WIST Quotations

Austen, Jane -- Emma, Vol. 1, ch. 18 [Emma] (1816)

Dave — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 17:37:49 +0000

Nobody who has not been in the interior of a family can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) English author
Emma, Vol. 1, ch. 18 [Emma] (1816)
(Source)

Stark, Freya Madeline -- The Freya Stark Story (1953)

Dave — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 21:19:33 +0000

Absence is one of the most useful ingredients of family life, and to do it rightly is an art like any other.

Freya Stark (1893-1993) Franco-British explorer, travel writer [Freya Madeline Stark]
The Freya Stark Story (1953)
(Source)

See Propertius.

Talmud -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 23:46:15 +0000

Man has three friends on whose company he relies. First, wealth — which goes with him only while good fortune lasts. Second, his relatives — they go only as far as the grave and leave him there. The third friend, his good deeds, go with him beyond the grave.

The Talmud (AD 200-500) Collection of Jewish rabbinical writings
(Attributed)

I could not find an actual citation for this quotation, but the story (the explanation of a parable, in which a man is summoned before a king, and while his dearest friend will not go with him, and his second best friend will only go to the palace gates, his least-loved friend goes with him before the throne) shows up with different translation in multiple sources:

The Talmud: Selections, Part 5 "Civil and Criminal Laws -- the Holy Days" - "The Day of Atonement" [tr. Polano (1876)].
Isaac Aboav, Lamp of Light [Menorat Hamoar] [14th C], Fifth Lamp "Teshuvah," Sec. 2 [ch. 3] in Leonard Kravitz and Kerry Olitzky, Journey of the Soul: Traditional Sources on the Teshuvah (1995).
Talmudic and Other Legends [tr., comp. Weiss (1888 ed.), "Man's Three Friends" (Pirke R. Eliezer).

Delille, Jacques -- “Malheur et Pitié,” Canto 1 (1803)

Dave — Tue, 04 Oct 2016 00:49:35 +0000

Fate chooses our relatives, we choose our friends.

Jacques Delille (1738-1813) French poet, translator
“Malheur et Pitié,” Canto 1 (1803)

Lorimer, George Horace -- Old Gorgon Graham: More Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son, ch. 1 (1903)

Dave — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 12:44:21 +0000

It’s been my experience that when an office begins to look like a family tree, you’ll find worms tucked away snug and cheerful in most of the apples.

George Horace Lorimer (1867-1937) American journalist, author, magazine editor
Old Gorgon Graham: More Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son, ch. 1 (1903)
(Source)