WIST Quotations

Marcus Aurelius -- Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 8, ch. 59 (8.59) (AD 161-180) [tr. Hammond (2006)]

Dave — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 21:15:57 +0000

Men are born for the sake of each other. So either teach or tolerate.

[Οἱ ἄνθρωποι γεγόνασιν ἀλλήλων ἕνεκεν: ἢ δίδασκε οὖν ἢ φέρε.]

Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 8, ch. 59 (8.59) (AD 161-180) [tr. Hammond (2006)]
(Source)

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

All men are made one for another: either then teach them better, or bear with them.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 8.56]

Men are born to be serviceable to one another, therefore either Reform the World, or bear with it.
[tr. Collier (1701); Collier/Zimmern (1887)]

Men were formed for each other. Teach them better, then, or bear with them.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]

Men were born for the service and benefit of each other. Eitehr teach them this obvious truth, or bear with their ignorance.
[tr. Graves (1792), 8.57]

Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then, or bear with them.
[tr. Long (1862)]

Men exist for one another. Teach them then, or bear with them.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]

Men were created the one for the other. Teach them better then, or bear with them.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]

Mankind have been created for the sake of one another. Either instruct therefore or endure.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]

Men have come into the world for the sake of one another. Either instruct them then or bear with them.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]

Men exist for each other. Then either improve them, or put up with them.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]

Human beings are here for the sake of one another; either instruct them, then, or put up with them.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]

People exist for one another. You can instruct or endure them.
[tr. Hays (2003)]

[Human beings have come into the world for the sake of one another; either instruct them, then, or put up with them.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]

Men were created for one another; either teach them, or endure them.
[ed. Taplin (2016)]

Snyder, Timothy -- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, ch. 18 (2017)

Dave — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 13:36:54 +0000

Set a good example of what America means for the generations to come. They will need it.

Timothy Snyder (b. 1969) American historian, author
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, ch. 18 (2017)
(Source)

Huxley, Aldous -- Island (1962)

Dave — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 13:52:36 +0000

Never give children a chance of imagining that anything exists in isolation. Make it plain from the very beginning that all living is relationship. Show them relationships in the woods, in the fields, in the ponds and streams, in the village and in the country around it. Rub it in.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Island (1962)

Brandeis, Louis -- New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 U.S. 262 (1932) [dissent]

Dave — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 13:26:42 +0000

If we would guide by the light of reason, we must let our minds be bold.

Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) American lawyer, activist, Supreme Court Justice (1916-39)
New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 U.S. 262 (1932) [dissent]

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.