WIST Quotations

Repplier, Agnes -- “Agrippina,” Essays in Idleness (1893)

Dave — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 17:20:02 +0000

A man who owns a dog is, in every sense of the word, its master; the term expresses accurately their mutual relations. But it is ridiculous when applied to the limited possession of a cat. I am certainly not Agrippina’s mistress, and the assumption of authority on my part would be a mere empty dignity, like those swelling titles which afford such innocent delight to the Freemasons of our severe republic. If I call Agrippina, she does not come; if I tell her to go away, she remains where she is; if I try to persuade her to show off her one or two little accomplishments, she refuses, with courteous but unswerving decision.

Agnes Repplier (1855-1950) American writer
“Agrippina,” Essays in Idleness (1893)
(Source)

Martial -- Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 5, epigram 57 (5.57) (AD 90) [tr. Pott & Wright (1921)]

Dave — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 15:23:18 +0000

Though I called you “My lord,” you’ve no reason for pride:
For so to your slaves I have often replied.

[Cum voco te dominum, noli tibi, Cinna, placere:
Saepe etiam servum sic resaluto tuum.]

Martial (AD c.39-c.103) Spanish Roman poet, satirist, epigrammatist [Marcus Valerius Martialis]
Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 5, epigram 57 (5.57) (AD 90) [tr. Pott & Wright (1921)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

When "Sir" I call you, be not pleased; for know,
Cinna, I often call your servant so.
[tr. Wright (1663)]

When I call you "My lord," do not be vain, Cinna. I often return your slave's salutation in a similar way.
[tr. Bohn's Classical (1897)]

When I call you "master" don't pride yourself, Cinna. I often return even your slave's greeting so.
[tr. Ker (1919)]

When I call you "lord," don't get conceited. I often return your slave's greeting too in that way.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1993)]

I call you "Boss"? Don't show wild joy.
That's what I call my slaves' head boy.
[tr. Wills (2007)]

When I call you "lord," don't swagger, Cinna. Why?
I often give your slave the same reply.
[tr. McLean (2014)]

When I call you "Boss," Cinna, don't be so pleased with yourself; I often reply that way when your slave says hello, even.
[tr. Nisbet (2015)]

Variation:
Though I do "Sir" thee, be not vain, I pray:
I "Sir" my monkey Jacko every day.
-- Cyrus Redding, "N. M. Mag., 1828"

Heinlein, Robert A. -- Time Enough for Love, “Notebooks of Lazarus Long” (1973)

Dave — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 21:26:05 +0000

Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to avoid excessive wear. Honorifics and formal politeness provide lubrication where people rub together. Often the very young, the untraveled, the naive, the unsophisticated deplore these formalities as “empty,” “meaningless,” or “dishonest,” and scorn to use them. No matter how “pure” their motives, they thereby throw sand into machinery that does not work too well at best.

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Time Enough for Love, “Notebooks of Lazarus Long” (1973)

Acton, John Dalberg (Lord) -- Letter (1887-04-05) to Mandell Creighton

Dave — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:04:54 +0000

I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way against holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.

John Dalberg, Lord Acton (1834-1902) British historian, politician, writer
Letter (1887-04-05) to Mandell Creighton
(Source)

Often paraphrased, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

There is an alternate, probably spurious version of this quote, for which I have been unable to find an actual citation (except where it is mis-cited to this letter to Bp. Creighton): "And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. All power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely." As the word "gangster" has only been traced back to 1886, and that in the US, its use by Acton (esp. in a modern sense) seems unlikely.