WIST Quotations

Nietzsche, Friedrich -- The Gay Science [Die fröhliche Wissenschaft], Book 3, § 125 (1882) [tr. Common (1911)]

Dave — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 23:16:47 +0000

Lightning and thunder need time, the light of the stars needs time, deeds need time, even after they are done, to be seen and heard.

[Blitz und Donner brauchen Zeit, das Licht der Gestirne braucht Zeit, Thaten brauchen Zeit, auch nachdem sie gethan sind, um gesehen und gehört zu werden.]

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher and poet
The Gay Science [Die fröhliche Wissenschaft], Book 3, § 125 (1882) [tr. Common (1911)]
(Source)

On the death (murder) of God.

The book is also known as La Gaya Scienza, The Joyful Wisdom, or The Joyous Science.

(Source (German)). Alternate translations:

Lightning and thunder require time; the light of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard.
[tr. Kaufmann (1974)]

Lightning and thunder need time; the light of the stars needs time; deeds need time, even after they are done, in order to be seen and heard.
[tr. Nauckhoff (2001)]

Even after they are over and done with, thunder and lightning take time, the light of the stars takes time, and deeds too take time, before they can be seen and heard.
[tr. Hill (2018)]

Burgess, Anthony -- A Mouthful of Air: Language, Languages … Especially English, ch. 21 “Sounds from the Past” (1992)

Dave — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 16:18:13 +0000

Languages never stand still. Modern spelling crystallizes lost pronunciations: the visual never quite catches up with the aural.

Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) English novelist
A Mouthful of Air: Language, Languages … Especially English, ch. 21 “Sounds from the Past” (1992)
(Source)

Von Neumann, John -- “The Role of Mathematics in the Sciences and in Society,” Speech, Princeton (1954)

Dave — Tue, 25 May 2021 14:20:55 +0000

A large part of mathematics which becomes useful developed with absolutely no desire to be useful, and in a situation where nobody could possibly know in what area it would become useful; and there were no general indications that it ever would be so. By and large it is uniformly true in mathematics that there is a time lapse between a mathematical discovery and the moment when it is useful; and that this lapse of time can be anything from thirty to a hundred years, in some cases even more; and that the whole system seems to function without any direction, without any reference to usefulness, and without any desire to do things which are useful.

John von Neumann (1903–1957) Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, inventor, polymath [János "Johann" Lajos Neumann]
“The Role of Mathematics in the Sciences and in Society,” Speech, Princeton (1954)
(Source)