WIST Quotations

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1875-04 “Fun” (1875 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 16:29:20 +0000

Fun is the cheapest fisick that haz bin diskovered yet, and the eazyest to take. Fun pills are sugar coated, and no change ov diet iz necessary while taking them. A little fun will sumtimes go a grate ways, i hav known men to liv to a good old age on one joke, which they managed to tell az often az once a day, and do all the laffing themselves besides that waz done.

[Fun is the cheapest physic that has been discovered yet, and the easiest to take. Fun pills are sugar coated, and no change of diet is necessary while taking them. A little fun will sometimes go a great ways; I have known men to live to a good old age on one joke, which they managed to tell as often as once a day, and do all the laughing themselves besides that was done.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1875-04 “Fun” (1875 ed.)
(Source)

Tutu, Desmond -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 18:55:36 +0000

There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.

Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) South African cleric, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Laureate
(Attributed)

Eldridge, Paul -- “Lanterns in the Night,” Maxim 41, The Jewish Forum (Aug 1948)

Dave — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:03:01 +0000

A man’s character is most evident by how he treats those who are not in a position either to retaliate or reciprocate.

Paul Eldridge (1888-1982) American educator, novelist, poet
“Lanterns in the Night,” Maxim 41, The Jewish Forum (Aug 1948)

Restated by Eldridge in Maxims for a Modern Man, #1198 (1965): "A man is most accurately judged by how he treats those who are not in a position either to retaliate or to reciprocate."

The same sentiment is also made or attributed to Ann Landers, Abigail Van Buren, Malcolm Forbes, James Miles, and (without any reference found) Goethe and Samuel Johnson. A more convoluted version can be found in the 19th Century by Charles Spurgeon.

More examination of this quotation: