charge of government who don’t believe in using it.

  

  
  Molly Ivins (1944–2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
  Essay (1992-03-01), “Good morning, Fort Worth! Glad to be here,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram
      (Source)
  
  Responding to Ronald Reagan's famous quip, "Government is not the solution; government is the problem." Collected in Nothin' But Good Times Ahead (1993).
  
  Ivins used a similar comment in her essay, "Wiggy Republicans," Mother Jones (1992-09/10) (also collected in Nothin' but Good Times Ahead (1993)):
  
  

  Government is just a tool, like a hammer. There’s nothing intrinsically good or evil about the hammer; it all depends on what it’s used for and the skill with which it is used.

  
  She reworked this in the introduction to her book You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You, (1998):
  
  

  Personally, I think government is a tool, like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build or you can use a hammer to destroy; there is nothing intrinsically good or evil about the hammer itself. It is the purposes to which it is put and the skill with which it is used that determine whether the hammer's work is good or bad.

  
  ]]> https://wist.info/ivins-molly/16887/feed/ 0 16887 https://wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/16178/ https://wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/16178/#respond Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:09:21 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=16178 I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life. The life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.
  
  Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
  Speech (1899-04-10), “The Strenuous Life,” Hamilton Club, Chicago
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/16178/feed/ 0 16178 https://wist.info/gilman-charlotte/13742/ https://wist.info/gilman-charlotte/13742/#respond Tue, 01 Feb 2011 13:09:38 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=13742 Human life consists in mutual service. No grief, pain, misfortune, or “broken heart,” is excuse for cutting off one’s life while any power of service remains. But when all usefulness is over, when one is assured of an unavoidable and imminent death, it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy death in place of a slow and horrible one.

  

  
  Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) American sociologist, writer, reformer, feminist
  Suicide note (1935-08-17)
      (Source)
  
  Gilman, an advocate for euthanasia, took her own life through an overdose of chloroform, after having been diagnosed with incurable breast cancer in January 1932. In both her autobiography and her suicide note, she said she "chose chloroform over cancer." ]]> https://wist.info/gilman-charlotte/13742/feed/ 0 13742 https://wist.info/tennyson-alfred-lord/12072/ https://wist.info/tennyson-alfred-lord/12072/#respond Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:45:28 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=12072 Come, my friends.
  ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
  Push off, and sitting well in order smite
  The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
  To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
  Of all the western stars, until I die.
  
  Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) English poet
  “Ulysses,” ll. 56-62 (1842)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/tennyson-alfred-lord/12072/feed/ 0 12072 https://wist.info/baldwin-james/12024/ https://wist.info/baldwin-james/12024/#respond Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:22:06 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=12024 If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him.
  
  James Baldwin (1924–1987) American novelist, playwright, activist
  “Letter from a Region of My Mind,” The New Yorker (17 Nov 1962)
  
  Republished as "Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind" in The Fire Next Time (1963) ]]> https://wist.info/baldwin-james/12024/feed/ 0 12024 https://wist.info/thomas-a-kempis/11953/ https://wist.info/thomas-a-kempis/11953/#respond Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:50:24 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=11953 For man proposes but God disposes. The path a person takes does not lie within himself.

  [Nam homo proponit, sed Deus disponit, nec est in homine via ejus.]

  
  Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380–1471) German-Dutch priest, author
  The Imitation of Christ [De Imitatione Christi], Book 1, ch. 19, v. 2 (1.19.2) (c. 1418-27) [tr. Creasy (1989)]
      (Source)
  
  Thomas saying that, regardless of a person's good intentions to act virtuously, they are dependent on God's grace to make that actually happen.
  
  The phrase "Man proposes but God disposes" (or the Latin original of it) was coined by Thomas, which makes it ironic where some later translators put it in quotations or self-referent indeeds.
  
  The text given relates to, is frequently footnoted to, and even is quoted directly from:
  • Proverbs 16:9 ("A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps." [KJV])
  • Jeremiah 10:23 ("O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." [KJV])
  
  (Source (Latin)). Other translations:
  
  

  For man purposeth, but God disposeth: nay, the way that man shall walk in this world is not in himself but in the grace of God.
  [tr. Whitford/Raynal (1530/1871)]

  
  

  Man proposes, but God disposes. The way that a man shall walk in this world is found not in himself, but in the grace of God.
  [tr. Whitford/Gardiner (1530/1955)]

  
  

  For man doth propose but God doth dispose, neither is the way of man in his owne hands.
  [tr. Page (1639), 1.19.9]

  
  

  A Man's Heart deviseth his Way, but the Lord directeth his Steps, says Solomon: We may contrive and act as seems most adviseable; by which we do so, are from the Lord, so is the Event of our having done it entirely in his disposal.
  [tr. Stanhope (1696; 1706 ed.), 1.19.3]

  
  

  Tho' the heart of man deviseth his way, yet the Lord ordereth the event; and that it is not in man that walketh, to direct his steps.
  [tr. Payne (1803)]

  
  

  For man proposes, but God disposes; neither is the way of man in himself.
  [Parker ed. (1841); Bagster ed. (1860); Anon. (1901)]

  
  

  For man proposes but GOD disposes: nor is it in man to direct his steps.
  [tr. Dibdin (1851)]

  
  

  For man proposeth, but God disposeth; and the way of a man is not in himself.
  [tr. Benham (1874)]

  
  

  For man, indeed, proposes but God disposes, and God's way is not man's.
  [tr. Croft/Bolton (1940)]

  
  

  For man proposes, but God disposes, and a man's road is not within himself.
  [tr. Daplyn (1952)]

  
  

  Man proposes, but God disposes, and man's destiny is not in his own hands.
  [tr. Sherley-Price (1952)]

  
  

  They know that "man proposes, and God disposes"; the course of a man's life is not what he makes it.
  [tr. Knox-Oakley (1959)]

  
  

  For man proposes, God disposes, and it is not for man to choose his lot.
  [tr. Knott (1962)]

  
  

  Man indeed proposes, bit it is God who disposes nor is the course of man in his power as he goes his way.
  [tr. Rooney (1979)]

  
  ]]> https://wist.info/thomas-a-kempis/11953/feed/ 0 11953 https://wist.info/hoffer-eric/11110/ https://wist.info/hoffer-eric/11110/#respond Fri, 04 Jun 2010 13:17:09 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=11110 Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. Thus people haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both.
  
  Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
  True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 14, § 75 (3.14.75) (1951)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/hoffer-eric/11110/feed/ 0 11110 https://wist.info/gaiman-neil/10698/ https://wist.info/gaiman-neil/10698/#respond Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:12:28 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=10698

  SHAKESPEARE: Well, my own fine words notwithstanding, life is no play. We meet people once, and never see them again. There is no shape to events, no point at which we turn to the audience for their praise. No time at which we step behind the stage, to see the actors changing their wigs, and painting their faces, and muttering their lines.

  
  Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
  Sandman, Book 10. The Wake, # 75 “The Tempest” (1996-02)
      (Source)
  
  Speaking to Morpheus. Final issue of the series. ]]> https://wist.info/gaiman-neil/10698/feed/ 0 10698 https://wist.info/arendt-hannah/9904/ https://wist.info/arendt-hannah/9904/#respond Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:47:23 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=9904 Without being bound to the fulfillment of promises, we would never be able to keep our identities; we would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of each man’s lonely heart, caught in its contradictions and equivocalities — a darkness which only the light shed over the public realm through the presence of others, who confirm the identity between the one who promises and the one who fulfills, can dispel.
  
  Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
  The Human Condition, Part 5, ch. 33 “Irreversibility and the Power to Forgive” (1958)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/arendt-hannah/9904/feed/ 0 9904 https://wist.info/russell-bertrand/8283/ https://wist.info/russell-bertrand/8283/#comments Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:57:59 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=8283 One of the most interesting and harmful delusions to which men and nations can be subjected is that of imagining themselves special instruments of the Divine Will.

  

  
  Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
  “Ideas That Have Harmed Mankind,” Unpopular Essays (1950) ]]> https://wist.info/russell-bertrand/8283/feed/ 3 8283 https://wist.info/adams-douglas/8103/ https://wist.info/adams-douglas/8103/#respond Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:38:35 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=8103 NARRATOR: There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarrely inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
  
  Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
  Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Phase 2, “Fit the 7th” (BBC radio) (1978-12-24)
      (Source)
  
  The Narrator then adds:
  
  

  There is yet a third theory which suggests that both of the first two theories were concocted by a wily editor of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in order to increase the level of universal uncertainty and paranoia and so boost the sales of the Guide. This last theory is of course the most convincing, because The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the only book in the whole of the known Universe to have the words DON’T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on the cover.

  
  This quotation was brought back to be the epigraph for the second Hitchhiker book, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980), each paragraph on a different page:
  
  

  There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
  There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

  
  ]]> https://wist.info/adams-douglas/8103/feed/ 0 8103 https://wist.info/aristotle/7531/ https://wist.info/aristotle/7531/#respond Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:40:37 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=7531 For it is in the person’s choice that wickedness and the commission of injustice are found.

  [ἐν γὰρ τῇ προαιρέσει ἡ μοχθηρία καὶ τὸ ἀδικεῖν]

  
  Aristotle (384–322 BC) Greek philosopher
  Rhetoric [Ῥητορική; Ars Rhetorica], Book 1, ch. 13, sec. 10 (1.13.10) / 1374a.11 (350 BC) [tr. Bartlett (2019)]
      (Source)
  
  Often given as "The intention makes the crime." (Source (Greek)). Other translations:
  
  

  For the criminality and injustice of the act stands essentially in the deliberate principle on which it is done.
  [tr. Buckley (1850)]

  
  

  For vice and wrong-doing depend on the moral purpose.
  [tr. Jebb (1873)]

  
  

  It is deliberate purpose that constitutes wickedness and criminal guilt.
  [tr. Roberts (1924)]

  
  

  For vice and wrongdoing consist in the moral purpose.
  [tr. Freese (1926)]

  
  

  For the immorality and wrongness of an act depend on intentional choice.
  [tr. Waterfield (2018)]

  
  ]]> https://wist.info/aristotle/7531/feed/ 0 7531 https://wist.info/butler-samuel/7001/ https://wist.info/butler-samuel/7001/#respond Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:05:17 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=7001 A hen is only an egg’s way of making another egg.
  
  Samuel Butler (1835–1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
  Life and Habit, ch. 8 (1877)
  
  

  Full text.

  ]]> https://wist.info/butler-samuel/7001/feed/ 0 7001 https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/6887/ https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/6887/#respond Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:35:01 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=6887 I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatsoever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” to me; it is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got a hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
  
  George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright and critic
  “Art and Public Money,” speech, Municipal Technical College and School of Art, Brighton (1907-03-06)
      (Source)
  
  This is the "official" version that shows up in Archibald Henderson, George Bernard Shaw: His Life and Works, ch. 16 (1911), as the final words. A variant version from the reporter's notes was published in the Sussex Daily News (1907-03-07):
  
  

  I consider my life belongs to the whole community, and while I last it is my privilege to do what I can for it. I want to be worn out, because the harder I am working, the more I live. I enjoy like for its own sake. It is no "brief candle" for me. It is a sort of glorious torch, which I have got the hold of for the moment, and I want to make it blaze brighter before I hand it on to future generations.

  
  For the "brief candle" reference, see Shakespeare.
  
  This passage is sometimes quoted incorrectly preceded by a passage in the "Epistle Dedicatory to Archibald Henderson" to Man and Superman (1903). This error may have come from Stephen Covey, who identified the chimera as one of his favorite quotations. ]]> https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/6887/feed/ 0 6887 https://wist.info/king-stephen/6779/ https://wist.info/king-stephen/6779/#respond Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:10:31 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=6779 If being a kid is about learning how to live, then being a grown-up is about learning how to die.
  
  Stephen King (b. 1947) American author
  Christine, Part 1, ch. 5 (1983)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/king-stephen/6779/feed/ 0 6779 https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/6582/ https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/6582/#respond Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:53:27 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=6582 The end of an argument or discussion should be, not victory, but enlightenment.

  [Le but de la dispute ou de la discussion ne doit pas être la victoire, mais l’amélioration.]

  

  
  Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
  Pensées [Thoughts], “De la Famille et de la Société, etc. [On the Family and Society],” ¶ 41 (1850 ed.) [tr. Collins (1928), ch. 7]
      (Source)
  
  (Source (French)). Other translations:
  
  

  The aim of disputation and discussion should not be victory, but improvement.
  [tr. Calvert (1866), ch. 8]

  
  

  The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.
  [tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 7, ¶ 31]

  
  ]]> https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/6582/feed/ 0 6582 https://wist.info/lincoln-abraham/6576/ https://wist.info/lincoln-abraham/6576/#comments Mon, 08 Dec 2008 10:34:21 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=6576 Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.
  
  Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861–65)
  Essay (1832-03-09), “Communication to the People of Sangamo County,” Sangamo Journal (1832-03-15)
      (Source)
  
  Newspaper copy of a handbill distributed as part of Lincoln's candidacy for the Illinois State Legislature. ]]> https://wist.info/lincoln-abraham/6576/feed/ 4 6576 https://wist.info/russell-bertrand/6348/ https://wist.info/russell-bertrand/6348/#respond Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:34:55 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=6348 I have lived in the pursuit of a vision, both personal and social. Personal: to care for what is noble, for what is beautiful, for what is gentle; to allow moments of insight to give wisdom at more mundane times. Social: to see in imagination the society that is to be created, where individuals grow freely, and where hate and greed and envy die because there is nothing to nourish them. These things I believe, and the world, for all its horrors, has left me unshaken.
  
  Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
  Autobiography, Vol. 3: 1944-1969, “Postscript” (1969)
      (Source)
  
  Final words of the book. ]]> https://wist.info/russell-bertrand/6348/feed/ 0 6348 https://wist.info/feynman-richard/5462/ https://wist.info/feynman-richard/5462/#respond Wed, 28 Nov 2007 03:39:27 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=5462 It doesn’t seem to me that this fantastically marvelous universe, this tremendous range of time and space and different kinds of animals, and all the different planets, and all these atoms with all their motions, and so on, all this complicated thing can merely be a stage so that God can watch human beings struggle for good and evil — which is the view that religion has. The stage is too big for the drama.
  
  Richard Feynman (1918–1988) American physicist
  Interview (1959-05-01) by Bill Stout, Viewpoint, KNXT radio
      (Source)
  
  Reprinted in Michelle Feynman (ed.), Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P Feynman, Appendix I (2006). ]]> https://wist.info/feynman-richard/5462/feed/ 0 5462 https://wist.info/johnson-lyndon/5352/ https://wist.info/johnson-lyndon/5352/#respond Sun, 07 Oct 2007 00:31:32 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=5352 I believe that the essence of government lies with unceasing concern for the welfare and dignity and decency and innate integrity of life for every individual. I don’t like to say this and wish I didn’t have to add these words to make it clear but I will — regardless of color, creed, ancestry, sex or age.
  
  Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963–69)
  Speech (1972-12-12), Civil Rights symposium, LBJ Library, Austin, Texas
      (Source)
  
  (Source (Video)). Johnson's last public speech. ]]> https://wist.info/johnson-lyndon/5352/feed/ 0 5352 https://wist.info/lincoln-abraham/5258/ https://wist.info/lincoln-abraham/5258/#respond Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:16:13 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=5258 Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.
  
  Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861–65)
  Remark (1865-02) to Joshua Speed
      (Source)
  
  Recorded in a letter (1866-01-12) from Speed to William H. Herndon, reprinted in Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis (ed.), Herndon’s Informants (1998). The date is based on Speed recalling the incident around the remark being "about ten days previous to his last inauguration" (1865-03-04). ]]> https://wist.info/lincoln-abraham/5258/feed/ 0 5258 https://wist.info/omar-khayyam/5221/ https://wist.info/omar-khayyam/5221/#respond Sun, 19 Aug 2007 22:54:29 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=5221 YESTERDAY This Day’s Madness did prepare;
  TO-MORROW’S Silence, Triumph, or Despair:
  Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why:
  Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.
  
  Omar Khayyám (1048–1123) Persian poet, mathematician, philosopher, astronomer [عمر خیام]
  Rubáiyát [رباعیات], Bod. # 26 [tr. FitzGerald, 3rd ed. (1872), # 74]
      (Source)
  
  FitzGerald used the same text for subsequent editions.
  
  Other translations:
  
  

  Ah, fill the Cup: -- what boots it to repeat
  How Time is slipping underneath our Feet:
  Unborn To-morrow and dead Yesterday,
  Why fret about them if To-day be sweet!
  [tr. FitzGerald, 1st ed. (1859), # 37]

  
  

  Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare;
  To-morrow's Silence, Triumph, or Despair:
  Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why:
  Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.
  [tr. FitzGerald, 2nd ed. (1868), # 80]

  
  

  Be on your guard, my friend, for you will be sundered from your soul, you will pass behind the curtain of the secrets of heaven. Drink wine, for you know not whence you come. Be merry, for you know not where you go.
  [tr. McCarthy (1879), # 180]

  
  

  O soul, so soon to leave this coil below,
  And pass the dread mysterious curtain through,
  Be of good cheer, and joy you while you may,
  You wot not whence you come, nor whither go.
  [tr. Whinfield (1882), # 40]

  
  

  Make haste! soon must you quit this life below,
  And pass the veil, and Allah's secrets know;
  Make haste to take your pleasure while you may,
  You wot not whence you come, nor whither go.
  [tr. Whinfield (1883), # 48 or 87]

  
  

  Ah Brother, but a little while, and Thou shalt find
  Thy Lasting Home the 'Secret Veil' behind; --
  Rejoice Thy Heart and banish Grief, for know, --
  Thy source, Thy Goal, has never been defined.
  [tr. Garner (1887), 7.8]

  
  

  Ah, brother, but a little while and thou shalt find
  Eternal rest, the secret veil behind;
  Rejoice thy heart and banish grief, for know --
  Thy source, thy goal, has never been divined.
  [tr. Garner (1898), # 148]

  
  

  'Tis a strange world we came to, You and I,
  Whence no man knows, and surely none knows why,
  Why we remain -- a harder question still,
  And still another -- whither when we die?
  [tr. Le Gallienne (1897)]

  
  

  Bethink thee that soulless and bare thou shalt go;
  The veil of God's mysteries to tear thou shalt go:
  Drink wine, for thou knowest not whence thou hast come;
  Live blithe, for thou knowest not where thou shalt go.
  [tr. Payne (1898), # 188]

  
  

  Know this --- that from thy soul thou shalt be separated,
  thou shalt pass behind the curtain of the secrets of God.
  Be happy -- thou knowest not whence thou hast come:
  drink wine - thou knowest not whither thou shalt go.
  [tr. Heron-Allen (1898), # 26]

  
  

  Thou shalt be parted from thy soul, and then,
  Enter God's veil of mystery again;
  Be glad! For whence you came you do not know;
  Drink! For you wist as little where you go.
  [tr. Cadell (1899), # 26]

  
  

  Soon shall you bid farewell to mortal tie;
  Soon shall you read life's deepest mystery.
  Drink, for you know not when you go, nor where;
  Drink, for you know not whence you came, nor why.
  [tr. Roe (1906), # 35]

  
  

  Since from your soul you separate, then know
  Behind God's secret veil you will go, too;
  Drink wine! for you know not whence you have come;
  Be jocund! for you know not where you go!
  [tr. Thompson (1906), # 136]

  
  

  Know this, that soon thou diest, and thy soul
  The Book of God's Great Secret must unroll;
  Be happy! knowing not whence thou hast come,
  Nor whither thou shalt go. Drink out the Bowl!
  [tr. Talbot (1908), # 26]

  
  

  Know that thou shalt depart, deprived of thy soul; thou
  shalt go behind the veil of the mystery of annihilation.
  Drink wine: thou knowest not whence thou art come.
  Be merry! thou knowest not whither thou shalt go.
  [tr. Christensen (1927), # 15]

  
  

  Ye go from soul asunder this ye know,
  And that ye creep, behind His curtain low;
  Hence sing His Name, ye know not whence ye came,
  And live sedate, ye know not where to go.
  [tr. Tirtha (1941), 9.99]

  
  

  What, without asking, hither hurried whence?
  And, without asking, whither hurried hence!
  Another and another cup to drown
  The Memory of this impertinence.
  [tr. Graves & Ali-Shah (1967)]

  
  ]]> https://wist.info/omar-khayyam/5221/feed/ 0 5221 https://wist.info/stevenson-adlai-ewing/5128/ https://wist.info/stevenson-adlai-ewing/5128/#respond Sat, 21 Jul 2007 22:33:39 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=5128 Sacrifice, patience, understanding, and implacable purpose may be our lot of years to come. Let’s face it. Let’s talk sense to the American people. Let’s tell them the truth, that there are no gains without pains, that there — that we are now on the eve of great decisions, not easy decisions, like resistance when you’re attacked, but a long, patient, costly struggle which alone can assure triumph over the great enemies of man — war, poverty, and tyranny — and the assaults upon human dignity which are the most grievous consequences of each.
  
  Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
  Speech (1952-07-26), Democratic National Convention, Chicago
      (Source)
  
  (Source (Video)) ]]> https://wist.info/stevenson-adlai-ewing/5128/feed/ 0 5128 https://wist.info/francis-of-assisi/4875/ https://wist.info/francis-of-assisi/4875/#respond Tue, 29 Jun 2004 14:46:13 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=4875 Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace!
  Where there is hatred let me sow love;
  Where there is injury, pardon;
  Where there is doubt, faith;
  Where there is despair, hope;
  Where there is darkness, light;
  Where there is sadness, joy.
  O divine Master,
  Grant that I may not so much seek
  To be consoled as to console,
  To be understood as to understand,
  To be loved, as to love;
  For it is in giving that we receive;
  It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
  It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.
  
  Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) Italian Franciscan mystic, reformer, saint [b. Giovanni di Pietro di Bunardone]
  “Prayer of St Francis” (Attributed)
  
  The poem (in French) appears to date back no further than 1912, and was first misattributed to St. Francis in 1927. The first English translation (as above) is in 1936. More information on its origin here and here. The original French (La Clochette magazine, #12 (Dec 1912):
  
  Belle prière à faire pendant la Messe
  Seigneur, faites de moi un instrument de votre paix.
  Là où il y a l'offense, que je mette le pardon.
  Là où il y a la discorde, que je mette l'union.
  Là où il y a l'erreur, que je mette la vérité.
  Là où il y a le doute, que je mette la foi.
  Là où il y a le désespoir, que je mette l'espérance.
  Là où il y a les ténèbres, que je mette votre lumière.
  Là où il y a la tristesse, que je mette la joie.
  Ô Maître, que je ne cherche pas tant à être consolé qu'à consoler, à être compris qu'à comprendre, à être aimé qu'à aimer, car c'est en donnant qu'on reçoit, c'est en s'oubliant qu'on trouve, c'est en pardonnant qu'on est pardonné, c'est en mourant qu'on ressuscite à l'éternelle vie. ]]> https://wist.info/francis-of-assisi/4875/feed/ 0 4875 https://wist.info/marcus-aureleus/4822/ https://wist.info/marcus-aureleus/4822/#respond Wed, 12 May 2004 19:25:37 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=4822 Every hour staunchly, as a Roman and a man, resolve to do the work in hand, with scrupulous and unaffected dignity, affectionately, freely, justly; securing respite for yourself from all other intruding regards. And this you will secure, if you perform each task as though it were your last, free from all waywardness, from passions that estrange from reason’s dictates, from insincerity, self-love, and discontent with destiny.

  [Πάσης ὥρας φρόντιζε στιβαρῶς ὡς Ῥωμαῖος καὶ ἄρρην τὸ ἐν χερσὶ μετὰ τῆς ἀκριβοῦς καὶ ἀπλάστου σεμνότητος καὶ φιλοστοργίας καὶ ἐλευθερίας καὶ δικαιότητος πράσσειν καὶ σχολὴν σαυτῷ ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἄλλων φαντασιῶν πορίζειν. ποριεῖς δέ, ἂν ὡς ἐσχάτην τοῦ βίου ἑκάστην πρᾶξιν ἐνεργῇς, ἀπηλλαγμένος πάσης εἰκαιότητος καὶ ἐμπαθοῦς ἀποστροφῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἱροῦντος λόγου καὶ ὑποκρίσεως καὶ φιλαυτίας καὶ δυσαρεστήσεως πρὸς τὰ συμμεμοιραμένα.]

  
  Marcus Aurelius (AD 121–180) Roman emperor (161–180), Stoic philosopher
  Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 2, ch. 5 (2.5) [tr. Rendall (1898)]
      (Source)
  
  (Source (Greek)). Other translations:
  
  

  Let it be thy earnest and incessant care as a Roman and a man to perform whatsoever it is that thou art about, with true and unfeigned gravity, natural affection, freedom and justice: and as for all other cares, and imaginations, how thou mayest ease thy mind of them. Which thou shalt do; if thou shalt go about every action as thy last action, free from all vanity, all passionate and wilful aberration from reason, and from all hypocrisy, and self-love, and dislike of those things, which by the fates or appointment of God have happened unto thee.
  [tr. Casaubon (1634), #2]

  
  

  Take care always to pursue the Business in Hand with Vigour and Application; Remember your self a Man and a Roman; And let the Action be done with all the Dignity and Advantage of Circumstance: Let unaffected Gravity, Humanity, Freedom, and Justice shine through it. And be sure you entertain no Fancys, which may give check to these Qualities. This Task is very practicable if you will but suppose every thing you are upon your Last; If your Appetites and Passions don't cross upon your Reason; If you stand clear of Rashness, and don't complain of your Destiny, and have nothing of Insincerity, and Self-Love to infect you.
  [tr. Collier (1701)]

  
  

  Let this be your steadfast purpose to act continually, in all affairs, as becomes a Roman, and a man, with true unaffected dignity, kindness of heart, freedom, and justice; and disentangle your soul from other solicitudes. You shall thus disentangle yourself, if you perform each action as if it were your last: without temerity, or any passionate aversion to what reason approves; without hypocrisy or selfishness, or fretting at what providence appoints.
  [tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]

  
  

  Take care always to perform strenuously the business in hand, as becomes a man and a Roman, with attention and unaffected gravity, with humanity, liberality, and justice; and call off your thoughts, for the time, from every other object. This you will do, if you perform every action as if it were the last of your life; if you act without levity or dissimulation, free from selfishness and from every passion inimical to right reason; and lastly from peevishness and dissatisfaction at those events, which are necessarily connected with our lot.
  [tr. Graves (1792)]

  
  

  Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast in hand with perfect and simple dignity, and feeling of affection, and freedom, and justice, and to give thyself relief from all other thoughts. And thou wilt give thyself relief if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last, laying aside all carelessness and passionate aversion from the commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, and self-love, and discontent with the portion which has been given to thee.
  [tr. Long (1862)]

  
  

  Take care always to remember that you are a man and a Roman; and let every action be done with perfect and unaffected gravity, humanity, freedom, and justice. And be sure you entertain no fancies, which may give check to these qualities. This is possible, if you will but perform every action as though it were your last; if your appetites and passions do not cross upon your reason; if you keep clear of rashness, and have nothing of insincerity and self-love to infect you, and do not complain of your destiny.
  [tr. Collier/Zimmern (1887)]

  
  

  Hourly and earnestly strive, as a Roman and a man, to do what falls to your hand with perfect unaffected dignity, with kindliness, freedom and justice, and free your soul from every other imagination. This you will accomplish if you perform each action as if it were your last, without wilfulness, or any passionate aversion to what reason approves; without hypocrisy or selfishness, or discontent with the decrees of Providence.
  [tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]

  
  

  Every hour make up thy mind sturdily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast in hand with scrupulous and unaffected dignity and love of thy kind and independence and justice; and to give thyself rest from all other impressions. And thou wilt give thyself this, if thou dost execute every act of thy life as though it were thy last, divesting thyself of all aimlessness and all passionate antipathy to the convictions of reason, and all hypocrisy and self-love and dissatisfaction with thy allotted share.
  [tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]

  
  

  Each hour be minded, valiantly as becomes a Roman and a man, to do what is to your hand, with precise ... and unaffected dignity, natural love, freedom and justice; and to give yourself repose from every other imagination. And so you will, if only you do each act as though it were your last, freed from every random aim, from wilful turning away from the directing Reason, from pretence, self-love and displeasure with what is allotted to you.
  [tr. Farquharson (1944)]

  
  

  Hour by hour resolve firmly, like a Roman and a man, to do what comes to hand with correct and natural dignity, and with humanity, independence, and justice. Allow your mind freedom from all other considerations. This you can do, if you will approach each action as though it were your last, dismissing the wayward thought, the emotional recoil from the commands of reason, the desire to create an impression, the admiration of self, the discontent with your lot.
  [tr. Staniforth (1964)]

  
  

  At every hour devote yourself in a resolute spirit, as suits a Roman and a man, to fulfilling the task in hand with scrupulous and unaffected dignity, and love for others, and independence and justice; and grant yourself a respite from all other preoccupations. And this you will achieve if you perform every action as though it were your last, freed from all lack of purpose and wilful deviation from the rule of reason, and from duplicity, self-seeking, and dissatisfaction with what is allotted to you.
  [tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]

  
  

  Concentrate every minute like a Roman -- like a man -- on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can -- if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.
  [tr. Hays (2003)]

  
  

  Every hour of the day give vigorous attention, as a Roman and 5 as a man, to the performance of the task in hand with precise analysis, with unaffected dignity, with human sympathy, with dispassionate justice — and to vacating your mind from all its other thoughts. And you will achieve this vacation if you perform each action as if it were the last of your life: freed, that is, from all lack of aim, from all passion-led deviation from the ordinance of reason, from pretence, from love of self, from dissatisfaction with what fate has dealt you.
  [tr. Hammond (2006)]

  
  

  Each and every hour make up your mind steadfastly as a Roman and as a man to accomplish the matter presently at hand with genuine solemnity, loving care, independence, and justice, and to provide yourself with relief from all other worries; and you will achieve this if you perform every action in your life as if it were your last, putting aside all aimlessness and emotional resistance to the choices of reason, and all pretense, selfishness, and discontent with what has been allotted to you.
  [tr. Needleman/Piazza (2008)]

  
  

  At every hour devote yourself in a resolute spirit, as befits a Roman and a man,* to fulfilling the task in hand with a scrupulous and unaffected dignity, and with love for others, and independence, and justice; and grant yourself a respite from all other preoccupations. And this you will achieve if you perform every action as though it were your last, freed from all lack of purpose and wilful deviation from the rule of reason, and free from duplicity, self-love, and dissatisfaction with what is allotted to you.
  [tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]

  
  

  At every hour, give your full concentration, as a Roman and a man, to carrying out the task in hand with a scrupulous and unaffected dignity and affectionate concern for others and freedom and justice, and give yourself space from all other concerns. You will give yourself this if you carry out each act as if it were the last of your life, freed from all randomness and passionate deviation from the rule of reason and from pretence and self-love and dissatisfaction with what has been allotted to you.
  [tr. Gill (2013)]

  
  

  Think steadily every moment about what you have to do, with a perfect and simple dignity, with feelings of affection, freedom and justice. Do not allow yourself to be distracted. Live every moment as if it were your last, thinking clearly, without passion. Do not allow yourself to be overcome by feelings of hypocrisy, narcissism or resentment.
  [tr. McNeill (2019)]

  
  ]]> https://wist.info/marcus-aureleus/4822/feed/ 0 4822 https://wist.info/nietzsche-friedrich/2983/ https://wist.info/nietzsche-friedrich/2983/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=2983 It is not so much the suffering as the senselessness of it that is unendurable.
  
  Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher and poet
  (Attributed)
  
  Paraphrased by Nicolas Berdyaev, The Destiny of Man, 2.2.5 (1931) [tr. Duddington (1955)] ]]> https://wist.info/nietzsche-friedrich/2983/feed/ 0 2983 https://wist.info/shakespeare-william/3564/ https://wist.info/shakespeare-william/3564/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=3564 POLONIUS: Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.
  
  William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
  Hamlet, Act 2, sc. 2, l. 223 (2.2.223) (c. 1600)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/shakespeare-william/3564/feed/ 0 3564 https://wist.info/shedd-john-a/3635/ https://wist.info/shedd-john-a/3635/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=3635 A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
  
  John Augustus Shedd (1859–1928) American writer, educator
  Salt from My Attic (1928)
  
  
  Variants:
  • "Ships in harbor are safe, but that is not what ships are built for."
  • "A ship in port is safe. But that’s not what ships were built for." (used by Grace Hopper)
  • "A ship is always safe at shore, but that is not what it is built for." (frequently misattributed to Albert Einstein)
  More information on this quotation here. Sometimes (mis)attributed to William Greenough Thayer Shedd. ]]> https://wist.info/shedd-john-a/3635/feed/ 0 3635 https://wist.info/jefferson-thomas/2087/ https://wist.info/jefferson-thomas/2087/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=2087 It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness.
  
  Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801–09)
  Letter (1788-07-12) to Anna Jefferson Marks
      (Source)
  
  The salutation is "My dear Sister," and is a congratulations for her marrying Hastings Marks. Some copies, and filings of the letter, make it out to "Anna Scott Marks," her birth name was Anna Scott Jefferson. ]]> https://wist.info/jefferson-thomas/2087/feed/ 0 2087 https://wist.info/watterson-bill/4098/ https://wist.info/watterson-bill/4098/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=4098

  CALVIN: Weekends don’t count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.

  
  Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
  Calvin and Hobbes (1995-05-10)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/watterson-bill/4098/feed/ 0 4098 https://wist.info/bach-richard/1271/ https://wist.info/bach-richard/1271/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=1271 Here’s a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t.
  
  Richard Bach (b. 1936) American writer
  Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, ch. 15, epigraph (1977)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/bach-richard/1271/feed/ 0 1271 https://wist.info/brilliant-ashleigh/908/ https://wist.info/brilliant-ashleigh/908/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=908 Life may have no meaning. Or even worse, it may have a meaning of which I disapprove.
  
  Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933) Anglo-American epigramist, aphorist, cartoonist
  Pot-Shots, #1347 ]]> https://wist.info/brilliant-ashleigh/908/feed/ 0 908 https://wist.info/other/2443/ https://wist.info/other/2443/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=2443 The angels break into song at the sight of the throne and all the songs fit together as part of a greater song, but people seem to have to search to find the right song to sing. It is a matter of finding our proper nature.
  
  (Other Authors and Sources)
  Arn Lesikar, Belief-L listserv (6 Jun 1998) ]]> https://wist.info/other/2443/feed/ 0 2443 https://wist.info/eliot-george/171/ https://wist.info/eliot-george/171/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=171 Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.
  
  George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist [pseud. of Mary Ann Evans]
  The Impressions of Theophrastus Such, ch. 4 (1879)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/eliot-george/171/feed/ 0 171 https://wist.info/watterson-bill/4075/ https://wist.info/watterson-bill/4075/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=4075 CALVIN: (walking through snowy field) You know, Hobbes, it seems the only time most people go outside is to walk to their cars. We have houses, electricity, plumbing, heat …. Maybe we’re so sheltered and comfortable that we’ve lost touch with the natural world and forgotten our place in it. Maybe we’ve lost our awe of nature. That’s why I want to ask you, as a tiger, a wild animal close to Nature, what you think we’re put on Earth to do. What’s our purpose in life? Why are we here?

  HOBBES: (stating the obvious) We’re here to devour each other alive.

  CALVIN: (back in the house, yelling) Turn on the lights! Turn up the heat!

  

  
  Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
  Calvin and Hobbes (1991-01-06)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/watterson-bill/4075/feed/ 0 4075 https://wist.info/dickinson-emily/337/ https://wist.info/dickinson-emily/337/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=337 If I can stop one heart from breaking
  I shall not live in vain
  If I can ease one life the aching
  Or cool one pain
  Or help one fainting robin
  Unto his nest again
  I shall not live in vain.
  
  Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet
  “If I can stop one heart from breaking” (1864)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/dickinson-emily/337/feed/ 0 337 https://wist.info/rosten-leo-c/3358/ https://wist.info/rosten-leo-c/3358/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=3358 I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be “happy.” I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter: to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.
  
  Leo C. Rosten (1908–1997) Polish-American author and political scientist
  “Credo,” Passions and Prejudices (1978)
      (Source)
  
  This appears to be the final iteration of a thought that Rosen used on numerous occasions. In "On Finding Truth: Abandon the Strait Jacket of Conformity," Speech, National Book Awards, New York City, as reprinted in The Sunday Star (8 Apr 1962):
  
  

  The purpose of life is not to be happy -- but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you lived at all.

  
  In a later essay, "Words To Live By: The Real Reason For Being Alive," This Week Magazine (20 Jan 1963):
  
  

  THE PURPOSE OF LIFE is not to be happy. The purpose of life is to matter, to be productive, to have it make some difference that you lived at all. Happiness, in the ancient, noble sense, means self-fulfillment — and is given to those who use to the fullest whatever talents God or luck or fate bestowed upon them. Happiness, to me, lies in stretching, to the farthest boundaries of which we are capable, the resources of the mind and heart.

  
  In "The Myths by Which We Live," The Rotarian (Sep 1965):
  
  

  Finally there is the myth which gives me the greatest pain: the myth that the purpose of life is happiness, and that you ought to have fun, and that your children ought to have fun. Where was it written that life is so cheap? Where was it written that life is, or should be, or can ever be free of conflict and effort and deprivation and sacrifice? [...] [T]he purpose of life is not to be happy at all. It is to be useful, to be honorable. It is to be compassionate. It is to matter, to have it make some difference that you lived.

  
  A variation of this quotation is misattributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. More discussion of this quotation (including a shout-out to WIST for some of this research) here: The Purpose of Life Is Not To Be Happy But To Matter – Quote Investigator. ]]> https://wist.info/rosten-leo-c/3358/feed/ 0 3358 https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/147/ https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/147/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=147 The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.
  
  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
  (Misattributed)
  
  Though widely credited to Emerson, this appears to be a misattributed variation of a Leo Rosten quotation. More discussion of the connection here: The Purpose of Life Is Not To Be Happy But To Matter – Quote Investigator. ]]> https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/147/feed/ 0 147 https://wist.info/schulman-tom/3471/ https://wist.info/schulman-tom/3471/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=3471 KEATING: We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.
  
  Tom Schulman (b. 1951) American screenwriter, director
  Dead Poet’s Society (1989)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/schulman-tom/3471/feed/ 0 3471 https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/3610/ https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/3610/#comments Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=3610 This is the true joy in life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.
  
  George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright and critic
  Man and Superman, “Epistle Dedicatory” (1903)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/3610/feed/ 2 3610 https://wist.info/wilson-woodrow/4218/ https://wist.info/wilson-woodrow/4218/#comments Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=4218 Do you covet honor? You will never get it by serving yourself. Do you covet distinction? You will get it only as you serve mankind. Do not forget, then, as you walk these classic places, why you are here. You are not here merely to prepare to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget this errand.
  
  Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) US President (1913–20), educator, political scientist
  Speech, Swarthmore College (25 Oct 1913)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/wilson-woodrow/4218/feed/ 3 4218 https://wist.info/seneca-the-younger/3508/ https://wist.info/seneca-the-younger/3508/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=3508 Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.
  
  Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
  Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium], letter 71, sec. 3 “On the Supreme Good” [tr. Grummere (1918)]
      (Source)
  
  Alt trans.: "If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable."
  
  See Montaigne (1572). ]]> https://wist.info/seneca-the-younger/3508/feed/ 0 3508 https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/2033/ https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/2033/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/wp/?p=2033 Happiness is not a reward — it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment — it is a result.
  
  Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
  Essay (1881-11) “The Christian Religion,” “Part 2” North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 300
      (Source)
  
  See Lippmann (1929). Collected in Allen Thorndike Rice (ed.), The Christian Religion, ch. 3 (1882). ]]> https://wist.info/ingersoll-robert-green/2033/feed/ 0 2033