WIST Quotations

Euripides -- Hecuba [Hekabe; Ἑκάβη], l. 254ff (c. 424 BC) [tr. Arrowsmith (1958)]

Dave — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 17:44:38 +0000

HECUBA:O gods, spare me the sight
of this thankless breed, these politicians
who cringe for favors from a screaming mob
and do not care what harm they do their friends,
providing they can please a crowd!

[ἙΚΆΒΗ: ἀχάριστον ὑμῶν σπέρμ᾿, ὅσοι δημηγόρους
ζηλοῦτε τιμάς· μηδὲ γιγνώσκοισθέ μοι,
οἳ τοὺς φίλους βλάπτοντες οὐ φροντίζετε,
ἢν τοῖσι πολλοῖς πρὸς χάριν λέγητέ τι.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Hecuba [Hekabe; Ἑκάβη], l. 254ff (c. 424 BC) [tr. Arrowsmith (1958)]
(Source)

To Ulysses/Odysseus, whom she had spared when he entered Troy as a spy. After Troy's fall, she is enslaved to him, and he intends to have her daughter, Polyxdora, sacrificed to honor fallen Achilles, to appease his fellow Greek conquerors.

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

O ungrateful race
Of men, who aim at popular applause
By your smooth speeches; would to heav'n I ne'er
Had known you, for ye heed not how ye wound
Your friends, whene'er ye can say aught to win
The crowd.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]

Thankless is your race, as many of you as court honor from oratory before the populace; be ye not known to me, who care not to injure your friends, provided you say what is gratifying to the people.
[tr. Edwards (1826)]

A thankful tribe you are, who fill your tongues
To popular grace; would I had never known you!
Of injuries to friends you reck not, if
Your fine speech wins the favour of the people.
[ed. Ramage (1864)]

A thankless spawn, all ye that grasp at honour
By babbling to the mob! -- let me not know you,
Who injure friends, and nothing reck thereof,
So ye may something say to please the rabble!
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]

O thankless brood, who jostle to be called
The people's leaders, may I not even know you!
Who turn a phrase to catch the mob's applause,
And care not if your phrase destroy your friend.
[tr. Sheppard (1924)]

A thankless race! all you who covet honor from the mob for your oratory. Oh that you were unknown to me! you who harm your friends and think no more of it, if you can say a word to win the mob.
[tr. Coleridge (1938)]

May your breed turn their backs
On you and your like,
Smelling sweet up all men's noses.
You're no friend of mine.
Stay that way.
You shake the hands of all and sundry
Smiling as you spit
On your nearest and dearest
For the sake of pleasing everybody.
[tr. McGuinness (2004)]

What a graceless breed you are, you demagogues, grubbing for favours from the mob. Spare me your friendship. You'd harm your friends if that would please the mob.
[tr. Harrison (2005)]

Ah! All of you lot who are jealous of the honours received by political leaders are an ungrateful lot, the whole generation of you! I wish I had never known any of you. You don’t care how much you hurt your friends so long as you say something to pacify the masses.
[tr. Theodoridis (2007)]

O gods save us from politicians and demagogues like you
who don’t care what harm you do as long as the multitudes
are pleased and the applause is loud.
[tr. Karden/Street (2011)]

You are a thankless brood, you mob of wannabe
Politicians. I wish I didn’t know you
When you don’t care about harming your friends
As long as you say something the masses will like.
[tr. @sentantiq (2020)]

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1888-03), “Beggars,” sec. 4 Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 3

Dave — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 18:30:35 +0000

Gratitude without familiarity, gratitude otherwise than as a nameless element in a friendship, is a thing so near to hatred that I do not care to split the difference. Until I find a man who is pleased to receive obligations, I shall continue to question the tact of those who are eager to confer them.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1888-03), “Beggars,” sec. 4 Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 3
(Source)

Collected in Across the Plains, ch. 9 (1892).

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett -- “De Profundis,” # 23 (1840)

Dave — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 15:05:36 +0000

I praise Thee while my days go on;
I love Thee while my days go on!
Through dark and dearth, through fire and frost,
With emptied arms and treasure lost,
I thank Thee while my days go on.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) English poet
“De Profundis,” # 23 (1840)
(Source)

Wooden, John -- They Call Me Coach (1972)

Dave — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 23:14:24 +0000

Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.

John Wooden (1910-2010) American basketball player and coach
They Call Me Coach (1972)
(Source)

Lamb, Charles -- “Grace before Meat,” Essays of Elia (1823)

Dave — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 19:50:47 +0000

There is more reason for saying grace before a new book than before dinner.

Charles Lamb (1775-1834) Welsh-English essayist
“Grace before Meat,” Essays of Elia (1823)

Winfrey, Oprah -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 16:53:33 +0000

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.

Oprah Winfrey (b. 1954) American TV personality, actress
(Attributed)

Bovee, Christian Nestell -- Thoughts, Feelings, and Fancies (1857)

Dave — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:59:26 +0000

Next to God, we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making it worth having.

Christian Nestell Bovee (1820-1904) American epigrammatist, writer, publisher
Thoughts, Feelings, and Fancies (1857)