WIST Quotations

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 2, § 200 (1822)

Dave — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 14:46:40 +0000

Death is the liberator of him whom freedom cannot release, the physician of him whom medicine cannot cure, and the comforter of him whom time cannot console.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 2, § 200 (1822)
(Source)

Foster, Randolph S. -- “Man a Spiritual Being,” Lecture 2, Chautauqua, New York (1878)

Dave — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 16:40:36 +0000

When you take the wires of the cage apart, you do not hurt the bird, but help it. You let it out of its prison. How do vou know that death does not help me when it takes the wires of my cage down? — that it does not release me, and put me into some better place, and better condition of life?

Randolph S. Foster (1820-1903) American Methodist Episcopal bishop, preacher, educator
“Man a Spiritual Being,” Lecture 2, Chautauqua, New York (1878)
(Source)

Collected in his Beyond the Grave: Being Three Lectures Before Chautauqua Assembly in 1878 (1879).

Oliver, Mary -- “In Blackwater Woods,” st. 7-9, American Primitive (1983)

Dave — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 22:50:19 +0000

To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

Mary Oliver (1935-2019) American poet
“In Blackwater Woods,” st. 7-9, American Primitive (1983)
(Source)

Originally published in Yankee Magazine.

Rubin, Theodore Isaac -- Love Me, Love My Fool (1976)

Dave — Mon, 10 May 2021 16:00:40 +0000

I must learn to love the fool in me, the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human aliveness, humility, and dignity, but for my fool.

Theodore Isaac Rubin (1923-2019) American psychiatrist and author
Love Me, Love My Fool (1976)

Sometimes quoted in the second person.

Trumbo, Dalton -- Spartacus (1960) [novel by Howard Fast]

Dave — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 23:11:32 +0000

SPARTACUS: When a free man dies, he loses the pleasure of life. A slave loses his pain. Death is the only freedom a slave knows. That’s why he’s not afraid of it. That’s why we’ll win.

Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976) American screenwriter and novelist [James Dalton Trumbo]
Spartacus (1960) [novel by Howard Fast]

Mandela, Nelson -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 17 May 2017 00:03:54 +0000

As I walked out the door toward my freedom, I knew that if I did not leave all the anger, hatred, and bitterness behind, that I would still be in prison.

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) South African revolutionary, politician, statesman
(Attributed)

On his release from 27 years behind bars. Quoted by Hillary Clinton from a conversation she had with him.