WIST Quotations

Smith, Sydney -- Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 9 “On the Conduct of the Understanding,” Royal Institution, London

Dave — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 17:13:36 +0000

It is a very wise rule in the conduct of the understanding, to acquire early a correct notion of your own peculiar constitution of mind, and to become well acquainted, as a physician would say, with your idiosyncrasy. Are you an acute man, and see sharply for small distances? or are you a comprehensive man, and able to take in, wide and extensive views into your mind? Does your mind turn its ideas into wit? or are you apt to take a common-sense view of the objects presented to you? Have you an exuberant imagination, or a correct judgment? Are you quick, or slow? accurate, or hasty? a great reader, or a great thinker? It is a prodigious point gained if any man can find out where his powers lie, and what are his deficiencies, — if he can contrive to ascertain what Nature intended him for.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 9 “On the Conduct of the Understanding,” Royal Institution, London
(Source)

Collected in Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy (1849).

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 237 (1820)

Dave — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 16:12:49 +0000

This is the tax a man must pay to his virtues, — they hold up a torch to his vices, and render those frailties notorious in him which would have passed without observation in another.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 237 (1820)
(Source)

Hepburn, Audrey -- Quoted in Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, ch. 4 (2002)

Dave — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 17:23:39 +0000

You have to look at yourself objectively. Analyze yourself like an instrument. You have to be absolutely frank with yourself. Face your handicaps, don’t try to hide them. Instead, develop something else.

Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) Belgian-English actress
Quoted in Barry Paris, Audrey Hepburn, ch. 4 (2002)
(Source)

Swift, Jonathan -- Thoughts on Various Subjects (1706)

Dave — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 13:38:13 +0000

Although men are accused for not knowing their own weakness, yet perhaps as few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) English writer and churchman
Thoughts on Various Subjects (1706)
(Source)

Martin, Judith -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 14:41:56 +0000

It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
(Attributed)

Widely attributed to Martin, but no citeable source found. Some sources point to Reader's Digest which, on research, was not helpful.

Lorde, Audre -- “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” (1979)

Dave — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 20:27:12 +0000

Difference must be not merely tolerated, but seen as a fund of necessary polarities between which our creativity can spark like a dialectic. Only then does the necessity for interdependency become unthreatening. Only within that interdependency of different strengths, acknowledged and equal, can the power to seek new ways of being in the world generate, as well as the courage and sustenance to act where there are no charters.

Audre Lorde (1934-1992) American writer, feminist, civil rights activist
“The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” (1979)
(Source)

Richardson, James -- Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays (2001)

Dave — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 13:43:38 +0000

Back then I wanted to be right about my estimate of my abilities. Now I want to be wrong.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays (2001)

Hock, Dee W. -- In M. Mitchell Waldrop, “Dee Hock on Management,” Fast Company (Oct/Nov 1996)

Dave — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 13:43:31 +0000

Never hire or promote in your own image. It is foolish to replicate your strength. It is idiotic to replicate your weakness. It is essential to employ, trust, and reward those whose perspective, ability, and judgment are radically different from yours. It is also rare, for it requires uncommon humility, tolerance, and wisdom.

Dee W. Hock (1929-2022) American businessman
In M. Mitchell Waldrop, “Dee Hock on Management,” Fast Company (Oct/Nov 1996)
(Source)