WIST Quotations

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1736 ed.)

Dave — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 20:09:32 +0000

Fish and Visitors stink in 3 days.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1736 ed.)
(Source)

Another saying Franklin repurposed from other sources. Proverbs comparing things to fish not aging well, or how guests outstay their welcome, or both, are not uncommon over the centuries.

Plautus is often mentioned as the originator of the combined sentiments, but instead he wrote of each individually. In the Asinaria [The Comedy of Asses], Act 1, sc. 3, l. 26 (c. 212-205 BC), he mentions a Roman proverb:

CLEARITA: Quasi piscis itidem est amator lenae: nequam est nisi recens.

[Just like a fish, so is a lover to a procuress; he's good for nothing if he isn't fresh.] [tr. Riley (1912)]
[For a brothel-keeper a lover is like a fish: he's no good unless he's fresh. [Source]
[For a madam a lover is just like a fish: if he’s not fresh, he’s worthless. [Loeb]]

Plautus also wrote in Miles Gloriosus [The Swaggering Soldier], Act 3, sc. 1, l. 146 (206 BC):

Hospes nullus tam in amici hospitium divorti potest, quin, ubi triduum continuum fuerit, jam odiosis siet.

[Whene’er a man is quartered at a friend’s, if he but stay three days, his company they will grow weary of.] [tr. Thomas]
[No guest is so welcome in a friend's house that he will not become a nuisance after three days.] [Source]

Medieval Italy sees the development of the proverb "L'ospite è come il pesce: dopo tre giorni puzza [The guest is like fish: after three days it stinks]." This is said to derive from the Latin "Post tres saepe dies vilescit piscis et hospes," which is sometimes credited (incorrectly) to Plautus. Wegeler includes that Latin in Philosophia Patrum [Philosophy of the Fathers] (1869) as a proverb (No. 931).

Erasmus in his Adagia [Proverbs] (1523), mentioning Plautus and the Asinaria line above, indicates a shortened version of this is still in circulation as a saying to (indirectly) refer to friends who stay three days or more:

Piscis nequam est, nisi recens.

[Fish is bad, unless it's fresh.]

John Lyly wrote in Euphues and His England (1580), "Fish and Guests in three days are stale."

Matthew Henry, in his Bible commentary (1706) on Proverbs 25:17, mentions that Latin proverb "Post tres saepe dies vilescit piscis et hospes" (translating it "After the third day fish and company become distasteful").

Virgil -- The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 1, l. 627ff (1.627-630) [Dido] (29-19 BC) [tr. Fagles (2006), l. 748ff]

Dave — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 17:44:45 +0000

So come, young soldiers, welcome to our house.
My destiny, harrying me with trials hard as yours,
led me as well, at last, to anchor in this land.
Schooled in suffering, now I learn to comfort
those who suffer too.

[Quare agite, O tectis, iuvenes, succedite nostris.
Me quoque per multos similis fortuna labores
iactatam hac demum voluit consistere terra.
Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco]

Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 1, l. 627ff (1.627-630) [Dido] (29-19 BC) [tr. Fagles (2006), l. 748ff]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

Therefore bold Trojans to our Court advance;
We in such dangers tost, and various chance
At length our selves did in this countrey plant,
I know t'help others, taught by my own want.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]

Enter, my noble guest, and you shall find,
If not a costly welcome, yet a kind:
For I myself, like you, have been distress'd,
Till Heav'n afforded me this place of rest;
Like you, an alien in a land unknown,
I learn to pity woes so like my own.
[tr. Dryden (1697)]

Then enter, chiefs, these friendly doors;
I too have had my fate, like yours,
Which, many a suffering overpast,
Has willed to fix me here at last.
Myself not ignorant of woe,
Compassion I have learned to show.
[tr. Conington (1866)]

Come then, O warriors, enter our abodes!
I also from calamities like yours
Have suffered much, till here I set my feet.
Not ignorant of trouble, I have learned
To succor the distressed
[tr. Cranch (1872), l. 817ff]

Come therefore, O men, and enter our house. Me too hath a like fortune driven through many a woe, and willed at last to find my rest in this land. Not ignorant of ill do I learn to succour the afflicted.
[tr. Mackail (1885)]

So hasten now to enter in 'neath roofs of me and mine.
Me too a fortune such as yours, me tossed by many a toil,
Hath pleased to give abiding-place at last upon this soil,
Learned in illhaps full wise am I unhappy men to aid.
[tr. Morris (1900)]

Welcome, then, heroes! Me hath Fortune willed
Long tost, like you, through sufferings, here to rest
And find at length a refuge. Not unskilled
In woe, I learn to succour the distrest.
[tr. Taylor (1907), st. 83, l. 739ff]

Therefore, behold, our portals are swung wide
for all your company. I also bore
hard fate like thine. I too was driven of storms
and after long toil was allowed at last
to call this land my home. O, I am wise
in sorrow, and I help all suffering souls!
[tr. Williams (1910)]

Come therefore, sirs, and pass within our halls. Me, too, has a like fortune driven through many toils, and willed that at last I should find rest in this land. Not ignorant of ill do I learn to befriend the unhappy.
[tr. Fairclough (1916)]

Enter my house. I, too, am fortune-driven
Through many sufferings; this land at last
Has brought me rest. Not ignorant of evil,
I know one thing, at least, -- to help the wretched.
[tr. Humphries (1951)]

So, gentlemen, do not hesitate to come under my roof.
I too have gone through much; like you, have been roughly handled
By fortune; but now at last it has willed me to settle here.
Being acquainted with grief, I am learning to help the unlucky.
[tr. Day Lewis (1952)]

Thus, young men, you are welcome to our halls.
My destiny, like yours, has willed that I,
a veteran of hardships, halt at last
in this country. Not ignorant of trials,
I now can learn to help the miserable.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1971), l. 878ff]

Come, then, soldiers, be our guests. My life
Was one of hardship and forced wandering
Like your own, till in this land at length
Fortune would have me rest. Through pain I've learned
To comfort suffering men.
[tr. Fitzgerald (1981)]

This is why I now invite your warriors to come into my house. I, too, have known ill fortune like yours and been tossed from one wretchedness to another until at last I have been allowed to settle in this land. Through my own suffering, I am learning to help those who suffer.
[tr. West (1990)]

So come, young lords, and enter our palace.
Fortune, pursuing me too, through many similar troubles,
willed that I would find peace at last in this land.
Not being unknown to evil, I’ve learned to aid the unhappy.
[tr. Kline (2002)]

And so, young men, come under my roof.
My fortune too has long been adverse
But at last has allowed me to rest in this land.
My own acquaintance with suffering
Has taught me to aid others in need.
[tr. Lombardo (2005), l. 767]

So come, young men, enter my home. Fortune once harassed me with hardship like your own. At last, the fates let me settle in this land. Knowing pain, I can learn to help the pain of others.
[tr. Bartsch (2021)]

Sarton, May -- A World of Light, ch. 4 (1976)

Dave — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 15:23:26 +0000

She became for me an island of light, fun, wisdom where I could run with my discoveries and torments and hopes at any time of day and find welcome.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
A World of Light, ch. 4 (1976)
(Source)

Referring to Edith Forbes Kennedy (1890-1942), a long-time mentor and "muse."

Brault, Robert -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 22:05:25 +0000

I nod to a passing stranger, and the stranger nods back, and two human beings go off feeling a little less anonymous.

Robert Brault (b. c. 1945) American aphorist, programmer
(Attributed)

Bible, Vol. 2. New Testament -- Hebrews 13: 2 [KJV (1611)]

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

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

[τῆς φιλοξενίας μὴ ἐπιλανθάνεσθε διὰ ταύτης γὰρ ἔλαθόν τινες ξενίσαντες ἀγγέλους.]

The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Hebrews 13: 2 [KJV (1611)]
(Source)

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

Remember always to welcome strangers, for by doing this, some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
[JB (1966); NJB (1985)]

Remember to welcome strangers in your homes. There were some who did that and welcomed angels without knowing it.
[GNT (1976)]

Don’t neglect to open up your homes to guests, because by doing this some have been hosts to angels without knowing it.
[CEB (2011)]

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]