WIST Quotations

Hoffer, Eric -- Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 203 (1955)

Dave — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 22:14:11 +0000

When cowardice is made respectable, its followers are without number both from among the weak and the strong; it easily becomes a fashion.

Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 203 (1955)

See also Hoffer (1971).

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1739 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 29 May 2025 15:45:20 +0000

A Cure for Poetry,
Seven wealthy Towns contend for Homer, dead,
Thro’ which the living Homer beg’d his Bread.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1739 ed.)

See Heywood (1635).

Taylor, A. J. P. -- “William Cobbett,” The New Statesman (1953-08-29)

Dave — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 15:57:37 +0000

The Establishment is enlightened, tolerant, even well-meaning. It has never been exclusive, rather drawing in recruits from outside, as soon as they are ready to conform to its standards and become respectable. There is nothing more agreeable in this life than to make peace with the Establishment — and nothing more corrupting.

A. J. P. Taylor (1906–1990) British historian, journalist, broadcaster [Alan John Percivale Taylor]
“William Cobbett,” The New Statesman (1953-08-29)

Taylor is often credited with coining the term "the Establishment" (what Cobbett called "the Thing"). The article, reviewing a biography of Cobbett, was collected in Taylor's Englishmen and Others (1956).

Bastiat, Frederic -- The Law [La Loi] (1850) [tr. Russell]

Dave — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 17:58:28 +0000

No society can exist unless the laws are respected to a certain degree. The safest way to make laws respected is to make them respectable. When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.

[Aucune société ne peut exister si le respect des Lois n’y règne à quelque degré ; mais le plus sûr, pour que les lois soient respectées, c’est qu’elles soient respectables. Quand la Loi et la Morale sont en contradiction, le citoyen se trouve dans la cruelle alternative ou de perdre la notion de Morale ou de perdre le respect de la Loi.]

Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French philosopher, economist, politician
The Law [La Loi] (1850) [tr. Russell]

Original French.

Volkart, Edmund H. -- The Angel’s Dictionary: A Modern Tribute to Ambrose Bierce (1986)

Dave — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 00:16:25 +0000

RESPECTABILITY, n. The social status of people whose sins haven’t quite caught up with them.

Edmund H. Volkart (1919–1992) American sociologist, researcher, editor
The Angel’s Dictionary: A Modern Tribute to Ambrose Bierce (1986)

Orwell, George -- Essay (1941-08), “Wells, Hitler, and the World State,” Horizon

Dave — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 01:11:42 +0000

Back in the nineteen-hundreds it was a wonderful experience for a boy to discover H. G. Wells. There you were, in a world of pedants, clergymen and golfers, with your future employers exhorting you to “get on or get out”, your parents systematically warping your sexual life, and your dull-witted schoolmasters sniggering over their Latin tags; and here was this wonderful man who could tell you about the inhabitants of the planets and the bottom of the sea, and who knew that the future was not going to be what respectable people imagined.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1941-08), “Wells, Hitler, and the World State,” Horizon

Mencken, H. L. -- “The Blushful Mystery: Art and Sex,” Prejudices: First Series (1919)

Dave — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 14:47:24 +0000

The truth is, as every one knows, that the great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom even ordinarily respectable. No virtuous man — that is, virtuous in the Y.M.C.A. sense — has ever painted a picture worth looking at, or written a symphony worth hearing, or a book worth reading.

H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
“The Blushful Mystery: Art and Sex,” Prejudices: First Series (1919)

Twain, Mark -- Innocents Abroad, ch. 55 (1869)

Dave — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 13:10:31 +0000

Virtue has never been as respectable as money.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Innocents Abroad, ch. 55 (1869)

Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 18 “Du Siècle [On the Age],” ¶ 38 (1850 ed.) [tr. Calvert (1866), ch. 13]

Dave — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:28:27 +0000

To be capable of respect is, in these days, almost as rare as to be worthy of it.

[Être capable de respect est aujourd’hui presque aussi rare qu’en être digne.]

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 18 “Du Siècle [On the Age],” ¶ 38 (1850 ed.) [tr. Calvert (1866), ch. 13]

(Source (French)). Other translations:

To be capable of respect is well-night as rare at the present day as to be worthy of it.
[tr. Attwell (1896), ¶ 247]

To be capable of respect is almost as rare in these days as to be worthy of it.
[tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 17, ¶ 15]

King, Martin Luther -- Strength to Love, ch. 2 “Transformed Nonconformist,” sec. 3 (1963)

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

Will we continue to march to the drumbeat of conformity and respectability, or will we, listening to the beat of a more distant drum, move to its echoing sounds? Will we march only to the music of time, or will we, risking criticism and abuse, march to the soul-saving music of eternity?

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, social activist, preacher
Strength to Love, ch. 2 “Transformed Nonconformist,” sec. 3 (1963)