WIST Quotations

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1880-01/02?), “Reflections and Remarks on Human Life,” § 7.1 “Discipline of Conscience”

Dave — Fri, 22 May 2026 18:25:58 +0000

Never allow your mind to dwell on your own misconduct: that is ruin. The conscience has morbid sensibilities; it must be employed but not indulged, like the imagination or the stomach.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1880-01/02?), “Reflections and Remarks on Human Life,” § 7.1 “Discipline of Conscience”
(Source)

A collection of aphorisms and musings, first published in the Edinburgh Edition of his Works, vol. 28 (1898).

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 2, # 2216 (1727)

Dave — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 15:21:12 +0000

Dare not to be guilty of ill Things, tho’ thou wert sure to be secret and unpunished. Conscience will sit upon it, and that is Witness, Jury, Judge, and Executioner.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 2, # 2216 (1727)
(Source)

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Trump Kards, ch. 14 “A Ghost” (1874)

Dave — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 16:44:08 +0000

Thare iz two men, prowling around, who want cluss watching, the one, that iz allwuz praizing, and the one, who iz allwuz kondeming, himself.

[There are two men, prowling around, who want close watching: the one that is always praising, and the one who is always condemning, himself.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Trump Kards, ch. 14 “A Ghost” (1874)
(Source)

La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶269 (1665-1678) [tr. Tancock (1959), ¶269]

Dave — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:17:11 +0000

Few men are sufficiently discerning to appreciate all the evil they do.

[Il n’y a guère d’homme assez habile pour connoître tout le mal qu’il fait.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶269 (1665-1678) [tr. Tancock (1959), ¶269]
(Source)

First appeared in the 2nd (1666) edition. In manuscript, it reads "... assez pénétrant pour apercevoir tout le mal qu’il fait."

(Source (French)). Other translations:

There are but few Men Wise enough to know all the Mischief Wisdom does.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), ¶270]

There are but few Men wise enough to know all the Mischief they do.
[tr. Stanhope (1706), Powell ed., ¶269]

Few men are able to know all the ill they do.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶5]

Few men are able to know all the ill they do.
[ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶252]

Few of us have abilities to know all the ill we occasion.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶3]

Scarcely any man is clever enough to know all the evil he does.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶280]

No man is clever enough to know all the evil he does.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶269]

No one is sufficiently keen to realize to the full the harm he does.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶277]

Scarcely any man is clever enough to realize all the harm he does.
[tr. Stevens (1939), ¶269]

There is hardly a man clever enough to recognize the full extent of the evil that he does.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶269]

Almost no one is perceptive enough to realize all the harm he does.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶269]

There is scarcely a man alive clever enough to know all the evil he does.
[tr. Whichello (2016) ¶269]

Milne, A. A. -- Winnie-the-Pooh, ch. 3 “Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting” (1926)

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

“I have been Foolish and Deluded,” said Pooh, “and I am a Bear of No Brain at All.”
“You’re the Best Bear in All the World,” said Christopher Robin soothingly.

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
Winnie-the-Pooh, ch. 3 “Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting” (1926)
(Source)