WIST Quotations

Doctor Who (1963) -- 22×07 “The Two Doctors,” Part 1 (1985-02-16) [w. Robert Holmes]

Dave — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 18:01:08 +0000

THE DOCTOR: Well, what’s the use of a good quotation if you can’t change it?

Doctor Who (1963-1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
22×07 “The Two Doctors,” Part 1 (1985-02-16) [w. Robert Holmes]
(Source)

(Source (Video)). Given after Peri notes a quotation the Doctor just attributed to Rassilon was actually Samuel Johnson. This line is from the Sixth Doctor (the Second Doctor being the other Doctor in the episode).

La Bruyere, Jean de -- The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 1 “Of Works of the Mind [Des Ouvrages de l’Esprit],” § 1 (1.1) (1688) [tr. Stewart (1970)]

Dave — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 16:43:19 +0000

Everything has been said, and we have come too late, now that men have been living and thinking for seven thousand years and more.

[Tout est dit, et l’on vient trop tard depuis plus de sept mille ans qu’il y a des hommes qui pensent.]

Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 1 “Of Works of the Mind [Des Ouvrages de l’Esprit],” § 1 (1.1) (1688) [tr. Stewart (1970)]
(Source)

Opening line of the book. La Bruyère's timeline is that of medieval scholars who calculated, from the Bible, that the age of the world to be only several thousand years old.

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

We are come too late, after above seven thousand years that there have been men, and men have thought, to say any thing which has not been said already.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]

After above seven thousand Years, that there have been Men, and Men have thought, we come too late to say any thing which has not been said already.
[Curll ed. (1713)]

We are come too late, by several thousand Years, to say any thing new in Morality.
[Browne ed. (1752)]

After above seven thousand years, during which there have been men who have thought, we come too late to say anything that has not been said already.
[tr. Van Laun (1885)]

Becker, Carl -- The Declaration of Independence, ch. 2 “Natural Rights Philosophy” (1922)

Dave — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 15:29:51 +0000

Generally speaking, men are influenced by books which clarify their own thought, which express their own notions well, or which suggest to them ideas which their minds are already predisposed to accept.

Carl L. Becker (1873-1945) American historian
The Declaration of Independence, ch. 2 “Natural Rights Philosophy” (1922)
(Source)

La Bruyere, Jean de -- The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 1 “Of Works of the Mind [Des Ouvrages de l’Esprit],” § 69 (1.69) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]

Dave — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 22:50:06 +0000

“Horace or Boileau have said such a thing before you.” — “I take your word for it, but I have used it as my own. May I not have the same correct thought after them, as others may have after me?”

[Horace ou Despréaux l’a dit avant vous. — Je le crois sur votre parole; mais je l’ai dit comme mien. Ne puis-je pas penser après eux une chose vraie, et que d’autres encore penseront après moi?]

Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 1 “Of Works of the Mind [Des Ouvrages de l’Esprit],” § 69 (1.69) (1688) [tr. Van Laun (1885)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Horace and Boileau have said such a thing before you. I take your word for't, but I said it as my own, and may not I think a just thought after them, as others may do the same after me?
[Bullord ed. (1696)]

HORACE or BOILEAU have said such a thing before you: I take your word for it, but I said it as my own, and may not I think a just Thought after them, as others may do the same after me?
[Curll ed. (1713)]

Horace or Boileau have said such a thing before you. I take your Word, for it, but I said it as my own, and may not I have the same just Thought after them, as others may have it after me?
[Browne ed. (1752)]

Horace or Boileau said it before you. -- I take your word for that; but I said it as my own. Cannot I, after them, have a true thought, and one which others will think after me?
[tr. Stewart (1970), § 68]

Poole, Mary Pettibone -- A Glass Eye at a Keyhole, “Excess Prophets” (1938)

Dave — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 22:39:17 +0000

The next best thing to being clever is being able to quote some one who is.

Mary Pettibone Poole (fl. 1930s) American aphorist
A Glass Eye at a Keyhole, “Excess Prophets” (1938)
(Source)

Skeat, Walter William -- Notes and Queries, 6th Series, vol. 9 (1884-06-21)

Dave — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 20:06:21 +0000

I protest, for about the hundredth time, against the slipshod method of quoting a mere author’s name, without any indication of the work of that author in which the alleged quotation may be found. Let us have accurate quotations and exact references, wherever such are to be found. […] A quotation without a reference is like a geological specimen of unknown locality.

Walter William Skeat (1835-1912) British philologist and cleric
Notes and Queries, 6th Series, vol. 9 (1884-06-21)
(Source)

Gide, André -- Treatise on Narcissus [Le Traité du Narcisse] (1891)

Dave — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 18:48:57 +0000

Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.

André Gide (1869-1951) French author, Nobel laureate
Treatise on Narcissus [Le Traité du Narcisse] (1891)

Inge, William Ralph -- London Evening Standard (1927)

Dave — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 22:59:20 +0000

What is originality? Undetected plagiarism. This is probably itself a plagiarism, but I cannot remember who said it before me. If originality means thinking for oneself, and not thinking differently from other people, a man does not forfeit his claim to it by saying things which have occurred to others.

William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]
London Evening Standard (1927)

Parallel to this, in James Marchant, ed., Wit and Wisdom of Dean Inge (1927), Inge is cited as saying, "Originality, I fear, is too often only undetected and frequently unconscious plagiarism."

The sentiment is, appropriately, not original with Inge; see here for more discussion and earlier uses.

Bunner, H. C. -- “Shake, Mulleary and Go-ethe”

Dave — Mon, 18 May 2020 21:22:58 +0000

Shake was a dramatist of note:
He lived by writing things to quote.

H. C. Bunner (1855-1896) American novelist and poet [Henry Cuyler Bunner]
“Shake, Mulleary and Go-ethe”
(Source)

Referring to Shakespeare, who is quite quotable (and, in the rest of the poem, referencing Molière and Goethe, the last of which he rhymes with "teeth"). More information on the poem at the Source link.

Sometimes paraphrased, "Shakespeare was a dramatist of note / Who lived by writing things to quote."

Kanfer, Stefan -- “Proverbs or Aphorisms,” Time (11 Jun 1983)

Dave — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 23:31:27 +0000

The aphorism is a personal observation inflated into a universal truth, a private posing as a general. A proverb is anonymous human history compressed to the size of a seed.

Stefan Kanfer (1933-2018) American writer, editor, journalist
“Proverbs or Aphorisms,” Time (11 Jun 1983)
(Source)

Morley, John -- “Aphorisms,” speech, Edinburgh (1887)

Dave — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 13:37:15 +0000

The essence of aphorism is the compression of a mass of thought and observation into a single saying. It is the very opposite of dissertation and declamation; its distinction is not so much ingenuity, as good sense brought to a point.

John Morley (1838-1923) English statesman, journalist, writer [John, Viscount Morley]
“Aphorisms,” speech, Edinburgh (1887)
(Source)

Peacock, Thomas Love -- Crochet Castle, ch. 9 (1831)

Dave — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 18:02:03 +0000

My quarrel with him is, that his works contain nothing worth quoting; and a book that furnishes no quotations is, me judice, no book — it is a plaything.

Thomas Love Peacock (1785-1866) English novelist, satirist, poet, merchant
Crochet Castle, ch. 9 (1831)
(Source)

Coleridge, Hartley -- Biographia Borealis: or, Lives of Distinguished Northerns, “Roger Ascham” (1833)

Dave — Thu, 12 May 2016 16:42:22 +0000

Why are not more gems from our early prose writers scattered over the country by the periodicals? Selections are so far from preventing the study of the entire authors that they promote it. Who could read the extracts which Lamb has given from Fuller, without wishing to read more of the old Prebendary? But great old books of the great old authors are not in every body’s reach; and though it is better to know them thoroughly than to know them only here and there, yet it is a good work to give a little to those who have neither time nor means to get more. Let every bookworm, when, in any fragrant, scarce old tome, he discovers a sentence, a story, an illustration, that does his heart good, hasten to give it the widest circulation that newspapers and magazines, penny and halfpenny, can afford.

Hartley Coleridge (1796-1849) English poet, biographer, essayist, teacher
Biographia Borealis: or, Lives of Distinguished Northerns, “Roger Ascham” (1833)
(Source)

Speaking of the practice of including brief extracts -- quotations -- from famous authors in magazines and newspapers to fill up columns or create a break between stories. Ironically, this extracted quotation -- slightly paraphrased -- was widely circulated in the mid-late 19th and early 20th Century misattributed to his father, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, or simply labeled as "Coleridge" without citation, leading to the same confusion.

Usually quoted more succinctly as: "Why are not more gems from our great authors scattered over the country? Great books are not in everybody's reach; and though it is better to know them thoroughly, than to know them only here and there; yet it is a good work to give a little to those who have neither time nor means to get more. Let every bookworm, when in any fragrant, scarce old tome he discovers a sentence, a story, an illustration, that does his heart good, hasten to give it."

Roux, Joseph -- Meditations of a Parish Priest: Thoughts, Part 1, #74 (1886)

Dave — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 16:08:00 +0000

A fine quotation is a diamond on the finger of a man of wit, and a pebble in the hand of a fool.

Joseph Roux (1834-1886) French Catholic priest
Meditations of a Parish Priest: Thoughts, Part 1, #74 (1886)
(Source)

Beecher, Henry Ward -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 14:14:21 +0000

You may get a large amount of truth into a brief space.

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American clergyman and orator
(Attributed)

Van Loon, Hendrik Willem -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 16:21:23 +0000

Somewhere in the world there is an epigram for every dilemma.

Hendrik Willem van Loon (1882-1944) Dutch-American historian and journalist
(Attributed)

Lowell, James Russell -- “For an Autograph,” Under the Willows and Other Poems (1868)

Dave — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 12:01:00 +0000

Though old the thought and oft exprest,
‘Tis his at last who says it best.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American diplomat, essayist, poet
“For an Autograph,” Under the Willows and Other Poems (1868)

Santayana, George -- The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress, Vol. 5 “Reason in Science,” ch. 8 “Prerational Morality” (1905)

Dave — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 12:35:48 +0000

Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it.

George Santayana (1863-1952) Spanish-American poet and philosopher [Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruíz de Santayana y Borrás]
The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress, Vol. 5 “Reason in Science,” ch. 8 “Prerational Morality” (1905)
(Source)

Vauvenargues, Luc de -- Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes] (1746) [tr. Lee (1903)]

Dave — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 13:29:23 +0000

When we are convinced of some great truths, and feel our convictions keenly, we must not fear to express it, although others have said it before us. Every thought is new when an author expresses it in a manner peculiar to himself.

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747) French moralist, essayist, soldier
Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes] (1746) [tr. Lee (1903)]

Bovee, Christian Nestell -- Intuitions and Summaries of Thought, Vol. 2 (1862)

Dave — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 14:00:36 +0000

At all events, the next best thing to being witty one’s self, is to be able to quote another’s wit.

Christian Nestell Bovee (1820-1904) American epigrammatist, writer, publisher
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought, Vol. 2 (1862)

Johnson, Samuel -- A Dictionary of the English Language, Preface (1755)

Dave — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:06:30 +0000

Every quotation contributes something to the stability or enlargement of the language.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
A Dictionary of the English Language, Preface (1755)
(Source)

On use of quotations in his dictionary to illustrate and explore the meanings of words.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1849-05)

Dave — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:01:31 +0000

Immortality. I notice that as soon as writers broach this question they begin to quote. I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1849-05)

Cervantes, Miguel de -- Don Quixote, Part 2 (1615)

Dave — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:05:30 +0000

A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience.

Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) Spanish novelist
Don Quixote, Part 2 (1615)

Churchill, Winston -- The Second World War, Vol. 4: The Hinge of Fate (1951)

Dave — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 13:20:17 +0000

I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, “Verify your quotations.”

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
The Second World War, Vol. 4: The Hinge of Fate (1951)
(Source)

Terence -- The Eunuch [Eunuchus], l. 41, Prologue (161 BC) [tr. Bolton (2019)]

Dave — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:32:14 +0000

In fact, nothing is ever said that has not been said before.

[Nullum est iam dictum quod non dictum sit prius.]

Terence (186?-159 BC) African-Roman dramatist [Publius Terentius Afer]
The Eunuch [Eunuchus], l. 41, Prologue (161 BC) [tr. Bolton (2019)]
(Source)

Alternate translations:

"In short, there's Nothing say'd , but what before / May have been say'd." [tr. Cooke (1755)]
"In fine, nothing can be said now, that may not have been said before." [tr. Patrick (1767)]
"Nothing's said now, but has been said before." [tr. Coleman (1768)]
"In fine, nothing is said now that has not been said before." [tr. Riley (1853)]
"Ah, there is nothing new beneath the sun, / Whatever is, or may be, has been done." [tr. Rose (1870)]
"In fact nothing is said that has not been said before." [tr. Sargeaunt (1918)]
"The bottom line: you can't say anything that's never been said before." [tr. Christenson (2012)]
There's nothing ever said, unsaid before. [tr. Bolton (2019), shortened Prologue]

Swift, Jonathan -- A Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious Conversation, Dialogue 2 (1738)

Dave — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:02:22 +0000

That is as well said as if I had said it myself.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English writer and churchman
A Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious Conversation, Dialogue 2 (1738)

Seneca the Younger -- Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium], letter 16 “On Philosophy, the Guide of Life,” sec. 7

Dave — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:49:14 +0000

Whatever is well said by another, is mine.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca]
Moral Letters to Lucilius [Epistulae morales ad Lucilium], letter 16 “On Philosophy, the Guide of Life,” sec. 7

Alt. trans.: "Whatever is well said by anyone is mine." [tr. Gummere (1918)]

Serling, Rod -- Speech at Moorpark College, California (3 Dec 1968)

Dave — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:10:50 +0000

I ask for your indulgence when I march out quotations. This is the double syndrome of men who write for a living and men who are over forty. The young smoke pot — we inhale from our Bartlett’s.

Rod Serling (1924-1975) American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, narrator
Speech at Moorpark College, California (3 Dec 1968)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- “Quotation and Originality,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)

Dave — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 20:40:39 +0000

Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Quotation and Originality,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)

Maugham, W. Somerset -- “The Creative Impulse” (1931)

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

She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) English novelist and playwright [William Somerset Maugham]
“The Creative Impulse” (1931)
(Source)

The original version of the story in Harper's Bazaar (Aug 1926) does not include this phrase. (The story may also be the origin of the phrase "who-done-it" / "whodunit" for a mystery.)

Variant: "The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit."

The even-more-brief "Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit" is often misattributed to Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and Voltaire; it is not found in their works.

More discussion about this quotation: Quotation Is a Serviceable Substitute for Wit – Quote Investigator.

Douglas, Norman -- South Wind, ch. 16 (1917)

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

What is all wisdom save a collection of platitudes? But the man who orders his life according to their teachings cannot go far wrong.

Norman Douglas (1868-1952) Austro-British writer
South Wind, ch. 16 (1917)

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Quotation,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:00:00 +0000

QUOTATION, n. The act of repeating erroneously the words of another. The words erroneously repeated.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Quotation,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
(Source)

Originally published in the "Cynic's Word Book" column in the New York American (1906-06-29).

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- “Quotation and Originality,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)

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

Our debt to tradition through reading and conversation is so massive, our protest or private addition so rare and insignificant, — and this commonly on the ground of other reading or hearing, — that, in a large sense, one would say there is no pure originality. All minds quote. Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Quotation and Originality,” Letters and Social Aims (1876)
(Source)