WIST Quotations

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1754-03-02), The Adventurer, No. 138

Dave — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 23:17:26 +0000

But when thoughts and words are collected and adjusted, and the whole composition at last concluded, it seldom gratifies the author, when he comes coolly and deliberately to review it, with the hopes which had been excited in the fury of the performance: novelty always captivates the mind; as our thoughts rise fresh upon us, we readily believe them just and original, which, when the pleasure of production is over, we find to be mean and common, or borrowed from the works of others, and supplied by memory rather than invention.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-03-02), The Adventurer, No. 138
(Source)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2

Dave — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:26:31 +0000

A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his.
In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2
(Source)

This essay was inspired by his reading of Walter Savage Landor in 1833, with passages pulled from his lecture "Individualism," last in his course on "The Philosophy of History" (1836–1837), with other passages from the lectures "School," "Genius," and "Duty" in his course on "Human Life" (1838–1839).

Montesquieu -- Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 978 / 1003 (1720-1755)

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

If we only wanted to be happy, it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, which is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are.

[Si on ne vouloit qu’être heureux, cela seroit bientôt fait; mais on veut être plus heureux que les autres; et cela est presque toujours difficile, parce que nous croyons les autres plus heureux qu’ils ne sont.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 978 / 1003 (1720-1755)
(Source)

Also found as "Si on ne vouloit ’être qu'heureux ...."

This is sometimes mistakenly sourced to his Persian Letters [Lettres Persanes] (1721).

(Source (French)). Other translations:

If one only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier than other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are.
[E.g. (1891)]

If we only wanted to be happy, that would soon be done. But we want to be happier than others, and this is almost always difficult because we believe others to be happier than they are.
[tr. Clark (2012)]

Shakespeare, William -- Measure for Measure, Act 1, sc. 4, l. 85ff (1.4.85-87) (1604)

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

LUCIO: Our doubts are traitors
And make us lose the good we oft might win,
By fearing to attempt.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Measure for Measure, Act 1, sc. 4, l. 85ff (1.4.85-87) (1604)
(Source)