WIST Quotations

Euripides -- Medea [Μήδεια], l. 1389ff (431 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1963)]

Dave — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 21:55:00 +0000

JASON: The curse of children’s blood be on you!
Avenging Justice, blast your being!
MEDEA: What god will hear your imprecation,
Oath-breaker, guest-deceiver, liar?

[ἸΆΣΩΝ: ἀλλά σ᾽ Ἐρινὺς ὀλέσειε τέκνων
φονία τε Δίκη.
ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: τίς δὲ κλύει σοῦ θεὸς ἢ δαίμων,
τοῦ ψευδόρκου καὶ ξειναπάτου;]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 1389ff (431 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1963)]
(Source)

Jason and Medea bickering after she has murdered their children.

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

JASON: May the Erinnys of our slaughter'd Sons,
And Justice, who requites each murderous deed,
Destroy you utterly!
MEDEA:Will any God
Or Demon hear thy curses, O thou wretch,
False to thy oath, and to the sacred laws of hospitality?
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]

JASON: May th' Erinnys of thy sons destroy,
And Justice, which for blood vindictive calls
For blood.
MEDEA:What god will hear thee, or what fury,
Thou perjur'd base betrayer of the rights
Of hospitality?
[tr. Potter (1814)]

JASON: But thee may thy children's Erinnys slay
And Vengeance for blood.
MEDEA: And who among gods and friends will hear thee,
Betrayer of strangers and breaker of oaths?
[tr. Webster (1868)]

JASON: The curse of our sons' avenging spirit and of Justice, that calls for blood, be on thee!
MEDEA: What god or power divine hears thee, breaker of oaths and every law of hospitality?
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

JASON: But may the Fury of the children, and Justice the avenger of murder, destroy thee.
MEDEA: But what God or Deity hears thee, thou perjured man, and traitor to the rights of hospitality?
[tr. Buckley (1892)]

JASON: Now the Fury-avenger of children smite thee,
And Justice that looketh on murder requite thee!
MEDEA: What God or what spirit will heed thy request,
Caitiff forsworn, who betrayest the guest?
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]

JASON: May They that hear the weeping child
Blast thee, and They that walk in blood!
MEDEA: Thy broken vows, thy friends beguiled
Have shut for thee the ears of God.
[tr. Murray (1906)]

JASON: May a Fury for the children’s sake destroy you,
And justice, Requitor of blood.
MEDEA: What heavenly power lends an ear
To a breaker of oaths, a deceiver?
[tr. Warner (1944)]

JASON: May the children’s avenging Fury and Justice
For murder destroy you?
MEDEA: What god, what spirit, listens to you,
Breaker of oaths, deceiver of friends?
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]

JASON: May the Fury that punishes your children's death, and Justice the murderous, destroy you utterly!
MEDEA: What god or power above will listen to you, who broke your oath and deceived a stranger?
[tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]

JASON: May you be struck down by our children's avenging curse and Justice who punishes murder!
MEDEA: What god, what spirit listens to you, the breaker of oaths, the deceiver of hosts?
[tr. Davie (1996)]

JASON: But the Fury will punish you! The Fury and Justice will destroy you, for committing the murder of your own children.
MEDEA: Which god or spirit will listen to you, Jason? You, who tells lies to foreigners and dishonours them?
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]

JASON: But may the Avenger of children destroy you
and Justice that haunts murderers.
MEDEA: What god or divine spirit would listen to you
an oath-breaker and deceiver of guests?
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]

JASON: May the avenging Fury of our children
destroy you — may you find blood justice.
MEDEA: What god or spirit listens to you,
a man who does not keep his promises,
a man who deceives and lies to strangers?
[tr. Johnston (2008)]

JASON: May the children's Fury destroy you, and bloody Justice.
MEDEA: What god, what spirit hears you -- breaker of oaths, deceiver of a stranger's trust.
[tr. Kovacs / Kitzinger (2016)]

JASON: May the avenging Fury of the children and Justice destroy you.
MEDEA: What god or other power will listen to you, a man who breaks oaths and deceives his friends?
[tr. Ewans (2022)]

JASON: May the Fury [Erinys] of our children and bloody Dikē destroy you!
MEDEA: What god or daimōn listens to you, oath-breaker and deceiver of xenoi?
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]

Montaigne, Michel de -- Essays, Book 1, ch. 56 (1.56), “Of Prayers [Des prieres]” (1572-1580) [tr. Screech (1987)]

Dave — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 21:56:37 +0000

The miser prays God for the vain and superfluous preservation of his hoard; the ambitious man, for success and the achievement of his desires; the thief uses God to help him overcome the dangers and difficulties which obstruct his nefarious designs or else thanks God when he finds it easy to slit the gizzard of some passer-by. At the foot of the mansion which they are about to climb into and blow up, men say their prayers, while their purposes and hopes are full of cruelty, lust, and greed.

[L’avaricieux le prie pour la conservation vaine & superflue de ses thresors : l’ambitieux pour ses victoires, & conduite de sa fortune : le voleur l’employe à son ayde, pour franchir le hazard & les difficultez, qui s’opposent à l’execution de ses meschantes entreprinses : ou le remercie de l’aisance qu’il a trouvé à desgosiller un passant. Au pied de la maison, qu’ils vont escheller ou petarder, ils font leurs prieres, l’intention & l’esperance pleine de cruauté, de luxure, & d’avarice.]

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 56 (1.56), “Of Prayers [Des prieres]” (1572-1580) [tr. Screech (1987)]
(Source)

Most of the passage appeared in the 1st (1580) edition; the last example (the military assault) appeared in the 3rd (1595) edition.

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

The covetous man sueth and praieth unto him for the vaine encrease and superfluous preservation of his wrong-gotten treasure. The ambitious, he importuneth God for the conduct of his fortune, and that he may have the victorie of all his desseignes. The theefe, the pirate, the murtherer, yea and the traitor, all call upon him, all implore his ayde, and all solicite him, to give them courage in their attempts, constancie in their resolutions, to remove all lets and difficulties, that in any sorte may withstand their wicked executions, and impious actions; or give him thanks, if they have had good successe; the one if he have met with a good bootie, the other if he returne home rich, the third if no man have seene him kill his enemie, and the last, though he have caused any execrable mischiefe. The Souldier, if he but go to besiege a cottage, to scale a Castle, to robbe a Church, to Pettard a gate, to force a religious house, or any villanous act, before he attempt-it, praieth to God for his assistance, though his intents and hopes be full-fraught with crueltie, murther, covetise, luxurie, sacriledge, and all iniquitie.
[tr. Florio (1603)]

The covetous man prays for the vain and superfluous preservation of his riches; the ambitious, for victory and the conduct of his fortune; the thief calls God to his assistance to deliver him from the dangers and difficulties that obstruct his wicked designs; or returns him thanks for the facility he has met with in cutting a traveller's throat. At the door of the house they are going to storm, or break into by force of a petard, they fall to prayers for success, having their intention and hopes full of cruelty, avarice, and luxury.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]

The covetous man prays for the conservation of his vain and superfluous riches; the ambitious for victory and the good conduct of his fortune; the thief calls Him to his assistance, to deliver him from the dangers and difficulties that obstruct his wicked designs, or returns Him thanks for the facility he has met with in cutting a man’s throat; at the door of the house men are going to storm or break into by force of a petard, they fall to prayers for success, their intentions and hopes of cruelty, avarice, and lust.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

The avaricious man prays to him for the vain and superfluous of his riches; the ambitious man for his triumphs and the guidance of his passion; the thief employs him for aid in overcoming the risk and difficulties which impede the execution of his evil enterprises, or thanks him for the ease with which a traveler has had his throat cut. At the wall of the house they are about to scale or blow up, they say their prayers, their purpose and hope being full of cruelty, lust, greed.
[tr. Ives (1925)]

The miser prays to him for the vain and superfluous conservation of his treasures; the ambitious man, for his victories and the guidance of this passion; the thief uses his help to pass through the risks and difficulties that oppose the execution of his wicked enterprises, or thanks him for having found it easy to cut a passer-by's throat. Standing beside the house they are going to scale or blow up, they say their prayers, with their intention and hopes full of cruelty, lust, and avarice.
[tr. Frame (1943)]

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1881), “Virginibus Puerisque, Part 2”

Dave — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 19:11:06 +0000

You may safely go to school with hope; but ere you marry, should have learned the mingled lesson of the world: that dolls are stuffed with sawdust, and yet are excellent play-things; that hope and love address themselves to a perfection never realised, and yet, firmly held, become the salt and staff of life; that you yourself are compacted of infirmities, perfect, you might say, in imperfection, and yet you have a something in you lovable and worth preserving; and that, while the mass of mankind lies under this scurvy condemnation, you will scarce find one but, by some generous reading, will become to you a lesson, a model, and a noble spouse through life. So thinking, you will constantly support your own unworthiness, and easily forgive the failings of your friend.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1881), “Virginibus Puerisque, Part 2”
(Source)

First published in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, ch. 1, part 2 (1881).

Peters, Ellis -- Cadfael Chronicles No. 20, The Holy Thief, ch. 11 (1992)

Dave — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 17:24:20 +0000

He was about to urge her to let well alone and trust heaven to do justice, but then he had a sudden vision of heaven’s justice as the Church sometimes applied it, in good but dreadful faith, with all the virtuous narrowness and pitilessness of minds blind and deaf to the infinite variety of humankind, its failings, and aspirations, and needs, and forgetful of all the Gospel reminders concerning publicans and sinners.

Ellis Peters (1913-1995) English writer, translator [pseud. of Edith Mary Pargeter, who also wrote under the names John Redfern, Jolyon Carr, Peter Benedict]
Cadfael Chronicles No. 20, The Holy Thief, ch. 11 (1992)
(Source)

Hoffer, Eric -- Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 87 (1955)

Dave — Tue, 07 May 2024 16:19:14 +0000

Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear. Thus a feeling of utter unworthiness can be a source of courage.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 87 (1955)
(Source)

Cicero, Marcus Tullius -- Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 2, ch. 5 (2.5) / sec. 14 (2.14) (45 BC) [tr. Douglas (1990)]

Dave — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 22:10:21 +0000

MARCUS: Nothing could be less worthy of you than to think anything worse than dishonor, infamous behavior, and wickedness. To escape these, any pain is not so much as to be avoided as to be sought voluntarily, undergone, and welcomed.

[Quid enim minus est dignum quam tibi peius quicquam videri dedecore flagitio turpitudine? Quae ut effugias, quis est non modo recusandus, sed non ultro adpetendus subeundus excipiendus dolor?]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 2, ch. 5 (2.5) / sec. 14 (2.14) (45 BC) [tr. Douglas (1990)]
(Source)

Original Latin. Alternate translations:

For what is more unsuitable to that high Character, than for you to think any thing worse, than dishonour, scandal, baseness? to avoid which, what Pain would not only not be declin'd, but also be eagerly pursu'd, undergone, encounter'd?
[tr. Wase (1643)]

For what is so unbecoming? What can appear worse to you, than disgrace, wickedness, immorality? To avoid which, what pain should we not only not refuse, but willingly take on ourselves?
[tr. Main (1824)]

For what is less worthy than for anything to appear worse to you than disgrace, turpitude, wickedness? which to escape, what pain is to be refused, or rather not to be welcomed, sought for, embraced?
[tr. Otis (1839)]

For what is so unbecoming -- what can appear worse to you, than disgrace, wickedness, immorality? To avoid which, what pain is there which we ought not (I will not say to avoid shirking, but even) of our own accord to encounter, and undergo, and even to court?
[tr. Yonge (1853)]

For what is more unworthy than that anything should seem to you worse than disgrace, crime, baseness? To escape these what pain should be not only not shunned, but voluntarily sought, endured, welcomed?
[tr. Peabody (1886)]

There is nothing more unworthy than for you to think anything worse than disgrace, criminal behavior, and infamous conduct. In order to escape these, any pain is not so to be rejected, as to be actively sought out, undergone, welcomed.
[tr. Davie (2017)]

Democritus -- Frag. 68 (Diels) [tr. Bakewell (1907)]

Dave — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 15:13:06 +0000

You can tell the man who rings true from the man who rings false, not by his deeds alone, but also by his desires.

[Δόκιμος ἀνὴρ καὶ ἀδόκιμος οὐκ ἐξ ὧν πράσσει μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ ὧν βούλεται.]

Democritus (c. 460 BC - c. 370 BC) Greek philosopher
Frag. 68 (Diels) [tr. Bakewell (1907)]
(Source)

Diels citation "68. (40 N.) DEMOKRATES. 33." Bakewell lists this under "The Golden Sayings of Democritus." Freeman notes this as one of the Gnômae, from a collection called "Maxims of Democratês," but because Stobaeus quotes many of these as "Maxims of Democritus," they are generally attributed to the latter.

Alternate translations:

"A man is approved or rejected not only by what he doth, but by what he wills." [Hammond (1845)]
"The worthy and the unworthy man are to be known not only by their actions, but also their wishes." [tr. Freeman (1948)]
"One of esteem and one without it do not only act for different reasons but they desire for different reasons too." [tr. @sententiq (2018), fr. 67]
"Accomplished or unaccomplished we shall call a man not only from what he does but from what he desires, too." [Source]
"The worthy and unworthy are known not only by their deeds, but also by their desires." [Source]

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Essay (1900-06), “Latitude and Longitude Among Reformers,” The Century Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 2

Dave — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 20:23:07 +0000

Nevertheless, the fact remains that exactly as true patriots should be especially jealous of any appeal to what is base under the guise of patriotism, so men who strive for honesty, and for the cleansing of what is corrupt in the dark places of our politics, should emphatically disassociate themselves from the men whose antics throw discredit upon the reforms they profess to advocate.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Essay (1900-06), “Latitude and Longitude Among Reformers,” The Century Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 2
(Source)

Collected in Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses (1902).

Stevenson, Adlai -- Speech (1956-06-02), Fresno, California

Dave — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:00:15 +0000

I’m not an old, experienced hand at politics. But I am now seasoned enough to have learned that the hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning.

Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1956-06-02), Fresno, California
(Source)

I cannot find a contemporary, primary report of this quotation. This the text as quoted in Herbert Joseph Muller, Adlai Stevenson : A Study in Values , ch. 8 (epigraph) (1967). It was also so quoted in memorium to Stevenson in Life Magazine (1965-07-23), citing it to 1956-06.

The speech was made in the lead-up to the California presidential primary (1956-06-05), when Stevenson was running against Estes Kefauver. The date for this speech is not confirmed, but extrapolated by the search hit of its text on the 1956-06-03 issue of the Santa Barbara News-Press (contents locked).

Some sources cite the quote as being from 1956-10-11; while it is possible Stevenson repeated the line at a later speech (in Fresno), he infamously disliked using set campaign text.

A variant of the quote is also given in The Atlanta Constitution (1956-06-19), in a Roscoe Drummond syndicated column (which can be found in other contemporary newspapers):

Now I'm old and seasoned and the lesson I have learned is that the hardest thing about such a campaign is how to win without proving unworthy of winning.

Hugo, Victor -- Les Misérables, Part 1 “Fantine,” Book 5 “The Descent,” ch. 4 (1.5.4) (1862) [tr. Wilbour (1862)]

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

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves — say rather, loved in spite of ourselves.

[Le suprême bonheur de la vie, c’est la conviction qu’on est aimé; aimé pour soi-même, disons mieux, aimé malgré soi-même.]

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician
Les Misérables, Part 1 “Fantine,” Book 5 “The Descent,” ch. 4 (1.5.4) (1862) [tr. Wilbour (1862)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction of being loved for yourself, or, more correctly speaking, loved in spite of yourself.
[tr. Wraxall (1862)]

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
[E.g. (1873)]

The supreme happiness of life consists in the conviction that one is loved; loved for one's own sake -- let us say rather, loved in spite of one's self.
[tr. Hapgood (1887)]

The supreme happiness in life is the assurance of being loved; of being loved for oneself, even in spite of oneself.
[tr. Denny (1976)]

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves -- say rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
[tr. Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that you are loved, loved for yourself, better still, loved despite yourself.
[tr. Donougher (2013)]

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

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:00:00 +0000

PRAY, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.

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

Originally published in the "Cynic's Word Book" column in the New York American (1906-04-06) and the "Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Examiner (1906-04-11).