WIST Quotations

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1995-08-03)

Dave — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 22:48:19 +0000

CALVIN: I have a hammer!

CALVIN: I can put things together! I can knock things apart! I can alter my environment at will and make an incredible din all the while!

CALVIN: Ah, it’s great to be male!

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1995-08-03)
(Source)

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Patriot,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Dave — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 18:41:01 +0000

PATRIOT, n. One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to those of the whole. The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors.

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) American writer and journalist
“Patriot,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
(Source)

Originally published in the "Cynic's Word Book" column in the New York American (1904-12-26) and the "Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Examiner (1904-01-03).

Those newspaper versions also included:

A person whose zeal for the defense of his country’s altars and fires is not inconsistent with a fierce desire to cross the border to overturn the altars and extinguish the fires of another land.

See Bierce's definition of "Patriotism."

Martin, Judith -- Common Courtesy, “Of Etiquette as Language, Weapon, Custom, and Craft” (1985)

Dave — Mon, 13 May 2024 16:00:43 +0000

Like language, a code of manners can be used with more or less skill, for laudable or for evil purposes, to express a great variety of ideas and emotions. In itself, it carries no moral value, but ignorance in use of this tool is not a sign of virtue.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
Common Courtesy, “Of Etiquette as Language, Weapon, Custom, and Craft” (1985)
(Source)

Jacobs, Jane -- Dark Age Ahead, ch. 3 “Science Abandoned” (2004)

Dave — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 23:59:07 +0000

Science doesn’t supply happiness; but neither does its lack. The same can be said of social utopias: they aren’t created by science, but neither does lack of science provide them. Science has cast up dangerous and cruel knowledge, which has been exploited for warfare and dictatorial power; but so have cultures so little gifted with scientists that they either make do with imported weapons or rely on clubs, axes, and daggers. Scientific information about our mistakes — for instance, that deforestation invites mud slides and deserts, that overfishing depletes fish stocks — doesn’t guarantee we will avoid such mistakes or correct them, but that is owing to failure to heed what science uncovers.

Jane Jacobs (1916–2006) American-Canadian journalist, author, urban theorist, activist
Dark Age Ahead, ch. 3 “Science Abandoned” (2004)
(Source)

Huxley, Aldous -- Ends and Means: An Inquiry Into the Nature of Ideals, ch. 1 (1937)

Dave — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 14:37:33 +0000

Technological advance is rapid. But without progress in charity, technological advance is useless. Indeed, it is worse than useless. Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Ends and Means: An Inquiry Into the Nature of Ideals, ch. 1 (1937)
(Source)

Richardson, James -- “Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, #19 (Spring 1999)

Dave — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 15:21:10 +0000

Think of all the smart people who are made stupid by flaws of character. The finest watch isn’t fine long when used as a hammer.

James Richardson (b. 1950) American poet
“Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays,” Michigan Quarterly Review, #19 (Spring 1999)

Wren, Matthew -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 23:55:39 +0000

Ability is a poor man’s wealth.

Matthew Wren (1585–1667) English clergyman, bishop, scholar
(Attributed)

First found in Day's Collacon (1884).

Brooks, Mel -- Blazing Saddles (1974)

Dave — Thu, 04 Aug 2016 00:18:02 +0000

MONGO: Mongo only pawn in game of life.

Mel Brooks (b. 1926) American comedic actor, writer, producer [b. Melvyn Kaminsky]
Blazing Saddles (1974)

Schopenhauer, Arthur -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 14:42:01 +0000

Philosophy, brought afresh to repute by Kant […] had soon become a tool of interests; of state interests […] The driving forces of this movement are, contrary to all these solemn airs and assertions, not ideal […] Party interests are vehemently agitating the pens of so many purer lovers of wisdom […] truth is certainly the last thing they have in mind […] Philosophy is misused, from the side of the state as tool, from the other side as means of gain […] Governments make of philosophy a means of serving their state interests, and scholars make of it a trade.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher
(Attributed)
(Source)

Criticizing Hegel and Hegelianism, and the latter's state-philosophy alliance. Attributed in Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, ch. 12 (1945).

Huxley, Aldous -- Ends and Means (1937)

Dave — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 13:38:44 +0000

It is only when it takes the form of physical addiction that sex is evil. It is also evil when it manifests itself as a way of satisfying the lust for power or the climber’s craving for position and social distinction.

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Ends and Means (1937)

Pratchett, Terry -- Good Omens, 6. “Saturday” (1990) [with Neil Gaiman]

Dave — Thu, 22 May 2014 12:06:36 +0000

So computers are tools of the Devil? thought Newt. He had no problem believing it. Computers had to be the tools of somebody, and all he knew for certain was that it definitely wasn’t him.

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Good Omens, 6. “Saturday” (1990) [with Neil Gaiman]
(Source)

Acton, John Dalberg (Lord) -- Speech (1877-02-28), “The History of Freedom in Antiquity,” Bridgenorth Institute

Dave — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 14:53:38 +0000

Liberty, next to religion, has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime.

John Dalberg, Lord Acton (1834–1902) British historian, politician, writer
Speech (1877-02-28), “The History of Freedom in Antiquity,” Bridgenorth Institute
(Source)

Ivins, Molly -- Essay (1992-03-01), “Good morning, Fort Worth! Glad to be here,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Dave — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:52:54 +0000

Me, I think government is a tool, like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build with or you can use a hammer to destroy with. Whether government is good or bad depends on what you use it for and how well you use it. On the whole, it’s a poor idea to put people in charge of government who don’t believe in using it.

Molly Ivins (1944–2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (1992-03-01), “Good morning, Fort Worth! Glad to be here,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram
(Source)

Responding to Ronald Reagan's famous quip, "Government is not the solution; government is the problem." Collected in Nothin' But Good Times Ahead (1993).

Ivins used a similar comment in her essay, "Wiggy Republicans," Mother Jones (1992-09/10) (also collected in Nothin' but Good Times Ahead (1993)):

Government is just a tool, like a hammer. There’s nothing intrinsically good or evil about the hammer; it all depends on what it’s used for and the skill with which it is used.

She reworked this in the introduction to her book You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You, (1998):

Personally, I think government is a tool, like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build or you can use a hammer to destroy; there is nothing intrinsically good or evil about the hammer itself. It is the purposes to which it is put and the skill with which it is used that determine whether the hammer's work is good or bad.

Bronowski, Jacob -- The Ascent of Man, ch. 3 (1973)

Dave — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 15:12:35 +0000

The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is more important than the eye. We are active; and indeed we know, as something more than a symbolic accident in the evolution of man, that it is the hand that drives the subsequent evolution of the brain. We find tools today made by man before he became man. Benjamin Franklin in 1778 called man “a tool-making animal,” and that is right.

Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) Polish-English humanist and mathematician
The Ascent of Man, ch. 3 (1973)

Adams, Scott -- Dilbert (11 Dec. 1995)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

WALLY: Stupidity is like nuclear power; it can be used for good or evil.
DILBERT: And you don’t want to get any on you.

Scott Adams (b. 1957) American cartoonist
Dilbert (11 Dec. 1995)

Coolidge, Calvin -- Speech, Boston (11 Jun 1928)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshiped.

Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American lawyer, politician, US President (1925–29)
Speech, Boston (11 Jun 1928)