WIST Quotations

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 56 (1732)

Dave — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 17:04:02 +0000

A courageous Foe is better than a cowardly Friend.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 56 (1732)
(Source)

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Trump Kards, ch. 14 “A Ghost” (1874)

Dave — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 16:44:08 +0000

Thare iz two men, prowling around, who want cluss watching, the one, that iz allwuz praizing, and the one, who iz allwuz kondeming, himself.

[There are two men, prowling around, who want close watching: the one that is always praising, and the one who is always condemning, himself.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Trump Kards, ch. 14 “A Ghost” (1874)
(Source)

Jerome, Jerome K. -- “Clocks,” Diary of a Pilgrimage, and Six Other Essays (1891)

Dave — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 16:59:34 +0000

There are two kinds of clocks. There is the clock that is always wrong, and that knows it is wrong, and glories in it; and there is the clock that is always right — except when you rely upon it, and then it is more wrong than you would think a clock could be in a civilized country.

Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) English writer, humorist [Jerome Klapka Jerome]
“Clocks,” Diary of a Pilgrimage, and Six Other Essays (1891)
(Source)

Austen, Jane -- Pride and Prejudice, ch. 24 [Elizabeth] (1813)

Dave — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 17:10:02 +0000

There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) English author
Pride and Prejudice, ch. 24 [Elizabeth] (1813)
(Source)

O'Malley, Austin -- Keystones of Thought (1914)

Dave — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 14:35:15 +0000

Memory is a crazy woman that hoards colored rags and throws away food.

Austin O'Malley (1858-1932) American ophthalmologist, professor of literature, aphorist
Keystones of Thought (1914)
(Source)

Virgil -- The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 4, l. 569ff (4.469-570) [Mercury] (29-19 BC) [tr. Cranch (1872)]

Dave — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:10:26 +0000

A woman is a fickle, changeful thing!

[Varium et mutabile semper
femina.]

Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 4, l. 569ff (4.469-570) [Mercury] (29-19 BC) [tr. Cranch (1872)]
(Source)

Warning Aeneas that Dido is likely to attack Aeneas' forces now that she knows he is deserting her.

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Still inconstant is a womans minde.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]

Who knows what hazards thy delay may bring?
Woman's a various and a changeful thing.
[tr. Dryden (1697)]

Woman is a fickle and ever changeable creature.
[tr. Davidson/Buckley (1854)]

Away to sea! a woman's will
Is changeful and uncertain still.
[tr. Conington (1866)]

Woman is ever a fickle and changing thing.
[tr. Mackail (1885)]

For woman's heart is shifting evermore.
[tr. Morris (1900)]

Away!
Changeful is woman's mood, and varying with the day.
[tr. Taylor (1907), st. 73]

A mutable and shifting thing
is woman ever.
[tr. Williams (1910)]

A fickle and changeful thing is woman ever.
[tr. Fairclough (1916)]

A shifty, fickle object
Is woman, always.
[tr. Humphries (1951)]

Woman was ever
A veering, weathercock creature.
[tr. Day-Lewis (1952)]

An ever
uncertain and inconsistent thing is woman.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1971), l. 786-87]

Woman's a thing
Forever fitful and forever changing.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1981)]

Women are unstable creatures, always changing.
[tr. West (1990)]

Woman is ever fickle and changeable.
[tr. Kline (2002)]

A woman is a fickle and worrisome thing.
[tr. Lombardo (2005)]

Woman’s a thing
that’s always changing, shifting like the wind.
[tr. Fagles (2006), l. 710-11]

Females are a fickle thing, always prone to change.
[tr. Bartsch (2021)]

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 5286 (1732)

Dave — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:57:58 +0000

Trust him no further than you can throw him.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 5286 (1732)
(Source)