WIST Quotations

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Speech (1940-10-13), “The Mobilization for Human Needs” (radio broadcast)

Dave — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 21:52:01 +0000

Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Speech (1940-10-13), “The Mobilization for Human Needs” (radio broadcast)
(Source)

Regarding the Community Chest's Mobilization for Human Needs charity campaign.

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1966)

Dave — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 19:24:50 +0000

Tough and funny and a little bit kind: that is as near to perfection as a human being can be.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1966)
(Source)

Billings, Josh -- Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 130 “Affurisms: Puddin & Milk” (1874)

Dave — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 00:21:52 +0000

Experience iz a grindstun, and it iz lucky for us if we kan git brightened by it, not ground.

[Experience is a grindstone, and it is lucky for us if we can get brightened by it, not ground.

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 130 “Affurisms: Puddin & Milk” (1874)
(" target="_blank">Source)

This aphorism was transformed / paraphrased in the early 1920s into something a bit more inspirational, first (it appears) in Forbes (1922-10-14), then in similar form in other periodicals such as The Beaver (1924-03) and Wood Construction (1924-09-15). The new form:

Life is a grindstone, and whether it grinds a man down or polishes him up, depen's on the stuff he's made of.

In an earlier pass of Billings quotations, I did up a meme, unknowingly based on that later phrasing:

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Sr. -- Article (1859-05), “The Professor at the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly

Dave — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:47:38 +0000

Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day, like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Article (1859-05), “The Professor at the Breakfast-Table,” Atlantic Monthly
(Source)

Collected in The Professor at the Breakfast-Table, ch. 5 (1859).