WIST Quotations

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1874-11 (1874 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 18:16:01 +0000

He who suspekts everyboddy, should be watched by everyboddy.

[He who suspects everybody should be watched by everybody.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1874-11 (1874 ed.)
(Source)

See Johnson (1763).

In his 1879 Allminax (April), Billings provided a similar adage:

Whenever yu cum akrost a man who distrusts everyboddy, yu have found one whom it is safe for everyboddy to distrust.

[Whenever you come across a man who distrusts everybody, you have found one whom it is safe for everybody to distrust.]

Homer -- The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 11, l. 456 (11.456) [Agamemnon] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Lombardo (2000), l. 274]

Dave — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 22:56:06 +0000

Women just can’t be trusted any more.

[Ἐπεὶ οὐκέτι πιστὰ γυναιξίν.]

Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 11, l. 456 (11.456) [Agamemnon] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Lombardo (2000), l. 274]
(Source)

Agamemnon, who was slain on his homecoming by Clytemnestra, is giving Odysseus marital advice when the latter visits Hades. Original Greek. Alternate translations:

"For ’tis no world to trust a woman now." [tr. Chapman (1616)]
"Remember still, women unfaithful are." [tr. Hobbes (1675)]
"For since of womankind so few are just, / Think all are false, nor even the faithful trust." [tr. Pope (1725)]
"For woman merits trust no more." [tr. Cowper (1792), l. 453]
"No more are women to be trusted now." [tr. Worsley (1861), st. 54]
"For that trust / Henceforth in women must never be plac'd." [tr. Musgrave (1869), l. 706ff]
"No trust in women!" [tr. Bigge-Wither (1869), l. 455]
"For there is no more faith in woman." [tr. Butcher/Lang (1879) and Palmer (1891)]
"From now henceforth in women no troth or trust shall be." [tr. Morris (1887)]
"For after all this there is no trusting women." [tr. Butler (1898)]
"For no longer is there faith in women." [tr. Murray (1919)]
"There is no putting faith in women." [tr. Lawrence (1932)]
"Women, I tell you, are no longer to be trusted." [tr. Rieu (1946) and DCH Rieu (2002)]
"There is no trusting in women." [tr. Lattimore (1965)]
"No woman merits trust." [tr. Mandelbaum (1990)]
"The time for trusting women's gone forever!" [tr. Fagles (1996), l. 456]
"Women are no longer to be trusted." [tr. Verity (2016)]
"No more is there faith in women." [tr. Green (2018)]
"For there’s no trust / in women anymore." [tr. Johnston (2019), l. 577ff]

Billings, Josh -- Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, “Koarse Shot” (1874)

Dave — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 06:07:15 +0000

A weak man wants az mutch watching as a bad one.

[A weak man wants as much watching as a bad.]

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, “Koarse Shot” (1874)