WIST Quotations

Montaigne, Michel de -- Essays, Book 1, ch. 25 (1.25), “Of the Education of Children [De l’institution des enfans]” (1579) [tr. Screech (1987), 1.26]

Dave — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 17:18:14 +0000

I only quote others the better to quote myself.

[Je ne dis les autres, sinon pour d’autant plus me dire.]

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 25 (1.25), “Of the Education of Children [De l’institution des enfans]” (1579) [tr. Screech (1987), 1.26]
(Source)

This essay was in the 1st (1588) edition, but this passage was added as of the 3rd (1595) ed. Some translators use the 1588 sequence of chapters, not the 1595, and so identify this as ch. 26.

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

I never spake of others, but that I may the more speake of my selfe.
[tr. Florio (1603)]

Neither have I said so much of others, but to get a better opportunity to explain myself.
[tr. Cotton (1686); Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

I quote others only in order the better to express myself.
[tr. Hazlitt/Wight (1879)]

I do not quote others, save the more fully to express myself.
[tr. Ives (1925), 1.26]

I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better.
[tr. Frame (1943), 1.26]

I only quote others to make myself more explicit.
[tr. Cohen (1958), 1.26]

Franklin, Benjamin -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 23:28:48 +0000

Fake quotes will ruin the Internet.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
(Attributed)

Keyes, Ralph -- “Nice Guys Finish Seventh”: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations, ch. 13 (1992)

Dave — Tue, 19 May 2020 19:13:38 +0000

This is the Achilles heel of quotation collections: An initial error in one will be repeated so often by others that over time it gains authority through repetition alone.

Ralph Keyes (b. 1945) American author.
“Nice Guys Finish Seventh”: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations, ch. 13 (1992)
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1836)

Dave — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 13:51:09 +0000

Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your reading have been to you like the blast of trumpet out of Shakespeare, Seneca, Moses, John, and Paul.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1836)

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 1, ¶ 2 (1795) [tr. Merwin (1969)]

Dave — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 12:44:07 +0000

Most collectors of verses and sayings proceed as though they were eating cherries and oysters, choosing the best first, and ending by eating them all.

[La plupart des faiseurs de recueils de vers ou de bons mots ressemblent à ceux qui mangent des cerises ou des huitres, choisissant d’abord les meilleurs, et finissant par tout manger.]

Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 1, ¶ 2 (1795) [tr. Merwin (1969)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Most of those who make collections of verse or epigram are like men eating cherries or oysters: they choose out the best at first, and end by eating all.
[tr. Mathers (1926)]

The majority of compilers of verse and sayings are like eaters of cherries and oysters, who pick out the best first and end by eating all.
[tr. Pearson (1973)]

Most authors of collections of poetry or epigrams proceed as though they were eating cherries or oysters. They start out by selecting the best, but wind up swallowing everything.
[tr. Dusinberre (1992)]

Most compilers of anthologies of poetry or of epigrams are like people eating cherries or oysters: they start by picking out the best and easting the lot.
[tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 3]

Most compilers of verse or of bon mots resemble people who eat cherries or oysters, at first choosing the best ones, and finishing by eating everything.
[tr. Sinicalchi]

Kipling, Rudyard -- Many Inventions, “The Finest Story in the World” (1893)

Dave — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:51:20 +0000

He wrapped himself in quotations — as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
Many Inventions, “The Finest Story in the World” (1893)
(Source)