WIST Quotations

Maggio, Rosalie -- Unspinning the Spin: The Women’s Media Center Guide to Fair and Accurate Language, “Writing Guidelines / Introduction” (2014)

Dave — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 00:53:04 +0000

Language both reflects and shapes society. Culture shapes language and then language shapes culture. Little wonder that the words we use to talk to each other, and about each other, are the most important words in our language: they tell us who I am, they tell us who you are, they tell us who “they” are.

Rosalie Maggio (1944-2021) American writer
Unspinning the Spin: The Women’s Media Center Guide to Fair and Accurate Language, “Writing Guidelines / Introduction” (2014)
(Source)

The first sentence (and much of the groundwork for the overall work) is included in her The Bias-Free Word Finder: A Dictionary of Non-Discriminatory Language, Introduction (1992).

The source link is to the web page that the WMC set up for the book.

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1966)

Dave — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 23:51:16 +0000

In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one equals nothing.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1966)
(Source)

Lakoff, George -- Don’t Think of an Elephant! (2004)

Dave — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 20:36:05 +0000

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)

Kempton, Murray -- “The Genius of Mussolini,” New York Review of Books (7 Oct 1982)

Dave — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 21:44:25 +0000

Every now and then, in the course of great events, the elements of tradition and innovation ally themselves and each one’s weakness supplements the other and together they achieve the perfect debacle.

Murray Kempton (1917-1997) American journalist.
“The Genius of Mussolini,” New York Review of Books (7 Oct 1982)
(Source)

Reprinted in Rebellions, Perversities, and Main Events (1994).

Macaulay, Thomas Babington -- Speech on re-election to Parliament, Edinburgh (2 Nov 1852)

Dave — Tue, 21 Jan 2020 16:39:44 +0000

Let us shun extremes, not only because each extreme is in itself a positive evil, but also because each extreme necessarily engenders its opposite. If we love civil and religious freedom, let us in the day of danger uphold law and order. If we are zealous for law and order, let us prize, as the best safeguard of law and order, civil and religious freedom.

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) English writer and politician
Speech on re-election to Parliament, Edinburgh (2 Nov 1852)
(Source)

Bronowski, Jacob -- Science and Human Values, Part 3: “The Sense of Human Dignity”, §1 (1956)

Dave — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 04:01:49 +0000

No fact in the world is instant, infinitesimal and ultimate, a single mark. There are, I hold, no atomic facts. In the language of science, every fact is a field — a crisscross of implications, those that lead to it and those that lead from it. We condense the laws around concepts. Science takes its coherence, its intellectual and imaginative strength together, from the concepts at which its laws cross, like knots in a mesh.

Jacob Bronowski (1908-1974) Polish-English humanist and mathematician
Science and Human Values, Part 3: “The Sense of Human Dignity”, §1 (1956)

Sallust -- Bellum Catilinae [The War of Catiline; The Conspiracy of Catiline], ch. 1, sent. 5-7 [tr. Rolfe (1931)]

Dave — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 15:33:00 +0000

Yet for a long time mortal men have discussed the question whether success in arms depends more on strength of body or excellence of mind; for before you begin, deliberation is necessary, when you have deliberated, prompt action. Thus each of these, being incomplete of itself, requires the other’s aid.

[Sed diu magnum inter mortalis certamen fuit vine corporis an virtute animi res militaris magis procederet. Nam et prius quam incipias, consulto, et ubi consulueris, mature facto opus est. Ita utrumque per se indigens alterum alterius auxilio eget.]

Sallust (c. 86-35 BC) Roman historian and politician [Gaius Sallustius Crispus]
Bellum Catilinae [The War of Catiline; The Conspiracy of Catiline], ch. 1, sent. 5-7 [tr. Rolfe (1931)]
(Source)

Original Latin. Alt. trans.:

"But a just estimate of our mental and bodily faculties was not easily made. Which of them was most conducive to the success of military operations, was in former times a question much agitated, and long undecided. It is evident, however, that before the undertaking of a warlike enterprise, judgment is required to concert and plan the necessary measures; vigor in execution is equally necessary. The powers of man, in their separate functions feeble and ineffectual, demand each other's aid, and flourish by mutual assistance." [tr. Murphy (1807)]

"It has, however, been a great and long debate, whether success in war is most owing to bodily strength or mental abilities: for, as counsel is necessary before we enter on action, after measures are duly concerted, speedy execution is equally necessary; so that neither of these being sufficient singly, they prevail only by the assistance of each other." [tr. Rose (1831)]

"But there has been for a long time a great debate amongst mortals, whether the science of war advanced more by the strength of body or by the abilities of the mind. For both before you begin there is need of counsel; and when you have counselled, there is need of vigorous execution. So whilst both by themselves are defective, the one is strengthened by the assistance of the other." [Source (1841)]

"Yet it was long a subject of dispute among mankind, whether military efforts were more advanced by strength of body, or by force of intellect. For, in affairs of war, it is necessary to plan before beginning to act, and, after planning, to act with promptitude and vigor. Thus, each being insufficient of itself, the one requires the assistance of the other." [tr. Watson (1867)]

"Not it was long hotly contested among men whether military success was more advanced by mental ability or by bodily strength, for what we need is deliberation before we begin, and after deliberation, then well-timed action; either of itself is deficient and lacks the other's help." [tr. Pollard (1882)]

"Yet for a long time there was considerable dispute amongst mortals as to whether it was through the power of the body or the prowess of the mind that military affairs made greater progress. For, before you begin, deliberation is necessary, and, when you have deliberated, speedy action: hence each element, deficient on its own, requires the help of the other." [tr. Woodman (2007)]

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1840-06/08)

Dave — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 13:06:01 +0000

Let every man shovel out his own snow and the whole city will be passable.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Journal (1840-06/08)

Hugo, Victor -- Ninety-Three [Quatrevingt-Treize], Part 3, Book 7, ch. 5 (1874) [tr. (1962)]

Dave — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:43:30 +0000

To put everything in balance is good, to put everything in harmony is better. Above the scales there’s the lyre.

[Mettre tout en équilibre, c’est bien; mettre tout en harmonie, c’est mieux. Au-dessus de la balance il y a la lyre.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Ninety-Three [Quatrevingt-Treize], Part 3, Book 7, ch. 5 (1874) [tr. (1962)]
(Source)

Gauvain, arguing for a "republic of the ideal" rather than Cimourdain's law-focused "republic of the absolute."

(Source (French)). Other translations:

Putting everything in equilibrium is good; making everything harmonious is better. Above the scales is the lyre.
[tr. Dole (1885)]

An accurate adjustment of proportions is a good thing, but harmony is still better. The lyre stands higher than the scales.
[tr. Delano (1888)]

To set all in equilibrium, is well; to put all in harmony, it is better. Above the balance is the lyre.
[tr. Gray (1903)]

To set all in equilibrium, it is well; to put all in harmony, it is better. Above the Balance is the Lyre.
[tr. Gray/Benedict (1988)]