WIST Quotations

Carlyle, Thomas -- Sartor Resartus, Book 2, ch. 8 (1834)

Dave — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 18:05:23 +0000

At length, after infinite effort, the two parties come into actual juxtaposition; and Thirty stands fronting Thirty, each with a gun in his hand. Straightway the word “Fire!” is given: and they blow the souls out of one another; and in place of sixty brisk useful craftsmen, the world has sixty dead carcasses, which it must bury, and anew shed tears for. Had these men any quarrel? Busy as the Devil is, not the smallest! They lived far enough apart; were the entirest strangers; nay, in so wide a Universe, there was even, unconsciously, by Commerce, some mutual helpfulness between them. How then? Simpleton! their Governors had fallen-out; and, instead of shooting one another, had the cunning to make these poor blockheads shoot.

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Sartor Resartus, Book 2, ch. 8 (1834)
(Source)

Quoting Herr Teufelsdröckh, describing thirty English village boys from Dumdrudge being sent to war and encountering thirty boys from a similar French village.

This passage first appeared in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, Vol. 9, No. 52 (1834-04).

Emma Goldman in her lecture (1908-04-26), "Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty," given at Walton's Pavilion, San Francisco, appears to paraphrase this, while attributing it as an (unsourced) quote from Carlyle:

War is a quarrel between two thieves too cowardly to fight their own battle; therefore they take boys from one village and another village, stick them into uniforms, equip them with guns, and let them loose like wild beasts against each other.

Orwell, George -- Essay (1942-08), “Looking Back on the Spanish War,” ch. 1, New Road (1943-06)

Dave — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 15:06:23 +0000

One of the essential experiences of war is never being able to escape from disgusting smells of human origin.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1942-08), “Looking Back on the Spanish War,” ch. 1, New Road (1943-06)
(Source)

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1735 ed.)

Dave — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 16:06:36 +0000

The King’s cheese is half wasted in parings: But no matter, ’tis made of the peoples milk.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1735 ed.)
(Source)

Morris, William -- “The Art of the People,” speech, Birmingham Society of Arts (1879-02-19)

Dave — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 20:32:56 +0000

I have never been in any rich man’s house which would not have looked the better for having a bonfire made outside of it of nine-tenths of all that it held.

William Morris (1834–1896) British textile designer, writer, socialist activist
“The Art of the People,” speech, Birmingham Society of Arts (1879-02-19)
(Source)

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 10, Moving Pictures [Ginger] (1990)

Dave — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 16:45:11 +0000

You know what the greatest tragedy is in the whole world? It’s all the people who never find out what it is they really want to do or what it is they’re really good at. It’s all the sons who become blacksmiths because their fathers were blacksmiths. It’s all the people who could be really fantastic flute players who grow old and die without ever seeing a musical instrument, so they become bad plowmen instead. It’s all the people with talents who never even find out. Maybe they are never even born in a time when it’s even possible to find out.
It’s all the people who never get to know what it is that they can really be. It’s all the wasted chances.

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Discworld No. 10, Moving Pictures [Ginger] (1990)
(Source)

Shakespeare, William -- Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3, sc. 3, l. 139 (3.3.139) (1598)

Dave — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 21:42:44 +0000

CONRADE: The fashion wears out more apparel than the man.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3, sc. 3, l. 139 (3.3.139) (1598)
(Source)

Keyes, Daniel -- Flowers for Algernon (novel) (1966)

Dave — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 14:58:23 +0000

I am afraid. Not of life, or death, or nothingness, but of wasting it as if I had never been.

Daniel F. Keyes (1927–2014) American author
Flowers for Algernon (novel) (1966)

Francis I (Pope) -- Evangelii Gaudium, sec. 53 (24 Nov 2013)

Dave — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 13:11:24 +0000

Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.

Francis I (1936–2025) Argentinian Catholic Pope (2013–2025) [b. Jorge Mario Bergoglio]
Evangelii Gaudium, sec. 53 (24 Nov 2013)
(Source)

Johnson, Samuel -- Comment

Dave — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 17:27:07 +0000

It is a mortifying reflection for any man to consider what he has done with what he might have done.

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment

Quoted by Rev. Dr. Maxwell (1770), in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791).

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas

Dave — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 13:46:02 +0000

Conservation means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us. I ask nothing of the nation except that it so behave as each farmer here behaves with reference to his own children. That farmer is a poor creature who skins the land and leaves it worthless to his children. The farmer is a good farmer who, having enabled the land to support himself and to provide for the education of his children leaves it to them a little better than he found it himself. I believe the same thing of a nation.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer; US President (1901–09)
Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas
(Source)

Heywood, John -- Proverbes, Part 2, ch. 2 (1546)

Dave — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 19:25:09 +0000

Some things that provoke yong men to wed in haste,
Show after wedding that haste maketh waste.

John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 2, ch. 2 (1546)
(Source)

Eisenhower, Dwight David -- Speech (1953-04-16), “The Chance for Peace,” American Society of Newspaper Editors, Hotel Statler, New York City

Dave — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:07:45 +0000

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general, US President (1953–61)
Speech (1953-04-16), “The Chance for Peace,” American Society of Newspaper Editors, Hotel Statler, New York City
(Source)

Describing the cost of the Cold War. Also known as the "Cross of Iron" speech, it was delivered shortly into his presidency and just after Stalin's death.

~Proverbs and Sayings -- Chinese proverb

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

Lending to a spendthrift is like pelting a trespassing dog with meat dumplings.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
Chinese proverb