WIST Quotations

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WIST (“Wish I’d Said That!”) is my collection of quotations (wist.info) which I find meaningful, moving, amusing (intended or not), or well-phrased.

Despite the name, this is not just a collection of quotations whose sentiments I agree with (though that’s true for the majority of stuff I collect). In some cases there are ideas that I disagree with, firmly; in those cases, though, I’ve included the quote because I admire the way it’s phrased, or because it’s a classic statement of a particular sentiment, or else I thought it was so absurd that it made me smile just to read it. In short, "Quoting is not (necessarily) endorsing."

One thing I make an effort to do is research and properly cite each quotation I publish. Further sourcing information (and notes and translations) can be found on the WIST website.

This site will serve as a rich-text social media republishing of new and updated quotations from wist.info (since nobody actually goes to blogs any more). I welcome conversation about the quotes I post.

I was previously cross-posting at wist@my-space.social, WISTquote@zirk.us, and wist@diasp.org. More info on the background of my collection here: wist.info/about-wist/

Additional intro material: friendica.world/display/84b6ef…

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https://wist.info ✔

WIST Quotations

Tuesday, November 10, 2026, 11:13 PM

WIST Quotations
Tuesday, November 10, 2026, 11:13 PM

A quotation from Thomas More

Consequently, when I consider and turn over in my mind the state of all commonwealths flourishing anywhere today, so help me God, I can see nothing else than a kind of conspiracy of the rich, who are aiming at their own interests under the name and title of the commonwealth. They invent and devise all ways and means by which, first, they may keep without fear of loss all that they have massed by evil practices and, secondly, they may then purchase as cheaply as possible and abuse the toil and labor of all the poor. These devices become law as soon as the rich have once decreed their observance in the name of the public — that is, of the poor also!

[Itaque omnes has quæ hodie usquam florent Respublicas animo intuenti ac uersanti mihi, nihil sic me amet deus, occurrit aliud quam quædam conspiratio diuitum, Hæc annota lector.de suis commodis Reipublicæ nomine, tituloque tractantium. comminiscuntur

More, Thomas - Utopia, Book 2, ch. 9 "Of the Religions of the Utopians" (1518 ed.) [tr. Richards/Surtz (1964)] | WIST Quotations

Consequently, when I consider and turn over in my mind the state of all commonwealths flourishing anywhere today, so help me God, I can see nothing else than a kind of conspiracy of the rich, who are aiming at their own interests under the name and t…

^{WIST Quotations}