WIST Quotations

Howell, James -- Paroimiographia [Παροιμιογραφία]: Proverbs, or, Old Sayed Sawes & Adages, “Proverbs in Italian” (1659) [compiler]

Dave — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 15:03:09 +0000

By seeing one thou knowest him half, by hearing him speak thou knowst all.

[Vedendo uno conosci mezzo, udendolo parlar il conosci tutto.]

James Howell (c. 1594–1666) Welsh historian, writer, aphorist
Paroimiographia [Παροιμιογραφία]: Proverbs, or, Old Sayed Sawes & Adages, “Proverbs in Italian” (1659) [compiler]

See also the Bible, Menander.

Propertius -- Elegies, Book 2, Elegy 14, l. 18ff (2.14.18) [ed. Harbottle (1906)]

Dave — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 18:02:47 +0000

Afflicted by love’s madness all are blind.

[Scilicet insano nemo in amore videt.]

Propertius (50–16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 2, Elegy 14, l. 18ff (2.14.18) [ed. Harbottle (1906)]

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

And surely no one sees when love his senses steals away.
[tr. Cranstoun (1875); 3.5]

To be sure, when mad with love no one can see.
[tr. Gantillon (1884); 3.5]

This is the truth of the adage "Madly in love, nobody uses his eyes."
[tr. Phillimore (1906)]

But men love-maddened one and all are blind.
[tr. Butler (Loeb) (1912)]

A man in love, as I am, stumbles blindly.
[tr. Carrier (1963)]

But who in love’s madness retains his sight?
[tr. Musker (1972)]

Of course no one uses his eyes when he is madly in love.
[tr. Goold (Loeb) (1990)]

In mad love no one can see straight.
[tr. Lee (1992)]

No one of course can see when crazed with love.
[tr. Kline (2001)]

In lover’s madness none can see.
[tr. Holcombe (2009)]

Unsourced variant: "No one in love can see."

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- Story (1891-07), “A Scandal in Bohemia,” ch. 1 [Holmes], The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 1

Dave — Thu, 14 May 2026 20:18:27 +0000

You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) British writer and physician
Story (1891-07), “A Scandal in Bohemia,” ch. 1 [Holmes], The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 1

Collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, No. 1, ch. 1 (1892).

Chesterton, Gilbert Keith -- “A Defence of Heraldry,” The Defendant (1901)

Dave — Mon, 30 May 2022 15:41:58 +0000

There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect. Men do not quarrel about the meaning of sunsets; they never dispute that the hawthorn says the best and wittiest thing about the spring.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936) English journalist and writer
“A Defence of Heraldry,” The Defendant (1901)

Adams, Douglas -- Dirk Gently No. 1, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, ch. 23 [Dirk] (1987)

Dave — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 20:04:46 +0000

Only a child sees things with perfect clarity, because it hasn’t developed all those filters which prevent us from seeing things that we don’t expect to see.

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Dirk Gently No. 1, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, ch. 23 [Dirk] (1987)

Gaiman, Neil -- Sandman, Book 3. Dream Country, # 18 “A Dream of a Thousand Cats” (1990-08)

Dave — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 16:38:09 +0000

THE PROPHET: All cats can see futures, and see echoes of the past. We can watch the passage of creatures from the infinity of now, from all the worlds like ours, only fractionally different. And we follow them with our eyes, ghost things, and the humans see nothing.

Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 3. Dream Country, # 18 “A Dream of a Thousand Cats” (1990-08)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1834-05-16)

Dave — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 00:33:16 +0000

Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1834-05-16)

Gauguin, Paul -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 31 May 2016 14:06:52 +0000

I shut my eyes in order to see.

Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) French painter [Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin]
(Attributed)

Arendt, Hannah -- Life of the Mind, Vol. 1 “Thinking,” Introduction (1977)

Dave — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:36:15 +0000

Nothing we use or hear or touch can be expressed in words that equal what is given by the senses.

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Life of the Mind, Vol. 1 “Thinking,” Introduction (1977)

Originally printed as an essay (1977-11-14), "Thinking -- I," The New Yorker (1977-11-21).

Carlyle, Thomas -- (Misattributed)

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

In every object there is inexhaustible meaning; the eye sees in it what the eye brings means of seeing.

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Misattributed)

Carlyle uses this phrase in his The French Revolution: A History, Part 1, Book 1, ch. 2 (1.1.2) (1837), but brackets it in quotations, and prefaces it with "For indeed it is well said ...." Nevertheless, the phrase is often misattributed directly to Carlyle.

The second half of the phrase (and sometimes the whole thing) has also been misattributed to Johann von Goethe, as "The eye sees only what the eye brings means of seeing." This is not found in Goethe's work, but may be distorted from a line in the Prologue to Goethe's Faust: "Each one sees what he carries in his heart."