Search results for tag #quotes
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A quotation from Josh Billings
Honesty iz the rarerest welth enny one kan possess, and yet all the honesty in the world, aint lawful tender for a loaf ov bread.
[Honesty is the rarest wealth anyone can possess, and yet all the honesty in the world, ain’t lawful tender for a loaf of bread.]
Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1878-04 “Imps” (1878 ed.)
More about this quote: wist.info/billings-josh/85866/
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A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt
All for each, and each for all, is a good motto; but only on condition that each works with might and main to so maintain himself as not to be a burden to others.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer; US President (1901–09)
Autobiography, Introduction (1913)
More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/8…
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The most effective way to silence our guilty conscience is to convince ourselves and others that those we have sinned against are indeed depraved creatures, deserving every punishment, even extermination. We cannot pity those we have wronged, nor can we be indifferent toward them. We must hate and persecute them or else leave the door open to self-contempt.
Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 14, § 71 (3.14.71) (1951)
More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/8360/
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We all need to look into the dark side of our nature — that’s where the energy is, the passion. People are afraid of that because it holds pieces of us we’re busy denying.
Sue Grafton (1940–2017) American novelist, screenwriter
Interview (1997-02-07) by Jeffrey Zaslow, “Straight Talk,” USA Weekend magazine
More about this quote: wist.info/grafton-sue/85859/
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MARCUS: And so, whatever that may be which possesses thought, wisdom, life, vitality — it must be of Heaven and divine, and therefore immortal.
[Ita, quicquid est illud, quod sentit, quod sapit, quod vivit, quod viget, caeleste et divinum ob eamque rem aeternum sit necesse est.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 1, ch. 27 (1.27) / sec. 66 (1.66) (45 BC) [tr. Black (1889)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/cicero-marcus-tulliu…
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Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard Improved (1749 ed.)
More about this quote: wist.info/franklin-benjamin/29…
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A quotation from Gloria Steinem
The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn. We are filled with the popular wisdom of several centuries just past, and we are terrified to give it up. Patriotism means obedience, age means wisdom, woman means submission, black means inferior: these are preconceptions embedded so deeply in our thinking that we honestly may not know that they are there.
Gloria Steinem (1934–2026) American feminist, journalist, activist
Essay (1971-08-21), “A New Egalitarian Life Style,” New York Times
More about this quote: wist.info/steinem-gloria/18472…
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He who does not give himself leisure to be thirsty cannot take pleasure in drinking.
[Qui ne se donne loisir d’avoir soif, ne sçauroit prendre plaisir à boire.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 42 (1.42), “Of the Inequality among Us [De l’inequalité qui est entre nous]” (1572) [tr. Frame (1943)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…
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When we finally got down to something, which the individual says he really wants to do, I will say to him, you do that and forget the money, because, if you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time. You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing — which is stupid!
Alan Watts (1915–1973) Anglo-American philosopher, writer
Lecture (1969 ca.), “What If Money Was No Object?”
More about this quote: wist.info/watts-alan/85850/
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Never from Obstinacy take the Wrong Side because your Opponent has anticipated you in taking the Right One.
[Nunca por tema seguir el peor partido, porque el contrario se adelantó y escogió el mejor.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601–1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 142 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/gracian-y-morales-ba…
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A quotation from Douglas Adams
It’s easy to think that as a result of the extinction of the dodo, we are now sadder and wiser, but there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that we are merely sadder and better informed.
Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Last Chance to See, ch. 6 (1990) [with Mark Carwardine]
More about this quote: wist.info/adams-douglas/30235/
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A quotation from Bertrand Russell
Children, like grown-ups, enjoy the sense of achievement derived from mastering a difficulty, but this requires a consistency of effort of which few are capable without some outside encouragement. The capacity for consistent self-direction is one of the most valuable that a human being can possess. It is practically unknown in young children, and is never developed either by a very rigid discipline or by complete freedom.
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Education and the Social Order [Education and the Modern World], ch. 2 “The Negative Theory of Education” (1932)
More about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/858…
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Easter so wished for long, passeth away in one day.
[Pasqua tanto defiata, in un giorno è passata.]
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/85838/
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A quotation from Ambrose Bierce
FOOLHARDY, adj. Unlucky in the execution of a courageous act.
Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) American writer and journalist
“Foolhardy,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1884-12-13)
More about this quote: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/85835…
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A quotation from Hannah Arendt
The [American] Founding Fathers never believed that tyranny could arise out of the executive office, because they did not see this office in any different light but as the execution of what the legislation has decreed in various forms. I leave it at that. We know today that the greatest danger of tyranny is, of course, the executive.
Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Interview (1973-10) with Roger Errera, Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF)
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/arendt-hannah/76120/
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A quotation from Gilbert Murray
It is a scheme which occurs again and again in Euripides, a study of oppression and revenge. Such a subject in the hands of a more ordinary writer would probably take the form of a triumph of oppressed virtue. But Euripides gives us nothing so sympathetic, nothing so cheap and unreal. If oppression usually made people virtuous, the problems of the world would be very different from what they are. Euripides seems at times to hate the revenge of the oppressed almost as much as the original cruelty of the oppressor; or, to put the same fact in a different light, he seems deliberately to dwell upon the twofold evil of cruelty, that it not only causes pain to the victim, but actually by means of the pain makes him a worse man, so that when his turn of triumph comes, it is no longer a triumph of justice or a thing to make men rejoice. This is a grim lesson; taught often enough by history, though seldom by the fables of the poets.
Gilbert Murray (1866–1957) Australian-British classical scholar and public intellectual
Essay (1912), "Introduction," Sophocles, Medea
More about this quote: wist.info/murray-gilbert/85828…
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The night before a deadline, I usually am in desperate need of a back rub. And new wrists. And candy. And little mice to secretly finish the job while I am sleeping.
Christy Hall (contemp.) American playwright, screenwriter, film director
(Attributed)
More about this quote: wist.info/hall-christy/85823/
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A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt
No matter what you do, some people will criticize you, and, if you are entirely sure that you would not be ashamed to explain your action to someone whom you loved and who loved you, and you are satisfied in your own mind that you are doing right, then you need not worry about criticism, nor need you ever explain what you do.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, activist; First Lady of the US (1933–45)
Memoir (1937), This Is My Story, ch. 4 “Home Again”
More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-eleanor/85…
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A loyal friend is a powerful defense:
whoever finds one has indeed found a treasure.
[φίλος πιστὸς σκέπη κραταιά,
ὁ δὲ εὑρὼν αὐτὸν εὗρεν θησαυρόν.]
The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Book 22b. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 6:14 (Sir 6:14) [NJB (1985)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/bible-ot/4408/
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I am one who has come up out of the depths. My lords, you are rich and powerful. Therein lies your danger. You profit by the night; but beware! The Dawn is all-powerful. You cannot prevail over that. It is coming. Nay! it is already come. Within it is the day-spring of irresistible light. And who shall hinder that sling from hurling the sun into the sky? The sun I speak of is Right. You are Privilege. Tremble!
[Je suis celui qui vient des profondeurs. Mylords, vous êtes les grands et les riches. C’est périlleux. Vous profitez de la nuit. Mais prenez garde, il y a une grande puissance, l’aurore. L’aube ne peut être vaincue. Elle arrivera. Elle arrive. Elle a en elle le jet du jour irrésistible. Et qui empêchera cette fronde de jeter le soleil dans le ciel? Le soleil, c’est le droit. Vous, vous êtes le privilège. Ayez peur.]
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician
The Man Who Laughs [L’Homme qui rit; The Laughing Man; By Order of the King], Part 2, Book 8, ch. 7 (2.8.7) (1869) [tr. Unknown (1869)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/hugo-victor/85816/
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You go on inside. Be bold, nothing to fear.
In every venture the bold man comes off best,
even the wanderer, bound from distant shores.
[σὺ δ᾽ ἔσω κίε, μηδέ τι θυμῷ
τάρβει: θαρσαλέος γὰρ ἀνὴρ ἐν πᾶσιν ἀμείνων
ἔργοισιν τελέθει, εἰ καί ποθεν ἄλλοθεν ἔλθοι.]
Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 7, l. 50ff (7.50) (c. 700 BC) [tr. Fagles (1996)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/homer/48457/
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In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.
Hugo Black (1886–1971) American politician and jurist, US Supreme Court Justice (1937–71)
New York Times Co. v. United States 403 U.S. 713, 717 (1971) (concurring)
More about this quote: wist.info/black-hugo/36400/
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The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. - Hugo Black
MARY: Some people have such a talent for making the best of a bad situation that they go around creating bad situations so they can make the best of them.
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/85767/
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A quotation from Richard Steele
We that are very old, are better able to remember things which befell us in our distant youth, than the passages of later days.
Richard Steele (1672–1729) Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, playwright, politician
Essay (1710-06-06), “On the Death of Friends,” The Tatler, No. 181
More about this quote: wist.info/steele-richard/85765…
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No one has endless fortune, eternal beauty: sooner or later death awaits us all.
[Nec forma aeternum aut cuiquam est fortuna perennis:
longius aut propius mors sua quemque manet.]
Propertius (50–16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 2, Elegy 28, l. 57ff (2.28.57-58) [tr. Kline (2001), 2.28a]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/propertius/85762/
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FOOL: And thus the whirligig of time brings in
his revenges.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 5, sc. 1, l. 399ff (5.1.399-400) (1601)
More about this quote: wist.info/shakespeare-william/…
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Men, even good men, cannot be trusted to take care of women’s interests.
Alice Henry (1857–1943) Australian suffragist, journalist, trade unionist
The Trade Union Woman, ch. 12 (1915)
More about this quote: wist.info/henry-alice/85757/
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A quotation from Smedley Butler
War is a billionaire’s extortion racket, baptized in the blood of impoverished teenagers.
Smedley Butler (1881–1940) American Marine Corps officer, war hero, anti-war activist
(Spurious)
More about this quote: wist.info/butler-smedley/85743…
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"Build, don't beg."
- Reality Network / @therealitynetwork
https://mastodon.social/@therealitynetwork/117184581249516223
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The way chosen by the United States was plainly marked by a few clear precepts, which govern its conduct in world affairs.
First: No people on earth can be held, as a people, to be enemy, for all humanity shares the common hunger for peace and fellowship and justice.
Second: No nation’s security and well-being can be lastingly achieved in isolation but only in effective cooperation with fellow-nations.
Third: Any nation’s right to form of government and an economic system of its own choosing is inalienable.
Fourth: Any nation’s attempt to dictate to other nations their form of government is indefensible.
And fifth: A nation’s hope of lasting peace cannot be firmly based upon any race in armaments but rather upon just relations and honest understanding with all other nations.
In the light of these principles the citizens of the United States defined the way they proposed to follow, through the aftermath of war, toward true peace.
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
More about this quote: wist.info/eisenhower-dwight/28…
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So far, about morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American writer
Death in the Afternoon, ch. 1 (1932)
More about this quote: wist.info/hemingway-ernest/827…
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A quotation from Richard Feynman
In physics the truth is rarely perfectly clear, and that is certainly universally the case in human affairs. Hence, what is not surrounded by uncertainty cannot be the truth.
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) American physicist
Letter (1976-02-27) to the Editor, California Tech magazine
More about this quote: wist.info/feynman-richard/8573…
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#Terrorism - "every state government in existence uses this tactic, this is how authority stays in power, and its perfectly fine when they do it, ofc, ofc"
From Post: https://mastodon.social/@Li@tech.lgbt/117180827694958068
A quotation from Graham Ericsson
Most tyrants are, by nature, short-sighted. Though they aspire to an eternal panoply of statues and symphonies in their honor, they rarely focus on constructive present actions that will lead to a future where their name is even known, let alone praised. As time goes on, they either fall into the delusion of omnipotence, or else become obsessed with holding onto embattled power until the bitter end. Neither mental state leads to laying a healthy foundation for posterity.
Graham Ericsson (b. 1961) American technologist, writer, aphorist
Journal (2026-04-22)
More about this quote: wist.info/ericsson-graham/8573…
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A quotation from Terry Pratchett
People think that professional soldiers think a lot about fighting, but serious professional soldiers think a lot more about food and a warm place to sleep, because these are two things that are generally hard to get, whereas fighting tends to turn up all the time.
Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Discworld No. 13, Small Gods (1992)
More about this quote: wist.info/pratchett-terry/8573…
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A quotation from La Rochefoucauld
Love, like fire, must be constantly in motion; it dies when it ceases to have hopes or fears.
[L’amour, aussi bien que le feu, ne peut subsister sans un mouvement continuel, et il cesse de vivre dès qu’il cesse d’espérer ou de craindre.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶75 (1665-1678) [tr. Stevens (1939)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/la-rochefoucauld-fra…
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A quotation from Samuel Johnson
A transition from an author’s book to his conversation, is too often like an entrance into a large city, after a distant prospect. Remotely, we see nothing but spires of temples and turrets of palaces, and imagine it the residence of splendour, grandeur and magnificence; but when we have passed the gates, we find it perplexed with narrow passages, disgraced with despicable cottages, embarrassed with obstructions, and clouded with smoke.
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1750-05-05), The Rambler, No. 14
More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/20141…
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A quotation from Robert Ingersoll
The general objection to the new is, that it differs somewhat from the old, and the fact that it does differ is urged as an argument against its truth.
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…
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A quotation from Adlai Stevenson
What a man knows at fifty that he did not know at twenty is, for the most part, incommunicable. The laws, the aphorisms, the generalizations, the universal truths, the parables and the old saws — all of the observations about life which can be communicated handily in ready, verbal packages — are as well known to a man at twenty who has been attentive as to a man at fifty. He has been told them all, he has read them all, and he has probably repeated them all before he graduates from college; but he has not lived them all.
Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1954-03-22), “The Educated Citizen,” Senior Class Banquet, Dillon Gymnasium, Princeton University
More about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-adlai-ewin…
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ÆGEON: Of no distemper, of no blast he died,
But fell like autumn-fruit that mellowed long;
Even wondered at, because he dropt no sooner.
Fate seemed to wind him up for fourscore years;
Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more:
Till, like a clock worn out with eating time,
The wheels of weary life at last stood still.
John Dryden (1631–1700) English poet, dramatist, critic
Œdipus, Act 4, sc. 1 (1679)
More about this quote: wist.info/dryden-john/85723/
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That is the way we are made: we don’t reason, where we feel; we just feel.
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. 11 “The Yankee in Search of Adventures”
More about this quote: wist.info/twain-mark/85720/
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Mark Twain quote
A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson
They were a rough lot indeed, as sailors mostly are: being men rooted out of all the kindly parts of life, and condemned to toss together on the rough seas, with masters no less cruel.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Novel (1886), Kidnapped, ch. 7 “I Go to Sea in the Brig Covenant of Dysart”
More about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cruelty #difficulties #sailors #hardlife
He who puts off the hour to begin living rightly
Is like the yokel who stands at the stream with a sigh:
“I can’t get across. I’ll wait here till it runs dry.”
Meanwhile, it flows, forever flows on and rolls by.
[Qui recte vivendi prorogat horam,
rusticus exspectat dum defluat amnis; at ille
labitur et labitur in omne volubilis aevum.]
Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 2 “To Lollius,” l. 41ff (1.2.41-42) (20 BC) [tr. Palmer Bovie (1959)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/79480/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #horace #action #busyness #carpediem #circumstances #deferral #delay #now #opportunity #passingoftime #rectitude #reform #righttime #rightiousness #seizetheday #seizethemoment #selfcorrection #time #waiting
A quotation from Peter Drucker
No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings.
Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-American business consultant
The Concept of the Corporation, Part 2, ch. 1 (1946)
More about this quote: wist.info/drucker-peter-f/8571…
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A quotation from George Orwell
At the time I could not see beyond the moral dilemma that is presented to the weak in a world governed by the strong: Break the rules or perish.
George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1948-06), “‘Such, Such Were the Joys …’,” Partisan Review (1952-09)
More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/26417/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #breakingtherules #bullies #bully #challenge #dilemma #rules #strength #strong #weakness
A quotation from Thomas Carlyle
Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one rascal less in the world.
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Attributed)
More about this quote: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/733/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #carlyle #thomascarlyle #firststep #honesty #rascal #reform #scoundrel #selfawareness #selfcorrection
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MARCUS: Nor am I asham’d, as some others are, to confess I do not know, what I do not.
[Nec me pudet ut istos fateri nescire quod nesciam.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 1, ch. 25 (1.25) / sec. 60 (1.60) (45 BC) [tr. Wase (1643)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/cicero-marcus-tulliu…
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Cicero quote
SKAGRA: “Take over the Universe.” (laughs) How childish. Who could possibly want to take over the Universe?
THE DOCTOR: Exactly! That’s what I keep on trying to tell people. It’s a troublesome place, difficult to administer, and as a piece of real estate it’s worthless because by definition there’d be no one to sell it to.
Doctor Who (1963–1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
17×06* “Shada,” Part 5 (1980-02-16*) [w. Douglas Adams]
More about this quote and episode: wist.info/doctor-who-1963/8569…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #fourthdoctor #eightdoctor #conquering #conquest #doctorwho #supervillain #takeover #universe #villain #evilplan #masterplan
Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us. There is a guilty conscience behind every brazen word and act and behind every manifestation of self-righteousness.
Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 14, § 69 (3.14.69) (1951)
More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/11001/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #truebeliever #conscience #defiance #guilt #guiltyconscience #selfdistraction #selfhatred #selfloathing #selfrighteousness #shame
Content makes poor men rich; Discontent makes rich Men poor.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard Improved (1749 ed.)
More about this quote: wist.info/franklin-benjamin/15…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #franklin #benfranklin #benjaminfranklin #poorrichard #poorrichardsalmanac #contentment #desires #discontent #discontentment #dissatisfaction #insufficiency #poorness #riches #satisfaction #sufficiency #wants #wealth #attitude
And certainly a wise man never loses anything if he has himself.
[Certes l’homme d’entendement n’a rien perdu, s’il a soy-mesme.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) French essayist
Essays, Book 1, ch. 38 (1.38)), “Of Solitude [De la solitude]” (1572) [tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montaigne #micheldemontaigne #loss #possessions #selfaffirmation #selfassurance #selfawareness #selfesteem #selfpossession #selfregard #selfreliance #selfrespect #selfsufficiency #understanding #wisdom #integrity #importance #value
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
[Si Dieu n’existait pas, il faudrait l’inventer.]
Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Poem (1769-03-12), “Epistle to the Author of ‘The Three Imposters [Trois Imposteurs],'” l. 22
Much more about this quote: wist.info/voltaire/85662/
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If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. - Voltaire
"Cowards rarely choose hard cases in which they themselves might get hurt or killed. "
- @Beggarmidas / #Beggarmidas #Quotes
#Quote From post:
https://mastodon.social/@Beggarmidas/117007980018535401
Few bothersome things are important enough to bother with. It is folly to take to heart what you should turn your back on. Many things that were something are nothing if left alone, and others that were nothing turn into much because we pay attention to them.
[Pocas cosas de enfado se han de tomar de propósito, que sería empeñarse sin él. Es trocar los puntos tomar a pechos lo que se ha de echar a las espaldas. Muchas cosas que eran algo, dejándolas, fueron nada; y otras que eran nada, por haber hecho caso de ellas, fueron mucho.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601–1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 121 (1647) [tr. Maurer (1992)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/gracian-y-morales-ba…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #gracian #anxiety #attention #bother #concern #focus #prioritization #seriousness #significance #trouble #worry #benignneglect
A quotation from Douglas Adams
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experiences of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
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/1461/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #douglasadams #lastchancetosee #communication #education #ego #experience #humancondition #humannature #humanity #learning #pride #stubbornness #willfulignorance
A quotation from Bertrand Russell
Punctuality is a quality the need of which is bound up with social co-operation. It has nothing to do with the relation of the soul to God, or with mystic insight, or with any of the matters with which the more elevated and spiritual moralists are concerned. One would be surprised to find a saint getting drunk, but one would not be surprised to find him late for an engagement. And yet in the ordinary business of life punctuality is absolutely necessary.
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Education and the Social Order [Education and the Modern World], ch. 2 “The Negative Theory of Education” (1932)
More about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/856…
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When war begins Hell opens.
[Quando la guerra Comincia, s’apre l’inferno.]
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/85653/
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A quotation from Bill Watterson
CALVIN: My powerful brain has come up with a topic for my paper.
HOBBES: Great.
CALVIN: I’ll write about the debate over tyrannosaurs. Were they fearsome predators or disgusting scavengers?
HOBBES: Which side will you defend?
CALVIN: Oh, I believe they were fearsome predators, definitely.
HOBBES: How come?
CALVIN: They’re so much cooler that way.
Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1993-11-25)
More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/85650…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #bias #coolness #dinosaur #paleontology #science #termpaper #topic #tyrannosaur
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Calvin and Hobbes (1993-11-25)
A quotation from Ambrose Bierce
FAULT, n. One of my offenses, as distinguished from one of yours, the latter being crimes.
Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) American writer and journalist
“Fault,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1884-08-02)
More about this quote: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/85648…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ambrosebierce #devilsdictionary #blame #crime #error #fault #felony #flaw #misdemeanor #perspective
A quotation from Hannah Arendt
Totalitarianism is never content to rule by external means, namely, through the state and a machinery of violence; thanks to its peculiar ideology and the role assigned to it in this apparatus of coercion, totalitarianism has discovered a means of dominating and terrorizing human beings from within.
Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 10 “A Classless Society,” sec. 1 (1951)
More about this quote: wist.info/arendt-hannah/10240/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #arendt #hannaharendt #coercion #control #domination #fear #internalization #terror #terrorism #totalitarianism #violence
CHORUS: Great treasure halls hath Zeus in heaven,
From whence to man strange dooms be given,
Past hope or fear.
And the end men looked for cometh not,
And a path is there where no man thought:
So hath it fallen here.
[ΚΥΚΛΩΨ: πολλῶν ταμίας Ζεὺς ἐν Ὀλύμπῳ,
πολλὰ δ᾽ ἀέλπτως κραίνουσι θεοί:
καὶ τὰ δοκηθέντ᾽ οὐκ ἐτελέσθη,
τῶν δ᾽ ἀδοκήτων πόρον ηὗρε θεός.
τοιόνδ᾽ ἀπέβη τόδε πρᾶγμα.]
Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 1415ff (431 BC) [tr. Murray (1906)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/euripides/85637/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #euripides #medea #coda #fate #fortune #gods #plottwist #summary #unexpectedness #unpredictability
A quotation (probably not) from Eleanor Roosevelt
He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
(Misattributed)
More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-eleanor/85…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #eleanorroosevelt #confucius #application #complaisance #consideration #contemplated #education #ignorance #learning #thinking #thought
The man who loves gold will not be reckoned virtuous,
the man who chases after profit will be caught out by it.
Many have gone to their ruin for the sake of gold,
though their destruction stared them in the face;
it is a snare for those who sacrifice to it,
and every fool will be caught in it.
Ὁ ἀγαπῶν χρυσίον οὐ δικαιωθήσεται,
καὶ ὁ διώκων διάφορα ἐν αὐτοῖς πλανηθήσεται.
πολλοὶ ἐδόθησαν εἰς πτῶμα χάριν χρυσίου,
καὶ ἐγενήθη ἡ ἀπώλεια αὐτῶν κατὰ πρόσωπον αὐτῶν.
ξύλον προσκόμματός ἐστιν τοῖς ἐνθουσιάζουσιν αὐτῷ,
καὶ πᾶς ἄφρων ἁλώσεται ἐν αὐτῷ.
The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Book 22b. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 31: 5ff (Sir 31:5–7) [tr. JB (1966)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/bible-ot/85631/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bible #sirach #ecclesiasticus #oldtestament #apocrypha #septuagint #avarice #corruption #gold #greed #money #profit #riches #wealth
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"Some people could be given an entire field of roses and only see the thorns in it. Others could be given a single weed and only see the wildflower in it. Perception is a key component to gratitude. And gratitude a key component to joy." -- Amy Weatherly #quotes #gratitude
A quotation from John Lescroart
The essence of fascism is to make laws forbidding everything and then enforce them selectively against your enemies.
John Lescroart (b. 1948) American novelist
A Plague of Secrets, Part 1 (2009)
More about this quote: wist.info/lescroart-john/85629…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #JohnLescroart #lescroart #fascism #injustice #law #lawenforcement #lawfare #totalitarianism #tyranny
The only thing most people do better than anyone else is read their own handwriting.
John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
(Attributed)
More about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/35775/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cursive #handwriting #idiosyncrasy #writing #legibility
Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here, involuntarily and uninvited, for a short stay, without knowing the why and the wherefore. In our daily lives we feel only that man is here for the sake of others, for those whom we love and for many other beings whose fate is connected with our own.
[Seltsam erscheint unsere Lage auf dieser Erde. Jeder von uns erscheint da unfreiwillig und ungebeten zu kurzem Aufenthalt, ohne zu wissen, warum und wozu. Im täglichen Leben fühlen wir nur, dass der Mensch um anderer willen da ist, solcher, die wir lieben, und zahlreicher anderer, ihm Schicksalsverbundener Wesen.]
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-American physicist
Essay (1932-09), “My Credo [Mein Glaubensbekenntnis]”
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/einstein-albert/201/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #einstein #alberteinstein #charity #connections #life #lifetime #meaningoflife #others #purpose #service #sympathy
What orators lack in depth, they give you in length.
[Ce qui manque aux orateurs en profondeur, ils vous le donnent en longueur.]
Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689–1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 828 / 1086 (1720-1755) [tr. Clark (2012)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/85620/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #depth #length #longwindedness #orator #oratory #profundity #speech #speechifying #wordiness
A quotation from Henry Commager
The effort to equate loyalty with conformity is misguided because it assumes that there is a fixed content to loyalty and that this can be determined and defined. But loyalty is a principle, and eludes definition except in its own terms. It is devotion to the best interests of the commonwealth, and may require hostility to the particular policies which the government pursues, the particular practices which the economy undertakes, the particular institutions which society maintains.
Henry Steele Commager (1902–1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1947-09), “Who Is Loyal to America?” sec. 2, Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168
More about this quote: wist.info/commager-henry-steel…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #commager #henrycommager #conformity #dissent #loyalty #patriotism #principle
Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder.
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American scientist and writer
The Demon-Haunted World, ch. 10 “The Dragon in My Garage” (1995)
More about this quote: wist.info/sagan-carl/85616/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #carlsagan #assertion #claims #disproof #disproving #excitement #inspiration #proof #proving #testing #theory #truth #validation #verification #wonder
He had slipped, climbed, rolled, searched, walked, persevered, that is all. Such is the secret of all triumphs.
[Il avait glissé, grimpé, roulé, cherché, marché, persévéré, voilà tout. Secret de tous les triomphes.]
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician
The Man Who Laughs [L’Homme qui rit; The Laughing Man; By Order of the King], Part 1, Book 3, ch. 1 (1.3.1) (1869) [tr. Unknown, Authorized (1871)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/hugo-victor/85611/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #victorhugo #themanwholaughs #accomplishment #courage #determination #doggedness #endurance #meme #moveforward #perseverance #persistence #sticktoit #success #tenacity #triumph
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Victor Hugo quote
This man who has fetched up here is some unlucky wanderer; we must now look after him, because all strangers and beggars are under Zeus’ protection, and any gift, though small, is welcome.
[ἀλλ’ ὅδε τις δύστηνος ἀλώμενος ἐνθάδ’ ἱκάνει,
τὸν νῦν χρὴ κομέειν· πρὸς γὰρ Διός εἰσιν ἅπαντες
ξεῖνοί τε πτωχοί τε, δόσις δ’ ὀλίγη τε φίλη τε.]
Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 6, l. 206ff (6.206) [Nausicaa] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Verity (2016)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/homer/48173/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #homer #odyssey #nausicaa #alms #beggar #charity #divineprotection #duty #giving #God #hospitality #stranger #wanderer
OSCAR: I hate a friendly divorce. A lawyer is never entirely comfortable with a friendly divorce, any more than a good mortician wants to finish his job and then have the patient sit up on the table.
Jean Kerr (1922–2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Mary, Mary, Act 1 (1961)
More about this quote: wist.info/kerr-jean/85607/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jeankerr #marymary #amicability #attorney #conflict #divorce #friendliness #lawyer
A quotation from Richard Steele
Though it is by the benefit of nature that length of time thus blots out the violence of afflictions; yet with tempers too much given to pleasure, it is almost necessary to revive the old places of grief in our memory, and ponder step by step on past life, to lead the mind into that sobriety of thought which poises the heart, and makes it beat with due time, without being quickened with desire, or retarded with despair, from its proper and equal motion.
Richard Steele (1672–1729) Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, playwright, politician
Essay (1710-06-06), “On the Death of Friends,” The Tatler, No. 181
More about this quote: wist.info/steele-richard/85605…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #richardsteele #affliction #consideration #contemplation #emotion #grief #memory #passageoftime #pleasure #remembrance #retrospect #solace #time #unhappiness
All things in the world are not suited to all men alike, nor is any prize secured by a chariot no better than its rivals.
[Omnia non pariter rerum sunt omnibus apta,
Palma nec ex aequo ducitur ulla iugo.]
Propertius (50–16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 4, Elegy 9, l. 7ff (4.9.7–9) [tr. Goold (Loeb) (1990)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/propertius/85603/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #propertius #ability #competition #excellence #fame #field #lane #superiority #talent
"...surveillance technology does not protect children from predators. It does the opposite. It serves children to predators on a silver platter. "
#Quote ARGVMI~1.PIF / @argv_minus_one
https://mastodon.social/@argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.org/117147292981757143 #Quotes
FABIAN If this were played upon a stage now, I could
condemn it as an improbable fiction.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 3, sc. 4, l. 136ff (3.4.136-137) (1601)
More about this quote: wist.info/shakespeare-william/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #shakespeare #twelfthnight #fiction #improbability #lampshading #plausibility #stage #theater #truth
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"Let's say, hypothetically, that I'm not of this salty, smelly world, a visitor who went to great trouble to hide himself well and learn the arcane rules of pointless contests involving balls that somehow captivate more attention than the deteriorating atmosphere or the hunger of its least fortunate people."
A quotation from Samuel Johnson
The vanity of being known to be trusted with a secret, is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it; for however absurd it may be thought to boast an honour by an act which shows that it was conferred without merit, yet most men seem rather inclined to confess the want of virtue than of importance, and more1 show their influence, though at the expense of their probity, than glide through lift with no other pleasure than the private consciousness of fidelity; which, while it is preserved, must be without praise, except from the single person who tries and knows it.
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1750-05-01), The Rambler, No. 13
More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/2153/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #boasting #ego #importance #pride #probity #promisekeeping #secret #trust #trustworthiness #vanity #virtue
Strange! that a world cursed by God, filled with temptations and thick with fiends, should be the only place where hope exists, the only place where man can repent, the only place where reform is possible! Strange! that heaven, filled with angels and presided over by God, is the only place where reformation is utterly impossible! Yet these are the teachings of all the believers in the eternity of punishment.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1881-05-01) “The Great Infidels,” Booth’s Theater, New York City
More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ingersoll #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #Christianity #damnation #earth #eternalpunishment #God #heaven #hope #lastchance #penitence #reforming #repentance #salvation #sin #temptation #world
A quotation from Adlai Stevenson
Ignorance is stubborn and prejudice dies hard.
Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1963-10-01), “Statement on the Draft Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,” Committee III, United Nations, New York City
More about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-adlai-ewin…
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The Disappointment of Manhood succeeds to the delusion of Youth; let us hope that the heritage of Old Age is not Despair!
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) English politician and author
Vivian Grey, Book 8, ch. 5 (1827)
More about this quote: wist.info/disraeli-benjamin/85…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #disraeli #adult #adulthood #age #aging #generation #maturity #oldage #youth
I could have given my own sect the preference and made everybody a Presbyterian without any trouble, but that would have been to affront a law of human nature: spiritual wants and instincts are as various in the human family as are physical appetites, complexions, and features, and a man is only at his best, morally, when he is equipped with the religious garment whose color and shape and size most nicely accommodate themselves to the spiritual complexion, angularities, and stature of the individual who wears it.
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/85582/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #marktwain #twain #connecticutyankee #sectarianism #establishment #freedomofreligion #morality #personalreligion #religion #religiousdiversity #religiousfreedom #religioustolerance #spiritualdevelopment #spirituality
A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson
The world is so full of a number of things,
I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Poem (1885), “Happy Thought,” A Child’s Garden of Verses
More about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertlouisstevenson #variety #abundance #blessings #bounty #happiness #plenty #satisfaction
Well begun is half done; dare to be wise; begin!
[Dimidium facti qui coepit habet; sapere aude;
incipe!]
Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 2 “To Lollius,” l. 40ff (1.2.40-41) (20 BC) [tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1926)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/32340/
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Well begun is half done; dare to be wise; begin! - Horace
The weakness of the child is that it starts with a blank sheet. It neither understands nor questions the society in which it lives, and because of its credulity other people can work upon it, infecting it with the sense of inferiority and the dread of offending against mysterious, terrible laws.
George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1948-06), “‘Such, Such Were the Joys …’,” Partisan Review (1952-09)
More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/35818/
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A quotation from Arthur Conan Doyle
My dear fellow, life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) British writer and physician
Story (1891-09), “A Case of Identity,” [Holmes], The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 3
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A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt
The teaching which I received was genuinely democratic in one way. It was not so democratic in another. I grew into manhood thoroughly imbued with the feeling that a man must be respected for what he made of himself. But I had also, consciously or unconsciously, been taught that socially and industrially pretty much the whole duty of the man lay in thus making the best of himself; that he should be honest in his dealings with others and charitable in the old-fashioned way to the unfortunate; but that it was no part of his business to join with others in trying to make things better for the many by curbing the abnormal and excessive development of individualism in a few.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Autobiography, ch. 1 “Boyhood and Youth” (1913)
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A quotation not from Thomas Carlyle
The block of granite which was an obstacle in the path of the weak, becomes a steppingstone in the path of the strong.
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Misattributed)
Much more about this quote: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/728/
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ROMANA: Don’t you think that’s a bit dangerous?
THE DOCTOR: No, I don’t! What could possibly go — (The TARDIS lurches, knocking the Doctor over) — wrong? You know, I’ve simply got to stop saying that! Every single time I say “What could possibly go wrong?” something goes — oh! (The TARDIS lurches again, knocking both over) It’s uncanny, isn’t it?
Doctor Who (1963–1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
17×05 “The Horns of Nimon,” Part 1 (1979-12-22) [w. Anthony Read]
More about this quote: wist.info/doctor-who-1963/8553…
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GLENDOWER: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
HOTSPUR: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come when you do call for them?
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Henry IV, Part 1, Act 3, sc. 1, l. 55ff (3.1.55-57) (1597)
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A quotation from Josh Billings
I never knu a man to brag ov hiz munny, or hiz pedigree, who had enny thing else worth bragging about.
[I never knew a man to brag of his money, or his pedigree, who had anything else worth bragging about.]
Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1877-10 (1877 ed.)
More about this quote: wist.info/billings-josh/85536/
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Though they seem at opposite poles, fanatics of all kinds are actually crowded together at one end. It is the fanatic and the moderate who are poles apart and never meet. The fanatics of various hues eye each other with suspicion and are ready to fly at each other’s throat. But they are neighbors and almost of one family. They hate each other with the hatred of brothers.
Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 3, ch. 13, § 62 (3.13.62) (1951)
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MARCUS: There is naturally in our minds a quite insatiable longing to discover truth.
[Natura inest in mentibus nostris insatiabilis quaedam cupiditas veri.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 1, ch. 19 (1.19.) / sec. 44 (1.44) (45 BC) [tr. Douglas (1985)]
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A quotation from George Herbert
A civil guest
Will no more talk all, than eat all, the feast.
George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Poem (1614), “The Church-Porch,” ll. 305-306, The Temple (1633)
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A quotation from Ta-Nehisi Coates
I don’t really worry about the young, whose excesses are confined to lecture halls and quadrangles, so much as I fear the old, whose tyrannies are legislative.
Ta-Nehisi Coates (b. 1975) American writer, journalist, educator
The Message, ch. 3 “Bearing the Burning Cross” (2024)
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A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
[Al varón sabio más le aprovechan sus enemigos que al necio sus amigos.]
Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601–1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 84 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]
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A quotation from Bertrand Russell
If you wish a man to commit some abominable crime, from which he would naturally recoil in horror, you first teach him loyalty to a gang of arch-criminals, and then make his crime appear to him as exemplifying the virtue of loyalty. Of this process, patriotism is the most perfect instance.
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Education and the Social Order [Education and the Modern World], ch. 1 “The Individual vs. the Citizen” (1932)
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Wake me up when impending egalitarianism is a problem. In the meantime, oligarchy is eating our ass, our dreams, our country, our heritage, our democracy, our justice, and our tax code.
Molly Ivins (1944–2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (2001-04), “Wake Me When We’re Equal,” The Progressive, Vol. 65, No. 4
More about this quote: wist.info/ivins-molly/85517/
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By seeing one thou knowest him half, by hearing him speak thou knowst all.
[Vedendo uno conosci mezzo, udendolo parlar il conosci tutto.]
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/85513/
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A quotation from Bill Watterson
CALVIN: (watching TV) Why isn’t my life like this situation comedy? Why don’t I have a bunch of friends with nothing to do but drop by and instigate wacky adventures? Why aren’t my conversations peppered with spontaneous witticisms? Why don’t my friends demonstrate heartfelt concern for my well-being when I have problems?
HOBBES: Why don’t you know any gorgeous babes?
CALVIN: I gotta get my life some writers.
Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1995-11-03)
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Calvin and Hobbes (1995-11-03)
A quotation from Ambrose Bierce
FOE, n. A person instigated by his wicked nature to deny one’s merits or exhibit superior merits of his own.
Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) American writer and journalist
“Foe,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1884-12-06)
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Wine is very life to humans
if taken in moderation.
What is life to one who is without wine?
It has been created to make people happy.
Wine drunk at the proper time and in moderation
is rejoicing of heart and gladness of soul.
[ἔφισον ζωῆς οἶνος ἀνθρώποις,
ἐὰν πίνῃς αὐτὸν ἐν μέτρῳ αὐτοῦ.
τίς ζωὴ ἐλασσουμένῳ οἴνῳ;
καὶ αὐτὸς ἔκτισται εἰς εὐφροσύνην ἀνθρώποις.
ἀγαλλίαμα καρδίας καὶ εὐφροσύνη ψυχῆς
οἶνος πινόμενος ἐν καιρῷ αὐτάρκης·]
The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Book 22b. Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 31:27ff (Sir 31:27–28) [tr. NRSV (2021 ed.)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/bible-ot/85500/
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To delight in reading is to trade life’s dreary moments for moments of pure joy.
[Aimer à lire, c’est faire un échange des heures d’ennui que l’lon doit avoir en sa vie contre des heures délicieuses.]
Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689–1755) French political philosopher
Pensées Diverses [Assorted Thoughts], # 1632 / 1143 (1720-1755) [ed. Guterman (1963)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/78314/
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Montesquieu quote
A quotation from Margaret Mead
The children must be taught how to think, not what to think.
Margaret Mead (1901–1978) American anthropologist
Coming of Age in Samoa, ch. 14 (1928)
More about this quote: wist.info/mead-margaret/85496/
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A quotation from Henry Commager
The concept of loyalty as conformity is a false one. It is narrow and restrictive, denies freedom of thought and of conscience, and is irremediably stained by private and selfish considerations.
Henry Steele Commager (1902–1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1947-09), “Who Is Loyal to America?” sec. 3, Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168
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O stranger, cease thy care;
Wise is the soul, but man is born to bear;
Jove weighs affairs of earth in dubious scales,
And the good suffers, while the bad prevails.
Bear, with a soul resign’d, the will of Jove;
Who breathes, must mourn: thy woes are from above.
[‘ξεῖν᾽, ἐπεὶ οὔτε κακῷ οὔτ᾽ ἄφρονι φωτὶ ἔοικας:
Ζεὺς δ᾽ αὐτὸς νέμει ὄλβον Ὀλύμπιος ἀνθρώποισιν,
ἐσθλοῖς ἠδὲ κακοῖσιν, ὅπως ἐθέλῃσιν, ἑκάστῳ:
καί που σοὶ τάδ᾽ ἔδωκε, σὲ δὲ χρὴ τετλάμεν ἔμπης.]
Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 6, l. 187ff (6.187-190) [Nausicaa] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Pope (1725), l. 227ff]
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BOB: I thought we understood each other. I thought we talked things out!
DIRK: Yes, and you listened very carefully to every word you had to say.
Jean Kerr (1922–2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Mary, Mary, Act 2 (1961)
More about this quote: wist.info/kerr-jean/85490/
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A quotation from Richard Steele
I am, dear Prue a little in Drink but at all times
Yr Faithfull Husband
Richard Steele (1672–1729) Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, playwright, politician
Letter (1708-09-27) to Mary "Prue" Scurlock Steele
More about this quote: wist.info/steele-richard/21072…
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Afflicted by love’s madness all are blind.
[Scilicet insano nemo in amore videt.]
Propertius (50–16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 2, Elegy 14, l. 18ff (2.14.18) [ed. Harbottle (1906)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/propertius/85483/
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A quotation from La Rochefoucauld
Hope, deceitful as she is, serves at least to conduct us through life by an agreeable path.
[L’espérance, toute trompeuse qu’elle est, sert au moins à nous mener à la fin de la vie par un chemin agréable.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶168 (1665–1678) [ed. Gowens (1851), ¶171]
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MALVOLIO: In my
stars I am above thee, but be not afraid of greatness.
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and
some have greatness thrust upon ’em.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 2, Sc. 5, l. 147ff (2.5.147–150) (1601)
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Shakespeare quote
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Old but gold.
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“A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it.” — H.L. Mencken
![[?]](https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonie/accounts/avatars/113/193/322/038/743/882/original/fa8860c1a121cf5b.png)
“Oh, Brother. No matter your wreckage. There will be someone to find you beautiful, despite the cruddy metal. Your ruin is not to be hidden behind paint and canvas. Let them see the cracks.”
― Sarah Kay
A quotation from Samuel Johnson
He who has so little knowledge of human nature, as to seek happiness by changing any thing but his own dispositions, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove.
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1750-04-07), The Rambler, No. 6
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It was also believed [in barbarous times] that certain things must be accepted as true, no matter whether they were reasonable or not; that it was pleasing to God to believe a certain creed, especially if it happened to be the creed of the majority.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1881-05-01) “The Great Infidels,” Booth’s Theater, New York
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A quotation from Adlai Stevenson
We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent upon its vulnerable reserve of air and soil; all committed for our safety to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work, and I will say, the love we give our fragile craft. We cannot maintain it half fortunate, half miserable, half confident, half despairing, half slave — to the ancient enemies of mankind — half free in the liberation of resources undreamed of until this day. No craft, no crew, can travel safely with such vast contradictions. On their resolutions depends the survival of us all.
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
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A quotation from Francis Bacon
Young men, in the conduct and manage of actions, embrace more than they can hold; stir more than they can quiet; fly to the end, without consideration of the means and degrees; pursue some few principles which they have chanced upon absurdly; care not to innovate, which draws unknown inconveniences; use extreme remedies at first; and that, which doubleth all errors, will not acknowledge or retract them, like an unruly horse, that will neither stop nor turn.
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, scientist, author, statesman
Essay (1612), “Of Youth and Age,” Essays, No. 42 (1625)
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