A quotation from Mme de Sévigné

Fortune is always on the side of the largest battalions.
 
[La fortune est toujours pour les gros bataillons]

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné (1626-1696) French aristocrat, woman of letters [Madame de Sévigné, Mme de Sévigné]
Letter (1673-12-22) to Mme. de Grignan [ed. Hoyt and Ward (1896), No. 202]


More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/sevigne-mme/80969/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #sevigne #fate #force #fortune #God #military #odds #size #success

The media in this post is not displayed to visitors. To view it, please log in.

A quotation from John Adams

Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
(Attributed)

Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order. - John Adams


More about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/35981/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #brain #dementia #exercise #fitness #gettingold #growingold #meme #mentalhealth #oldage #mind

A quotation from Henry Commager

We do not protect freedom in order to indulge error. We protect freedom in order to discover truth. We do not maintain freedom in order to permit eccentricity to flourish; we maintain freedom in order that society may profit from criticism, even eccentric criticism. We do not encourage dissent for sentimental reasons; we encourage dissent because we cannot live without it.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1954), “The Necessity of Freedom,” Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent


More about this quote: wist.info/commager-henry-steel…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #henrycommager #criticism #dissent #eccentricity #error #freedom #heterodoxy #investigation #test #truth

Rhysy reshared this.

A quotation from Mignon McLaughlin

Of course no one is so sensitive as you, but try to remember they think they are.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1966)


More about this quote: wist.info/mclaughlin-mignon/80…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #migonmclaughlin #others #perspective #selfabsorption #selfcenteredness #selffocus #sensitivity

A quotation from Victor Hugo

But it is just those books which a man possesses, but does not read, which constitute the most suspicious evidence against him. The Spanish Inquisition have deliberated on that point, and have come to a conclusion that places the matter beyond further doubt.
 
[Mais ce sont précisément les livres qu’un homme ne lit pas qui l’accusent les plus. L’inquisition d’Espagne a jugé ce point, et l’a mis hors de doute.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Toilers of the Sea [Les Travailleurs de la Mer], Book 1, ch. 4 (1866) [tr. Thomas (1911)]


More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/hugo-victor/80957/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #victorhugo #books #condemnation #inquisition #reading #suspicion #spanishinquisition

#reading reshared this.

A quotation from Wendell Berry

We make war, we are told, for the love of peace. We subvert our Bill of Rights and impose our will abroad for the sake of freedom and the rule of law. We honor greed and waste with the name of economy. We allow ever greater wealth and power to accumulate in the hands of a privileged few only to provide jobs for working people and charity to the poor. And we sanctify all this as Christian, though the Gospels support none of it by so much as a line or a word.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Speech (2005-05-14), Commencement, Lindsey Wilson College, Columbia, Kentucky


More about this quote: wist.info/berry-wendell/80955/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #wendellberry #America #Christianity #cognitivedissonance #contradictions #hypocrisy #publicpolicy

Tom Meschter reshared this.

A quotation from Joseph Addison

I have often thought if the minds of men were laid open, we should see but little difference between that of the wise man and that of the fool. There are infinite reveries, numberless extravagances, and a perpetual train of vanities which pass through both. The great difference is, that the first knows how to pick and cull his thoughts for conversation, by suppressing some, and communicating others; whereas the other lets them all indifferently fly out in words.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1711-11-17), The Spectator, No. 225


More about this quote: wist.info/addison-joseph/80953…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #josephaddison #blurting #chatter #consideration #conversation #discretion #fool #minds #selfcensorship #selfcontrol #selfrestraint #streamofconsciousness #thoughts #wisdom

A quotation from Judith Martin

Dishonesty is not the only alternative to honesty. There is also the highly underrated virtue of shutting up.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
“Miss Manners,” syndicated column (2014-12-19)


More about this quote: wist.info/martin-judith/80951/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #judithmartin #missmanners #candor #dishonesty #honesty #keepquiet #rudeness #shutup #silence

A quotation from Shakespeare

CHARMIAN: Good madam, keep yourself within yourself.
   The man is innocent.
 
CLEOPATRA: Some innocents ’scape not the thunderbolt.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Antony and Cleopatra, Act 2, sc. 5, l. 94ff (2.5.94-96) (1607)


More about this quote: wist.info/shakespeare-william/…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #shakespeare #williamshakespeare #divineanger #divinepunishment #divinewrath #innocence #punishment

A quotation from C. S. Lewis

At bottom, every ideal of style dictates not only how we should say things but what sort of things we may say.

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
The Screwtape Letters, Preface (1961 ed.)


More about this quote: wist.info/lewis-cs/80947/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cslewis #constraint #ideal #literarystyle #style #styleoversubstance #writing

#writing reshared this.

A quotation from Anna Quindlen

If being a parent consists often of passing along chunks of ourselves to unwitting — often unwilling — recipients, then books are, for me, one of the simplest and most sure-fire ways of doing that. I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

Anna Quindlen (b. 1953) American journalist, novelist
Article (1991-08-07), “Public & Private: Enough Bookshelves,” New York Times


More about this quote: wist.info/quindlen-anna/10605/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #AnnaQuindlen #books #childrearing #children #decorating #library #parenting #reading

reshared this

A quotation from Satchel Paige

Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.

Satchel Paige (1906-1982) American baseball player [Leroy Robert Paige]
Quoted in “Hal Boyle Says –” syndicated AP column, New York Post (1959-10-04)


More about this quote: wist.info/paige-satchel/3063/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #defeat #endeavor #giveup #prayer #problemsolving #surrender #tryagain

A quotation from John F. Kennedy

Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) American politician, author, journalist, US President (1961–63)
Letter (1960-10-26) to the National Conference of Christians and Jews Conference)


More about this quote: wist.info/kennedy-john/2252/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jfk #johnkennedy #johnfkennedy #belief #commitment #faith #freedomofreligion #protection #religiousfreedom #religiousintolerance #religiouspersecution #religioustolerance #tolerance

reshared this

A quotation from William Faulkner

I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

William Faulkner (1897-1962) American novelist
Speech (1950-12-10), Nobel Prize Banquet, Stockholm


More about this quote: wist.info/faulkner-william/534…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #faulkner #williamfaulkner #humanity #inspiration #literature #poet #poetry #soul #spirit #writer #writing

reshared this

A quotation from Yevgeny Yevtushenko

I write poetry, prose, and everything I do, I do on the principle of Russian borscht. You can throw everything into it — beets, carrots, cabbage, onions, everything you want. What’s important is the result, the taste of the borscht.

Yevgeny Yevtushenko (1933-2017) Russian poet, writer, film director, academic [Евге́ний Евтуше́нко, Evgenij Evtušenko]
Interview (1986-02-02), “Yevtushenko: A Soviet Poet Turns to Movie Making,” by Serge Schmemann, New York Times


More about this quote: wist.info/yevtushenko-yevgeny/…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #creativity #poetry #prose #results #variety #writing