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	<title>WIST Quotations</title>
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		<title>Martin, Judith -- &#8220;Miss Manners,&#8221; syndicated column (1993-03-07)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/martin-judith/80237/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/martin-judith/80237/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Nov 2025 17:21:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Martin, Judith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[common sense]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dining]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eating]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Eating grapes with a knife and fork is not what one would call refined. It is what one would call ludicrous. See also Miss Manners (1979).]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Eating grapes with a knife and fork is not what one would call refined. It is what one would call ludicrous.</p>
<br><b>Judith Martin</b> (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]<br>&#8220;Miss Manners,&#8221; syndicated column (1993-03-07) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/03/07/of-bridal-reigns/1c91beb8-2542-4e17-98ef-5605573afb4d/#:~:text=Eating%20grapes%20with%20a%20knife%20and%20fork%20is%20not%20what%20one%20would%20call%20refined.%20It%20is%20what%20one%20would%20call%20ludicrous" target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

See also <a href="https://wist.info/martin-judith/62034/">Miss Manners</a> (1979).

						</span>
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		<title>Addison, Joseph -- Essay (1711-11-06), The Spectator, No. 215</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/addison-joseph/78581/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Aug 2025 16:32:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Addison, Joseph]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crafting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[education]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[I consider an human soul without education like marble in the quarry, which shews none of its inherent beauties till the skill of the polisher fetches out the colours, makes the surface shine, and discovers every ornamental cloud, spot and vein that runs through the body of it.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I consider an human soul without education like marble in the quarry, which shews none of its inherent beauties till the skill of the polisher fetches out the colours, makes the surface shine, and discovers every ornamental cloud, spot and vein that runs through the body of it.</p>
<br><b>Joseph Addison</b> (1672–1719) English essayist, poet, statesman<br>Essay (1711-11-06), <i>The Spectator</i>, No. 215 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spectator/3rpDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22marble%20in%20the%20quarry%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 &#8220;Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],&#8221; ch.  2, ¶ 179 (1795) [tr. Merwin (1969)]</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/chamfort-nicolas/76071/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Apr 2025 16:36:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Chamfort, Nicolas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[classiness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[delight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[enjoyment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fastidiousness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[happiness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pickiness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pleasure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reason]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[refinement]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[He who tries to make his happiness depend too much on his reason, who holds it up for examination, who quibbles, as it were, with his delights, and admits no indelicate pleasures, ends by having none at all. He is a man who cards the wool of his mattress until nothing is left, and he [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>He who tries to make his happiness depend too much on his reason, who holds it up for examination, who quibbles, as it were, with his delights, and admits no indelicate pleasures, ends by having none at all. He is a man who cards the wool of his mattress until nothing is left, and he ends by sleeping on the boards.</p>
<p><em>[Celui qui veut trop faire dépendre son bonheur de sa raison, qui le soumet à l’examen, qui chicane, pour ainsi dire, ses jouissances, et n’admet que des plaisirs délicats, finit par n’en plus avoir. C’est un homme qui, à force de faire carder son matelas, le voit diminuer, et finit par coucher sur la dure.]</em></p>
<br><b>Nicolas Chamfort</b> (1741–1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)<br><i>Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée]</i>, Part 1 &#8220;Maxims and Thoughts <i>[Maximes et Pensées],&#8221;</i> ch.  2, ¶ 179 (1795) [tr. Merwin (1969)] 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://archive.org/details/productsofperfec0000seba_s1c9/page/136/mode/2up?q=mattress" target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

(<a href="https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Maximes_et_Pens%C3%A9es_(Chamfort)/%C3%89dition_Bever/2#:~:text=Celui%20qui%20veut,sur%20la%20dure.">Source (French)</a>). Alternate translations:<br><br>

<blockquote>He who allows his happiness to depend too much on reason, who submits his pleasures to examination, and desires enjoyments only of the most refined nature, too often ends by not having any at all.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Thousand_Flashes_of_French_Wit_Wisdom/GkAWAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=chamfort+%22desires+enjoyments+only+of+the+most%22&pg=PA119&printsec=frontcover">De Finod</a> (1884)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>The man who makes his happiness too subject to his reason, who submits it to examination, who, as it were, quibbles with his enjoyment and recognizes only fastidious pleasures, will finish by having none at all. He is as one who makes his mattress smaller and smaller with assiduous carding until he ends by sleeping on the wood.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015014501913&view=2up&seq=62&q1=mattress">Mathers</a> (1926)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>One who wishes to make his happiness too much dependent on his reason, who examines his happiness closely, and who so to say quibbles with his enjoyments, ends by no longer having any. He is one who, by dint of having his mattress carded, sees it dwindle, and finishes by sleeping on the bare boards.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Chamfort_Maxims/J9vwAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22One%20who%20wishes%20to%20make%20his%20happiness%22">Pearson</a> (1973)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Someone who wants his happiness to be too supported by reason, who examines it, who so to say quibbles over what he enjoys, and only allows himself pleasures that have delicacy, ends by not having any. He is a man who, because he wants his mattress to fit perfectly on his bed, continuously has to make it smaller, and ends up sleeping on the floor. <br>   
[tr. <a href="https://frenchphilosophes.weebly.com/chamfort.html#:~:text=Someone%20who%20wants,on%20the%20floor.">Siniscalchi</a> (1994)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Anyone who relies too heavily on reason to achieve happiness, who analyses it, who so to speak quibbles over his enjoyment and can accept only refined pleasures, ends up not having any at all. He's like a man who wants to get rid of all the lumps in his mattress and eventually ends up sleeping on bare boards because he's made it too small.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Chamfort/0K0aAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=quibbles%20mattress">Parmée</a> (2003), ¶ 135]</blockquote><br>
						</span>
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		<title>Hemingway, Ernest -- (Attributed)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/hemingway-ernest/44778/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/hemingway-ernest/44778/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Dec 2020 23:13:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hemingway, Ernest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[draft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[editing]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Don&#8217;t get discouraged because there&#8217;s a lot of mechanical work to writing. There is, and you can&#8217;t get out of it. I rewrote the first part of A Farewell to Arms at least fifty times. You&#8217;ve got to work it over. The first draft of anything is shit. A comment from Hemingway to Arnold Samuelson [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Don&#8217;t get discouraged because there&#8217;s a lot of mechanical work to writing. There is, and you can&#8217;t get out of it. I rewrote the first part of <em>A Farewell to Arms</em> at least fifty times. You&#8217;ve got to work it over. The first draft of anything is shit. </p>
<br><b>Ernest Hemingway</b> (1899–1961) American writer<br>(Attributed) 
														<br><br><span class="cite">
						

A comment from Hemingway to Arnold Samuelson in 1934, as retold in Samuelson, <i>With Hemingway: A Year in Key West and Cuba</i> (1984).  More discussion <a href="https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/the_first_draft_of_anything_is_shit">here</a> and <a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/09/20/draft/">here</a>.




						</span>
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		<title>Morris, William -- &#8220;The Prospects of Architecture in Civilization,&#8221; speech, London (10 Mar 1880)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/morris-william/40749/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/morris-william/40749/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Feb 2020 18:41:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Morris, William]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[architecture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cleanliness]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Simplicity of life, even the barest, is not a misery, but the very foundation of refinement: a sanded floor and whitewashed walls, and the green trees, and flowery meads, and living waters outside; or a grimy palace amid the smoke with a regiment of housemaids always working to smear the dirt together so that it [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Simplicity of life, even the barest, is not a misery, but the very foundation of refinement: a sanded floor and whitewashed walls, and the green trees, and flowery meads, and living waters outside; or a grimy palace amid the smoke with a regiment of housemaids always working to smear the dirt together so that it may be unnoticed; which, think you, is the most refined, the most fit for a gentleman of those two dwellings?</p>
<br><b>William Morris</b> (1834–1896) British textile designer, writer, socialist activist<br>&#8220;The Prospects of Architecture in Civilization,&#8221; speech, London (10 Mar 1880) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Hopes_and_Fears_for_Art/1YpAAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=morris%20%22sanded%20floor%20and%20whitewashed%20walls%22&pg=PA214&printsec=frontcover&bsq=%22sanded%20floor%20and%20whitewashed%20walls%22" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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		<title>Crichton, Michael -- (Attributed)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/crichton-michael/39837/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/crichton-michael/39837/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Nov 2019 23:36:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Crichton, Michael]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[editing]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Novels aren&#8217;t written, they&#8217;re rewritten. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn&#8217;t quite done it. Crichton was quoted a number of times on the adage, which he in turn claimed was in more general use. However, he seems to have been key in popularizing it. See here [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Novels aren&#8217;t written, they&#8217;re rewritten. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn&#8217;t quite done it.</p>
<p><a href="https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Crichton-Novels-arent-written-theyre-rewritten-wist_info-quote.png"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" src="https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Crichton-Novels-arent-written-theyre-rewritten-wist_info-quote.png" alt="" width="660" height="540" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-39845" srcset="https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Crichton-Novels-arent-written-theyre-rewritten-wist_info-quote.png 660w, https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Crichton-Novels-arent-written-theyre-rewritten-wist_info-quote-300x245.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px" /></a></p>
<br><b>Michael Crichton</b> (1942–2008) American author, producer, director, and screenwriter<br>(Attributed) 
														<br><br><span class="cite">
						

Crichton was quoted a number of times on the adage, which he in turn claimed was in more general use. However, he seems to have been key in popularizing it. See <a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/01/16/write-book/">here</a> for more discussion and specific citations.						</span>
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		<title>Cooper, James Fenimore -- The American Democrat (1838)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/cooper-james-fenimore/32531/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/cooper-james-fenimore/32531/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Feb 2016 16:55:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cooper, James Fenimore]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[behavior]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[A refined simplicity is the characteristic of all high bred deportment, in every country.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A refined simplicity is the characteristic of all high bred deportment, in every country.</p>
<br><b>James Fenimore Cooper</b> (1789–1851) American novelist<br><i>The American Democrat</i> (1838) 
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		<title>Kettering, Charles F. -- (Attributed)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/kettering-charles/29648/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/kettering-charles/29648/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2015 11:55:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Kettering, Charles F.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[accomplishment]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[evolution]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Every great improvement has come after repeated failures. Virtually nothing comes out right the first time. Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Every great improvement has come after repeated failures. Virtually nothing comes out right the first time. Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement.  One fails forward toward success.</p>
<br><b>Charles F. Kettering</b> (1876–1958) American inventor, engineer, researcher, businessman<br>(Attributed) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=42Ohg0wKaWsC&pg=PA40" target="_blank">Source</a>)
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