WIST Quotations

Euripides -- Medea [Μήδεια], l. 14ff (431 BC) [tr. Murray (1906)]

Dave — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 18:47:27 +0000

NURSE:Surely this doth bind,
Through all ill days, the hurts of humankind,
When man and woman in one music move.

[ΤΡΟΦΌΣ: ἥπερ μεγίστη γίγνεται σωτηρία,
ὅταν γυνὴ πρὸς ἄνδρα μὴ διχοστατῇ.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 14ff (431 BC) [tr. Murray (1906)]
(Source)

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

Hence bliss supreme arises, when the bond
Of concord joins them.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]

This is the state of firmest happiness,
When from the husband no discordant will
The wife estranges.
[tr. Potter (1814)]

In which the better part of safety lies
That the woman should not differ from the man.
[tr. Webster (1868)]

The greatest safeguard this when wife and husband do agree.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

Which is the surest support of conjugal happiness, when the wife is not estranged from the husband.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]

Which is the chief salvation of the home,
When wife stands not at variance with her lord.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]

This is indeed the greatest salvation of all --
For the wife not to stand apart from the husband.
[tr. Warner (1944)]

Happy is the house
Where the man and the woman love and are faithful.
[tr. Jeffers (1946)]

And in a marriage that's the saving thing,
When a wife obediently accepts her husband's will.
[tr. Vellacott (1963)]

This, to my mind, is a woman’s greatest safety:
Not to take the opposite side from her husband.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]

This it is that most rescues life from trouble, when a woman is not at variance with her husband.
[tr. Kovacs (1994)]

This is what keeps a marraige intact more than anything, when a husband can count on complete support from his wife.
[tr. Davie (1996)]

That, you see, is how a woman earns her security: never argue with your husband!
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]

This is what brings the greatest stability at home:
when a woman does not challenge her husband.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]

That’s when life is most secure and safe,
when woman and her husband stand as one.
[tr. Johnston (2008)]

This provides the greatest security,
when a wife doesn't oppose her husband.
[tr. Kovacs / Kitzinger (2016)]

That is the best security,
when the wife does not quarrel with her husband.
[tr. Ewans (2022)]

This is the greatest safety [sōtēriā], when wife does not stand apart from husband.
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]

Euripides -- Bellerophon [Βελλεροφῶν], frag. 304 (TGF) (c. 430 BC) [tr. Wodhull (1809)]

Dave — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 16:27:10 +0000

But what is there in man’s precarious life
To be relied on? o’er the foamy deep
Rides the swift vessel by the wind impell’d:
But as to human fortunes, Time reduces
The great to nothing, and augments the small.

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Bellerophon [Βελλεροφῶν], frag. 304 (TGF) (c. 430 BC) [tr. Wodhull (1809)]
(Source)

Barnes frag. 117, Musgrave frag. 20. Alternate translations:

Where indeed is there sureness in man's life? For swift ships the winds drive a straight path on the ocean deep, but men's fortunes are changed by the largeness of time, their greatness to nothing, while with increase for the lesser ....
[tr. Collard, Hargreaves, Cropp (1995)]

Where -- where --
for those that die
life’s sure foundation? If we were ships
over the depths of ocean
winds would drive us
straight.
But those that die
their fortune shifts, it veers
in twists of fate -- as Time
(slowly --– slowly) generates itself
at its own leisure
reducing what was great
to nothing – raising up
another ....
[tr. Stevens (2012)]

Gladwell, Malcolm -- David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (2013)

Dave — Mon, 15 May 2023 14:07:37 +0000

Legitimacy is based on three things. First of all, the people who are asked to obey authority have to feel like they have a voice — that if they speak up, they will be heard. Second, the law has to be predictable. There has to be a reasonable expectation that the rules tomorrow are going to be roughly the same as the rules today. And third, the authority has to be fair. It can’t treat one group differently from another.

Malcolm Gladwell (b. 1963) Anglo-Canadian journalist, author, public speaker
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (2013)
(Source)

Chesterton, Gilbert Keith -- The Napoleon of Notting Hill, Book 1, ch. 2 (1904)

Dave — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 14:22:48 +0000

Many clever men like you have trusted to civilization. Many clever Babylonians, many clever Egyptians, many clever men at the end of Rome. Can you tell me, in a world that is flagrant with the failures of civilisation, what there is particularly immortal about yours?

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
The Napoleon of Notting Hill, Book 1, ch. 2 (1904)
(Source)

McGinley, Phyllis -- “Suburbia: Of Thee I Sing,” Harper’s magazine (Dec 1949)

Dave — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 14:38:28 +0000

Compromise, if not the spice of life, is its solidity.

Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978) American author, poet
“Suburbia: Of Thee I Sing,” Harper’s magazine (Dec 1949)
(Source)

Duncan, Isadora -- My Life, Introduction (1927)

Dave — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 17:40:38 +0000

It is only in romances that people undergo a sudden metamorphosis. In real life, even after the most terrible experiences, the main character remains exactly the same.

Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) American dancer, choreographer
My Life, Introduction (1927)
(Source)

Atherton, Gertrude -- The Living Present, Book 2, ch. 1, sec. 1 (1917)

Dave — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 15:05:48 +0000

There is a strong conservative instinct in the average man or woman, born of the hereditary fear of life, that prompts them to cling to old standards, or, if too intelligent to look inhospitably upon progress, to move very slowly. Both types are the brakes and wheelhorses necessary to a stable civilization, but history, even current history in the newspapers, would be dull reading if there were no adventurous spirits willing to do battle for new ideas.

Gertrude Atherton (1857-1948) American author, essayist
The Living Present, Book 2, ch. 1, sec. 1 (1917)
(Source)

Lippmann, Walter -- A Preface to Politics, ch. 1 (1914)

Dave — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 20:08:18 +0000

Success makes men rigid and they tend to exalt stability over all the other virtues; tired of the effort of willing they become fanatics about conservatism.

Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) American journalist and author
A Preface to Politics, ch. 1 (1914)
(Source)

Arendt, Hannah -- Essay (1969-02-27), “Reflections on Violence,” The New York Review of Books

Dave — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 19:23:11 +0000

Man’s urge for change and his need for stability have always balanced and checked each other, and our current vocabulary, which distinguishes between two factions, the progressives and the conservatives, indicates a state of affairs in which this balance has been thrown out of order. No civilization — the man-made artifact to house successive generations — would ever have been possible without a framework of stability, to provide the wherein for the flux of change.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Essay (1969-02-27), “Reflections on Violence,” The New York Review of Books
(Source)

Revised and collected in Crises of the Republic, "On Violence" (1972).

Malory, Thomas -- Le Morte d’Arthur, Book 18, ch. 25 (1485)

Dave — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 20:31:52 +0000

But nowadays men can not love seven night but they must have all their desires: that love may not endure by reason; for where they be soon accorded and hasty, heat soon it cooleth. Right so fareth love nowadays, soon hot soon cold: this is no stability. But the old love was not so; men and women could love together seven years, and no lycours lusts were between them, and then was love, truth, and faithfulness: and lo, in likewise was used love in King Arthur’s days.

Thomas Malory (c. 1415-1471) English writer
Le Morte d’Arthur, Book 18, ch. 25 (1485)
(Source)

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 2, The Light Fantastic (1986)

Dave — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 15:53:55 +0000

“Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out,” said the shopkeeper. “That’s what I’ve always thought. No one goes mad quicker than a totally sane person.”

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 2, The Light Fantastic (1986)
(Source)

~Other -- Carol Tavris, Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion, ch. 4 (1982)

Dave — Mon, 19 May 2014 14:09:32 +0000

The difference between the Japanese and the American is summed up in their opposite reactions to the proverb (popular in both nations), “A rolling stone gathers no moss.” Epidemiologist S. Leonard Syme observes that to the Japanese, moss is exquisite and valued; a stone is enhanced by moss; hence a person who keeps moving and changing never acquires the beauty and benefits of stability. To Americans, the proverb is an admonition to keep rolling, to keep from being covered with clinging attachments.

(Other Authors and Sources)
Carol Tavris, Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion, ch. 4 (1982)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Letter (1930-05-12) to John A. Kingsbury

Dave — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:10:27 +0000

There is no question in my mind that it is time for the country to become fairly radical for a generation. History shows that where this occurs occasionally, nations are saved from revolution.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Letter (1930-05-12) to John A. Kingsbury
(Source)

Mill, John Stuart -- On Liberty, ch. 2 “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion” (1859)

Dave — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:30:44 +0000

In politics, again, it is almost a commonplace, that a party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are both necessary elements of a healthy state of political life. […] Each of these modes of thinking derives its utility from the deficiencies of the other; but it is in a great measure the opposition of the other that keeps each within the limits of reason and sanity.

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) English philosopher and economist
On Liberty, ch. 2 “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion” (1859)
(Source)

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1796-04-24) to Philip Mazzei

Dave — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 16:33:54 +0000

[T]imid men […] prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1796-04-24) to Philip Mazzei
(Source)

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler -- Poem (1883), “Upon the Sand,” Poems of Passion

Dave — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:49:54 +0000

All love that has not friendship for its base
Is like a mansion built upon the sand.
Though brave its walls as any in the land,
And its tall turrets lift their heads in grace;
Though skilful and accomplished artists trace
Most beautiful designs on every hand,
And gleaming statues in dim niches stand,
And fountains play in some flow’r-hidden place:

Yet, when from the frowning east a sudden gust
Of adverse fate is blown, or sad rains fall,
Day in, day out, against its yielding wall,
Lo! the fair structure crumbles to the dust.
Love, to endure life’s sorrow and earth’s woe,
Needs friendship’s solid mason-work below.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) American author, poet, temperance advocate, spiritualist
Poem (1883), “Upon the Sand,” Poems of Passion
(Source)

See Matthew 7:24-27.

Von Clausewitz, Karl -- On War [Vom Kriege], Book 1, ch. 3 “On Military Genius [Der Kriegerische Genius],” (1.3) (1832) [tr. Graham (1873)]

Dave — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:02:36 +0000

A strong mind is one which does not lose its balance even under the most violent excitement.

[Ein starkes Gemüt ist ein solches, welches auch bei den heftigsten Regungen nicht aus dem Gleichgewicht kommt.]

Karl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) Prussian soldier, historian, military theorist
On War [Vom Kriege], Book 1, ch. 3 “On Military Genius [Der Kriegerische Genius],” (1.3) (1832) [tr. Graham (1873)]
(Source)

(Source (German)). Alternate translations:

A stout heart is one which does not lose its balance even under the most violent excitement.
[tr. Jolles (1943)]

A strong character is one that will not be unbalanced by the most powerful emotions.
[tr. Howard & Paret (1976)]

Coffin, William Sloane -- Credo, “Social Justice and Civil Liberties” (2004)

Dave — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:11:41 +0000

Truth is always in danger of being sacrificed on the altars of good taste and social stability.

William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (1924-2006) American minister, social activist
Credo, “Social Justice and Civil Liberties” (2004)
(Source)