WIST Quotations

François de Sales -- Treatise on the Love of God, Book 9, ch. 1 [tr. Mackey (1884)]

Dave — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 20:19:04 +0000

Love is the abridgment of all theology.

François de Sales (1567-1622) French bishop, saint, writer [a.k.a. Francis de Sales, b. François de Boisy]
Treatise on the Love of God, Book 9, ch. 1 [tr. Mackey (1884)]
(Source)

Scott-Maxwell, Florida -- The Measure of My Days (1968)

Dave — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 17:08:11 +0000

You need to claim the events of your life to make yourself yours. When you truly possess all that you have been and done, which may take some time, you are fierce with reality. When at last age has assembled you together, will it not be easy to let it all go, lived, balanced, over?

Florida Scott-Maxwell (1883-1979) American-British playwright, author, psychologist
The Measure of My Days (1968)
(Source)

Godard, Jean-Luc -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 20:39:47 +0000

Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.

Jean-Luc Godard (b. 1930) French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, critic
(Attributed)

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey -- “Leaves From a Notebook,” Ponkapog Papers (1903)

Dave — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 20:11:13 +0000

True art selects and paraphrases, but seldom gives a verbatim translation.

Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907) American writer, poet, critic, editor
“Leaves From a Notebook,” Ponkapog Papers (1903)
(Source)

Dick, Philip K. -- “How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later” (1978)

Dave — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 05:05:53 +0000

It was always my hope in writing novels and stories which asked the question, “what is reality?”, to someday get an answer. This was the hope of most of my readers, too. Years passed. I wrote over thirty novels and over a hundred stories and I still couldn’t figure out what was real. One day a girl college student in Canada asked me to define reality for her, for a paper she was writing for her philosophy class. She wanted a one-sentence answer. I thought about it and finally said, “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” That’s all I could come up with. That was back in 1972. Since then I haven’t been able to define reality any more lucidly.

Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) American writer
“How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later” (1978)

Duncan, Sara Jeannette -- The Imperialist (1904)

Dave — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 18:12:17 +0000

If you have anything to tell me of importance, for God’s sake begin at the end.

Sara Jeannette Duncan (1861-1922) Canadian author and journalist
The Imperialist (1904)

Einstein, Albert -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:28:14 +0000

You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
(Attributed)

Alternate versions:

"If you can't explain something to a six-year-old, you really don't understand it yourself."
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."

No source found. The quote is frequently also attributed to Richard Feynman. It is likely based on a similar quote by Ernest Rutherford.

The closest reference to it can be found in Ronald W. Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times (1972):

To de Broglie, Einstein revealed an instinctive reason for his inability to accept the purely statistical interpretation of wave mechanics. It was a reason which linked him with Rutherford, who used to state that "it should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid." Einstein, having a final discussion with de Broglie on the platform of the Gare du Nord in Paris, whence they had traveled from Brussels to attend the Fresnel centenary celebrations, said "that all physical theories, their mathematical expressions apart ought to lend themselves to so simple a description 'that even a child could understand them.'"

More discussion of this quotation here.

Vauvenargues, Luc de -- Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes], #107 (1746) [tr Stevens (1940)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:00:00 +0000

Men’s maxims reveal their characters.

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747) French moralist, essayist, soldier
Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes], #107 (1746) [tr Stevens (1940)]

Alt. trans.: "The maxims of men reveal their hearts."