Search results for tag #quotes
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I was afraid of a united Church; it makes a mighty power, the mightiest conceivable, and then when it by and by gets into selfish hands, as it is always bound to do, it means death to human liberty and paralysis to human thought.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Novel (1889), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Part 3 “The Tale of the Lost Land,” ch. 10 “Beginnings of Civilization”
More about this quote: wist.info/twain-mark/85458/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #marktwain #twain #connecticutyankee #church #churchandstate #corruption #freedomofthought #humannature #liberty #oppression #organizedreligion #religion #religiousintolerance #tyranny
A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Poem (1885), “My Shadow,” st. 1, A Child’s Garden of Verses
More about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertlouisstevenson #perspective #reflection #shadow #identity
Virtue begins by shunning vice; wisdom
By shunning folly.
[Virtus est vitium fugere et sapientia prima
stultitia caruisse.]
Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 1 “To Maecenas,” l. 41ff (1.1.41-42) (20 BC) [tr. Ferry (2001)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/14188/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #horace #avoidance #folly #foolishness #immorality #negative #sin #stupidity #vice #virtue #wisdom
A quotation from George Orwell
Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.
George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-12), Review of Herbert Read, A Coat of Many Colours, Poetry Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 4 (1945, Winter)
More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/3040/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #georgeorwell #age #decline #degeneracy #era #generation #generationgap #intelligence #knowledge #progress #prudence #wisdom
A quotation from Kerry Greenwood
Money can’t buy happiness but it can vastly improve the quality of your misery.
Kerry Greenwood (b. 1954) Australian author and lawyer
Phryne Fisher, Book 18, Dead Man’s Chest, ch. 13 [Phryne] (2010)
More about this quote: wist.info/greenwood-kerry/8545…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #kerrygreenwood #phrynefisher #missfishermurdermysteries #
A quotation from Arthur Conan Doyle
Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labor, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else.
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1891-08), “The Red-Headed League,” [Holmes], The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 2
More about this quote: wist.info/doyle-arthur-conan/8…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #arthurconandoyle #sherlockholmes #sherlock #holmes #redheadedleague #deduction #description #investigation #observation
A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt
In addition to, not as a substitute for, individual responsibility, there is a collective responsibility.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Autobiography, ch. 1 “Boyhood and Youth” (1913)
More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/8…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #teddyroosevelt #theodoreroosevelt #collective #individual #individuality #mutualresponsibility #personalresponsibility #responsibility #togetherness #socialcontract
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Teddy Roosevelt quote on responsibility
THE DOCTOR: Now, if they should break through, run as if something very nasty were after you, because something very nasty will be after you.
Doctor Who (1963-1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
16×03 “The Stones of Blood,” Part 3 (1978-11-11) [w. David Fisher]
More about this quote: wist.info/doctor-who-1963/8544…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #fourthdoctor #chasing #danger #doctorwho #flight #pursuit #runningaway
MARCUS: The power of separating the intellect from the senses, and reason from instinct, is characteristic of the highest genius.
[Magni autem est ingenii sevocare mentem a sensibus et cogitationem ab consuetudine abducere.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 1, ch. 16 (1.16) / sec. 38 (1.38) (45 BC) [ed. Harbottle (1897)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/cicero-marcus-tulliu…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cicero #tusculandisputations #abstraction #genius #habit #instinct #intellect #reason #senses #thought
The tragedy of life is not so much what men suffer, but rather what they miss.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Attributed)
(Much) more about this quote: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/719/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #carlyle #thomascarlyie #opportunity #humancondition #loss #miss #missout #suffering #tragedy #unawareness
A quotation from Josh Billings
The reputashun that a man gits from hiz ansesstors often wants az mutch altering to fit him, az their old clothes would.
[The reputation that a man gets from his ancestors often wants as much altering to fit him, as their old clothes would.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1877-10 “Blossoms” (1877 ed.)
More about this quote: wist.info/billings-josh/85419/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #joshbillings #ancestors #family #familytree #forefathers #heritage #legacy #reputation
Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience — the knowledge that our mighty deeds will come to the ears of our contemporaries or “of those who are to be.” We are ready to sacrifice our true, transitory self for the imaginary eternal self we are building up, by our heroic deeds, in the opinion and imagination of others.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 13, § 47 (3.13.47) (1951)
More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/11805/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #fame #glory #illusion #image #posterity #publicopinion #theater #renown #history
There are three great destroyers of mankind, Plague, Famine, and Hero. Plague and Famine destroy your persons only, and leave your goods to your Heirs; but Hero, when he comes, takes life and goods together; his business and glory it is, to destroy man and the works of man.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard Improved (1748 ed.)
More about this quote: wist.info/franklin-benjamin/85…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #benfranklin #benjaminfranklin #poorrichard #poorrichardsalmanac #conqueror #conquest #destruction #famine #glory #hero #plague #war #warfare
But I think the American people expect more from us than cries of indignation and attack. The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high — to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) American politician, author, journalist, US President (1961–63)
Speech (1960-07-15), “The New Frontier,” Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, Democratic National Convention, Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
More about this quote: wist.info/kennedy-john/25388/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnkennedy #johnfkennedy #jfk #attack #campaign #debate #future #inspiration #politicians #politics #rhetoric
Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. Books, the oldest and the best, stand naturally and rightfully on the shelves of every cottage. They have no cause of their own to plead, but while they enlighten and sustain the reader his common sense will not refuse them. Their authors are a natural and irresistible aristocracy in every society, and, more than kings or emperors, exert an influence on mankind.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden; or, Life in the Woods, ch. 3 “Reading” (1854)
More about this quote: wist.info/thoreau-henry-david/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #thoreau #walden #authors #books #heritage #influence #writing
Why cannot we remember all the contradictions which we feel within our own judgement, and how many things which were articles of belief for us yesterday are fables for us today?
[Que ne nous souvient il combien nous sentons de contradiction en nostre jugement mesmes ? combien de choses nous servoient hyer d’articles de foy, qui nous sont fables aujourd’huy?]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 26 (1.26), “It Is Folly to Measure the True and the False by Our Own Capacity [C’est folie de rapporter le vray et le faux à nostre suffisance]” (1572) [tr. Screech (1987), 1.27]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #belief #changeofheart #changeofmind #error #judgment #misjudgment #opinion #selfawareness
Had there been a literary censorship in Rome, we should have had to-day neither Horace, Juvenal, nor the philosophical works of Cicero. If Milton, Dryden, Pope, and Locke had not been free, England would have had neither poets nor philosophers; there is something positively Turkish in proscribing printing; and hampering it is proscription.
[S’il y avait eu une inquisition littéraire à Rome, nous n’aurions aujourd’hui ni Horace, ni Juvénal, ni les œuvres philosophiques de Cicéron. Si Milton, Dryden, Pope, et Locke, n’avaient pas été libres l’Angleterre n’aurait eu ni des poètes, ni des philosophes: il y a je ne sais quoi de turc à proscrire l’imprimerie, et c’est la proscrire que la trop gêner.]
Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Letter (1733-06-20) to a First Commissioner [Lettre á un premier commis] [tr. Tallentyre (1919)]
More about this quote: wist.info/voltaire/85406/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #voltaire #authors #censorship #classics #freepress #freedomofthepress #history #literature #perspective
Take care not to attain victories over your superior. — All conquest is detested, and to conquer your master is either a folly or a calamity. All superiority is abominated; how much more superiority over superiority.
[Excusar victorias del patrón. Todo vencimiento es odioso, y del dueño, o necio, o fatal. Siempre la superioridad fue aborrecida, cuanto más de la misma superioridad.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 7 (1647) [tr. Duff (1877)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/gracian-y-morales-ba…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #gracian #baltasargracian #boss #defeat #ego #pride #selfdefeating #superior #victory
A quotation from Douglas Adams
I’ve never understood all this fuss people make about the dawn. I’ve seen a few and they’re never as good as the photographs, which have the additional advantage of being things you can look at when you’re in the right frame of mind, which is usually around lunchtime.
Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Last Chance to See, ch. 4 (1990) [with Mark Carwardine]
More about this quote: wist.info/adams-douglas/30169/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #douglasadams #lastchancetosee #awaken #beauty #dawn #early #morning #nature #photography #sleep #sunrise #wakeup
A quotation from Bertrand Russell
All the governments of the world adopt elaborate methods of concealing truths which they consider undesirable, and inflict various forms of penalty upon those who spread knowledge which is thought bad for the population This applies especially to knowledge of the kind which is considered seditious, and the kind which is considered obscene. I shall not give instances, since, if I did, I should myself fall under the ban of the law.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Education and the Social Order [Education and the Modern World], ch. 1 “The Individual versus the Citizen” (1932)
More about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/853…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #censorship #control #freepress #freespeech #government #knowledge #obscenity #pornography #publicgood #sedition #suppression #treason #truth
This is a column for everyone in the path of Hurricane Katrina who ever said, “I’m sorry, I’m just not interested in politics,” or, “There’s nothing I can do about it,” or, “Eh, they’re all crooks anyway.”
Look around you this morning. I suppose the NRA would argue, “Government policies don’t kill people, hurricanes kill people.” Actually, hurricanes plus government policies kill people. […] This, my friends, is why we need to pay attention to government policies, not political personalities, and to know whereon we vote. It is about our lives.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (2005-09-09), “Katrina and You,” Texas Observer
More about this quote: wist.info/ivins-molly/16624/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #mollyivins #katrina #disaster #disengagement #government #misgovernment #payattention #policy #political #politics #publicpolicy #voting
Never make thy Physician thy heir.
[Non far ma medico tuo herede.]
James Howell (c. 1594–1666) Welsh historian, writer, aphorist
Paroimiographia [Παροιμιογραφία]: Proverbs, or, Old Sayed Sawes & Adages, “Proverbs in Italian” (1659)
[compiler]
More about this quote: wist.info/howell-james/85394/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jameshowell #proverb #conflictofinterest #doctor #healthcare #heir #incentive #inheritance #medicalcare #physician #selfinterest #vulnerability
They have very few laws, because, with their social system, very few laws are required. Indeed, one of their great complaints against other countries is that, although they’ve already got books and books of laws and interpretations of laws, they never seem to have enough. For, according to the Utopians, it’s quite unjust for anyone to be bound by a legal code which is too long for an ordinary person to read right through, or too difficult for him to understand.
[Leges habent perquam paucas. sufficiunt enim sic institutis paucissimae. Quin hoc in primis apud alios improbant populos, quod legum interpretumque uolumina, non infinita sufficiunt. Ipsi uero censent iniquissimum; ullos homines his obligari legibus; quae aut numerosiores sint, quam ut perlegi queant; aut obscuriores quam ut a quouis possint intelligi.]
Thomas More (1478-1535) English lawyer, social philosopher, statesman, humanist, Christian martyr
Utopia, Book 2, ch. 7 “Of Their Slaves, and of Their Marriages” (1518 ed.) [tr. Turner (1965 ed.)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/more-thomas/85391/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #thomasmore #utopia #complexity #Constitution #judicialsystem #law #legalsystem #legalism #simplicity #understandability
A quotation from Bill Watterson
CALVIN: Do you believe in the Devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of Man?
HOBBES: I’m not sure Man needs the help.
Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1992-04-06)
More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/85386…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #adversary #belief #corruption #devil #humancondition #humannature #humanity #lucifer #Satan #selfdestructiveness #temptation
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Calvin and Hobbes (1992-04-06)
A quotation from Ambrose Bierce
EXPEDIENCY, n. The father of all virtues.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Expediency,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1884-06-07)
More about this quote: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/85383…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ambrosebierce #devilsdictionary #convenience #excuse #expediency #justification #opportunism #pragmatism #rationale #selfinterest #selfjustification #virtue
A quotation from Hannah Arendt
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 13 “Ideology and Terror” (1951)
More about this quote: wist.info/arendt-hannah/41683/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hannaharendt #conviction #convincing #experience #fact #falsehood #fiction #follower #reality #subject #totalitarianism #truth #unreality #delusion
JASON: I go — a father once; now childless.
MEDEA: You grieve too soon. Old age is coming.
[ἸΆΣΩΝ: στείχω, δισσῶν γ᾽ ἄμορος τέκνων.
ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: οὔπω θρηνεῖς: μένε καὶ γῆρας.]
Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 1395ff (431 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1963)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/euripides/85377/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #euripides #medea #bitterness #childlessness #grief #growingold #lamentation #loss #mourning #oldage #sorrow
A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt
Do what you feel in your heart to be right — for you’ll be criticized, anyway. You’ll be “damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Quoted in Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, ch. 21 (1948)
More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-eleanor/85…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #eleanorroosevelt #censure #conscience #criticism #denunciation #disapproval #disparagement #integrity #moralcode #rightandwrong #sensitivity
A hasty quarrel sparks a fire,
and hasty conflict sheds blood.
If you blow on a spark, it will flame up,
and if you spit on it, it will go out;
nonetheless, both come out
of your mouth.
[ἔρις κατασπευδομένη ἐκκαίει πῦρ,
καὶ μάχη κατασπεύδουσα ἐκχέει αἷμα.
ἐὰν φυσήσῃς εἰς σπινθῆρα, ἐκκαήσεται,
καὶ ἐὰν πτύσῃς ἐπ᾽ αὐτόν, σβεσθήσεται·
καὶ ἀμφότερα ἐκ τοῦ στόματός σου ἐκπορεύεται.]
The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Book 22b. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 28:11ff (Sir 28:11–12) [tr. CEB (2011)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/bible-ot/85373/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bible #oldtestament #apocrypha #ecclesiasticus #sirach #antagonize #argument #calmdown #deescalation #dispute #escalation #fight #quarrel #selfrestraint #verbalabuse #violence #words #peacemaking
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#Quote “It suits the #tyrant to keep the #revolutionary #starving, too #busy fending for #daily #survival, to #revolt.”
- #Aristotle #QuoteS
...great ancient #Athenian #philosopher...
... pupil of #Plato
... #teacher of #AlexanderTheGreat (384-322 BC)
And in return may the gods grant you your heart’s desire; may they give you a husband and a home, and the harmony that is so much to be desired, since there is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends, as they themselves know better than anyone.
[Σοὶ δὲ θεοὶ τόσα δοῖεν, ὅσα φρεσὶ σῇσι μενοινᾷς,
ἄνδρα τε καὶ οἶκον, καὶ ὁμοφροσύνην ὀπάσειαν
ἐσθλήν· οὐ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ γε κρεῖσσον καὶ ἄρειον,
ἢ ὅθ’ ὁμοφρονέοντε νοήμασιν οἶκον ἔχητον
ἀνὴρ ἠδὲ γυνή· πόλλ’ ἄλγεα δυσμενέεσσι,
χάρματα δ’ εὐμενέτῃσι· μάλιστα δέ τ’ ἔκλυον αὐτοί.]
Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 6, l. 180ff (6.180) [Odysseus to Nausicaa] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Rieu (1946)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/homer/46493/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #homer #odyssey #odysseus #nausicaa #blessing #harmony #home #husband #marriage #meme #partner #spouse #together #unity #wife
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Odyssey quotation
MARY: Well, I worry terribly about lung cancer. I also worry about shortness of breath and heart disease. But what really worries me right this minute is that I’m not going to find a cigarette.
Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Mary, Mary, Act 3 (1961)
More about this quote: wist.info/kerr-jean/85369/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jeankerr #marymary #addiction #cancer #cigarettes #health #nicotine #smoking
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“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. I hold that the more helpless a creature the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of humankind.”
― Mahatma Ghandi
A quotation from Richard Steele
The prevailing humour of crying up authors that have writ in the days of our forefathers, and of passing slightly over the merit of our contemporaries, is a grievance that men of a free and unprejudiced thought have complained of through all ages in their writings.
Richard Steele (1672-1729) Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, playwright, politician
Essay (1713-04-09), The Guardian, No. 25
More about this quote: wist.info/steele-richard/85367…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #richardsteele #ancestors #authors #era #forefathers #generations #goldenage #goodolddays #greatness #literarycriticism #nostalgia #past #perspective #present #writers
The sailor tells of stormy gales, of oxen talks the farmer,
The soldier counts his wounds, of sheep the shepherd prates away;
I sing of hours in rosy bowers, of dalliance with my charmer:
We all have here our proper sphere — his part let each one play.
[Navita de ventis, de tauris narrat arator,
Enumerat miles vulnera, pastor oves.
Nos contra angusto versantes proelia lecto:
Qua pote quisque, in ea conterat arte diem.]
Propertius (50-16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 2, Elegy 1, l. 43ff (2.1.43–46) [tr. Cranstoun (1875)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/propertius/85363/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #propertius #expertise #job #profession #shoptalk #sphere #vocation #poet #poetry
FOOL: Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid.
Fly away, fly away, breath,
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 58ff (2.4.58-61) (1601)
More about this quote: wist.info/shakespeare-william/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #shakespeare #williamshakespeare #twelfthnight #feste #burial #death #dying #heartbreak #passion #pining #rejection
"...#colonisers can get #colonised too."
- #Quote #AralBalkan / @aral #Quotes
Inspired by: https://mastodon.social/@aral@mastodon.ar.al/117069799417166560
There is no society, only individuals #Quote
- #MargaretThatcher + #NoamChomsky + #KarlMarx
#Video Source: Noam Chomsky: Neoliberalism Is Destroying Our Democracy
(Time = 4.30min #Quotes #Marx)
https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=tBzSLu3MZ6I
“If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.”
― Hannah Arendt
“Life is an adventure of passion, risk, danger, laughter, beauty, love; a burning curiosity to go with the action to see what it is all about, to go search for a pattern of meaning, to burn one's bridges because you're never going to go back anyway, and to live to the end.”
― Saul D. Alinsky
A quotation from Terry Pratchett
“I don’t hold with paddlin’ with the occult,” said Granny firmly. “Once you start paddlin’ with the occult you start believing in spirits, and when you start believing in spirits you start believing in demons, and then before you know where you are you’re believing in gods. And then you’re in trouble.”
“But all them things exist,” said Nanny Ogg.
“That’s no call to go around believing in them. It only encourages ’em.”
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 14, Lords and Ladies (1992)
More about this quote: wist.info/pratchett-terry/8535…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #terrypratchett #discworld #lordsandladies #grannyweatherwax #nannyogg #belief #demons #existence #faith #gods #occult #spirits #spirituality #religion
A quotation from La Rochefoucauld
The world oftener rewards the appearance of merit than merit itself.
[Le monde récompense plus souvent les apparences du mérite que le mérite même.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶166 (1665-1678) [tr. Bund/Friswell (1871)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/la-rochefoucauld-fra…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #larochefoucauld #appearances #cynicism #facade #merit #praise #recognition #reward #virtue
A quotation from Samuel Johnson
That observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1750-03-31), The Rambler, No. 4
More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/22262…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #cleverness #cunning #goodperson #goodness #knowledge #practicality #pragmatism #virtue #worldliness
A quotation from Robert Ingersoll
Infinite punishment is infinite cruelty, endless injustice, immortal meanness. To worship an eternal gaoler hardens, debases, and pollutes even the vilest soul. While there is one sad and breaking heart in the universe, no good being can be perfectly happy.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1881-05-01) “The Great Infidels,” Booth’s Theater, New York
More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #afterlife #Christianity #cruelty #divinejudgment #divinejustice #divinepunishment #eternalpunishment #eternity #heaven #hell #injustice #punishment
A quotation from Adlai Stevenson
Joint action is, after all, the final significance of all we do in our international politics today. But we are still held back by our old parochial nationalisms. We are still beset by dark prejudices. We are still divided by angry, conflicting ideologies. Yet all around us our science, our instruments, our technologies, our interests, and indeed our deepest aspirations draw us more and more closely into a single neighborhood.
Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1965-07-09), “Strengthening the International Development Institutions,” sec. 12, United Nations Economic and Social Council, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
More about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-adlai-ewin…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #adlaistevenson #cooperation #disunity #division #foreignaffairs #foreignpolicy #foreignrelations #internationalaffairs #internationalcommunity #internationalorder #internationalrelations #internationalism #jointaction #nationalism
A quotation from Francis Bacon
Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
Essay (1625 ed.), “Of Youth and Age”
More about this quote: wist.info/bacon-francis/85350/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #francisbacon #compromise #decline #henoed #maturity #mediocrity #oldage #slowingdown
Unlimited power is the ideal thing when it is in safe hands. The despotism of heaven is the one absolutely perfect government, and earthly despotism would be the absolute perfect earthly government if the conditions were the same; namely the despot the perfectest individual of the human race, and his lease of life perpetual; but as a perishable, perfect man must die and leave his despotism in the hands of an imperfect successor, an earthly despotism is not merely a bad form of government, it is the worst form that is possible.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Novel (1889), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Part 3 “The Tale of the Lost Land,” ch. 10 “Beginnings of Civilization”
More about this quote: wist.info/twain-mark/85346/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #twain #marktwain #connecticutyankee #absolutepower #despotism #dictatorship #humannature #mortality #perfection #succession #tyranny
A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson
A child should always say what’s true
And speak when he is spoken to,
And behave mannerly at table;
At least as far as he is able.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Poem (1885), “Whole Duty of Children,” A Child’s Garden of Verses
More about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertlouisstevenson #child #childraising #childrearing #children #discipline #duty #honesty #manners #silence
Whene’er you lecture, be concise: the soul
Takes in short maxims, and retains them whole:
But pour in water when the vessel’s filled,
It simply dribbles over and is spilled.
[Quidquid praecipies, esto brevis, ut cito dicta
percipiant animi dociles teneantque fideles:
omne supervacuum pleno de pectore manat.]
Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 3 “Art of Poetry [Ars Poetica; To the Pisos],” l. 335ff (2.3.335-337) (19 BC) [tr. Conington (1874)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/33634/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #horace #advice #brevity #briefness #counsel #edification #keepitsimple #lesson #maxim #moral #moralizing #precept #succinct #teaching #wisdom
It is a commonplace that the Christian Heaven, as usually portrayed, would attract nobody. Almost all Christian writers dealing with Heaven either say frankly that it is indescribable or conjure up a vague picture of gold, precious stones, and the endless singing of hymns. This has, it is true, inspired some of the best poems in the world […] but what it could not do was to describe a condition in which the ordinary human being actively wanted to be.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1943-12-20), “Can Socialists Be Happy?” Tribune Newspaper [as John Freeman]
More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/85331/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #afterlife #Christianity #heaven #paradise
“So, Jeeves!”
“Yes, sir.”
“What do you mean, Yes, sir?”
“I was endeavouring to convey my appreciation of the fact that your position is in many respects somewhat difficult, sir. But I wonder if I might call your attention to an observation of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. He said: ‘Does aught befall you? It is good. It is part of the destiny of the Universe ordained for you from the beginning. All that befalls you is part of the great web.'”
I breathed a bit stertorously.
“He said that, did he?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, you can tell him from me he’s an ass.”
P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) Anglo-American humorist, playwright and lyricist [Pelham Grenville Wodehouse]
The Mating Season, ch. 4 (1949)
More about this quote: wist.info/wodehouse-p-g/46199/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #wodehouse #pgwodehouse #marcusaurelius #jeeves #wooster #acceptance #advice #destiny #fate #foreordainment #nature #stoicism #trouble #universe
A quotation (not) from Thomas Carlyle
A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Spurious)
Much more about this quote: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/85318…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #carlyle #thomascarlyle #character #greatman #greatperson #greatness #littleguy #littlepeople #strength #weakness
LEELA: Never mind, Doctor, I’ve found the answer.
DOCTOR: You have?
LEELA: Knife them in the neck!
Doctor Who (1963-1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
15×02 “The Invisible Enemy,” Part 4 (1977-10-22) [w. Bob Baker, Dave Martin]
More about this quote: wist.info/doctor-who-1963/8531…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #fourthdoctor #leela #answer #doctorwho #killing #problemsolving #solution #violence
A quotation from Josh Billings
Thare are two kinds of men that fear makes phools ov, them who are afrade of nothing, and them who are afrade of everything.
[There are two kinds of men that fear makes fools of, them who are afraid of nothing, and them who are afraid of everything.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1877-09 (1877 ed.)
More about this quote: wist.info/billings-josh/85313/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #joshbillings #fear #fearlessness #folly #foolishness
The fiercest fanatics are often selfish people who were forced, by innate shortcomings or external circumstances, to lose faith in their own selves. They separate the excellent instrument of their selfishness from their ineffectual selves and attach it to the service of some holy cause. And though it be a faith of love and humility they adopt, they can be neither loving nor humble.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 2, ch. 7, § 38 (2.7.38) (1951)
More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/67490/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #cause #devotion #ego #faith #fanaticism #fanatics #fierceness #holywar #selfishness #service #truebelievers
A quotation from Frederick Douglass
Americans! your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. You boast of your love of liberty, your superior civilization, and your pure Christianity, while the whole political power of the nation (as embodied in the two great political parties), is solemnly pledged to support and perpetuate the enslavement of three millions of your countrymen. You hurl your anathemas at the crowned headed tyrants of Russia and Austria, and pride yourselves on your Democratic institutions, while you yourselves consent to be the mere tools and body-guards of the tyrants of Virginia and Carolina.
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
Speech (1852-07-05), “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York
More about this quote: wist.info/douglass-frederick/8…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #frederickdouglass #America #enslavement #hypocrisy #pretension #slavery #systemicracism #tyranny
MARCUS: Don’t our friends, the philosophers, put their names on the very books they write condemning the quest for fame?
[Quid? Nostri philosophi nonne in his libris ipsis, quos scribunt de contemnenda gloria, sua nomina inscribunt?]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 1, ch. 15 (1.15) / sec. 34 (1.34) (45 BC) [tr. Habinek (1996)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/cicero-marcus-tulliu…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cicero #tusculandisputations #afterlife #author #credit #fame #glory #hypocrisy #philosopher #posthumous #reputation #writer #vanity #pride
Lost Time is never found again.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard Improved (1748 ed.)
More about this quote: wist.info/franklin-benjamin/85…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #franklin #benfranklin #benjaminfranklin #poorrichard #poorrichardsalmanac #loss #losttime #marchoftime #opportunity #passageoftime #time #wasteoftime #wastingtime
While there is a chance of the world getting through its troubles I hold that a reasonable man has to behave as though he was sure of it. If at the end your cheerfulness is not justified, at any rate you will have been cheerful.
H. G. Wells (1866-1946) British writer [Herbert George Wells]
Apropos of Dolores, ch. 2 (1938)
More about this quote: wist.info/wells-hg/35130/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hgwells #cheer #cheerfulness #goodcheer #meme #optimism #troubles
“If he controls your ideas he will soon control your actions, because every action is preceded by an idea.”
― Silvano Arieti
As you have it in your power, sir, to do some service to letters, I implore you not to clip the wings of our writers so closely, nor to turn into barn-door fowls those who, allowed a start, might become eagles; reasonable liberty permits the mind to soar — slavery makes it creep.
[Puisque vous êtes, monsieur, à portée de rendre service aux belles-lettres, ne rognez pas de si près les ailes à nos écrivains, et ne faites pas des volailles de basse-cour de ceux qui, en prenant l’essor, pourraient devenir des aigles: une liberté honnête élève l’esprit, et l’esclavage le fait ramper.]
Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Letter (1733-06-20) to a First Commissioner [Lettre á un premier commis] [tr. Tallentyre (1919)]
More about this quote: wist.info/voltaire/85298/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #voltaire #censorship #control #enslavement #freepress #freedomofthepress #liberty #regulation #restrictions #writers
A quotation from Douglas Adams
You can’t help but try and follow an animal’s thought processes, and you can’t help, when faced with an animal like a three ton rhinoceros with nasal passages bigger than its brain, but fail.
Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Last Chance to See, ch. 3 (1990) [with Mark Carwardine]
More about this quote: wist.info/adams-douglas/30101/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #douglasadams #lastchancetosee #rhino #rhinoceros #animals #empathy #inscrutability #size #thinking #thought #thoughtprocess #understanding
A quotation from Anthony Burgess
Languages never stand still. Modern spelling crystallizes lost pronunciations: the visual never quite catches up with the aural.
Anthony Burgess (1917-1993) English novelist
A Mouthful of Air: Language, Languages … Especially English, ch. 21 “Sounds from the Past” (1992)
More about this quote: wist.info/burgess-anthony/7114…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #burgess #anthonyburgess #artifact #evolution #language #linguistics #orthography #passageoftime #pronunciation #spelling #timelag
The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom; every one, having an inward veneration for the opinions and manners approved and received among his own people, cannot, without very great reluctance, depart from them, nor apply himself to them without applause.
[Les loix de la conscience, que nous disons naistre de nature, naissent de la coustume : chacun ayant en veneration interne les opinions & mœurs approuvees & receues autour de luy, ne s’en peut desprendre sans remors, ny s’y appliquer sans applaudissement.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 22 (1.22), “Of Custom and Not Easily Changing an Accepted Law [De la Coustume et de Ne Changer Aisément une Loy Receüe]” (1572) [tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #behavior #conscience #custom #manners #moralcode #morality #mores #naturallaw #nature #publicopinion #tradition
A quotation from Bertrand Russell
Absence of finality is of the essence of the scientific spirit.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Education and the Social Order [Education and the Modern World], ch. 1 “The Individual versus the Citizen” (1932)
More about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/852…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #certainty #discovery #finality #science #scientificmethod #testing #uncertainty #validation
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden; or, Life in the Woods, ch. 2 “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” (1854)
More about this quote: wist.info/thoreau-henry-david/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #thoreau #henrydavidthoreau #walden #deliberation #essentials #lessons #living #meaningoflife #retreat #solitude #woods
I do not believe the President’s sex life is any of our business. After thirty years of political reporting, I have been unable to establish a link between marital fidelity and high performance in public office. It really doesn’t matter who they screw in private, as long as they don’t screw the public.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (1998-03), “A Dodge Too Far,” The Progressive, Vol. 62, No. 3
More about this quote: wist.info/ivins-molly/16566/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #mollyivins #fidelity #publicoffice #publicofficial #scandal #sex #sexlife
That is the question of the New Frontier. That is the choice our nation must make — a choice that lies not merely between two men or two parties, but between the public interest and private comfort — between national greatness and national decline — between the fresh air of progress and the stale, dank atmosphere of “normalcy” — between determined dedication and creeping mediocrity.
All mankind waits upon our decision. A whole world looks to see what we will do. We cannot fail their trust, we cannot fail to try.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) American politician, author, journalist, US President (1961–63)
Speech (1960-07-15), “The New Frontier,” Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, Democratic National Convention, Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
More about this quote: wist.info/kennedy-john/26017/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnkennedy #johnfkennedy #jfk #newfrontier #attempt #challenge #choices #growth #decision #hardchoices #progress #stakes #strive #try #endeavor
Wealth is not his who hath it, but his who enjoyes it.
[La robba no n’e di chi la fa, m’a di chi la gode.]
James Howell (c. 1594–1666) Welsh historian, writer, aphorist
Paroimiographia [Παροιμιογραφία]: Proverbs, or, Old Sayed Sawes & Adages, “Proverbs in Italian” (1659)
[compiler]
More about this quote: wist.info/howell-james/85279/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jameshowell #proverb #enjoyment #possessions #wealth
"It's very difficult to build software fully preserving the ability to downgrade.
Certain projects such as SQLite do it but still have opt-in breaking changes which become mandatory."
#Quote #GrapheneOS / GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social
#Quotes from: https://mastodon.social/@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social/117041580878364817
[boost option was hidden so I just made my own post with quote]
"I just despise... having to buy multiple phones to test shit on another android version on occasion without it being highly time consuming and inconvenient (esp. for stuff like banking apps breaking even when reverted)..."
#Quote Klaus Frank / @agowa338
#Mobile #Phone #Working #Testing #Apps #Banking #Security #Quotes
“We are in a prison of our own minds holding our own chains around us. We create our oligarchs and fight for their right to oppress us.”
― Heather Marsh
And his hands would plait the priest’s entrails,
For want of a rope, to strangle kings.
[Et ses mains ourdiraient les entrailles du prêtre,
Au défaut d’un cordon pour étrangler les rois.]
Denis Diderot (1713-1784) French editor, philosopher
Poem (1772), “Les Éleuthéromanes”
Much more about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/diderot-denis/6524/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #diderot #denisdiderot #authority #Christianity #church #clergy #freedom #king #liberty #monarchy #priest #priesthood #rebellion #revolution #royalty #strangulation #tyranny
ORSINO: If music be the food of love, play on.
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken and so die.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 1, sc. 1, l. 1ff (1.1.1-3) (1601)
More about this quote: wist.info/shakespeare-william/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #shakespeare #williamshakespeare #twelfthnight #orsino #appetite #excess #gorging #love #music #passion
A quotation from Abraham Lincoln
Often an idea about it would occur to me which seemed to have force and make perfect answer to some of the things that were said and written about my actions. I never let one of those ideas escape me, but wrote it on a scrap of paper and put it in that drawer. In that way I saved my best thoughts on the subject, and, you know, such things often come in a kind of intuitive way more clearly than if one were to sit down and deliberately reason them out.
To save the results of such mental action is true intellectual economy. It not only saves time and labor, but also the very best material the mind can supply for unexpected emergencies.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Remark (1863) to James F. Wilson (Attributed)
More about this quote: wist.info/lincoln-abraham/7507…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #lincoln #abrahamlincoln #abelincoln #notetaking #ideas #impulse #intuition #notes #thoughts
A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt
You can not live at all if you do not learn to adapt yourself to your life as it happens to be.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Memoir (1949), This I Remember, ch. 20 “The Last Term: 1944–1945”
More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-eleanor/85…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #eleanorroosevelt #accommodation #adaptation #facereality #life #living #realworld #realitycheck
Can people hold on to their anger
against others, and then look for healing from the Lord?
Can they refuse to have mercy
on people like themselves,
and then pray about their own sins?
If they, who are just flesh,
hold on to anger,
who will secure pardon
for their own sins?
[ἄνθρωπος ἀνθρώπῳ συντηρεῖ ὀργήν,
καὶ παρὰ κυρίου ζητεῖ ἴασιν;
ἐπ᾽ ἄνθρωπον ὅμοιον αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔχει ἔλεος,
καὶ περὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτοῦ δεῖται;
αὐτὸς σὰρξ ὢν διατηρεῖ μῆνιν,
τίς ἐξιλάσεται τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτοῦ;]
The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Book 22b. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 28: 3ff (Sir 28:3–5) [tr. CEB (2011)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/bible-ot/85272/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bible #apocrypha #ecclesiasticus #sirach #anger #divinegrace #divinejustice #divinemercy #forgiveness #grudge #hatred #justdeserts #pardon
@RichardJMurphy The Wizard of Oz #Power & #Promises #Quote
"If you were really great and powerful you'd keep your promises."
#Dorothy + #OscarDiggs
[The #Wizard of #Oz characters]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizard_of_Oz_(character)
And, oh! whate’er Heaven destined to betide,
Let neither flattery soothe, nor pity hide.
Prepared I stand: he was but born to try
The lot of man; to suffer, and to die.
[πέρι γάρ μιν ὀιζυρὸν τέκε μήτηρ.
μηδέ τί μ᾽ αἰδόμενος μειλίσσεο μηδ᾽ ἐλεαίρων,
ἀλλ᾽ εὖ μοι κατάλεξον ὃπως ἤντησας ὀπωπῆς.]
Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 3, l. 96ff (3.96) (c. 700 BC) [tr. Pope (1725), l. 114ff]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/homer/49946/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #homer #odyssey #telemachus #odysseus #brutallyhonest #candor #destiny #doom #fate #honesty #meaningoflife #misfortune #mortality #suffering #death
MARY: I don’t grasp things this early in the day. I mean, I hear voices, all right, but I can’t pick out the verbs.
Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Mary, Mary, Act 3 (1961)
More about this quote: wist.info/kerr-jean/85266/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jeankerr #marymary #comprehension #early #grogginess #groggy #morning #sleepiness #wakening
A quotation from Richard Steele
Whenever you commend, add your reasons for doing so; it is this which distinguishes the approbation of a man of sense from the flattery of sycophants and admiration of fools.
Richard Steele (1672-1729) Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, playwright, politician
Essay (1713-04-08), The Guardian No. 24
More about this quote: wist.info/steele-richard/27436…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #richardsteele #admiration #commendation #compliment #flattery #folly #praise #praiseworthiness #sycophancy
Dear love, dear life, you do not need adorning —
hair curled, silk rustling down your slender side.
Not by that heavy scent, those foreign bangles,
is this your natural beauty magnified.
No. Let that beauty shine in its own brilliance,
your charm, your grace, transcend what gold can buy.
Believe me, art is needless. You are lovely,
and love goes naked nor would trick the eye.
[Quid iuvat ornato procedere, vita, capillo
et tenuis Coa veste movere sinus,
aut quid Orontea crines perfundere murra,
teque peregrinis vendere muneribus,
naturaeque decus mercato perdere cultu,
nec sinere in propriis membra nitere bonis?
Crede mihi, non ulla tuaest medicina figurae:
nudus Amor formam non amat artificem.]
Propertius (50-16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 1, Elegy 2, l. 1ff (1.2.1-8) [tr. Carrier (1963)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/propertius/85262/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #propertius #adornment #artifice #attraction #attractiveness #beauty #clothing #couture #Cupid #fashion #makeup #nakedness #nudity #perfume #simplicity #unadornment
ORSINO: These most brisk and giddy-pacèd times.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 7 (2.4.7) (1601)
More about this quote: wist.info/shakespeare-william/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #twelfthnight #shakespeare #williamshakespeare #busyness #change #instability #moderntimes #pace #present #speed #times
A quotation from Edward R. Murrow
The politician in my country seeks votes, affection and respect, in that order. This is not unique or surprising. […] The politician of necessity leads an isolated life, so far as his colleagues are concerned, because most of them are his rivals. Many of them are men of undoubted charm, ability and incredible energy, and yet too often they lack purpose or appetite for anything beyond their own careers. With few notable exceptions, they are simply men who want to be loved.
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) American journalist
Speech (1959-10-19), “Television and Politics,” British Association Granada Lectures, London Guildhall
More about this quote: wist.info/murrow-edward-r/5470…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #edwardrmurrow #ego #insecurity #isolation #loneliness #love #neediness #neediness #politician
“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.”
― Hannah Arendt
A quotation from Bulwer-Lytton
The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) English novelist and politician
Kenelm Chillingly: His Adventures and Opinions, Book 3, ch. 12 [Kenelm] (1873)
More about this quote: wist.info/bulwer-lytton-edward…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #BulwerLytton #edwardbulwerlytton #dogma #education #inspiration #instruction #motivation #school #suggestion #teacher #teaching
The senate has a standing rule never to discuss a matter on the same day when it was first introduced; all new business is deferred to the next meeting. They do this so that a man will not blurt out the first thought that occurs to him, and then devote all his energies to defending those foolish impulses, instead of considering impartially the public good. They know that some men would rather jeopardize the welfare of the state than admit to having been heedless and shortsighted — so perverse and preposterous is their sense of pride. They should have had enough foresight at the beginning to speak with prudence rather than haste.
[Quin id quoque moris habet senatus, ut nihil, quo die primum proponitur, eodem disputetur. sed in sequentem senatum differatur, ne quis ubi quod in buccam primum uenerit, temere effutierit, ea potius excogitet postea, quibus decreta tueatur sua, quam quae ex reipublicae usu sint. malitque salutis publicae, quam opinionis de se iacturam facere, peruerso quodam ac praepostero pudore, ne initio parum prospexisse uideatur. Cui prospiciendum initio fuit, ut consulto potius, quam cito loqueretur.]
Thomas More (1478-1535) English lawyer, social philosopher, statesman, humanist, Christian martyr
Utopia, Book 2, ch. 3 “Of Their Magistrates” (1518 ed.) [tr. Adams (1992 ed.)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/more-thomas/85255/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #thomasmore #utopia #retraction #blurting #consideration #debate #deliberation #ego #error #firstimpression #hastiness #position #pride #prudence #reconsideration #congress #parliament
A quotation from Bill Watterson
CALVIN: (building a snowman) I should be doing my homework now. But the way I look at it, playing in the snow is a lot more important. Out here I’m learning real skills that I can apply throughout the rest of my life.
HOBBES: Such as?
CALVIN: Procrastinating and rationalizing.
Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1993-02-15)
More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/85252…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #education #excuse #homework #procrastination #rationalization #realworld #selfrationalization #skills #training
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Calvin and Hobbes (1993-02-15)
A quotation from Ambrose Bierce
ERR, v.i. To believe or act in a way contrary to my beliefs and actions.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Err,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1884-05-24)
More about this quote: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/85250…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ambrosebierce #devilsdictionary #arrogance #belief #disagreement #ego #error #perspective #presumption #rightandwrong #selfrighteousness
“And we can’t prepare children for a better world unless we build that world with them.”
― Fons Burger
![[?]](https://files.hear-me.social/accounts/avatars/110/663/286/708/241/385/original/eb5ae4c05819f336.jpg)
This quote is related (in my opinion) to the idea of prevalence induced concept change.
When we learn about a problem and then take steps to solve or avoid it, we also (unintentionally) get way too good at noticing more and more subtle branches of the problem. We see more of it, so we *feel* like no progress is ever made against it. But that's a fallacy.
#quote #quotes #quotation #happiness #suffering #dukkha #anxiety #psychology
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The truth that many people never understand is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt.
Thomas Merton, 1948
A quotation from Elizabeth Bear
We claim the dignity of age, but the truth is, age leaves us without any dignity at all.
Elizabeth Bear (b. 1971) American author [pseud. for Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky]
Bone and Jewel Creatures, ch. 4 [Bijou] (2010)
More about this quote: wist.info/bear-elizabeth/85244…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #elizabethbear #age #dignity #disability #gettingold #growingold #mortality #oldage #seniority
He was going for the Holy Grail. The boys all took a flier at the Holy Grail now and then. It was a several years’ cruise. They always put in the long absence snooping around, in the most conscientious way, though none of them had any idea where the Holy Grail really was, and I don’t think any of them actually expected to find it, or would have known what to do with it if he had run across it. You see, it was just the Northwest Passage of that day, as you may say; that was all. Every year expeditions went out holy grailing, and next year relief expeditions went out to hunt for them. There was worlds of reputation in it, but no money.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Novel (1889), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Part 3 “The Tale of the Lost Land,” ch. 9 “The Tournament”
More about this quote: wist.info/twain-mark/85242/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #marktwain #connecticutyankee #holygrail #prestige #quest #reputation
A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson
The friendly cow all red and white,
I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple-tart.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Poem (1884-07), “The Cow,” st. 1, The Magazine of Art, Vol. 7
More about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertlouisstevenson #cow #cream #food #milk
A quotation from La Rochefoucauld
Interest, upon which we commonly lay the Blame of all our ill Actions, oftentimes deserves the commendation due to our Good ones.
[L’intérêt, que l’on accuse de tous nos crimes, mérite souvent d’être loué de nos bonnes actions.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶305 (1665-1678) [tr. Stanhope (1694)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/la-rochefoucauld-fra…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #larochefoucauld #blame #doinggood #enlightenedselfinterest #gooddeeds #motivation #rationale #selfcenteredness #selfinterest #selfishness #vice #virtue
A quotation from Terry Pratchett
“If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly,” said Granny, fleeing into aphorisms, the last refuge of an adult under siege.
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 3, Equal Rites (1987)
More about this quote: wist.info/pratchett-terry/8523…
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When thy next neighbours house is all on fire,
’Tis thy concern to make his flames expire;
For fire will gather strength if let alone,
And with thy neighbours house burn down thine owne.
[Nam tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet.
Et neglecta solent incendia sumere vires.]
Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 18 “To Lollius,” l. 84ff (1.18.84-85) (20 BC) [tr. A. B.; ed. Brome (1666)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/1958/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #horace #concern #danger #fire #mutuality #neighbor #nextdoor #proximity #threat
It is not easy to find a direct economic explanation of the behaviour of the people who now rule the world. The desire for pure power seems to be much more dominant than the desire for wealth. This has often been pointed out, but curiously enough the desire for power seems to be taken for granted as a natural instinct, equally prevalent in all ages, like the desire for food. Actually it is no more natural, in the sense of being biologically necessary, than drunkenness or gambling. And if it has reached new levels of lunacy in our own age, as I think it has, then the question becomes: What is the special quality in modern life that makes a major human motive out of the impulse to bully others? If we could answer that question — seldom asked, never followed up — there might occasionally be a bit of good news on the front page of your morning paper.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1946-11-29), “As I Please” column, Tribune Newspaper
More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/85229/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #aggression #bullying #control #domination #humannature #megalomania #modernera #motivation #pathology #power #powerhungry #powermad #powerseeking
DOCTOR: Ah! (shows her an odd device) Eureka! Do you know what that is?
LEELA: You ask me so that you can tell me.
DOCTOR: That’s right.
Doctor Who (1963-1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
14×06 “The Talons of Weng-Chiang,” Part 5 (1977-03-26) [w. Robert Holmes]
More about this quote: wist.info/doctor-who-1963/8522…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #doctorwho #fourthdoctor #TalonsOfWengChiang #answer #cleverness #ego #question #setup #showingoff #telling
MARCUS: Death is no annihilation, carrying off and blotting out everything, but rather, if I may so describe it, a change of abode, and an alteration in our manner of life.
[Mortem non interitum esse omnia tollentem atque delentem, sed quandam quasi migrationem commutationemque vitae.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 1, ch. 12 (1.12) / sec. 27 (1.27) (45 BC) [ed. Harbottle (1897)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/cicero-marcus-tulliu…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cicero #tusculandisputations #afterlife #annihilation #death #destruction #nextlife #oblivion #soul #transmigration
‘Twas the saying of an ancient Sage, “That Humour was the only Test of Gravity, and Gravity of Humour. For a Subject which would not bear Raillery is suspicious; and a Jest which would not bear a serious Examination is certainly false Wit.”
Anthony Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713) English politician and philosopher
Characteristics, Treatise 2 “Freedom of Wit and Humour,” Part 1, sec. 5 (1709)
More about this quote: wist.info/shaftesbury-anthony-…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #shaftesbury #earlofshaftesbury #argument #gravity #humor #jokes #joking #makingfun #mockery #ridicule #seriousness #test #truth #wit
A quotation from Theodore Roosevelt
[… T]he individual virtues, and the necessity of character as the chief factor in any man’s success — a teaching in which I now believe as sincerely as ever, for all the laws that the wit of man can devise will never make a man a worthy citizen unless he has within himself the right stuff, unless he has self-reliance, energy, courage, the power of insisting on his own rights and the sympathy that makes him regardful of the rights of others.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Autobiography, ch. 1 “Boyhood and Youth” (1913)
More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/8…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #theodoreroosevelt #teddyroosevelt #character #citizen #courage #individuality #moralcode #personalcode #personalresponsibility #rights #selfreliance #success #virtue #worthiness
A quotation from Arthur Conan Doyle
I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own little adventures.
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1891-08), “The Red-Headed League,” [Holmes], The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 2
More about this quote: wist.info/doyle-arthur-conan/8…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #doyle #arthurconandoyle #sherlock #sherlockholmes #bizarre #chronicle #convention #embelishment #routine #thrills #unconventionality #unusuality
A quotation from Kerry Greenwood
The upper classes lived well in the good old days. Except, of course, for the famines, the pirates, the bandits, the plagues, the shortness of life and the imminence of ever present death. And no medical treatment, no antiseptic childbirth, no hot baths, no coffee, no chocolate and no tobacco. The last four decided her on the advantages of the twentieth century.
Kerry Greenwood (b. 1954) Australian author and lawyer
Phryne Fisher, Book 16, Murder in the Dark, ch. 16 (2006)
More about this quote: wist.info/greenwood-kerry/8521…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #kerrygreenwood #phrynefisher #missfisher #medicalcare #modernworld #mortality #nostalgia #past #perspective #present #progress #science #upperclass #wealth
A quotation from Frederick Douglass
But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. Many of its most eloquent Divines, who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system. — They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God; that to send back an escaped bondman to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed off upon the world for Christianity.
For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! welcome atheism! welcome anything! in preference to the gospel, as preached by those Divines!
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
Speech (1852-07-05), “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York
More about this quote: wist.info/douglass-frederick/8…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #frederickdouiglass #America #Christianity #churches #enslavement #slavetrade #slavery
Robbers must exalted be,
Small ones on the Gallow-Tree,
While greater ones ascend to Thrones,
But what is that to thee or me?
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard Improved (1748 ed.)
More about this quote: wist.info/franklin-benjamin/85…
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And so, live as long as you please, you will strike nothing off the time you will have to spend dead.
[Aussi avez vous beau vivre, vous n’en rabattrez rien du temps que vous avez à estre mort.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 19 (1.19), “That to Philosophize Is to Learn to Die [Que Philosopher, c’est apprendre à mourir]” (1572) [tr. Frame (1943), 1.20]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #micheldemontaigne #death #eternity #lifespan #living #longlife #mortality #shortlife
A quotation from Douglas Adams
Most of the other shops were in fact impossible to identify. When a shop appeared to sell a mixture of ghetto blasters, socks, soap and chickens, it didn’t seem unreasonable to go in and ask if they’d got any paper or toothpaste stuck away in one of their shelves as well, but they looked at me as if I was completely mad. Couldn’t I see that this was a ghetto blaster, socks, soap and chicken shop?
Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Last Chance to See, ch. 3 (1990) [with Mark Carwardine]
More about this quote: wist.info/adams-douglas/30028/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #douglasadams #lastchancetosee #foreigner #market #shopping #specialization #travel
A quotation from Salman Rushdie
Great art, or, let’s just say, more modestly, original art is never created in the safe middle ground, but always at the edge. Originality is dangerous. It challenges, questions, overturns assumptions, unsettles moral codes, disrespects sacred cows or other such entities. It can be shocking, or ugly, or, to use the catch-all term so beloved of the tabloid press, controversial. And if we believe in liberty, if we want the air we breathe to remain plentiful and breathable, this is the art whose right to exist we must not only defend, but celebrate. Art is not entertainment. At its very best, it’s a revolution.
Salman Rushdie (b. 1947) Indian novelist
Speech (2012-05-06), Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture, PEN World Voices Festival, New York City
More about this quote: wist.info/rushdie-salman/85205…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #salmanrushdie #art #controversy #creativity #edginess #freedomofexpression #liberty #originality
Neither all bad nor all good. A certain sage reduced the whole of wisdom to the golden mean. Carry right too far and it becomes wrong. The orange squeezed completely dry gives only bitterness. Even in enjoyment you shouldn’t go to extremes. The intellect itself will go dry if pressed too hard, and if you milk a cow like a tyrant you will draw only blood.
[Nunca apurar, ni el mal, ni el bien. A la moderación en todo redujo la sabiduría toda un sabio. El sumo derecho se hace tuerto, y la naranja que mucho se estruja llega a dar lo amargo. Aun en la fruición nunca se ha de llegar a los extremos. El mismo ingenio se agota si se apura, y sacará sangre por leche el que esquilmare a lo tirano.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 82 (1647) [tr. Maurer (1992)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/gracian-y-morales-ba…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #gracian #baltasargracian #evil #extreme #extremism #good #goodandevil #mediasres #medium #middlecourse #moderation #overthetop
But, as we have seen, many people try to conceal their poverty of thought under a flood of verbiage.
[Aber freilich suchen viele Schriftsteller gerade unter dem Wortüberfluß ihre Gedankenarmuth zu verbergen.]
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) German philosopher
Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. 2, ch. 23 “On Authorship and Style [Über Schriftstellerei und Stil],” § 283 (1851) [tr. Saunders (1890)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/schopenhauer-arthur/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #schopenhauer #arthurschopenhauer #communication #content #eloquence #logorrhea #loquaciousness #pithiness #thought #verbiage #wordiness #writing
A quotation from Bertrand Russell
Orthodoxy is the grave of intelligence, no matter what orthodoxy it may be.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Education and the Social Order [Education and the Modern World], ch. 1 “The Individual versus the Citizen” (1932)
More about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/851…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #conformity #intelligence #orthodoxy #truebeliever #truth
Things are not getting worse; things have always been this bad. Nothing is more consoling than the long perspective of history. It will perk you up no end to go back and read the works of progressives past. You will learn therein that things back then were also terrible, and what’s more, they were always getting worse. This is most inspiriting.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (1986-03), “How to Survive Reagan,” The Progressive, Vol. 50, No. 3
More about this quote: wist.info/ivins-molly/31928/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #mollyivins #badtimes #decline #downwardspiral #encouragement #history #lookingback #nadir #nostalgia #perspective #progressive #regress #worsening
Too much spoiles, too little doth not satisfie.
[Il troppo guasta, il poco non basta.]
James Howell (c. 1594–1666) Welsh historian, writer, aphorist
Paroimiographia [Παροιμιογραφία]: Proverbs, or, Old Sayed Sawes & Adages, “Proverbs in Italian” (1659)
[compiler]
More about this quote: wist.info/howell-james/85193/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jameshowell #satisfaction #satisfying #spoil #spoiling #toolittle #toomuch
We are to look upon it as more beneficial, that many guilty persons should escape unpunished, than one innocent person should suffer. The reason is, because it’s of more importance to community, that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt should be punished; for guilt and crimes are so frequent in the world, that all of them cannot be punished; and many times they happen in such a manner, that it is not of much consequence to the public, whether they are punished or not.
But when innocence itself, is brought to the bar and condemned, especially to die, the subject will exclaim, it is immaterial to me, whether I behave well or ill; for virtue itself, is no security. And if such a sentiment as this, should take place in the mind of the subject, there would be an end to all security what so ever.
John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Speech (1770-12-03/04), Argument for the Defense, Boston Massacre Trial
More about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/15073/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #bostonmassacre #nothingtolose #civilrights #crime #criminal #exoneration #guilt #guilty #innocence #innocents #justice #lawandorder #moralhazard #protection #punishment #security #socialcontract #justicesystem
Man usually avoids attributing cleverness to somebody else — unless it is an enemy.
[Der Mensch vermeidet es gewöhnlich, einem andern Klugheit zuzuschreiben — wenn es sich nicht etwa um einen Feind handelt.]
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist
Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 3, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]
More about this quote: wist.info/einstein-albert/8518…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #einstein #alberteinstein #cleverness #enemy #excuse #humannature #opponent #selfaggrandizement #shrewdness
How hard, oh, how hard it is to die and leave one’s country no better than if one had never lived for it.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Remark (1850-09?) to William H. Herndon
More about this quote: wist.info/lincoln-abraham/7296…
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I know of one gifted crackpot who used to be employed gainfully in the fields of humor and satire, who has taken a solemn pledge not to write anything funny or lighthearted or “insignificant” again till things get straightened around in the world. This seems to me distinctly deleterious and a little silly. A literature composed of nothing but liberty-loving thoughts is little better than the propaganda which it seeks to defeat.
E. B. White (1899-1985) American author, critic, humorist [Elwyn Brooks White]
Essay (1939-01), “One Man’s Meat,” Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 178
More about this quote: wist.info/white-eb/85184/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ebwhite #badtimes #earnestness #gravity #humor #propaganda #satire #senseofhumor #seriousness #war #weightiness #writing
It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who, in the midst of the crowd, keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Self-Reliance,” Essays: First Series, No. 2
More about this quote: wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #emerson #ralphwaldoemerson #selfreliance #belief #conformity #custom #greatness #independence #integrity #nonconformity #opinion #popularopinion #publicopinion #society #solitude #tradition #unswaying
A quotation from Bill Watterson
CALVIN: I have a hammer!
CALVIN: I can put things together! I can knock things apart! I can alter my environment at will and make an incredible din all the while!
CALVIN: Ah, it’s great to be male!
Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1995-08-03)
More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/85178…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #construction #creation #destruction #environment #hammer #male #man #masculinity #tool
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Calvin and Hobbes (1995-08-03)
A quotation from Ambrose Bierce
EQUAL, adj. As bad as something else.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Equal,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1884-05-24)
More about this quote: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/85176…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bierce #ambrocebierce #devilsdictionary # halfempty #pessimism #cynicism #equal #equality #sameness
The concentration camps, by making death itself anonymous (making it impossible to find out whether a prisoner is dead or alive), robbed death of its meaning as the end of a fulfilled life. In a sense they took away the individual’s own death, proving that henceforth nothing belonged to him and he belonged to no one. His death merely set a seal on the fact that he had never existed.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 12 “Totalitarianism in Power,” sec. 3 (1951)
More about this quote: wist.info/arendt-hannah/42236/
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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)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/euripides/85172/
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A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt
Will we ever learn to use reason instead of force in the world, and will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people?
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1939-10-16), “My Day”
More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-eleanor/60…
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When a sieve is shaken, the refuse appears;
so does a person’s waste when he speaks.
The kiln tests the potter’s vessels,
and the test of a person is in his conversation.
Its fruit discloses the cultivation of a tree;
so does speech the thoughts of the human mind.
Do not praise anyone before he speaks,
for this is the way people are tested.
[Ἐν σείσματι κοσκίνου διαμένει κοπρία,
οὕτως σκύβαλα ἀνθρώπου ἐν λογισμῷ αὐτοῦ.
σκεύη κεραμέως δοκιμάζει κάμινος,
καὶ πειρασμὸς ἀνθρώπου ἐν διαλογισμῷ αὐτοῦ.
γεώργιον ξύλου ἐκφαίνει ὁ καρπὸς αὐτοῦ,
οὕτως λόγος ἐνθυμήματος καρδίας ἀνθρώπου.
πρὸ λογισμοῦ μὴ ἐπαινέσῃς ἄνδρα·
οὗτος γὰρ πειρασμὸς ἀνθρώπων]
The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Book 22b. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 27: 4ff (Sir 27:4–7) [tr. NRSV (2021 ed.)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/bible-ot/85167/
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People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable. Actually, all human problems, excepting morals, come into the gray areas. Things are not all black and white. There have to be compromises. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) American general, US President (1953-61)
Interview (1963-11-05) by William Stringer, “Midroad View at Gettysburg,” Christian Science Monitor
More about this quote: wist.info/eisenhower-dwight/17…
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Eisenhower quotation
The gods […] have attached to liberty almost as many misfortunes as to servitude.
[Les dieux […] ont attaché à la liberté presque autant de malheurs qu’à la servitude.]
Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Essay (1724-02), “Dialogue of Sulla and Eucrates [Dialogue de Sylla et d’Eucrate] [Sulla], Mercure de France [tr. Carrithers / Stewart (2020)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/85165/
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A quotation from Henry Commager
It is easier to say what loyalty is not than to say what it is. It is not conformity. It is not passive acquiescence in the status quo. It is not preference for everything American over everything foreign. It is not an ostrich-like ignorance of other countries and other institutions. It is not the indulgence in ceremony — a flag salute, an oath of allegiance, a fervid verbal declaration. It is not a particular creed, a particular version of history, a particular body of economic practices, a particular philosophy.
Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1947-07), “Who Is Loyal to America?” sec. 4, Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168
More about this quote: wist.info/commager-henry-steel…
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