WIST Quotations

Frazier, Charles -- Cold Mountain (1997)

Dave — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 22:12:38 +0000

Marrying a woman for her beauty makes no more sense than eating a bird for its singing. But it’s a common mistake nonetheless.

Charles Frazier (b. 1950) American novelist
Cold Mountain (1997)
(Source)

~Proverbs and Sayings -- English proverb

Dave — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 21:41:13 +0000

The noisiest streams are the shallowest.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
English proverb

Aaronovitch, Ben -- Moon Over Soho (2011)

Dave — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 15:27:48 +0000

“If they were ugly, Peter, would you care half so much?” asked Nightingale. “There are some hideous things out there that can talk and reason and I wonder if you would be quite so quick to rush to their defense.”
“Maybe not,” I said. “But that just makes me shallow, it doesn’t make me wrong.”

Ben Aaronovitch (b. 1964) British author
Moon Over Soho (2011)

Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #118 (6 Mar 1747)

Dave — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 14:28:51 +0000

Virtue and learning, like gold, have their intrinsic value: but if they are not polished, they certainly lose a great deal of their lustre; and even polished brass will pass upon more people than rough gold.

Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #118 (6 Mar 1747)
(Source)

Erasmus, Desiderius -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 13:51:45 +0000

Love that has nothing but beauty to keep it in good health is short-lived, and apt to have ague fits.

Desiderius Erasmus (1465-1536) Dutch humanist philosopher and scholar
(Attributed)

Quoted without citation in numerous 19th Century works, including John Timbs, Laconics: Or, The Best Words of the Best Authors (1829).

Bacon, Francis -- “Of Praise,” Essays, No. 53 (1625)

Dave — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:29:01 +0000

Certainly fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
“Of Praise,” Essays, No. 53 (1625)
(Source)