He beares the bell in all respects who good with sweete doth minge:
Who can in delectable style good counsaile with him bring.
His bookes the stationers will bye, beyonte Sea it will goe,
And will conserve the authors name a thowsand yeare, and mo.
[tr. Drant (1567)]

But he hath every suffrage can apply
Sweet mix'd with soure, to his reader, so
As doctrine and delight together goe.
This book will get thee Socij money; this
Will passe the Seas; and long as Nature is
With honour make the far-known Author live.
[tr. Jonson (1640), l. 490ff]

But he that joyns instructions with delight,
Profit with pleasure, carries all the Votes;
These are the Volumes that enrich the Shops,
These pass with admiration through the World,
And bring their Author an Eternal fame.
[tr. Roscommon (1680)]

Profit and pleasure, then, to mix with art,
To inform the judgment, nor to bend the heart,
Shall gain all votes; to booksellers shall raise
No trivial fortune, and across the seas
To distant nations spread the writer's fame,
And with immortal honours crown his name.
[tr. Francis (1747)]

But he who precept with amusement blends,
And charms the fancy while the heart he mends,
Wins every suffrage. Rarely shall he miss
To enrich the Sosii with a piece like this:
Seas shall it traverse, and the writer's page
Hand down his glories to a distant age.
[tr. Howes (1845)]

He who joins the instructive with the agreeable, carries off every vote, by delighting and at the same time admonishing the reader. This book gains money for the Sosii; this crosses the sea, and continues to its renowned author a lasting duration.
[tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]

But he who, mixing grave and gay, can teach
And yet give pleasure, gains a vote from each:
His works enrich the vendor, cross the sea,
And hand the author down to late posterity.
[tr. Conington (1874)]

He wins all suffrages who, while he charms.
Instructs the soul, the heart to virtue warms,
And so what ministers to use unites
With what is beautiful in all he writes.
These are the works on which the Sosii thrive,
That cross the seas, to times remote survive.
[tr. Martin (1881)]

He meets with acceptance everywhere who blends the practical with the pleasant, by equally delighting and instructing the reader. Such a book enriches the Sosii, travels across the sea, and confers immortality on its famous author.
[tr. Elgood (1893)]

He has won every vote who has blended profit and pleasure, at once delighting and instructing the reader. That is the book to make money for the Sosii; this the one to cross the sea and extend to a distant day its author's fame.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]

He wins every vote who combines the sweet and the useful,
Charming the reader and warning him equally well.
This book will bring in money for Sosius and Son,
Booksellers, travel across the sea, and extend
Its author's fame a long distance into the future.
[tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]

The poet winning every vote blends the useful with the sweet,
giving pleasure to his reader while he offers him advice.
His book will make the Sosii money and travel overseas,
and far into the years ahead extend its author's name.
[tr. Fuchs (1977)]

Tame sense with a dash of sugar,
Storke your reader's cheeks while you box his ears.
Then everyone reads you, your royalties mount
Like gushing oil, foreigners run for your latest title
And read you long after you've turned to dust.
So: make your own memorial!
[tr. Raffel (1983 ed.)]

He who provides to all both profit and pleasure
Wins everybody's vote; his book will bring
Money for bookstore owners and fame across
The seas and down the years to the author himself.
[tr. Ferry (2001)]

Everyone votes for the man who mixes wholesome and sweet,
giving his reader an equal blend of help and delight.
That book earns the Sosii money; it crosses the ocean,
winning fame for the author and ensuring long survival.
[tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]

Who can blend usefulness and sweetness wins every
Vote, at once delighting and teaching the reader.
That’s the book that earns the Sosii money, crosses
The seas, and wins its author fame throughout the ages.
[tr. Kline (2015)]

He wins every hand who mingles profit with pleasure, by delighting and instructing the reader at the same time.
[ed. Bartlett's]

Fortune generally declares in favor of numerous battalions.
[Source (1811), No. 274]

Providence is always on the side of the big battalions.
[Oxford Dict. of Proverbs]

• God sides with the big battalions.
• God sides with whichever side has the biggest battalions.

One of the men I loved most above all others was Gene Fowler. He once wrote me a letter from London. “What is success?" he asked. “I shall tell you out of the wisdom of my years. It is a toy balloon among children armed with sharp pins."

For there is nothing which flourishes for ever. Age succeeds age.
[tr. Yonge (1903)]

For nothing is for ever flourishing; age succeeds to age.
[tr. Ker (Loeb) (1926)]

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something is worth doing no matter how it turns out.

You don’t fight fascism because you are going to win, you fight fascism because it is fascism.

In the novel, Sartre has my father say, "You don't fight fascism because you're going to win. You fight fascism because it is fascist."

GERASSI: And that great conversation when Mathieu goes down to see Gomez when he comes across from the front to buy planes or whatever, and Gomez tells him that the Repuyblic has lost. Mathieu can't understand why, in that case, is Gomez going back to fight. Gomez answers that one doesn't fight fascism because one is going to win, one fights fascism because it is fascist. A great response.
SARTRE: Precisely. That's Mathieu and Gomez, but not Sartre and Fernando at that point. I put those words in Gomez's mouth precilselyi because I believed them, but of course in the novel Mathieu had not evolved into a man of action yet, as he does in the third volume. But that's me, as much as Gomez, or your father. I was -- and am today -- absolutely committed to the proposition that one must always fight the fascists. ...

The people who went to Spain expected to die. Sartre confronted my father and asked, "So, any chance you're going to win in span?" "Oh, no, we've lost," my father replied. "Wait," continued Sartre, "You've said that with such assurance. You know you're going to lose?" "Of course. We know we're going to lose. Franco's going to win. It's fait accompli." And Satre said, "But you're going back to Spain?" "Of course." "You're crazy, why go back if you know you're going to lose?" And my father answered, "You don't fight fascism because you're going to win. You fight fascism because they're fascists."

We need to teach the intelligent person that it is not a disgrace to fail and that he must analyze every failure to find its cause. He must learn how to fail intelligently, for failing is one of the greatest arts in the world. Once you've failed, analyze the problem and find out why, because each failure is one more step leading to success. The only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try.

The only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try.
 

• T. A. Boyd, Research, ch. 22 "Persistance" (1935).
• Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Journal, Vol 42, No. 2 (1938-02), covering the Detroit SAE Annual Meeting (1938-01-10 to 14).

We sometimes hit the bulls-eye at the first crack, but SUCCESS is usually the result of many failures.

In most things success depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
[E.g. (1874)]

Success in most things depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
[E.g. (1883)]

The success of most things depends upon knowing how long it will take to succeed.
[E.g. (1915)]

Success in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
[E.g.]

Success generally depends upon knowing how long it takes to succeed.
[E.g.]

To succeed perfectly well in the world, I have always seen that you have to appear mad while being wise.
[tr. Clark (2012)]

What are the qualities that make for success? Superior knowledge? Yes, sometimes; but more frequently it is flaming enthusiasm backed up by horse-sense and persistence.

• "Hazarding an Opinion on God’s Plans Demands Caution"
• "That a Man must not be too hasty in judging of Divine Ordinances"
• "We should meddle soberly with judging divine ordinances"
• "Judgements on God’s ordinances must be embarked upon with prudence"
• "That It Is With Sobriety That We Should Undertake to Judge of the Divine Decrees"

But I utterly disalow a common custome amongst us, which is to ground and establish our religion upon the prosperitie of our enterprises. Our beleefe hath other sufficient foundations, and need not be authorized by events. For the people accustomed to these plausible arguments, and agreeing with his taste, when events sort contrarie and dis-advantageous to their expectation, they are in hazard to waver in their faith.
[tr. Florio (1603)]

But I do not approve of what I see in use, that is, to seek to establish and support our religion by the prosperity of our enterprises. Our belief has other foundations enough, without authorising it by events; for people accustomed to such plausible arguments as these, and so peculiar to their own taste, it is to be feared, lest when they fail of success, they should also stagger in their faith.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]

But I think ill of what I see to the customary -- the seeking to strengthen and support our religion by the prosperity of our undertakings. Our belief has enough other foundations, without giving authority to it by events; for if the people become accusomed to these arguments, which are plausible and suited to their taste, there is a danger that when, in turn, adverse and disadvantageous events happen, their faith will be shaken by them.
[tr. Ives (1925), 1.32]

But I think that the practice I see is bad, of trying to strengthen and support our religion by the good fortune and prosperity of our enterprises. Our belief has enough other foundations; it does not need events to authorize it. For when the people are accustomed to these arguments, which are plausible and suited to their taste, there is a danger that when in turn contrary and disadvantageous events come, this will shake their faith.
[tr. Frame (1943), 1.32]

What I consider wrong is our usual practice of trying to support and confirm our religion by the success or happy outcome of our undertakings. Our belief has enough other foundations without seeking sanction from events: people who have grown accustomed to such plausible arguments well-suited to their taste are in danger of having their faith shaken when the turn comes for events to prove hostile and unfavourable.
[tr. Screech (1987), 1.32]

The thinker sees in his own actions attempts and questionings to obtain information about something or other; success and failure are answers to him first and foremost.
[tr. Common (1911)]

A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions -- as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.
[tr. Kaufmann (1974)]

In his own actions, the thinker sees experiments and enquiries from which he seeks to obtain insight: to him, success and failure are, first of all, answers.
[tr. Hill (2018)]

I wolde that ye knowe that as the poete makith not onely by versys of a fable in his comedye callid an enterlude to the intente bycause that it please to hym that pleyeth it in the game. But the poete makith onely his comedye and enterlude to the ende bycause that in every pagent he be preysed and commended of every man aftir his playe. And the wise man also ought not to desire to lyve tylle that he saye "That is to witt I will no lenger of my life." For a short and a litle tyme of age is long for to lyve wele and honestly.
[tr. Worcester/Worcester/Scrope (1481)]

For he that is a stage-player needeth not of necessity to be an actor in the interlude or comedy until the last end thereof (to delight the beholders), but in what act of the same soever he playeth or chanceth to be, he must so expressly handle and play his part, that he may win praise and commendation; neither should a wise man live till the plaudite be stricken up. For a short space and time of life is long enough to live well and honestly, and in whatsoever age we be in, it is sufficient to have lived therein godly and virtuously.
[tr. Newton (1569)]

For a good actor is not applauded in the midst of a Scene, so a wise mans praise comes not till the end. The time of our age is short indeed; but long enough to live well and honestly.
[tr. Austin (1648), ch. 21]

When a good Actor doth his part present,
In ev'ry Act he our attention draws,
That at the last he may find just applause,
So (though but short) yet we must learn the art
Of virtue, on this Stage to act our part;
True wisdome must our actions so direct,
Not only the last Plaudite to expect.
[tr. Denham (1669)]

A short Space of time is long enough, if constantly employed in the Pursuit of Honour and Virtue.
[tr. Hemming (1716)]

And as the Player may be applauded in every Scene, tho' to give true Satisfaction he must finish his Play; so with the wise Man, he lives approv'd by all till his last Plaudit. For the time of Man's life is short, yet it is long enough to live well.
[tr. J. D. (1744)]

No Man expects of any one Actor on the Theatre, that he should perform all the Parts of the Piece himself: One Role only is committed to him, and whatever that be, if he acts it well, he is applauded. In the same Manner, it is not the Part of a wise Man, to desire to be busy in these Scenes to the last Plaudit. A short Term may be long enough to live it well and honourably.
[tr. Logan (1744)]

It is in life as on the stage, where it is not necessary in order to be approved, that the actor's part should continue to the conclusion of the drama; it is sufficient, in whatever scene he shall make his final exit, that he supports the character assigned him with deserved applause. The truth is, a small portion of time is abundantly adequate to the purposes of honour and virtue.
[tr. Melmoth (1773)]

For neither must a play be gone all through by a player, that he may please; it is only needful that he be approved in whatsoever act he shall have been; nor should a wise man live quite to Plaudite. For a short space of time is long enough to live virtuously and honourably.
[Cornish Bros. ed. (1847)]

For neither need the drama be performed entire by the actor, in order to give satisfaction, provided he be approved in whatever act he may be: nor need the wise man live till the plaudite. For the short period of life is long enough for living well and honourably.
[tr. Edmonds (1874)]

In order to give pleasure to the audience, the actor need not finish the play; he may win approval in whatever act he takes part in; nor need the wise man remain on the stage till the closing plaudit. A brief time is long enough to live well and honorably.
[tr. Peabody (1884)]

An actor, in order to earn approval, is not bound to perform the play from beginning to end; let him only satisfy the audience in whatever act he appears. Nor need a wise man go on to the concluding "plaudite." For a short term of life is long enough for living well and honourably.
[tr. Shuckburgh (1895)]

Our span of life is brief, but it is long enough for us to live well and honestly.
[ed. Harbottle (1906)]

Why ev'n the actor to secure applause
Need not play to the end: if but he do
His best, he will be cheered: if wise, he'll stop
Before he reach the final "Plaudite."
A little time's enough, in which to live
A good and honest life.
[tr. Allison (1916)]

The actor, for instance, to please his audience need not appear in every act to the very end; it is enough if he is approved in the parts in which he plays; and so it is not necessary for the wise man to stay on this mortal stage to the last fall of the curtain. For even if the allotted space of life be short, it is long enough in which to live honourably and well.
[tr. Falconer (1923)]

An actor, in order to find favor, does not have to take part all the way through a play; he need only prove himself in any act in which he may appear; similarly the wise and good man does not have to keep going until the curtain is rung down. A brief span of years is quite long enough for living a good and honorable life.
[tr. Copley (1967)]

An actor does not have to appear in the last part of the movie: he can earn good reviews from what he does in any part of it. And neither must life be drawn out until some venerable time for the final curtain. A short time of life is enough to live well and honorably.
[tr. Gerberding (2014)]

During a drama an actor has no need
To be cheered but in the parts he plays
while on the stage of mortal life, indeed,
A man of discernment never stays
Until the last applause. A short life is always
Long enough to be lived honestly and well.
[tr. Bozzi (2015)]

An actor does not need to remain on stage throughout the play. It is enough that he appears in the appropriate acts. Likewise, a wise man need not stay on the stage of this world until the audience applauds at the end. The time allotted to our lives may be short, but it is long enough to live honestly and decently.
[tr. Freeman (2016)]

For life's not worth retaining when we see
The wicked crown'd with undeserv'd applause.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]

It is not worth living, if people see bad men unjustly honored.
[tr. Collard, Hargreaves, Cropp (1995)]

Life has no value when the bad are seen to thrive unjustly.
[tr. Stevens (2012)]

• "Success is the ability to move from one failure to another without loss of enthusiasm."
• "Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."
• "To succeed is to fail repeatedly, but without losing enthusiasm."

• Success Is Going from Failure to Failure Without Losing Your Enthusiasm – Quote Investigator®
• Quotes Falsely Attributed to Winston Churchill - International Churchill Society

Doth some one say that there be gods above?
There are not; no, there are not. Let no fool,
Led by the old false fable, thus deceive you.
Look at the facts themselves, yielding my words
No undue credence: for I say that kings
Kill, rob, break oaths, lay cities waste by fraud,
And doing thus are happier than those
Who live calm pious lives day after day. All divinity
Is built-up from our good and evil luck.
[tr. Symonds (1876)]

Does someone say there are indeed gods in heaven? There are not, there are not, if a man is willing not to rely foolishly on the antiquated reasoning. Consider for yourselves, do not base your opinion on words of mine. I say myself that tyranny kills very many men and dprives them of their possessions; and that tyrants break their oaths to ransack cities, and in doing this they are more prosperous under heaven than men who live quietly in reverence.
[tr. Collard, Hargreaves, Cropp (1995)]

Does anyone assert that there are gods in heaven? There are not, no, there are not, if a man is ready not to swallow whole the old tales. Think it through yourselves, do not make my words the foundation of your opinion. I declare that tyranny kills many, robs them, that tyrants break their oaths to plunder cities, yet in this they prosper more than those whose unassuming habit is true piety.
[tr. Stevens (2012)]

Does anyone say there are gods in heaven? There are not, there are not, unless one wishes to follow ancient wisdom like a fool. [...] I say that tyranny kills many people, deprives possessions, circumvents oaths, and plunders cities. And even though they do these things, they are more fortunate than those living piously day to day in peace.
[tr. Dixon (2014)]

Is there anyone who thinks there are gods in heaven?
There are not. There are not, for any man who wishes
Not to be a fool and trust some ancient story.
Look at it yourselves, don’t make up your mind
Because of my words. I think that tyranny
Kills so many men and steals their possessions
And that men break their oaths by sacking cities.
But the men who do such things are more fortunate
Than those who live each day piously, at peace.
[tr. @sentantiq (2015)]

People ask: Do gods really exist in heaven? No, they do not exist, they really don’t; if any of mankind wishes to avoid being the sort of fool who follows the ancient story. Consider it for yourselves, don’t take my word for it. I say that tyranny destroys multitudes and confiscates their possessions; oath-breakers sack cities; and yet, those who do such things are far more prosperous than those who, day by day, live devoutly and in peace.
[tr. Emerson]

Men with the spirit of youth pioneered our America ... men with vision and sturdy confidence. They found contentment in the thrill of action, knowing that success was never final and failure never fatal. It was courage that counted. Isn’t opportunity in America today greater than it was in the days of our grateful forefathers?

• Success Is Never Final and Failure Never Fatal. It’s Courage That Counts – Quote Investigator
• Media Matters - International Churchill Society
• Quotes Falsely Attributed to Winston Churchill - International Churchill Society

Be victorious but not triumphant.
[tr. Scrase/Mieder (1994)]

And as at the Olympic games it is not the finest and strongest men who are crowned, but they who enter the lists, for out of these the prize-men are selected; so too in life, of the honourable and the good, it is they who act who rightly win the prizes.
[tr. Chase (1847), ch. 6]

For as at the Olympic games it is not the fairest and the strongest who are crowned, but they that run -- for some of these it is that win the victory -- so too, among the noble and good in life, it is they that act rightly who become masters of life's prize.
[tr. Williams (1869)]

As in the Olympian games it is not the most beautiful and strongest persons who receive the crown, but they who actually enter the lists as combatants -- for it is some of these who become victors -- so it is they who act rightly that attain what is noble and good in life.
[tr. Welldon (1892), ch. 9]

And as at the Olympic games it is not the fairest and strongest who receive the crown, but those who contend (for among these are the victors), so in life, too, the winners are those who not only have all the excellences, but manifest these in deed.
[tr. Peters (1893)]

And as in the Olympic Games it is not the most beautiful and the strongest that are crowned but those who compete (for it is some of these that are victorious), so those who act win, and rightly win, the noble and good things in life.
[tr. Ross (1908)]

And just as at the Olympic games the wreaths of victory are not bestowed upon the handsomest and strongest persons present, but on men who enter for the competitions -- since it is among these that the winners are found, -- so it is those who act rightly who carry off the prizes and good things of life.
[tr. Rackham (1934), ch. 8, sec. 9]

And just as in the Olympic Games it is not the noblest and strongest who get the victory crown but the competitors (since it is among these that the ones who win are found), so also among the noble and good aspects of life it is those who act correctly who win the prizes.
[tr. Reeve (1948)]

And as at the Olympic Games it is not the most beautiful or the strongest who are crowned but those who compete (for it is some of these who become victors), so in life it is those who act rightly who become the winners of good and noble things.
[tr. Apostle (1975), ch. 9]

Just as at the Olympic Games it is not the best-looking or the strongest men present that are crowned with wreaths, but the competitors (because it is from them that the winners come), so it is those who act that rightly win the honors and rewards in life.
[tr. Thomson/Tredennick (1976)]

For just as it is not the noblest and strongest who are crowned with the victory wreath at the Olympic Games but rather the competitors (for it is certain of these who win), so also it is those who act correctly who attain the noble and good things in life.
[tr. Bartlett/Collins (2011)]

He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.

To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty. To find the best in others; to give one’s self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exaltation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived -- this is to have succeeded.

• He Has Achieved Success Who Has Lived Well, Laughed Often and Loved Much – Quote Investigator
• Stanley, Bessie A. - "Success" (1905) | WIST ]]> https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/46825/feed/ 1 46825 https://wist.info/longfellow-henry-wadsworth/46701/ https://wist.info/longfellow-henry-wadsworth/46701/#respond Fri, 23 Apr 2021 18:20:04 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=46701 Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.

  

  
  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
  “Table-Talk”
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/longfellow-henry-wadsworth/46701/feed/ 0 46701 https://wist.info/lakoff-george/46468/ https://wist.info/lakoff-george/46468/#respond Mon, 05 Apr 2021 20:36:05 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=46468 There is no such thing as a self-made man. Every businessman has used the vast American infrastructure, which the taxpayers paid for, to make his money. He did not make his money alone.
  
  George Lakoff (b. 1941) American cognitive linguist and philosopher
  Don’t Think of an Elephant! (2004)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/lakoff-george/46468/feed/ 0 46468 https://wist.info/marx-harpo/46279/ https://wist.info/marx-harpo/46279/#respond Fri, 19 Mar 2021 18:00:54 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=46279 I don’t know whether my life has been a success or a failure But not having any anxiety about becoming one instead of the other, and just taking things as they come along, I’ve had a lot of extra time to enjoy life.
  
  Arthur "Harpo" Marx (1888-1964) American comedian, actor, mime, musician [b. Adolph Marx]
  Harpo Speaks!, ch. 1, opening words (1961) [with Rowland Barber]
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/marx-harpo/46279/feed/ 0 46279 https://wist.info/moynihan-daniel-patrick/45822/ https://wist.info/moynihan-daniel-patrick/45822/#respond Fri, 19 Feb 2021 15:38:36 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=45822 The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.
  
  Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003) American politician, diplomat, sociologist
  Lecture (1985-04-09), “Family and Nation: Common Ground?” Godkin Lectures, Harvard University
      (Source)
  
  Collected in his Family and Nation, ch. 3 (1986). ]]> https://wist.info/moynihan-daniel-patrick/45822/feed/ 0 45822 https://wist.info/garfield-james-a/45473/ https://wist.info/garfield-james-a/45473/#respond Fri, 29 Jan 2021 16:14:26 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=45473 The men who succeed best in public life are those who take the risk of standing by their own convictions.
  
  James A. Garfield (1831-1881) US President (1881), lawyer, lay preacher, educator
  “Gustave Schleicher,” Speech, House of Representatives (17 Feb 1879)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/garfield-james-a/45473/feed/ 0 45473 https://wist.info/sanger-margaret/45456/ https://wist.info/sanger-margaret/45456/#respond Thu, 28 Jan 2021 23:10:14 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=45456 As a cause becomes more and more successful, the ideas of the people engaged in it are bound to change.
  
  Margaret Sanger (1879-1966) American birth control activist, sex educator, nurse
  Margaret Sanger: An Autobiography, ch. 32 (1938)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/sanger-margaret/45456/feed/ 0 45456 https://wist.info/capra-frank/44792/ https://wist.info/capra-frank/44792/#respond Fri, 18 Dec 2020 21:09:19 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=44792 Dear George:
  Remember, no man is a failure who has friends.
  Thanks for the wings!
  Love, Clarence.
  
  Frank Capra 1897-1991) Italian-American film director, producer, writer [b. Francesco Rosario Capra]
  It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) [with Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett]
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/capra-frank/44792/feed/ 0 44792 https://wist.info/brilliant-ashleigh/44789/ https://wist.info/brilliant-ashleigh/44789/#respond Fri, 18 Dec 2020 20:50:51 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=44789 I, too, could be successful, if I had money, talent, luck, charm, confidence, and plenty of help.
  
  Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933) Anglo-American epigramist, aphorist, cartoonist
  Pot-Shots, #3414 ]]> https://wist.info/brilliant-ashleigh/44789/feed/ 0 44789 https://wist.info/bunner-h-c/44338/ https://wist.info/bunner-h-c/44338/#respond Wed, 18 Nov 2020 17:31:38 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=44338 Ah, woe is me, through all my days
  Wisdom and wealth I both have got,
  And fame and name and great men’s praise;
  But Love, ah, Love! I have it not.
  
  H. C. Bunner (1855-1896) American novelist and poet [Henry Cuyler Bunner]
  “The Way to Arcady” (1892)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/bunner-h-c/44338/feed/ 0 44338 https://wist.info/sallust/44291/ https://wist.info/sallust/44291/#respond Tue, 17 Nov 2020 16:08:02 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=44291 In truth, prosperity tries the souls of even the wise; how then should men of depraved character like these make a moderate use of victory?

  [Quippe secundae res sapientium animos fatigant, ne illi corruptis moribus victoriae temperarent.]

  
  Sallust (c. 86-35 BC) Roman historian and politician [Gaius Sallustius Crispus]
  Bellum Catilinae [The War of Cateline; The Conspiracy of Catiline], ch. 11, sent. 8 [tr. Rolfe (1931)]
      (Source)
  
  Alt. trans.:
  • "A series of prosperity is often too much even for the wisest and best disposed: that men corrupted should make a temperate use of their victory could not be expected." [tr. Murphy (1807)]
  • "For success unhinges the minds even of wise men; how then should they who were so depraved use their victory with moderation?" [tr. Rose (1831)]
  • "For success tries the minds of wise men, much less could they, when their morals were corrupted, use their victory with moderation." [Source (1841)]
  • "Success unsettles the principles even of the wise, and scarcely would those of debauched habits use victory with moderation." [tr. Watson (1867)]
  • "Since even the wise have their temper tried by prosperity, much less could men of this abandoned character use their success with moderation." [tr. Pollard (1882)]
  • "Successful situations overwhelm the minds even of the wise; still less wouild those men of corrupt morals moderate their victory." [tr. Woodman (2007)]
  ]]> https://wist.info/sallust/44291/feed/ 0 44291 https://wist.info/sophocles/44236/ https://wist.info/sophocles/44236/#respond Fri, 13 Nov 2020 16:56:02 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=44236 But if I am to die before my time, I count that a gain. When anyone lives as I do, surrounded by evils, how can he not carry off gain by dying?

  [εἰ δὲ τοῦ χρόνου
  πρόσθεν θανοῦμαι, κέρδος αὔτ᾽ ἐγὼ λέγω.
  ὅστις γὰρ ἐν πολλοῖσιν ὡς ἐγὼ κακοῖς
  ζῇ, πῶς ὅδ᾽ Οὐχὶ κατθανὼν κέρδος φέρει]

  
  Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
  Antigone, l. 460 ff [Antigone] (441 BC) [tr. Jebb (1891)]
      (Source)
  
  Alt. trans.:
  
  

  But if I am to die before my time, I count that a gain: for when any one lives, as I do, compassed about with evils, can such an one find aught but gain in death?
  [tr. Jebb (1917)]

  
  

  And if my time is shortened, this to me
  Is gain indeed. For whoso lives, as I live,
  Beset with many sorrows, how does he
  Not win by dying?
  [tr. Donaldson (1848)]

  
  

  If death
  Is thereby hastened, I shall count it gain
  For death is gain to him whose life, like mine,
  Is full of misery.
  [tr. Storr (1859)]

  
  

  And now, if I fall
  A little sooner, 'tis the thing I wish.
  To thou, who live in misery like me,
  Believe me, King, 'tis happiness to die.
  [tr. Werner (1892)]

  
  

  But if I die young, all the better:
  People who live in misery like mine
  Are better dead.
  [tr. Woodruff (2001)]

  
  

  I knew that my death was imminent, of course I did, and even if it came sooner, I would still think it a good thing because when one lives in such a dreadful misery why should he not think death to be a good thing?
  [tr. Theodoridis (2004)]

  
  

  And if I have to die
  before my time, well, I count that a gain.
  When someone has to live the way I do,
  surrounded by so many evil things,
  how can she fail to find a benefit
  in death?
  [tr. Johnston (2005), l. 521ff]

  
  

  If I die
  before my time, I say it is a gain.
  Who lives in sorrows many as are mine
  how shall he not be glad to gain his death?
  [tr. Wyckoff]

  
  

  But if
  I shall die before my time, I declare it a profit,
  for whoever lives beset, as I do, by many things evil,
  how does he not gain profit by dying?
  [tr. Tyrrell/Bennett]

  ]]> https://wist.info/sophocles/44236/feed/ 0 44236 https://wist.info/nansen-fridtjof/43809/ https://wist.info/nansen-fridtjof/43809/#respond Thu, 22 Oct 2020 15:09:50 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=43809 Let me tell you the secret of such so-called successes as there have been in my life, and here I believe I give you really good advice. It was to burn my boats and demolish my bridges behind me. Then one loses no time in looking behind, when one should have quite enough to do in looking ahead — then there is no chance for you or your men but forward. You have to do or die!
  
  Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian
  Speech, St Andrews University (3 Nov 1926)
      (Source)
  
  Translated in his Adventure, and Other Papers (1927). ]]> https://wist.info/nansen-fridtjof/43809/feed/ 0 43809 https://wist.info/sandburg-carl/43765/ https://wist.info/sandburg-carl/43765/#respond Mon, 19 Oct 2020 17:37:52 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=43765 Back of every mistaken venture and defeat is the laughter of wisdom, if you listen. We go forward by failure. Every blunder behind us is giving a cheer for us and only those who are willing to fail shall taste the dangers and splendors of life. To be a good loser is to learn how to win. The real coward is he who sees no glory in failure.
  
  Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) American poet, biographer
  Incidentals (1904) ]]> https://wist.info/sandburg-carl/43765/feed/ 0 43765 https://wist.info/nelson-horatio/43533/ https://wist.info/nelson-horatio/43533/#respond Mon, 05 Oct 2020 17:47:18 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=43533 Success covers a multitude of blunders, and the want of it hides the greatest gallantry and good conduct.
  
  Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) British admiral
  Letter to Andrew Hamond (1797)
      (Source)
  
  Often misattributed to George Bernard Shaw. ]]> https://wist.info/nelson-horatio/43533/feed/ 0 43533 https://wist.info/keller-helen-adams/43224/ https://wist.info/keller-helen-adams/43224/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2020 01:21:20 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=43224 The test of a democracy is not the magnificence of buildings or the speed of automobiles or the efficiency of air transportation, but rather the care given to the welfare of all the people.

  

  
  Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
  “Try Democracy,” The Home Magazine, Vol. 11, # 4 (Apr 1935) ]]> https://wist.info/keller-helen-adams/43224/feed/ 1 43224 https://wist.info/brault-robert-b/43056/ https://wist.info/brault-robert-b/43056/#respond Tue, 01 Sep 2020 14:29:51 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=43056 To find someone who will love you through success and failure is to discover how little life has to do with either.
  
  Robert Brault (b. c. 1945) American aphorist, programmer
  (Attributed) ]]> https://wist.info/brault-robert-b/43056/feed/ 0 43056 https://wist.info/menen-aubrey/42726/ https://wist.info/menen-aubrey/42726/#respond Wed, 29 Jul 2020 17:58:19 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=42726 The essence of success is that it is never necessary to think of a new idea oneself. It is far better to wait until somebody else does it, and then to copy him in every detail, except his mistakes.
  
  Aubrey Menen (1912-1989) British writer, novelist, satirist, theatre critic
  The Abode of Love, Part 3, “The Random Wooings” (1956)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/menen-aubrey/42726/feed/ 0 42726 https://wist.info/nash-ogden/42680/ https://wist.info/nash-ogden/42680/#respond Fri, 24 Jul 2020 14:48:13 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=42680 I find it very difficult to enthuse

  Over the current news.

  Just when you think that at least the outlook is so black that it can grow no blacker, it worsens,

  And that is why I do not like the news, because there has never been an era when so many things were going so right for so many of the wrong persons.

  
  Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
  “Everybody Tells Me Everything,” The Face Is Familiar (1940)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/nash-ogden/42680/feed/ 0 42680 https://wist.info/macarthur-douglas/42671/ https://wist.info/macarthur-douglas/42671/#respond Thu, 23 Jul 2020 15:50:14 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=42671 It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.
  
  Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) American general
  Speech, Republican National Convention, Chicago (7 Jul 1952)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/macarthur-douglas/42671/feed/ 0 42671 https://wist.info/von-ebner-eschenbach-marie/42138/ https://wist.info/von-ebner-eschenbach-marie/42138/#respond Mon, 15 Jun 2020 22:48:28 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=42138 Even a stopped clock is right twice every day. After some years, it can boast of a long series of successes.

  [Die still stehende Uhr, die täglich zwei Mal die richtige Zeit angezeigt hat, blickt nach Jahren auf eine lange Reihe von Erfolgen zurück.]

  
  Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) Austrian writer
  Aphorisms, #67 (1880)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/von-ebner-eschenbach-marie/42138/feed/ 0 42138 https://wist.info/aristophanes/41807/ https://wist.info/aristophanes/41807/#respond Wed, 20 May 2020 15:47:15 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=41807 DEMOSTHENES: And dare you rail at wine’s inventiveness?
  I tell you nothing has such go as wine.
  Why, look you now; ’tis when men drink, they thrive,
  Grow wealthy, speed their business, win their suits,
  Make themselves happy, benefit their friends.
  Go, fetch me out a stoup of wine, and let me
  Moisten my wits, and utter something bright.
  
  Aristophanes (c. 450-c. 388 BC) Athenian comedic playwright
  Knights, ll. 90-96 [tr. Rogers (1924)]
      (Source)
  
  Alt. trans.
  • [O'Neill (1938)]: "Do you dare to accuse wine of clouding the reason? Quote me more marvellous effects than those of wine. Look! when a man drinks, he is rich, everything he touches succeeds, he gains lawsuits, is happy and helps his friends. Come, bring hither quick a flagon of wine, that I may soak my brain and get an ingenious idea."
  • [Hickie (1853)]: "Have you the audacity to abuse wine for witlessness? Can you find anything more business-like than wine? Do you see? when men drink, then they are rich, they transact business, gain causes, are happy, assist their friends. Come, bring me out quickly a stoup of wine, that I may moisten my intellect, and say something clever."
  ]]> https://wist.info/aristophanes/41807/feed/ 0 41807 https://wist.info/parker-dorothy/41761/ https://wist.info/parker-dorothy/41761/#respond Mon, 18 May 2020 15:43:48 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=41761 If I should labor through daylight and dark,
  Consecrate, valorous, serious, true,
  Then on the world I may blazon my mark;
  And what if I don’t, and what if I do?
  
  Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer, poet, wit
  “Philosophy,” Enough Rope (1926)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/parker-dorothy/41761/feed/ 0 41761 https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/41489/ https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/41489/#respond Tue, 28 Apr 2020 19:56:56 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=41489 The real and lasting victories are those of peace and not of war.
  
  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
  Essay (1860), “Worship,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 6
      (Source)
  
  Based on a course of lectures, "The Conduct of Life," delivered in Pittsburg (1851-03). ]]> https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/41489/feed/ 0 41489 https://wist.info/parker-dorothy/41324/ https://wist.info/parker-dorothy/41324/#comments Mon, 13 Apr 2020 16:03:40 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=41324 If I didn’t care for fun and such,
  I’d probably amount to much.
  But I shall stay the way I am,
  Because I do not give a damn.
  
  Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer, poet, wit
  “Observation,” New York World (16 Aug 1925) ]]> https://wist.info/parker-dorothy/41324/feed/ 1 41324 https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/41190/ https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/41190/#respond Tue, 31 Mar 2020 20:28:55 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=41190 Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short, in all management of human affairs.
  
  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
  Essay (1860), “Power,” The Conduct of Life, ch. 2
      (Source)
  
  Based on a course of lectures by that name first delivered in Pittsburg (1851-03). ]]> https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/41190/feed/ 0 41190 https://wist.info/greene-graham/40869/ https://wist.info/greene-graham/40869/#respond Wed, 04 Mar 2020 18:51:00 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=40869 It isn’t easy for an author to remain a pleasant human being: both success and failure are usually of a crippling kind.
  
  Graham Greene (1904-1991) English novelist [Henry Graham Greene]
  “The Poker-Face,” The Spectator (15 Oct 1943)
      (Source)
  
  Reprinted in The Lost Childhood and Other Essays (1951). ]]> https://wist.info/greene-graham/40869/feed/ 0 40869 https://wist.info/aristotle/40735/ https://wist.info/aristotle/40735/#respond Tue, 18 Feb 2020 17:28:22 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=40735 For we hold that the man who is truly good and wise will bear with dignity whatever fortune sends, and will always make the best of his circumstances, as a good general will turn the forces at his command to the best account, and a good shoemaker will make the best shoe that can be made out of a given piece of leather, and so on with all other crafts.

  [τὸν γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἀγαθὸν καὶ ἔμφρονα πάσας οἰόμεθα τὰς τύχας εὐσχημόνως φέρειν καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ἀεὶ τὰ κάλλιστα πράττειν, καθάπερ καὶ στρατηγὸν ἀγαθὸν τῷ παρόντι στρατοπέδῳ χρῆσθαι πολεμικώτατα καὶ σκυτοτόμον ἐκ τῶν δοθέντων σκυτῶν κάλλιστον ὑπόδημα ποιεῖν: τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τεχνίτας ἅπαντας.]

  
  Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher
  Nicomachean Ethics [Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια], Book 1, ch. 10, sec. 13 (1.10.13) / 1101a.1-6 (c. 325 BC) [tr. Peters (1893)]
      (Source)
  
  (Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:
  
  

  For the man who is truly good and sensible bears all fortunes, we presume, becomingly, and always does what is noblest under the circumstances, just as a good general employs to the best advantage the force he has with him; or a good shoemaker makes the handsomest shoe he can out of the leather which has been given him; and all other good artisans likewise.
  [tr. Chase (1847), ch. 8]

  
  

  For we hold that the really good and prudent man will bear all changes of fortune with good grace, and will always, as the case may allow, act most nobly; exactly as a good general will use such forces as are at his disposal most skilfully, and even as a good cobbler will, out of such leather as he may have, make the most perfect show; and of all those who practice any other art the same rule will hold good.
  [tr. Williams (1869), sec. 17]

  
  

  For our conception of the truly good and sensible man is that he bears all the chances of life with decorum and always does what is noblest in the circumstances, as a good general uses the forces at his command to the best advantage in war, a good cobbler makes the best shoe with the leather that is given him, and so on through the whole series of the arts.
  [tr. Welldon (1892)]

  
  

  For the man who is truly good and wise, we think, bears all the chances life becomingly and always makes the best of circumstances, as a good general makes the best military use of the army at his command and a good shoemaker makes the best shoes out of the hides that are given him; and so with all other craftsmen.
  [tr. Ross (1908)]

  
  

  We hold that the truly good and wise man will bear all kinds of fortune in a seemly way, and will always act in the noblest manner that the circumstances allow; even as a good general makes the most effective use of the forces at his disposal, and a good shoemaker makes the finest shoe possible out of the leather supplied him, and so on with all the other crafts and professions.
  [tr. Rackham (1934)]

  
  

  For a truly good and practically-wise person, we think, will bear what luck brings graciously, and, making use of the resources at hand, will always do the noblest actions, just as a good general makes the best uses in warfare of the army he has and a good shoemaker makes the best shoes out of the hides he has been given, and the same with all other craftsmen.
  [tr. Reeve (1948)]

  
  

  For we hold that a truly good and sensible man will bear all fortunes of life with propriety and will always act most nobly under whatever the given circumstances may be, like a good general, who uses a given army most effectively, or a good shoemaker, who makes the best shoes out of a given leather, and likewise with any artist.
  [tr. Apostle (1975)]

  
  

  For we believe that the truly good and wise man bears all his fortunes with dignity, and always takes the most honorable course that circumstances permit, just as a good general uses his available forces in the most militarily effective way, and a good shoemaker makes the neatest shoe out of the leather supplied to him, and the same with all the other kinds of craftsmen.
  [tr. Thomson/Tredennick (1976)]

  
  

  For a truly good and intelligent person, we suppose, will bear strokes of fortune suitably, and from his resources at any time will do the finest action, just as a good general will make best use of his forces in war, and a good shoemaker will produce the finest shoe from the hides given him, and similarly for all other craftsmen.
  [tr. Irwin/Fine (1995)]

  
  

  For the truly good and wise person, we believe, bears all the fortunes of life with dignity and always does the noblest thing in the circumstances, as a good general does the most strategically appropriate thing with the army at his disposal, and a shoemaker makes the noblest shoe out of the leather he is given, and so on with other practitioners of skills.
  [tr. Crisp (2000)]

  
  

  For we suppose that someone who is truly good and sensible bears up under all fortunes in a becoming way and always does what is noblest given the circumstances, just as a good general makes use, with the greatest military skill, of the army he has and a shoemaker makes the most beautiful shoe out of the leather given him. It holds in the same manner with all the other experts as well.
  [tr. Bartlett/Collins (2011)]

  
  ]]> https://wist.info/aristotle/40735/feed/ 0 40735 https://wist.info/coelho-paulo/40496/ https://wist.info/coelho-paulo/40496/#respond Mon, 03 Feb 2020 21:36:27 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=40496 It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
  
  Paulo Coelho (b. 1947) Brazilian spiritual writer
  The Alchemist, ch. 1 (1988)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/coelho-paulo/40496/feed/ 0 40496 https://wist.info/flaubert-gustave/40382/ https://wist.info/flaubert-gustave/40382/#respond Thu, 30 Jan 2020 18:42:53 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=40382 Nothing is more humiliating than seeing fools succeed where one has failed.

  [Rien n’est humiliant comme de voir les sots réussir dans les entreprises où l’on échoue.]

  

  
  Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) French writer, novelist
  Sentimental Education, Part 1, ch. 5 (1869) [tr. Baldick (1964)/Wall (2004)]
      (Source)
  
  Alt. trans.:
  • "Nothing is more humiliating than to see idiots succeed in enterprises we have failed in."
  • "There is nothing so humiliating to see as blockheads succeed in undertakings in which we ourselves fail." [Ranout ed. (1922)]
  • "There is nothing so humiliating as to see blockheads succeed in undertakings in which we fail." [tr. Bouvard ed. rev. (2003)]
  ]]> https://wist.info/flaubert-gustave/40382/feed/ 0 40382 https://wist.info/hepburn-audrey/40196/ https://wist.info/hepburn-audrey/40196/#respond Tue, 21 Jan 2020 18:31:13 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=40196 Success is like reaching an important birthday and finding you’re exactly the same.
  
  Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) Belgian-English actress
  Quoted in Yann-Brice Dherbier and Pierre-Henri Verlhac, Audrey Hepburn : A Life in Pictures (2007) ]]> https://wist.info/hepburn-audrey/40196/feed/ 0 40196 https://wist.info/lewis-cs/39722/ https://wist.info/lewis-cs/39722/#respond Fri, 20 Sep 2019 22:00:24 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=39722 There is always some peace in having submitted to the right. Don’t spoil it by worrying about the results, if you can help it. It is not your business to succeed (no one can be sure of that) but to do right: when you have done so, the rest lies with God ….

  

  
  C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
  Letter to Arthur Greeves, Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Vol. 2: 1931-1949 (2004)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/lewis-cs/39722/feed/ 0 39722 https://wist.info/billings-josh/39439/ https://wist.info/billings-josh/39439/#respond Sun, 05 May 2019 22:17:18 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=39439 Success don’t konsist in never making blunders, but in never making the same one the seckond time.

  [Success doesn’t consist in never making blunders, but in never making the same one the second time.]

  
  Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
  Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, “Molassis Kandy” (1874)
      (Source)
  
  More discussion of this quotation here. ]]> https://wist.info/billings-josh/39439/feed/ 0 39439 https://wist.info/machen-arthur/39255/ https://wist.info/machen-arthur/39255/#respond Sun, 27 Jan 2019 06:35:42 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=39255 It was better, he thought, to fail in attempting exquisite things than to succeed in the department of the utterly contemptible.

  

  
  Arthur Machen (1863-1947) Welsh author and mystic
  The Hill of Dreams, ch. 5 (1907)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/machen-arthur/39255/feed/ 0 39255 https://wist.info/de-botton-alain/39044/ https://wist.info/de-botton-alain/39044/#respond Fri, 04 Jan 2019 04:20:54 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=39044 In reality, the likelihood of reaching the pinnacle of capitalist society today is only marginally better than were the chances of being accepted into the French nobility four centuries ago, though at least an aristocratic age was franker, and therefore kinder, about the odds. It did not relentlessly play up the possibilities open to all, … and so, in turn, did not cruelly equate an ordinary life with a failed one.
  
  Alain de Botton (b. 1969) Swiss-British author
  The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, ch. 9 “Entrepreneurship” (2009)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/de-botton-alain/39044/feed/ 0 39044 https://wist.info/wooden-john/38979/ https://wist.info/wooden-john/38979/#respond Wed, 21 Nov 2018 21:19:39 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=38979 The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.

  

  
  John Wooden (1910-2010) American basketball player and coach
  They Call Me Coach, ch. 25, epigraph (1972)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/wooden-john/38979/feed/ 0 38979 https://wist.info/gourmont-remy-de/38592/ https://wist.info/gourmont-remy-de/38592/#respond Mon, 09 Apr 2018 16:39:33 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=38592 Man is a successful animal, that’s all.
  
  Remy de Gourmont (1858-1915) French poet, novelist, critic
  Promenades Philosophiques (1908)
  
  Alt. trans.: "Man is merely a successful animal." ]]> https://wist.info/gourmont-remy-de/38592/feed/ 0 38592 https://wist.info/swetchine-anne-sophie/38340/ https://wist.info/swetchine-anne-sophie/38340/#respond Wed, 13 Dec 2017 00:39:52 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=38340 How easy it is to be amiable in the midst of happiness and success!
  
  Anne Sophie Swetchine (1782-1857) Russian-French author and salonist [Madame Swetchine]
  Life and Letters of Madam Swetchine, ch. 5 [8th ed., 1875] (ed. de Falloux; tr. Preston]
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/swetchine-anne-sophie/38340/feed/ 0 38340 https://wist.info/machiavelli-niccolo/38324/ https://wist.info/machiavelli-niccolo/38324/#respond Thu, 07 Dec 2017 00:11:48 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=38324 Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them; and in the actions of all men, and especially of princes, which it is not prudent to challenge, one judges by the result. For that reason, let a prince have the credit of conquering and holding his state, the means will always be considered honest, and he will be praised by everybody because the vulgar are always taken by what a thing seems to be and by what comes of it.
  
  Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist
  The Prince, ch. 18 (1513) [tr. Marriott (1908)]
      (Source)
  
  Origin of the paraphrase "The ends justify the means," which is generally attributed to Machiavelli. ]]> https://wist.info/machiavelli-niccolo/38324/feed/ 0 38324 https://wist.info/rucka-greg/38062/ https://wist.info/rucka-greg/38062/#respond Thu, 12 Oct 2017 16:01:54 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=38062 I’m not sure why it happened, and I’m not certain at all when it happened, but at some point, wanting a happy ending became uncool. Maybe it’s the relentless (and again, highly flawed) criticism that “such things aren’t realistic.” To which my response is, so the fuck what? It’s call fiction. If you want real, step outside.
  
  Greg Rucka (b. 1969) American comic book writer and novelist
  Lazarus: X+66 #3, letter column (Sep 2017) ]]> https://wist.info/rucka-greg/38062/feed/ 0 38062 https://wist.info/wordsworth-william/37585/ https://wist.info/wordsworth-william/37585/#respond Fri, 21 Jul 2017 20:40:26 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37585 … a noble aim,
  Faithfully kept, is as a noble deed,
  In whose pure sight all virtue doth succeed.
  
  William Wordsworth (1770-1850) English poet
  “Brave Schill! By Death Delivered, Take Thy Flight” (1809; pub. 1815)
      (Source)
  
  Sometimes misquoted "is a noble deed". ]]> https://wist.info/wordsworth-william/37585/feed/ 0 37585 https://wist.info/kipling-rudyard/37364/ https://wist.info/kipling-rudyard/37364/#respond Mon, 03 Jul 2017 21:38:57 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37364 If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
  And treat those two impostors just the same ….
  
  Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) English writer
  “If–” st. 2 (1910)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/kipling-rudyard/37364/feed/ 0 37364 https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/37199/ https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/37199/#respond Mon, 12 Jun 2017 17:18:50 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37199 Man can climb to the highest summits; but he cannot dwell there long.

  

  
  George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish playwright and critic
  Candida, Act 3 (1898)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/shaw-george-bernard/37199/feed/ 0 37199 https://wist.info/broun-heywood/37129/ https://wist.info/broun-heywood/37129/#respond Wed, 31 May 2017 17:50:17 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37129 The tragedy of life is not that man loses, but that he almost wins.

  

  
  Heywood Broun (1888-1939) American journalist, author
  “Sport for Art’s Sake,” Vanity Fair (Sep 1921)
      (Source)
  
  Reprinted in Pieces of Hate, and Other Enthusiasms (1922). ]]> https://wist.info/broun-heywood/37129/feed/ 0 37129 https://wist.info/barrie-james/37064/ https://wist.info/barrie-james/37064/#respond Wed, 24 May 2017 17:43:08 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37064 SIR HARRY: Ambition — it is the last infirmity of noble minds.
  
  J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
  The Twelve-Pound Look (1910) ]]> https://wist.info/barrie-james/37064/feed/ 0 37064 https://wist.info/longfellow-henry-wadsworth/37040/ https://wist.info/longfellow-henry-wadsworth/37040/#respond Wed, 24 May 2017 00:04:27 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37040 Not in the clamor of the crowded street,
  Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng,
  But in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.

  

  
  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
  “The Poets,” Atlantic Monthly (Jul 1878)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/longfellow-henry-wadsworth/37040/feed/ 0 37040 https://wist.info/lebowitz-fran/37029/ https://wist.info/lebowitz-fran/37029/#respond Mon, 22 May 2017 16:08:43 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=37029 Your responsibility as a parent is not as great as you might imagine. You need not supply the world with the next conqueror of disease or a major movie star. If your child simply grows up to be someone who does not use the word “collectible” as a noun, you can consider yourself an unqualified success.
  
  Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) American journalist, essayist
  Social Studies, “Parental Guidance” (1981) ]]> https://wist.info/lebowitz-fran/37029/feed/ 0 37029 https://wist.info/kissinger-henry/36909/ https://wist.info/kissinger-henry/36909/#comments Wed, 03 May 2017 03:16:18 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=36909 We fought a military war; our opponents fought a political one. We sought physical attrition; our opponents aimed for our psychological exhaustion. In the process we lost sight of one of the cardinal maxims of guerrilla war: the guerrilla wins if he does not lose. The conventional army loses if it does not win.
  
  Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
  “The Viet Nam Negotiations,” Foreign Affairs (Jan 1969)
      (Source)
  
  Sometimes paraphrased as "A conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla army wins if he does not lose." ]]> https://wist.info/kissinger-henry/36909/feed/ 2 36909 https://wist.info/onassis-jacqueline-kennedy/35970/ https://wist.info/onassis-jacqueline-kennedy/35970/#respond Tue, 17 Jan 2017 22:51:14 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35970 If you bungle raising your children I don’t think whatever else you do well matters very much.
  
  Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994) First Lady of the United States (1961-1963), book editor, celebrity
  Interview with Sander Vanocur, NBC News (1 Oct 1960)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/onassis-jacqueline-kennedy/35970/feed/ 0 35970 https://wist.info/ziglar-zig/35881/ https://wist.info/ziglar-zig/35881/#respond Sat, 31 Dec 2016 01:19:37 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35881 What you get by reaching your goals is not nearly so important as what you become by reaching them.

  

  
  Hilary Hinton "Zig" Ziglar (1926-2012) American author, salesperson, motivational speaker
  Biscuits, Fleas, and Pump Handles (1974)
  
  Ziglar used multiple variations of this phrase. Also attributed to Goethe and Thoreau. For more discussion see here. ]]> https://wist.info/ziglar-zig/35881/feed/ 0 35881 https://wist.info/adams-john/35854/ https://wist.info/adams-john/35854/#respond Thu, 29 Dec 2016 00:47:08 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35854 We cannot insure Success, but We can deserve it.

  

  
  John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
  Letter (1776-08-18) to Abigail Adams
      (Source)
  
  Perhaps after Addison (1713). ]]> https://wist.info/adams-john/35854/feed/ 0 35854 https://wist.info/adams-john/35775/ https://wist.info/adams-john/35775/#respond Thu, 15 Dec 2016 06:04:57 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35775 The only thing most people do better than anyone else is read their own handwriting.
  
  John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
  (Attributed) ]]> https://wist.info/adams-john/35775/feed/ 0 35775 https://wist.info/zinn-howard/35668/ https://wist.info/zinn-howard/35668/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2016 05:33:08 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35668 An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
  And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

  

  
  Howard Zinn (1922-2010) American historian, academic, author, social activist
  Essay (2004-09-02), “The Optimism of Uncertainty,” The Nation
      (Source)
  
  Adopted from Zinn's essay of the same name in Paul Loeb (ed.), The Impossible Will Take a Little While (2004). See also Zinn, "A Marvelous Victory" (2004-02-23). ]]> https://wist.info/zinn-howard/35668/feed/ 1 35668 https://wist.info/talmud/35632/ https://wist.info/talmud/35632/#respond Tue, 22 Nov 2016 06:16:36 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35632 It is not yours to finish the task, but neither are you free to set it aside.

  לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה.

  

  
  The Talmud (AD 200-500) Collection of Jewish rabbinical writings
  Mishnah, Pirkei Avot [Ethics of the Fathers; פִּרְקֵי אָבוֹת] 2:16
      (Source)
  
  In some editions cited as 2:15 or 2:21. Many of the references below ("E.g.") have no identified translator, nor is it clear whether the translations are from the surrounding writers or borrowed from elsewhere.
  
  Quoting Rabbi Tarfon (c. AD 130). While literally speaking of studying the Torah, the passage is usually understood to imply solving the problems of the world.
  
  (Source (Hebrew)). Other translations:
  
  

  It is not for thee to finish the work, nor art thou free to desist therefrom.
  [tr. Taylor (1897)]

  
  

  It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to desist from it.
  [tr. Charles (1913); 2:21]

  
  

  The work is not upon thee to finish nor art thou free to desist from it.
  [tr. Herford (1929); 2:21]

  
  

  It is not thy part to finish the task, yet thou art not free to desist from it.
  [tr. Danby (1933)]

  
  

  It is not up to you to complete the work; but neither are you free to desist from it.
  [tr. Bokser (1989)]

  
  

  It is not your responsibility to finish the work [of perfecting the world], but you are not free to desist from it either.
  [tr. Telushkin (1991)?]

  
  

  It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.
  [tr. Kulp (2014?)]

  
  

  The work is not yours to complete. [The Holy One Blessed be He did not hire you to complete all of it, in which instance you would lose your wage if you did not complete it.] And [lest you say: (In that case,) I will not learn and I will not take a wage] — you are not free to abstain from it. [Perforce the yoke is upon you to labor.]
  [tr. Silverstein (2013?)]

  
  

  It is not [incumbent] upon thee to finish the work, but neither art thou a free man so as to [be entitled to] refrain therefrom.
  [Wikisource]

  
  

  It is not your responsibility to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.
  [tr. Open Mishnah]

  
  

  It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.
  [E.g.]

  
  

  It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task, but neither are you free to absolve yourself from it.
  [E.g.]

  
  

  It is not up to you to finish the task, but you are not free to avoid it.
  [E.g.]

  
  

  You need not finish the work , but you are not free to stop working.
  [E.g.]

  
  

  Although I am not free to avoid doing the work, it is not always necessary that I finish the task.
  [E.g.]

  
  

  You are not obliged to complete the task, nor are you free to abandon it.
  [E.g.]

  
  

  You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
  [E.g.]

  
  

  It is not your duty to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.
  [E.g.]

  
  

  It is not your obligation to finish the task, nor are you free to desist from it.
  [E.g.]

  
  

  It is not yours to finish the task, but neither are you free to desist from it.
  [E.g.]

  
  ]]> https://wist.info/talmud/35632/feed/ 0 35632 https://wist.info/adams-john-quincy/35584/ https://wist.info/adams-john-quincy/35584/#respond Fri, 11 Nov 2016 20:36:06 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=35584 Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.
  
  John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) US President (1825-29)
  Speech, Plymouth (22 Dec 1802)
  
  Sometimes given as "Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish." ]]> https://wist.info/adams-john-quincy/35584/feed/ 0 35584 https://wist.info/gervais-ricky/34491/ https://wist.info/gervais-ricky/34491/#respond Thu, 14 Jul 2016 18:50:32 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=34491 The only route to success is hard work. If you didn’t work hard I don’t think it counts as success.
  
  Ricky Gervais (b. 1961) English comedian, actor, director, writer
  Twitter (27 Nov 2012)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/gervais-ricky/34491/feed/ 0 34491 https://wist.info/quarles-francis/33913/ https://wist.info/quarles-francis/33913/#respond Tue, 24 May 2016 13:46:40 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=33913 The way to bliss lies not on beds of down,
  And he that has no cross deserves no crown.
  
  Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English poet
  Esther, Sec. 9, Meditation 9 (1621) ]]> https://wist.info/quarles-francis/33913/feed/ 0 33913 https://wist.info/hanson-erin/33533/ https://wist.info/hanson-erin/33533/#respond Wed, 04 May 2016 14:42:10 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=33533 There is freedom waiting for you,
  On the breezes of the sky,
  And you ask “What if I fall?”
  Oh but my darling,
  What if you fly?
  
  Erin Hanson (b. 1996) Australian poet
  “There is freedom waiting for you”
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/hanson-erin/33533/feed/ 0 33533 https://wist.info/chandler-raymond/33384/ https://wist.info/chandler-raymond/33384/#respond Thu, 21 Apr 2016 14:26:43 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=33384 If my books had been any worse, I should not have been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better, I should not have come.
  
  Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) American novelist
  Atlantic Monthly (12 Dec 1945) ]]> https://wist.info/chandler-raymond/33384/feed/ 0 33384 https://wist.info/bell-alexander-graham/33382/ https://wist.info/bell-alexander-graham/33382/#respond Thu, 21 Apr 2016 14:22:42 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=33382 The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion. That intellectuality is more vigorous that has attained its strength gradually. It is the man who carefully advances step by step, with his mind becoming wider and wider — and progressively better able to grasp any theme or situation — persevering in what he knows to be practical, and concentrating his thought upon it, who is bound to succeed in the greatest degree.
  
  Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) Scottish-American scientist, inventor, engineer
  Interview, in Orison Swett Marden, How They Succeeded, ch. 2 (1901)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/bell-alexander-graham/33382/feed/ 0 33382 https://wist.info/keynes-john-maynard/33209/ https://wist.info/keynes-john-maynard/33209/#respond Wed, 06 Apr 2016 14:53:47 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=33209 The engine which drives Enterprise is not Thrift, but Profit.
  
  John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) English economist
  The Treatise on Money (1930) ]]> https://wist.info/keynes-john-maynard/33209/feed/ 0 33209 https://wist.info/roux-joseph/33182/ https://wist.info/roux-joseph/33182/#respond Mon, 04 Apr 2016 12:56:42 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=33182 It is a very rare thing for a man of talent to succeed by his talent.
  
  Joseph Roux (1834-1886) French Catholic priest
  Meditations of a Parish Priest: Thoughts, Part 4, #88 (1886)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/roux-joseph/33182/feed/ 0 33182 https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/32856/ https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/32856/#respond Wed, 02 Mar 2016 15:40:35 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=32856 He that succeeds in the world loves it. He that fails in it hates it.
  
  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
  Journal (1831) ]]> https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/32856/feed/ 0 32856 https://wist.info/einstein-albert/32316/ https://wist.info/einstein-albert/32316/#respond Tue, 26 Jan 2016 17:16:44 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=32316 If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.
  
  Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
  Speech, French Philosophical Society, Paris (6 Apr 1922) ]]> https://wist.info/einstein-albert/32316/feed/ 0 32316 https://wist.info/washington-booker-t/31768/ https://wist.info/washington-booker-t/31768/#respond Tue, 08 Dec 2015 14:26:05 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=31768 I would permit no man, no matter what his colour might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.
  
  Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) American educator, writer
  Up from Slavery, ch. 11 (1901)
      (Source)
  
  This has been paraphrased in various ways, and is the source of Martin Luther King, Jr's quote he attributed to Washington: "Let no man pull you so low as to make you hate him" (e.g., Stride Toward Freedom, ch. 6 (1958)). King used this or variants of this paraphrase frequently in his speeches, though it was only in his early activism that he referenced Washington by name. ]]> https://wist.info/washington-booker-t/31768/feed/ 0 31768 https://wist.info/richardson-james/31083/ https://wist.info/richardson-james/31083/#respond Fri, 16 Oct 2015 13:00:35 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=31083 Every life is allocated one hundred seconds of genius. They might be enough, if we could just be sure which ones they are.
  
  James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
  Vectors: Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays (2001) ]]> https://wist.info/richardson-james/31083/feed/ 0 31083 https://wist.info/kissinger-henry/30977/ https://wist.info/kissinger-henry/30977/#respond Fri, 09 Oct 2015 16:45:23 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=30977 The political leaders with whom we are familiar generally aspire to be superstars rather than heroes. The distinction is crucial. Superstars strive for approbation; heroes walk alone. Superstars crave consensus; heroes define themselves by the judgment of a future they see it as their task to bring about. Superstars seek success in a technique for eliciting support; heroes pursue success as the outgrowth of their inner values.
  
  Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
  “With Faint Praise,” New York Times Book Review (16 Jul 1995) ]]> https://wist.info/kissinger-henry/30977/feed/ 0 30977 https://wist.info/ford-gerald-r/30388/ https://wist.info/ford-gerald-r/30388/#respond Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:17:16 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=30388 The pat on the back, the arm around the shoulder, the praise for what was done right, and the sympathetic nod for what wasn’t, are as much a part of golf as life itself.
  
  Gerald R. Ford (1913-2006) American politician, US President (1974-77) [b. Leslie Lynch King, Jr.]
  Speech, Dedication of the World Golf Hall of Fame, Pinehurst, North Carolina (12 Sep 1974) ]]> https://wist.info/ford-gerald-r/30388/feed/ 0 30388 https://wist.info/kettering-charles/30090/ https://wist.info/kettering-charles/30090/#respond Fri, 31 Jul 2015 14:35:09 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=30090 [T]he more education a man has, the less likely he is to invent new things. Possibly this is because from the moment the boy or girl starts in school he or she is examined three or four times a year and a failure or two and he or she is out. Now because an inventor works differently, he thinks that’s all wrong. He knows he’ll never go far on any problem before he strikes snags. He may flunk 999 times but if on his 1,000th try he succeeds, he wins! The only time you don’t want to fail is the last time you try a thing.
  
  Charles F. Kettering (1876-1958) American inventor, engineer, researcher, businessman
  Essay (1952-01), “Don’t Be Afraid to Stumble,” The Rotarian, Vol. 80, No. 1
      (Source)
  
  Kettering, who was R&D Director at General Motors for many years, constantly emphasized the need for experimentation and, by definition, learning from experimental failures. He had a number of aphorisms and passages that were repeated by him on various speaking occasions, or quoted / paraphrased from him by others, particularly the last line above.
  
  In T. A. Boyd's biography of Kettering, Professional Amateur, Part 3, ch. 20 (1957), we have:
  
  

  It therefore seems that the only factor which needs to be corrected is to teach a highly educated person that it is not a disgrace to fail and he must analyze every failure to find its cause. We paraphrase this by saying, "You must learn how to fail intelligently." [...] For failing is one of the greatest arts in the world. [...] Once you've failed, analyze the problem and find out why, because each failure is one more step leading up to the cathedral of success. The only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try.

  
  Here is this similar passage attributed to Kettering from a page blurb, "Don't Be Afraid to Stumble," Supervisory Management magazine, Vol. 2, No. 7 (1957-06):
  
  

  We need to teach the intelligent person that it is not a disgrace to fail and that he must analyze every failure to find its cause. He must learn how to fail intelligently, for failing is one of the greatest arts in the world. Once you've failed, analyze the problem and find out why, because each failure is one more step leading to success. The only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try.

  
  The shorter the phrase, the more likely it is to be quoted on its own, e.g.:
  
  

  The only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try.
   

  
  Which can be found in:
  
  
  • T. A. Boyd, Research, ch. 22 "Persistance" (1935).
  • Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Journal, Vol 42, No. 2 (1938-02), covering the Detroit SAE Annual Meeting (1938-01-10 to 14).
  Other variants that can be found:
  • "The only time you mustn't fail is the last time you try."
  • "The only time you can't afford to fail is the last time you try."
  • "The only time you don't fail is the last time you try something, and it works."
  ]]> https://wist.info/kettering-charles/30090/feed/ 0 30090 https://wist.info/churchill-charles/30020/ https://wist.info/churchill-charles/30020/#respond Fri, 24 Jul 2015 16:12:57 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=30020 If you mean to profit, learn to please.
  
  Charles Churchill (1732-1764) English poet and satirist
  Gotham, 2.1.8 (1764) ]]> https://wist.info/churchill-charles/30020/feed/ 0 30020 https://wist.info/montgomery-b-l/29840/ https://wist.info/montgomery-b-l/29840/#respond Tue, 07 Jul 2015 12:45:49 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=29840 [The commander] must always think and plan two battles ahead — the one he is prepared to fight and the next one — so that the success gained in one battle can be used as a springboard for the next.
  
  Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976) British military leader
  The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Montgomery, ch. 6 (1958) ]]> https://wist.info/montgomery-b-l/29840/feed/ 0 29840 https://wist.info/kettering-charles/29648/ https://wist.info/kettering-charles/29648/#respond Fri, 12 Jun 2015 11:55:14 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=29648 Every great improvement has come after repeated failures. Virtually nothing comes out right the first time. Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success.
  
  Charles F. Kettering (1876-1958) American inventor, engineer, researcher, businessman
  (Attributed)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/kettering-charles/29648/feed/ 0 29648 https://wist.info/longfellow-henry-wadsworth/29030/ https://wist.info/longfellow-henry-wadsworth/29030/#respond Wed, 15 Apr 2015 12:10:40 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=29030 Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions.
  
  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
  “Table Talk,” Drift-Wood (1857)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/longfellow-henry-wadsworth/29030/feed/ 0 29030 https://wist.info/king-billie-jean/28868/ https://wist.info/king-billie-jean/28868/#respond Thu, 02 Apr 2015 12:53:07 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28868 The trouble with being number one in the world — at anything — is that it takes a certain mentality to attain that position in the first place, and that is something of a driving, perfectionist attitude, so that once you do achieve number one, you don’t relax and enjoy it.
  
  Billie Jean King (b. 1943) American tennis player
  Billie Jean (1982) ]]> https://wist.info/king-billie-jean/28868/feed/ 0 28868 https://wist.info/byron/28707/ https://wist.info/byron/28707/#respond Wed, 18 Mar 2015 15:44:06 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28707 You have deeply ventured;
  But all must do so who would greatly win.
  
  George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
  Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice, Act 1, sc. 1 [Doge] (1821)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/byron/28707/feed/ 0 28707 https://wist.info/keller-helen-adams/28609/ https://wist.info/keller-helen-adams/28609/#respond Mon, 16 Mar 2015 12:00:45 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28609 Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.
  
  Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
  “Optimism” (1903)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/keller-helen-adams/28609/feed/ 0 28609 https://wist.info/kissinger-henry/28599/ https://wist.info/kissinger-henry/28599/#respond Fri, 13 Mar 2015 12:45:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28599 Creativity is constantly in danger of being destroyed by success. The more effectively the environment is mastered, the greater is the temptation to rest on one’s oars.
  
  Henry Kissinger (1923-2024) German-American diplomat
  The Necessity for Choice: Prospects of American Foreign Policy, 8.3 (1961) ]]> https://wist.info/kissinger-henry/28599/feed/ 0 28599 https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/28523/ https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/28523/#respond Fri, 06 Mar 2015 15:52:30 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28523 Perhaps we need, for worldly success, virtues which make us loved and vices which make us feared.

  [Peut-être, pour les succès du monde, faut-il des vertus qui fassent aimer, et des défauts qui fassent craindre.]

  
  Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
  Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 9 “De la Sagesse, de la Vertu, etc. [On Wisdom and Virtue],” ¶ 26 (1850 ed.) [tr. Collins (1928), ch. 8]
      (Source)
  
  (Source (French)). Alternate translations:
  
  

  Perhaps, for worldly success, we ought to have virtues that make us beloved, and faults that make us feared.
  [tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 8, ¶ 21]

  
  ]]> https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/28523/feed/ 0 28523 https://wist.info/stanley-bessie-a/28428/ https://wist.info/stanley-bessie-a/28428/#respond Fri, 27 Feb 2015 13:03:39 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28428 He achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much;
  Who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children;
  Who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;
  Who has never lacked appreciation of Earth’s beauty or failed to express it;
  Who has left the world better than he found it,
  Whether an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul;
  Who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had;
  Whose life was an inspiration;
  Whose memory a benediction.
  
  Elisabeth-Anne "Bessie" Anderson Stanley (1879–1952) American poet
  “Success” (1905)
  
  The essay was written for a poetry contest to answer the question "What is success?" in 100 words or less. It (especially the first 13 words) is often misattributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, or Elbert Hubbard (the latter probably because the essay appeared in an advertisment in his series of books Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Lovers (e.g.).
  
  More information: Bessie Anderson Stanley - Wikipedia. ]]> https://wist.info/stanley-bessie-a/28428/feed/ 0 28428 https://wist.info/hubbard-elbert-green/28379/ https://wist.info/hubbard-elbert-green/28379/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2015 17:34:13 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28379 Success is ten percent opportunity and ninety percent intelligent hustle.
  
  Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
  An American Bible [ed. Alice Hubbard] (1918) ]]> https://wist.info/hubbard-elbert-green/28379/feed/ 0 28379 https://wist.info/hubbard-elbert-green/28255/ https://wist.info/hubbard-elbert-green/28255/#respond Fri, 06 Feb 2015 13:11:32 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28255 There is no such thing as success in a bad business.
  
  Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
  The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927) [ed. Elbert Hubbard II] ]]> https://wist.info/hubbard-elbert-green/28255/feed/ 0 28255 https://wist.info/horace/28181/ https://wist.info/horace/28181/#respond Fri, 30 Jan 2015 13:32:49 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28181 A man who gets too happy when prosperity comes
  trembles when it goes.

  [Quem res plus nimio delectavere secundae,
  mutatae quatient.]

  
  Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
  Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 10 “To Aristius Fuscus,” l. 30ff (1.10.30-31) (20 BC) [tr. Fuchs (1977)]
      (Source)
  
  (Source (Latin)). Other translations:
  
  

  Who so was to much ravished and to much joy did take
  In flow of wealth, him chaunge of flow yea to much shall yshake.
  [tr. Drant (1567)]

  
  

  Him, whom a prosp'rous State did too much please;
  Chang'd, it will shake.
  [tr. Fanshawe; ed. Brome (1666)]

  
  

  Those whom the smiles of Fate too much delight,
  Their sudden Frowns more shake and more affright.
  [tr. Creech (1684)]

  
  

  They who in Fortune's smiles too much delight,
  Shall tremble when the goddess takes her flight.
  [tr. Francis (1747)]

  
  

  Who prizes fortune at too high a rate,
  Will shrink with horror at an alter'd state.
  [tr. Howes (1845)]

  
  

  He who has been overjoyed by prosperity, will be shocked by a change of circumstances.
  [tr. Smart/Buckley (1853)]

  
  

  Take too much pleasure in good things, you'll feel
  The shock of adverse fortune makes you reel.
  [tr. Conington (1874)]

  
  

  Whoe'er hath wildly wantoned in success.
  Him will adversity the more depress.
  [tr. Martin (1881)]

  
  

  Him whom prosperity too much elates adversity will shake.
  [tr. Elgood (1893)]

  
  

  One whom Fortune's smiles have delighted overmuch, will reel under the shock of change.
  [tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]

  
  

  One overmuch elated with success
  A change of fortune plunges in distress.
  [tr. A. F. Murison (1931)]

  
  

  One whom a favorable turn of events overjoys
  A change for the worse undermines.
  [tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]

  
  

  If Fortune’s been kind
  -- Too kind! -- loss will seem more than loss, will seem
  Catastrophe.
  [tr. Raffel (1983)]

  
  

  Change will upset the man who's always been lucky.
  [tr. Ferry (2001)]

  
  

  Those who are overjoyed when the breeze of luck is behind them
  are wrecked when it changes.
  [tr. Rudd (2005 ed.)]

  
  

  Those who’ve been quick to enjoy a following wind,
  Are wrecked when it veers.
  [tr. Kline (2015)]

  
  ]]> https://wist.info/horace/28181/feed/ 0 28181 https://wist.info/tagore-rabindranath/28074/ https://wist.info/tagore-rabindranath/28074/#respond Tue, 20 Jan 2015 13:34:03 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28074 When we watch a child trying to walk, we see its countless failures; its success are but few. If we had to limit our observation within a narrow space of time, the sight would be cruel. But we find that in spite of its repeated failures, there is an impetus of joy in the child which sustains it in its seemingly impossible task. We see it does not think of its falls so much as of its power to keep its balance though for only a moment.
  
  Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
  Sadhana: The Realization of Life, ch. 3 (1913)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/tagore-rabindranath/28074/feed/ 0 28074 https://wist.info/brewster-kingman/28036/ https://wist.info/brewster-kingman/28036/#respond Mon, 19 Jan 2015 14:25:24 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28036 There is no greater challenge than to have someone relying upon you; no greater satisfaction than to vindicate his expectation.
  
  Kingman Brewster, Jr. (1919-1988) American educator, diplomat
  Baccalaureate address, Yale (12 Jun 1966) ]]> https://wist.info/brewster-kingman/28036/feed/ 0 28036 https://wist.info/holmes-jr-oliver-wendell/28008/ https://wist.info/holmes-jr-oliver-wendell/28008/#respond Fri, 16 Jan 2015 13:22:04 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=28008 Young man, the secret of my success is that at an early age I discovered I was not God.
  
  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935) American jurist, Supreme Court Justice
  Comment (8 Mar 1931)
  
  When asked by a reporter on his 90th birthday. ]]> https://wist.info/holmes-jr-oliver-wendell/28008/feed/ 0 28008 https://wist.info/johnson-samuel/27949/ https://wist.info/johnson-samuel/27949/#respond Tue, 13 Jan 2015 14:48:20 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27949 Talking of the danger of being mortified by rejection, when making approaches to the acquaintance of the great, I observed, “I am, however, generally for trying, ‘Nothing venture, nothing have.'” JOHNSON. “Very true, sir; but I have always been more afraid of failing, than hopeful of success.”
  
  Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
  Comment (22 Sep 1777)
      (Source)
  
  In Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) See Heywood. ]]> https://wist.info/johnson-samuel/27949/feed/ 0 27949 https://wist.info/de-gaulle-charles/27897/ https://wist.info/de-gaulle-charles/27897/#respond Tue, 06 Jan 2015 13:49:25 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27897 Success contains within it the germs of failure, and the reverse is also true.
  
  Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) French statesman and soldier
  In C. L. Sulzberger, “Foreign Affairs: The Last Giant,” New York Times (30 Apr 1969) ]]> https://wist.info/de-gaulle-charles/27897/feed/ 0 27897 https://wist.info/xerxes/27846/ https://wist.info/xerxes/27846/#respond Tue, 30 Dec 2014 17:28:37 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27846 Success for the most part attends those who act boldly, not those who weigh everything, and are slow to venture.
  
  Xerxes I (519-465 BC) King the Achaemenid Empire of Persia [Xerxes the Great]
  In Herodotus, The Persian Wars, 7.50 [tr. Rawlinson (1942)] ]]> https://wist.info/xerxes/27846/feed/ 0 27846 https://wist.info/hazlitt-william/27822/ https://wist.info/hazlitt-william/27822/#respond Fri, 26 Dec 2014 17:28:41 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27822 In love, in war, in conversation, in business, confidence and resolution are the principal things.
  
  William Hazlitt (1778-1830) English writer
  Table Talk, “On the Qualifications Necessary to Success in Life” (1822) ]]> https://wist.info/hazlitt-william/27822/feed/ 0 27822 https://wist.info/franklin-benjamin/27799/ https://wist.info/franklin-benjamin/27799/#respond Fri, 19 Dec 2014 13:26:00 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27799 Success has ruined many a man.
  
  Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
  Poor Richard’s Almanack (Dec 1752) ]]> https://wist.info/franklin-benjamin/27799/feed/ 0 27799 https://wist.info/brooks-thomas/27774/ https://wist.info/brooks-thomas/27774/#respond Wed, 17 Dec 2014 13:46:08 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27774 It is certain that great prosperity and worldly glory are no sure tokens of God’s love.
  
  Thomas Brooks (1608-1680) English Puritan divine, writer
  A Cabinet of Jewels ]]> https://wist.info/brooks-thomas/27774/feed/ 0 27774 https://wist.info/thoreau-henry-david/27766/ https://wist.info/thoreau-henry-david/27766/#respond Tue, 16 Dec 2014 13:05:08 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27766 I have not succeeded if I have an antagonist who fails. It must be humanity’s success.
  
  Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
  Journal (22 Mar 1842) ]]> https://wist.info/thoreau-henry-david/27766/feed/ 0 27766 https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/27742/ https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/27742/#respond Fri, 12 Dec 2014 13:30:56 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27742 Self-trust is the first secret of success.
  
  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
  “Success,” Society and Solitude (1870) ]]> https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/27742/feed/ 0 27742 https://wist.info/hubbard-elbert-green/27701/ https://wist.info/hubbard-elbert-green/27701/#respond Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:46:30 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27701 Complete success alienates a man from his fellows, but suffering makes kinsmen of us all.
  
  Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
  An American Bible [ed. Alice Hubbard] (1918) ]]> https://wist.info/hubbard-elbert-green/27701/feed/ 0 27701 https://wist.info/roosevelt-franklin-delano/27700/ https://wist.info/roosevelt-franklin-delano/27700/#respond Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:44:53 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27700 To accomplish almost anything worthwhile, it is necessary to compromise between the ideal and the practical.
  
  Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
  Quoted in Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen, “How the President Works,” Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 173 (1936-06)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/roosevelt-franklin-delano/27700/feed/ 0 27700 https://wist.info/cantor-eddie/27681/ https://wist.info/cantor-eddie/27681/#respond Fri, 05 Dec 2014 14:47:34 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27681 It took me twenty years to become an overnight success.
  
  Eddie Cantor (1892-1964) American comedian, dancer, singer, actor, songwriter [b. Isidore Itzkowitz]
  (Attributed)
  
  Though most often attributed to Cantor, the phrase is also associated with Danny Thomas and many others. Sometimes given as "It takes twenty years to become an overnight success" (or sometimes ten years). More here. ]]> https://wist.info/cantor-eddie/27681/feed/ 0 27681 https://wist.info/poe-edgar-allan/27637/ https://wist.info/poe-edgar-allan/27637/#respond Tue, 02 Dec 2014 13:08:07 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27637 In looking at the world as it is, we shall find it folly to deny that, to worldly success, a surer path is Villainy than Virtue.
  
  Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) American author, poet, editor, literary critic
  Marginalia, June 1849 (1981) ]]> https://wist.info/poe-edgar-allan/27637/feed/ 0 27637 https://wist.info/eliot-t-s/27593/ https://wist.info/eliot-t-s/27593/#respond Fri, 28 Nov 2014 19:13:33 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27593 Success is relative:
  It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things.
  
  T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) American-British poet, critic, playwright [Thomas Stearns Eliot]
  The Family Reunion, 2.3 (1939) ]]> https://wist.info/eliot-t-s/27593/feed/ 0 27593 https://wist.info/other/27572/ https://wist.info/other/27572/#respond Tue, 25 Nov 2014 13:56:04 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27572 ‘Tis a lesson you should heed,
  Try, try again;
  If at first you don’t succeed,
  Try, try again.
  
  (Other Authors and Sources)
  T. H. Palmer, “Try, Try Again,” The Teacher’s Manual (1840)
      (Source)
  
  Sometimes attributed to Charles Theodore Hart Palmer (1827-1897), but the book is clearly by Thomas H. Palmer, and was published in 1840 when Charles T. H. Palmer was 13 years old. ]]> https://wist.info/other/27572/feed/ 0 27572 https://wist.info/astor-nancy/27543/ https://wist.info/astor-nancy/27543/#respond Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:14:10 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27543 The penalty of success is to be bored by people who used to snub you.
  
  Nancy Astor (1879-1964) American socialite and English politician [Nancy Witcher Langhorne; Viscountess Astor; Lady Astor]
  In the Daily Express (12 Jan 1956) ]]> https://wist.info/astor-nancy/27543/feed/ 0 27543 https://wist.info/napier-william/27508/ https://wist.info/napier-william/27508/#respond Tue, 18 Nov 2014 14:18:28 +0000 Dave http://wist.info/?p=27508 Success in war, like charity in religion, covers a multitude of sins.
  
  William Napier (1785-1860) Irish soldier and military historian
  History of the War in the Peninsula, Vol. 5, Book 25, ch. 2 (1837)
      (Source) ]]> https://wist.info/napier-william/27508/feed/ 0 27508