WIST Quotations

Buck, Pearl S. -- What America Means to Me, ch. 10 (1942)

Dave — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 14:36:58 +0000

Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied.

Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) American writer
What America Means to Me, ch. 10 (1942)
(Source)

Critiquing lack of American policy in Asia, not just to defeat Japan, but to bring freedom to the people of China and India.

Montesquieu -- Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 213 (1720-1755) [tr. Clark (2012)]

Dave — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 22:15:02 +0000

Study has always been for me the sovereign remedy against life’s unpleasantness, since I have never experienced any sorrow that an hour’s reading did not eliminate.

[L’étude a été pour moi le souverain remède contre les dégoûts de la vie, n’ayant jamais eu de chagrin qu’une heure de lecture n’ait dissipé.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 213 (1720-1755) [tr. Clark (2012)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Study has been my sovereign remedy against the worries of life. I have never had a care that an hour's reading could not dispel.
[Source (1826)]

Study is a sovereign remedy against the troubles of life; there is no vexation which an hour's reading cannot mitigate.
[E.g. (1877)]

Study has been to me a sovereign remedy against the vexations of life, having never had an annoyance that one hour's reading did not dissipate.
[E.g. (1905)]

Study has been my sovereign remedy against life's disappointment; I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.
[ed. Guterman (1963)]

Anstey, F. -- Tourmalin’s Time Cheques, ch. 2 “The Second Cheque” (1885)

Dave — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 20:11:24 +0000

The knowledge that one has a remedy within reach is often as effectual as the remedy itself, if not more so.

F. Anstey (1856-1934) English novelist and journalist (pseud. of Thomas Anstey Guthrie)
Tourmalin’s Time Cheques, ch. 2 “The Second Cheque” (1885)
(Source)

Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 18 “Du Siècle [On the Age],” ¶ 21 (1850 ed.) [tr. Auster (1983), 1813 entry]

Dave — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 17:10:48 +0000

In political institutions, almost everything we call an abuse was once a remedy.

[Presque tout ce que nous appelons un abus fut un remède dans les institutions politiques.]

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 18 “Du Siècle [On the Age],” ¶ 21 (1850 ed.) [tr. Auster (1983), 1813 entry]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translation:

In political institutions nearly everything that we now call an abuse, was once a remedy.
[tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 17, ¶ 8]

Johnson, Lyndon -- Speech (1965-08-06), Signing of the Voting Rights Act, Washington, D.C.

Dave — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 13:36:40 +0000

The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1965-08-06), Signing of the Voting Rights Act, Washington, D.C.
(Source)

(Source (Video) at 15:15)

Publilius Syrus -- Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 301 [tr. Lyman (1862)]

Dave — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 05:32:05 +0000

There are some remedies worse than the disease.

Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 301 [tr. Lyman (1862)]

Marx, Groucho -- (Misattributed)

Dave — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:11:12 +0000

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.

Groucho Marx (1890-1977) American comedian [b. Julius Henry Marx]
(Misattributed)

Variant 1: "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies."

Variant 2: "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it wrongly, and applying unsuitable remedies."

While popularly attributed to Groucho, there is no clear evidence he used it. The earliest reference I could find attributing the main quote to him (without citation) is in Victor Braude, Braude's Second Encyclopedia of Stories, Quotations, and Anecdotes (1957).

While Bennett Cerf include a similar reference in his syndicated "Try and Stop Me" column in November 1964, it does not show up in his earlier anecdote books such as Try and Stop Me (1944), nor in his meta-collection of anecdotes, Bennett Cerf's Bumper Crop (1958).

Variant 2 above is attributed (without citation) to Sir Ernest Benn in Henry Powell Spring, What Is Truth? (1944). Wikiquote indicates reference to this can be found in a July 1930 newspaper, though without an actual confirming link.

It seems most likely (though not yet fully confirmed) that Benn used his version of the line first, then, with some slight tweaking of the words to fit American sensibilities ("wrongly" to "incorrectly," "unsuitable" to "wrong"), it was applied to a known wit of the period.

Shakespeare, William -- Macbeth, Act 3, sc. 2, l. 13ff [Lady Macbeth] (1606)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

LADY MACBETH: Things without all remedy
Should be without regard: what’s done is done.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Macbeth, Act 3, sc. 2, l. 13ff [Lady Macbeth] (1606)
(Source)