A quotation from Franklin Roosevelt

I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen two hundred limping, exhausted men come out of line — the survivors of a regiment of one thousand that went forward forty-eight hours before. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Speech (1936-08-14), Chautauqua, New York


More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-franklin-d…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #fdr #franklinroosevelt #franklindelanoroosevelt #franklindroosevelt #casualties #death #destruction #devastation #war #wounded

reshared this

A quotation from Ian Stuart Black

PILOT: Stop! Stop! You’re breaking the law!
THE DOCTOR: Bad laws were made to be broken.

Ian Stuart Black (1915–1997) British novelist, playwright, screenwriter
Doctor Who (1963), 04×07 “The Macra Terror,” Part 4 (1967-04-01)


More about this quote: wist.info/black-ian-stuart/818…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ianstuartblack #doctorwho #seconddoctor #breakingthelaw #disobedience #injustice #law #lawbreaking #noncompliance

Florian Schmidt reshared this.

A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle

We think because we have words, not the other way around, and the greater our vocabulary, the greater our ability to think conceptually. The first people a dictator puts in jail are the writers, the teachers, the librarians — because these people are dangerous. They have enough vocabulary to recognize injustice and to speak out loudly about it. Let us have the courage to go on being dangerous people.

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC


More about this quote: wist.info/lengle-madeleine/818…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #lengle #madeleinelengle #censorship #communication #concepts #despotism #dictatorship #jailing #librarians #suppression #teachers #tyranny #vocabulary #wellspoken #writers

A quotation from Douglas Adams

NARRATOR: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Phase 1, “Fit the 5th” (BBC radio) (1978-04-05)


More about this quote: wist.info/adams-douglas/81840/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #douglasadams #hitchhikersguide #beginning #creation #Genesis #origin

A quotation from Mark Twain

Always obey your parents, when they are present. This is the best policy in the long run, because if you don’t, they will make you. Most parents think they know better than you do, and you can generally make more by humoring that superstition than you can by acting on your own better judgment.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Essay (1882), “Advice to Youth”


More about this quote: wist.info/twain-mark/81836/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #marktwain #authority #children #humoring #obedience #parents #youth

A quotation from Bertrand Russell

The happy life is to an extraordinary extent the same as the good life. Professional moralists have made too much of self-denial, and in so doing have put the emphasis in the wrong place. Conscious self-denial leaves a man self-absorbed and vividly aware of what he has sacrificed; in consequence it fails often of its immediate object and almost always of its ultimate purpose. What is needed is not self-denial, but that kind of direction of interest outward which will lead spontaneously and naturally to the same acts that a person absorbed in the pursuit of his own virtue could only perform by means of conscious self-denial.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 17 “The Happy Man” (1930)


More about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/818…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #asceticism #temperance #celibacy #abstinence #diet #focus #goodlife #happiness #interest #selfdenial #selfrestriction

Khurram Wadee reshared this.

A quotation from James Howell

A hungry man [is] an angry man.

James Howell (c. 1594 - 1666) Welsh historian and writer
Paroimiographia [Παροιμιογραφία]: Proverbs, or, Old Sayed Sawes & Adages, “English Proverbs” (1659)
[compiler]


More about this quote: wist.info/howell-james/12061/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jameshowell #anger #discontent #dissatisfaction #hunger #resentment #temper

A quotation from Oscar Wilde

Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet, wit, dramatist
Essay (1891-02), “The Soul of Man Under Socialism,” Fortnightly Review, Vol. 49 (ns)


More about this quote: wist.info/wilde-oscar/81828/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #oscarwilde #advice #budget #heartlessness #impoverished #insult #necessity #need #poor #poverty #spending #thrift

A quotation from Abraham Lincoln

The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress, was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons. Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your view destroys the whole matter, and places our President where kings have always stood.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1848-02-15) to William H. Herndon


More about this quote: wist.info/lincoln-abraham/8182…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #abrahamlincoln #abelincoln #America #checksandbalances #congress #Constitution #declarationofwar #founders #power #president #war #warpowers #warmaking #autocracy #king #monarch

A quotation from Emerson

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

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 #ralphwaldoemerson #littleminds #clergy #consistency #details #focus #inconsistency #littlepeople #littlethings #nitpicking #obsession #organization #particular #pedantry #philosopher #politician #trivialities

Khurram Wadee reshared this.

A quotation from Ambrose Bierce

ADAGE, n. A hoary-headed platitude that is kicked along the centuries until nothing is left of it but its clothes. A “saw” which has worn out its teeth on the human understanding.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Adage,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1881-03-05)


More about this quote: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/81811…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ambrosebierce #devilsdictionary #adage #aphorism #banality #cliche #meaninglessness #platitude #proverb #receivedwisdom #saw #saying #truism

Khurram Wadee reshared this.

A quotation from Hannah Arendt

Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one single deed from which we could never recover; we would remain the victims of its consequences forever, not unlike the sorcerer’s apprentice who lacks the magic formula to break the spell.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
The Human Condition, Part 5, ch. 33 “Irreversibility and the Power to Forgive” (1958)


More about this quote: wist.info/arendt-hannah/10022/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hannaharendt #arendt #action #consequences #forgiveness #misdeed #reaction #trap

Khurram Wadee reshared this.

A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt

The appreciation of many things in which we are not proficient ourselves but which we have learned to enjoy is one of the important things to cultivate in modern education. The arts in every field — music, drama, sculpture, painting — we can learn to appreciate and enjoy. We need not be artists, but we should be able to appreciate the work of artists.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1958-11-05), “My Day”


More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-eleanor/81…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #eleanorroosevelt #appreciation #art #artappreciation #arteducation #artistry #drama #education #enjoyment #leisure #music #painting #sculpture #theater

reshared this

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

A quotation from Frank Zappa

Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.

Frank Zappa (1940-1993) American singer-songwriter
A Day with Frank Zappa, Part 5, documentary, dir. Roelof Kiers, VPRO-TV (1971-02-11)

Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible - Frank Zappa


More about this quote (and variants): wist.info/zappa-frank/4263/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #zappa #frankzappa #change #convention #deviance #deviation #heterodoxy #LGBTQ #norm #normalcy #orientation #orthodoxy #progress #sexuality #statusquo #variation #diversity #meme

#LGBTQ reshared this.

A quotation from John Scalzi

Rich people show their appreciation through favors. When everyone you know has more money than they know what to do with, money stops being a useful transactional tool. So instead you offer favors. Deals. Quid pro quos. Things that involve personal involvement rather than money. Because when you’re that rich, your personal time is your limiting factor.

John Scalzi (b. 1969) American writer
Lock In, ch. 3 [Shane] (2014)


More about this quote: wist.info/scalzi-john/35293/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #scalzi #johnscalzi #lockin #cost #deal #exchange #favor #involvement #money #onepercent #price #quidproquo #rich #service #transaction #wealth #wealthy

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

A quotation from John Adams

To be good, and to do good, is all We have to do.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1777-03-17) to Nabby Adams (Abigail Adams 2d)

To be good, and to do good, is all We have to do. - John Adams


More about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/35639/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #action #character #deeds #dogood #goodbehavior #gooddeeds #goodperson #meaningoflife #meme #virtue

A quotation from Henry Commager

But this we can say with certainty: a government and a society that silences those who dissent is one that has lost its way. This we can say: that what is essential in a free society is that there should be an atmosphere where those who wish to dissent and even to demonstrate can do so without fear of recrimination or vilification.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1965-12-18), “The Problem of Dissent,” Saturday Review


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

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #commager #henrycommager #criticism #censorship #demonstration #dissent #freesociety #freespeech #freedom #freedomofexpression #freedomofspeech #protest #silencing

in reply to WIST Quotations

You can certainly call their beliefs repugnant and evil. Their voicing of that dissent from a (I hope) general belief is, in itself, not something that can be legally punished without allowing the same treatment of anyone who publicly dissents from any "general beliefs" of the day (or what the government says are the "general beliefs").

A quotation from Montesquieu

It is not the young people that degenerate: they are not spoilt till those of maturer age are already sunk into corruption.
 
[Ce n’est point le peuple naissant qui dégénere ; il ne se perd que lorsque les hommes faits sont déja corrompus.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Spirit of Laws [The Spirit of the Laws; De l’esprit des lois], Book 4, ch. 5 (4.5) (1748) [tr. Nugent (1750)]


More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/81784/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #adults #corruption #degeneration #generationgap #teenager #youngadult #youth

A quotation from The Epic of Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh, where are you roaming?
You will never find the eternal life
that you seek. When the gods created mankind,
they also created death, and they held back
eternal life for themselves alone.
Humans are born, they live, and then they die,
this is the order that the gods have decreed.
But until the end comes, enjoy your life,
spend it in happiness, not despair.
Savor your food, make each of your days
a delight, bathe and anoint yourself,
wear bright clothes that are sparkling clean,
let music and dancing fill your house,
love the child who holds you by the hand,
and give your wife pleasure in your embrace.
That is the best way for a man to live.

Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2100–1200 BC) Sumerian myth
Tablet 10, col. 3 [Siduri] [tr. Mitchell (2004)]


More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/gilgamesh/81779/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #gilgamesh #carpediem #doom #enjoyment #goodlife #happiness #humancondition #humanity #joy #living #mortality #seizetheday #gusto

A quotation from Hyman Rickover

I have for some time thought that a few of our present day ills stem from this childish faith in the existence of perfect answers. It requires a degree of maturity to realize that all solutions are partial ones.

Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) American naval engineer, submariner, US Navy Admiral
Speech (1954-03-16), “Administering a Large Military Development Project,” US Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California


More about this quote: wist.info/rickover-hyman/81777…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hymanrickover #answer #perfection #silverbullet #solution

A quotation from Victor Hugo

Men are still men. The despot’s wickedness
Comes of ill teaching, and of power’s excess, —
Comes of the purple he from childhood wears,
Slaves would be tyrants if the chance were theirs.
 
[L’homme est homme toujours; les crimes du despote
Sont faits par sa puissance, ombre où son âme flotte,
Par la pourpre qu’il traîne et dont on le revêt,
Et l’esclave serait tyran s’il le pouvait.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Poem (1876), “The Vanished City [La Ville Disparue],” Legend of the Ages: New Series [La Légende des siècles: La Nouvelle Série], No. 4 (1877) [tr. Carrington (1885)]


More about this quote: wist.info/hugo-victor/81773/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #victorhugo #despot #error #humannature #power #revolution #slave #tyrant

A quotation from Jean Kerr

Now the thing about having a baby — and I can’t be the first person to have noticed this — is that thereafter you have it.

Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Essay (1957), “Introduction,” Please Don’t Eat the Daisies


More about this quote: wist.info/kerr-jean/41874/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jeankerr #baby #child #commitment #father #mother #parenthood #offspring

A quotation from Wendell Berry

If you know even as little history as I do, it is hard not to doubt the efficacy of modern war as a solution to any problem except that of retribution — the “justice” of exchanging one damage for another.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1999), “The Failure of War,” Citizenship Papers (2003)


More about this quote: wist.info/berry-wendell/81766/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #armedconflict #retribution #vengeance #war

A quotation from Joseph Addison

Musick, the greatest Good that Mortals know,
And all of Heav’n we have below.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Poem (1694), “A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day, at Oxford,” st. 3


More about this quote: wist.info/addison-joseph/15980…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #josephaddison #cecilia #stcecilia #saintcecilia #blessing #heaven #music #song

A quotation from Bruce Holland Rogers

And so, you see, simplicity
Requires that our lot
Be that we exit, when we must,
With only what we brought.

Bruce Holland Rogers (b. 1958) American author [pseud. Hanovi Braddock]
“A Common Night,” Fantastic Alice (1995) [ed. Margaret Weis]


More about this quote: wist.info/rogers-bruce-holland…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #death #mortality #possessions

A quotation from Shakespeare

HELENA: Things base and vile, holding no quantity,
   Love can transpose to form and dignity.
   Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind;
   And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
   Nor hath Love’s mind of any judgment taste.
   Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste.
   And therefore is Love said to be a child
   Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, sc. 1, ll. 238ff (1.1.238-245) (1605)


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

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #shakespeare #williamshakespeare #midsummernightsdream #blindness #enchantment #fallinginlove #love #loveatfirstsight #passion #perspective #badjudgment #poorjudgment #romance

Khurram Wadee reshared this.

A quotation from Adlai Stevenson

There are men among us who use “patriotism” as a club for attacking other Americans. What can we say for the self-styled patriot who thinks that a Negro, a Jew, a Catholic, or a Japanese-American is less an American than he? That betrays the deepest article of our faith, the belief in individual liberty and equality which has always been the heart and soul of the American idea.

Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-08-27), “The Nature of Patriotism,” American Legion Convention, Madison Square Garden, New York City


More about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-adlai-ewin…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #adlaistevenson #AmericanDream #Americanism #antisemitism #bias #epluribusunum #equality #liberty #nationalism #patriotism #prejudice #racism

A quotation from Thoreau

Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that you can wake up in the night and think of your work with satisfaction, — a work at which you would not be ashamed to invoke the Muse.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden; or, Life in the Woods, ch. 18 “Conclusion” (1854)


More about this quote: wist.info/thoreau-henry-david/…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #thoreau #henrydavidthoreau #walden #accomplishment #labor #muse #satisfaction #work

Samuel Smith reshared this.

A quotation from La Rochefoucauld

Our readiness to think ill of people without sufficiently examining the matter is based on laziness and pride. We want to find people guilty, we don’t want the bother of studying their crimes.
 
[La promptitude à croire le mal, sans l’avoir assez examiné, est un effet de l’orgueil et de la paresse: on veut trouver des coupables, et on ne veut pas se donner la peine d’examiner les crimes.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶267 (1665-1678) [tr. Kronenberger (1959)]


More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/la-rochefoucauld-fra…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #larochefoucauld #accusation #assumption #condemnation #crime #ego #evidence #examination #guilt #indolence #investigation #laziness #offense #presumption #pride #blame

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Composition is, for the most part, an effort of slow diligence and steady perseverance, to which the mind is dragged by necessity or resolution, and from which the attention is every moment starting to more delightful amusements.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-03-02), The Adventurer, No. 138


More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/25299…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #author #distraction #drudgery #essayist #novelist #storyteller #writing #writer

#writing reshared this.

A quotation from Robert Ingersoll

Does any intelligent man now believe that God made man of dust, and woman of a rib, and put them in a garden, and put a tree in the midst of it? Was there not room outside of the garden to put his tree, if he did not want people to eat his apples?
   If I did not want a man to eat my fruit, I would not put him in my orchard.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1884-01-20), “Orthodoxy,” Tabor Opera House, Denver, Colorado


More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #apple #belief #Bible #creation #disbelief #Eden #GardenofEden #Genesis #God #tree

vieuxnez reshared this.

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

A quotation from Mark Twain

How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again!

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Dictation (1906-12-02), The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 2 (2013)

How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again! - Twain


More about this quote: wist.info/twain-mark/43956/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #marktwain #belief #conviction #deceiving #deception #lie #lying #meme #persuasion

A quotation from C. C. Colton

Power, like the diamond, dazzles the beholder, and also the wearer; it dignifies meanness; it magnifies littleness; to what is contemptible, it gives authority; to what is low, exaltation.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 20 (1820)


More about this quote: wist.info/colton-charles-caleb…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cccolton #illusion #importance #intoxication #power #powerseeking