WIST Quotations

Hugo, Victor -- Les Misérables, Part 1 “Fantine,” Book 1 “An Upright Man,” ch. 7 (1.1.7) [Bp. Myriel] (1862) [tr. Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]

Dave — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 21:59:16 +0000

Have no fear of robbers or murderers. They are external dangers, petty dangers. We should fear ourselves. Prejudices are the real robbers; vices the real murderers. The great dangers are within us. Why worry about what threatens our heads or our purses? Let us think instead of what threatens our souls.

[Ne craignons jamais les voleurs ni les meurtriers. Ce sont là les dangers du dehors, les petits dangers. Craignons-nous nous-mêmes. Les préjugés, voilà les voleurs; les vices, voilà les meurtriers. Les grands dangers sont au dedans de nous. Qu’importe ce qui menace notre tête ou notre bourse! Ne songeons qu’à ce qui menace notre âme.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Part 1 “Fantine,” Book 1 “An Upright Man,” ch. 7 (1.1.7) [Bp. Myriel] (1862) [tr. Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Have no fear of robbers or murderers. Such dangers are without, and are but petty. We should fear ourselves. Prejudices are teh real robbers; vices the real murderers. The great dangers are within us. What mater it what threatens our heads or our purses? Let us think only of what threatens our souls.
[tr. Wilbour (1862)]

Never let us fear robbers or murderers. These are external and small dangers; let us fear ourselves; prejudices are the real robbers, vices the true murderers. The great dangers are within ourselves. Let us not trouble about what threatens our head or purse, and only think of what threatens our soul.
[tr. Wraxall (1862)]

Let us never fear robbers nor murderers. Those are dangers from without, petty dangers. Let us fear ourselves. Prejudices are the real robbers; vices are the real murderers. The great dangers lie within ourselves. What matters it what threatens our head or our purse! Let us think only of that which threatens our soul.
[tr. Hapgood (1887)]

We must never fear robbers or murderers. They are dangers from outside, small dangers. It is ourselves we have to fear. Prejudice is the real robber, and vice the real murderer. Why should we be troubled by a threat to our person or our pocket? What we have to beware of is the threat to our souls.
[tr. Denny (1976)]

Never fear robbers or murderers. Thiose are dangers that come from without. Small dangers. Let us fear ourselves. Prejudices are the real robbers. Vices are the real murderers. The great dangers are within us. Never mind what endangers our life or our purse! Let's be mindful only of what endangers our soul.
[tr. Donougher (2013)]

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- In Verrem [Against Verres; Verrine Orations], Action 1, ch. 2 / sec. 4 (1.2.4) (70 BC) [tr. Berry (2006)]

Dave — Thu, 02 May 2024 22:02:06 +0000

There nothing so sacred that money cannot corrupt it, and nothing so well defended that money cannot over throw it.

[Nihil esse tam sanctum quod non violari, nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
In Verrem [Against Verres; Verrine Orations], Action 1, ch. 2 / sec. 4 (1.2.4) (70 BC) [tr. Berry (2006)]
(Source)

Boast by Caius Verres (or so Cicero alleges).

Various translations vary as to whether this is 1.2.4 (which I have chosen) or 1.1.4 (as noted).

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Nothing is so holy that it cannot be corrupted, or so strongly fortified that it cannot be stormed by money.
[tr. Yonge (1903), 1.1.4]

No sanctuary is too holy for money to defile it, no fortress too strong for money to capture it.
[tr. Greenwood (1928)]

Nothing, he declares, is too sacred to be corrupted by money; nothing too strong to resist its attack.
[tr. Grant (1960)]

There is nothing so sacred that it cannot be sullied, nor anything so protected that it cannot be overcome by money.
[tr. @sententiq (2017), 1.1.4]

There is no sanctuary so holy that money cannot profane it, no fortress so strong that money cannot take it by storm.
[Source]

Twain, Mark -- (Spurious)

Dave — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 20:35:14 +0000

When the rich rob the poor it’s called business. When the poor fight back it’s called violence.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
(Spurious)

Frequently, but incorrectly attributed to Twain, no earlier than 2015. It appears to have been an anonymous phrase coined in the Occupy Movement in 2011. See here for more information.

Ruskin, John -- Unto This Last, ch. 3 (1800)

Dave — Sat, 31 Dec 2016 01:17:19 +0000

[The] “robbing of the poor because he is poor,” is especially the mercantile form of theft, consisting in taking advantage of a man’s necessities in order to obtain his labor or property at a reduced price. The ordinary highwayman’s opposite form of robbery — of the rich, because he is rich — does not appear to occur so often to the old merchant’s mind; probably because, being less profitable and more dangerous than the robbery of the poor, it is rarely practice by persons of discretion.

John Ruskin (1819-1900) English art critic, painter, writer, social thinker
Unto This Last, ch. 3 (1800)

Jones, Mary Harris "Mother" -- Speech (1903), in The Autobiography of Mother Jones, ch. 10 (1925)

Dave — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 04:53:43 +0000

I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator.

Mary Harris "Mother" Jones (1860-1930) American labor leader [a.k.a. Mother Jones]
Speech (1903), in The Autobiography of Mother Jones, ch. 10 (1925)

Guthrie, Woody -- “Pretty Boy Floyd the Outlaw” (1961)

Dave — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 21:49:18 +0000

Some men rob you with a six-gun,
Some with a fountain pen.

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie (1912-1967) American singer-songwriter and musician
“Pretty Boy Floyd the Outlaw” (1961)

Augustine of Hippo -- City of God [De Civitate Dei], Book 4, ch. 4 (4.4) (AD 412-416) [tr. Bettenson (1972)]

Dave — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 15:20:08 +0000

Remove justice, and what are kingdoms but gangs of criminals on a large scale?

[Remota itaque iustitia quid sunt regna nisi magna latrocinia?]

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Christian church father, philosopher, saint [b. Aurelius Augustinus]
City of God [De Civitate Dei], Book 4, ch. 4 (4.4) (AD 412-416) [tr. Bettenson (1972)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Set justice aside, then, and what are kingdoms but fair thievish purchases?
[tr. Healey (1610)]

Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies?
[tr. Dods (1871)]

In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized brigandage?
[tr. Zema/Walsh (1950)]

And so if justice is left out, what are kingdoms except great robber bands?
[tr. Green (Loeb) (1963)]

Justice removed, then, what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers?
[tr. Dyson (1998)]

Remove justice, then, and what are kingdoms but large gangs of robbers?
[tr. Babcock (2012)]

In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?
[E.g.]