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.WIST Quotations
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
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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)]
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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.] Discussing the costs of liberty/freedom, versus living under tyranny.WIST Quotations
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
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He did not smile, as we have already said, but he used to laugh; sometimes, indeed frequently, a bitter laugh. There is consent in a smile, while a laugh is often a refusal.
[Il ne souriait pas, nous l’avons dit, mais il riait; parfois, fréquemment même; d’un rire amer. Il y a du consentement dans le sourire, tandis que le rire est souvent un refus.]
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 0, ch. 1, sec. 4 (1.0.1.4) (1869) [tr. Unknown, Authorized (1871)]
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The recklessness of their ways destroyed them all.
[Αὐτῶν γὰρ σφετέρῃσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὄλοντο.]
Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 1, l. 7ff (1.7) (c. 700 BC) [tr. Fagles (1996)]
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The recklessness of their ways destroyed them all. [Αὐτῶν γὰρ σφετέρῃσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὄλοντο.] Original Greek. Alternate translations: "O men unwise, / They perish’d by their own impieties!" [tr.WIST Quotations
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BOB: I think success has no rules, but you can learn a great deal from failure.
Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Mary, Mary, Act 1 (1961)
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DEMEA: No one has ever plotted out his life's plan so successfully that he never faces New challenges and discoveries brought about by circumstances, the passing of time, Or experience itself.WIST Quotations
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And should I fail, my courage brings its commendation:
greatness aimed at is enough.
[Quod si deficiant vires, audacia certe
Laus erit: in magnis et voluisse sat est.]
Propertius (50-16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 2, Elegy 10, l. 5ff (2.10.5-6) [tr. Holcombe (2009)]
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And should I fail, my courage brings its commendation: greatness aimed at is enough. [Quod si deficiant vires, audacia certe Laus erit: in magnis et voluisse sat est.] Talking specifically about writing epics about mighty themes and accomplishments.WIST Quotations
VIOLA: Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we!
For such as we are made of, such we be.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 2, sc. 2, l. 31ff (2.2.31-32) (1601)
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VIOLA: Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we! For such as we are made of, such we be. Part of Viola's "Ring Soliloqy," with Viola speaking of the inconstant and frail nature of women in particular. Maybe.WIST Quotations
Infidels are intellectual discoverers. They sail the unknown seas and find new isles and continents in the infinite realms of thought.
An Infidel is one who has found a new fact, who has an idea of his own, and who in the mental sky has seen another star.
He is an intellectual capitalist, and for that reason excites the envy and hatred of the theological pauper.
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 Elizabeth Bear
Age had not yet defeated her on all fronts, though it was a war of attrition she knew she was fated to lose.
Elizabeth Bear (b. 1971) American author [pseud. for Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky]
Bone and Jewel Creatures, ch. 3 (2010)
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A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson
You cannot run away from weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
The Amateur Immigrant, ch. 4 “Steerage Types (1895)
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To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1946-03-22), “In Front of Your Nose,” “As I Please” column, Tribune Newspaper
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I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
(Spurious)
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A quotation from Theodore Roosevelt
My duty was to stand with every one while he was right, and to stand against him when he went wrong; and this I have tried to do as regards individuals and as regards groups of individuals. When a business man or labor leader, politician or reformer, is right, I support him; when he goes wrong, I leave him.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Autobiography, ch. 5 “Applied Idealism” (1913)
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A quotation from Kerry Greenwood
He yelled louder, because it is well known to English people that foreigners only pretend to speak those nasty foreign tongues but really understand English if it is shouted loudly enough.
Kerry Greenwood (b. 1954) Australian author and lawyer
Phryne Fisher, Book 16, Murder in the Dark, ch. 4 [Sylvanus] (2006)
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A quotation from Josh Billings
Mizery luvs company but iz allwuss jealous, — there never waz a man yet but what thought hiz lame back was a good deal lamer than hiz nabors.
[Misery loves company but is always jealous — there never was a man yet but what thought his lame back was a good deal more lame than his neighbor’s.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1877-07 “Dregs” (1877 ed.)
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Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 2, ch. 4, § 23 (2.4.23) (1951)
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I don’t want to die, but I don’t worry about being dead.
[Emori nolo, sed me esse mortuum nihil æstimo.]
Epicharmus of Kos (c. 540 – c. 450 BC) Greek dramatist and philosopher
Fragment 230 K-A = B 11 DK [tr. Douglas (1985)]
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In Christmas feasting pray take care;
Let not your table be a Snare;
But with the Poor God’s Bounty share.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard Improved (1748 ed.)
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To use many words to communicate few thoughts is everywhere the unmistakable sign of mediocrity. To gather much thought into few words stamps the man of genius.
[Viele Worte machen, um wenige Gedanken mitzutheilen, ist überall das untrügliche Zeichen der Mittelmäßigkeit; das des eminenten Kopfes dagegen, viele Gedanken in wenige Worte zu schließen.]
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)]
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A quotation from Bertrand Russell
I am sure that university life would be better, both intellectually and morally, if most university students had temporary childless marriages. This would afford a solution to the sexual urge neither restless nor surreptitious, neither mercenary nor casual, and of such a nature that it need not take up time which ought to be given to work.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Education and the Social Order [Education and the Modern World], ch. 9 “Sex in Education” (1932)
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James likes this.
Friends, soulwise, these are trying times. Now is the time for all good citizens to come to the aid of our country, and it won’t help if you all cower in places like Madison and the Upper West Side, having hot fantods over the approach of fascism. To the barricades, team. And for Lord’s sake, don’t leave your sense of humor behind.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (2005-03), “Use It or Lose It,” The Progressive, Vol. 69, No. 3
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Old wine, and old friend, and old gold are beloved in all places.
[Vin vieux, amy vieux, Y or vieux sont amez en touts lieux.]
James Howell (c. 1594–1666) Welsh historian, writer, aphorist
Paroimiographia [Παροιμιογραφία]: Proverbs, or, Old Sayed Sawes & Adages, “Proverbs in French” (1659)
[compiler]
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A quotation from Abigail Adams
I long to hear that you have declared an independancy — and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.
Abigail Adams (1744-1818) American correspondent, First Lady (1797-1801)
Letter (1776-03-31) to John Adams
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A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt
One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In stopping to think through the meaning of what I have learned, there is much that I believe intensely, much I am unsure of. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
You Learn by Living, Foreword (1960)
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What was the crime? To complain. What was the crime? To suffer. Let misery hide and be silent, otherwise it is lèse-majesté.
[Quel était l’attentat? se plaindre. Quel était le crime? souffrir. Que la misère se cache et se taise, sinon elle est lèse-majesté.]
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 9, ch. 2 (.2.9.2) (1869) [tr. Lavelle (2003)]
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What was the crime? To complain. What was the crime? To suffer. Let misery hide and be silent, otherwise it is lèse-majesté. [Quel était l’attentat? se plaindre. Quel était le crime? souffrir.WIST Quotations
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Some of the words you’ll find within yourself, the rest some power will inspire you to say. You least of all -- I know -- were born and reared without the gods’ good will.WIST Quotations
MARY: Being divorced is like being hit by a Mack truck. If you live through it, you start looking very carefully to the right and to the left.
Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Mary, Mary, Act 1 (1960)
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A quotation from Richard Steele
A good name is fitly compared to a precious ointment, and when we are praised with skill and decency, it is indeed the most agreeable perfume: but if too strongly admitted into a brain of a less vigorous and happy texture, it will, like too strong and odour, overcome the senses, and prove pernicious to those nerves it was intended to refresh.
Richard Steele (1672-1729) Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, playwright, politician
Essay (1711-12-03), The Spectator, No. 238
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A good name is fitly compared to a precious ointment, and when we are praised with skill and decency, it is indeed the most agreeable perfume: but if too strongly admitted into a brain of a less vigorous and happy texture, it will, like too strong an…WIST Quotations
