WIST Quotations

Berry, Wendell -- Essay (1988), “Economy and Pleasure,” What Are People For? (1990)

Dave — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 17:10:43 +0000

Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1988), “Economy and Pleasure,” What Are People For? (1990)
(Source)

Hoffer, Eric -- Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 200 (1955)

Dave — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 16:55:51 +0000

We ought to beware of people who do not think it necessary to pretend that they are good and decent. Lack of hypocrisy in such things hints at a capacity for a most depraved ruthlessness.

Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 200 (1955)
(Source)

Hoffer, Eric -- Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 142 (1955)

Dave — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 15:27:56 +0000

The taint hidden in selflessness is that selflessness is the only moral justification of ruthlessness.

Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 142 (1955)
(Source)

Euripides -- Hecuba [Hekabe; Ἑκάβη], l. 254ff (c. 424 BC) [tr. Arrowsmith (1958)]

Dave — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 17:44:38 +0000

HECUBA:O gods, spare me the sight
of this thankless breed, these politicians
who cringe for favors from a screaming mob
and do not care what harm they do their friends,
providing they can please a crowd!

[ἙΚΆΒΗ: ἀχάριστον ὑμῶν σπέρμ᾿, ὅσοι δημηγόρους
ζηλοῦτε τιμάς· μηδὲ γιγνώσκοισθέ μοι,
οἳ τοὺς φίλους βλάπτοντες οὐ φροντίζετε,
ἢν τοῖσι πολλοῖς πρὸς χάριν λέγητέ τι.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Hecuba [Hekabe; Ἑκάβη], l. 254ff (c. 424 BC) [tr. Arrowsmith (1958)]
(Source)

To Ulysses/Odysseus, whom she had spared when he entered Troy as a spy. After Troy's fall, she is enslaved to him, and he intends to have her daughter, Polyxdora, sacrificed to honor fallen Achilles, to appease his fellow Greek conquerors.

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

O ungrateful race
Of men, who aim at popular applause
By your smooth speeches; would to heav'n I ne'er
Had known you, for ye heed not how ye wound
Your friends, whene'er ye can say aught to win
The crowd.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]

Thankless is your race, as many of you as court honor from oratory before the populace; be ye not known to me, who care not to injure your friends, provided you say what is gratifying to the people.
[tr. Edwards (1826)]

A thankful tribe you are, who fill your tongues
To popular grace; would I had never known you!
Of injuries to friends you reck not, if
Your fine speech wins the favour of the people.
[ed. Ramage (1864)]

A thankless spawn, all ye that grasp at honour
By babbling to the mob! -- let me not know you,
Who injure friends, and nothing reck thereof,
So ye may something say to please the rabble!
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]

O thankless brood, who jostle to be called
The people's leaders, may I not even know you!
Who turn a phrase to catch the mob's applause,
And care not if your phrase destroy your friend.
[tr. Sheppard (1924)]

A thankless race! all you who covet honor from the mob for your oratory. Oh that you were unknown to me! you who harm your friends and think no more of it, if you can say a word to win the mob.
[tr. Coleridge (1938)]

May your breed turn their backs
On you and your like,
Smelling sweet up all men's noses.
You're no friend of mine.
Stay that way.
You shake the hands of all and sundry
Smiling as you spit
On your nearest and dearest
For the sake of pleasing everybody.
[tr. McGuinness (2004)]

What a graceless breed you are, you demagogues, grubbing for favours from the mob. Spare me your friendship. You'd harm your friends if that would please the mob.
[tr. Harrison (2005)]

Ah! All of you lot who are jealous of the honours received by political leaders are an ungrateful lot, the whole generation of you! I wish I had never known any of you. You don’t care how much you hurt your friends so long as you say something to pacify the masses.
[tr. Theodoridis (2007)]

O gods save us from politicians and demagogues like you
who don’t care what harm you do as long as the multitudes
are pleased and the applause is loud.
[tr. Karden/Street (2011)]

You are a thankless brood, you mob of wannabe
Politicians. I wish I didn’t know you
When you don’t care about harming your friends
As long as you say something the masses will like.
[tr. @sentantiq (2020)]

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Decoration Day Speech, Academy of Music, New York City (29 May 1882)

Dave — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 17:03:18 +0000

Courage without conscience is a wild beast.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Decoration Day Speech, Academy of Music, New York City (29 May 1882)
(Source)

Hoffer, Eric -- Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 139 (1955)

Dave — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 15:09:50 +0000

Compassion is probably the only antitoxin of the soul. Where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless. One would rather see the world run by men who set their hearts on toys but are accessible to pity, than by men animated by lofty ideals whose dedication makes them ruthless. In the chemistry of man’s soul, almost all noble attributes — courage, honor, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, etc. — can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us.

Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 139 (1955)
(Source)

Harris, Sydney J. -- “Strictly Personal” column (5 Apr 1962)

Dave — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 13:57:57 +0000

A person who has no genuine sense of pity for the weak is missing a basic source of strength, for one of the prime moral forces that comprise greatness and strength of character is a feeling of mercy. The ruthless man, au fond, is always a weak and frightened man.

Sydney J. Harris (1917–1986) Anglo-American columnist, journalist, author
“Strictly Personal” column (5 Apr 1962)
(Source)

Reprinted in On the Contrary (1964).

Faulkner, William -- “The Art of Fiction,” Interview by Jean Stein, Paris Review #12 (Spring 1956)

Dave — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 15:30:49 +0000

The writer’s only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. It anguishes him so much he must get rid of it. He has no peace until then. Everything goes by the board: honor, pride, decency, security, happiness, all, to get the book written. If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is worth any number of old ladies.

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American novelist
“The Art of Fiction,” Interview by Jean Stein, Paris Review #12 (Spring 1956)
(Source)

Machiavelli, Niccolo -- The Prince, ch. 3 (1513) [tr. Gilbert (1959)]

Dave — Tue, 21 Jan 2020 16:33:59 +0000

We observe that men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries — for heavy ones they cannot; hence an injury done to a man should be such that it does not fear revenge.

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist
The Prince, ch. 3 (1513) [tr. Gilbert (1959)]
(Source)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Speech (1940-12-29), “Fireside Chat: Arsenal of Democracy” (radio broadcast)

Dave — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 01:23:57 +0000

The experience of the past two years has proven beyond doubt that no nation can appease the Nazis. No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb. We know now that a nation can have peace with the Nazis only at the price of total surrender.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Speech (1940-12-29), “Fireside Chat: Arsenal of Democracy” (radio broadcast)
(Source)

Hoffer, Eric -- Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 104 (1955)

Dave — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:09:41 +0000

The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it. They want to turn the world into a sickroom. And once they get humanity strapped to the operating table, they operate on it with an ax.

Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 104 (1955)
(Source)