WIST Quotations

Taft, William -- Veto Statement for the Arizona Enabling Act (15 Aug 1911)

Dave — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 18:06:11 +0000

No honest, clear-headed man, however great a lover of popular government, can deny that the unbridled expression of the majority of a community converted hastily into law or action would sometimes make a government tyrannical and cruel. Constitutions are checks upon the hasty action of the majority. They are the self-imposed restraints of a whole people upon a majority of them to secure sober action and a respect for the rights of the minority.

William Howard Taft (1857-1930) US President (1909-13) and Chief Justice (1921-1930)
Veto Statement for the Arizona Enabling Act (15 Aug 1911)
(Source)

Taft vetoed the admission of Arizona to the US with a state constitution that allowed popular recall of judges.

Twain, Mark -- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Preface (1876)

Dave — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 13:14:45 +0000

Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Preface (1876)

Nin, Anais -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 14:01:15 +0000

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.

Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) Catalan-Cuban-French author, diarist
(Attributed)

Chateaubriand, Francois-Rene -- Memoirs from Beyond the Grave [Mémoires d’Outre-Tombe], Book 2, ch. 1 (1848-1850) [tr. Kline]

Dave — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 13:26:47 +0000

Memory is often the attribute of stupidity; it generally belongs to heavy spirits whom it makes even heavier by the baggage it loads them down with.

François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) French writer, politican, diplomat
Memoirs from Beyond the Grave [Mémoires d’Outre-Tombe], Book 2, ch. 1 (1848-1850) [tr. Kline]