A quotation from Shakespeare

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)


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

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #shakespeare #twelfthnight #fickleness #frailty #humannature #inconstancy #women

A quotation from Ingersoll

   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


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

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #ingersoll #discoverer #discovery #facts #freethinker #infidel #intellect #knowledge #science

Science Channel reshared this.

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)


More about this quote: wist.info/bear-elizabeth/85135…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #elizabethbear #age #gettingold #growingold #humancondition #mortality #oldage

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)


More about this quote: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertlouisstevenson #fault #flaw #resolution #runningaway #selfimprovement #vice #weakness

A quotation from Orwell

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


More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/5099/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #attention #awareness #obliviousness #obvious #payattention #unawareness

Khurram Wadee reshared this.

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)


More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/8…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #theodoreroosevelt #teddyroosevelt #duty #integrity #loyalty #obligation #partisanship #political #politics #rightandwrong

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)


More about this quote: wist.info/greenwood-kerry/8511…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #kerrygreenwood #phrynefisher #missfishermurdermysteries #communication #foreignlanguage #foreigner #loudness #shouting #understanding #yelling

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.)


More about this quote: wist.info/billings-josh/85114/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #joshbillings #back #company #injury #misery #pain #perspective #selfcenteredness #suffering

A quotation from Eric Hoffer

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)


More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/8677/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #avarice #desire #focus #greed #lack #more #need #poor #poverty #rich #want #wealth

A quotation from Epicharmus

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)]


More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/epicharmus/85106/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #epicharmus #cicero #death #dying #mortality #restinpeace

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

A quotation from Franklin

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.)

In Christmas feasting pray take care; / Let not your table be a Snare; / But with the Poor God’s Bounty share. - Franklin


More about this quote: wist.info/franklin-benjamin/35…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #benjaminfranklin #benfranklin #franklin #poorrichard #poorrichardsalamanac #charity #Christmas #feast #giving #gluttony #needy #poor #sharing

A quotation from Schopenhauer

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)]


More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/schopenhauer-arthur/…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #schopenhauer #arthurschopenhauer #communication #content #eloquence #genius #loquaciousness #mediocrity #pithiness #thought #wordiness #writing

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)


More about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/850…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #academics #coeducation #cohabitation #college #highereducation #marriage #sex #studies #university

A quotation from Molly Ivins

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


More about this quote: wist.info/ivins-molly/85094/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #mollyivins #anxiety #barricades #citizenry #complaints #cowardice #cowing #difficulty #engagement #fantod #fascism #nation #patriotism #politicalaction #politicalmovement #politics #senseofhumor #trial

reshared this

A quotation from James Howell

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]


More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/howell-james/85085/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jameshowell #proverb #age #books #comfort #custom #enjoyment #familiarity #friend #maturity #money #needs #passageoftime #provisions #supplies #tradition #wine

reshared this

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


More about this quote: wist.info/adams-abigail/29421/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #abigailadams #absolutepower #battleofthesexes #discrimination #equalprotectionunderthelaw #equalrights #equality #gender #power #rights #sex #sexism #tyranny #womensrights #husband #wife #feminism

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)


More about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-eleanor/33…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #eleanorroosevelt #actions #belief #choices #living #personalresponsibility #philosophy #responsibility #takeresponsibility #uncertainty #wordsanddeeds

Philosophy Channel reshared this.

A quotation from Hugo

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)]


More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/hugo-victor/85062/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hugo #victorhugo #themanwholaughs #complaint #coverup #establishment #lesemajeste #misery #power #protest #suffering #treason #willfulignorance

A quotation from Jean Kerr

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)


More about this quote: wist.info/kerr-jean/8721/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jeankerr #apprehension #awareness #carefulness #caution #divorce

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


More about this quote: wist.info/steele-richard/85053…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #richardsteele #ego #flattery #goodname #praise #pride #reputation

LGBTQ+ Channel reshared this.

A quotation from Propertius

Yet loneliness shall weary thee, and still
Love torture thee with longings nought can fill.
   Absence makes passion’s tide have double sway,
Possession cloys the love of every day.
 
[Nulla tamen lecto recipit se sola libenter:
Est quiddam, quod vos quaerere cogat Amor.
Semper in absentes felicior aestus amantes:
Elevat assiduos copia longa viros.]

Propertius (50-16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 2, Elegy 33, l. 41ff (2.33.41-44) [tr. Moore (1870); 3.25]


More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/propertius/6952/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #propertius #absence #affection #boredom #desire #heart #loneliness #love #possession #separation

A quotation from Shakespeare

VIOLA: O Time, thou must untangle this, not I;
   It is too hard a knot for me t’ untie.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 2, sc. 2, l. 40ff (2.2.40-41) (1601)


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

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #shakespeare #williamshakespeare #twelfthnight #complexity #conundrum #passageoftime #problem #puzzle #tangle #time #untangle

Puzzles Channel reshared this.

A quotation from Herbert Hoover

You convey too great a compliment when you say that I have earned the right to the presidential nomination. No man can establish such an obligation upon any part of the American people. My country owes me no debt. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbounded hope. My whole life has taught me what America means. I am indebted to my country beyond any human power to repay.

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) American engineer, bureaucrat, US President (1929-33)
Letter (1928-06-14) to George Moses


More about this quote: wist.info/hoover-herbert/34175…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #herberthoover #humility #advancement #America #AmericanDream #bootstraps #entitlement #nomination #opportunity #presidency #ragstoriches #selfimprovement

A quotation from La Rochefoucauld

We can forgive people who bore us, but never those whom we bore.
 
[Nous pardonnons souvent à ceux qui nous ennuient, mais nous ne pouvons pardonner à ceux que nous ennuyons.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶304 (1665-1678) [tr. Heard (1917), ¶311]


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

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #larochefoucauld #bore #boredom #boring #disinterest #ego #ennui #forgiveness #hypocrisy #insult #offense #pride #weariness #weary

reshared this

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

There is nothing more dreadful to an author than neglect, compared with which reproach, hatred, and opposition are names of happiness; yet this worse, this meanest fate, every one who dares to write has reason to fear.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Source (1750-03-24), The Rambler, No. 2


More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/24197…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #author #forgotten #ignored #insignificance #literarycriticism #neglect #notice #oblivion #obscurity #publicity #reaction #unread #writer #writing

reshared this

A quotation from Ingersoll

The God of Hell should be held in loathing, contempt and scorn. A God who threatens eternal pain should be hated, not loved — cursed, not worshiped. A heaven presided over by such a God must be below the lowest hell. I want no part in any heaven in which the saved, the ransomed and redeemed will drown with shouts of joy the cries and sobs of hell — in which happiness will forget misery, where the tears of the lost only increase laughter and double bliss.

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…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ingersoll #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #christianity #afterlife #divinejustice #divinepunishment #divinewrath #eternity #God #heaven #hell #punishment #worship

in reply to juliadream

While the Puritan dissenters who migrated to New England definitely leaned (almost gleefully, if they allowed glee) into the whole eternal punishment stuff, it was a doctrine vigorously believed in by most Christian denominations of Ingersoll's time -- Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, whatevs. (And it's still fairly orthodox in Christianity today.)

A quotation from Adlai Stevenson

We can chart our future clearly and wisely only when we know the path which has led to the present.

Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-09-20), “The New South,” Mosque Auditorium, Richmond, Virginia


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

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #adlaistevenson #future #history #past #planning #progress #retrospection #wisdom

History Channel reshared this.

A quotation from Mark Twain

Inherited ideas are a curious thing, and interesting to observe and examine. I had mine, the king and his people had theirs. In both cases they flowed in ruts worn deep by time and habit, and the man who should have proposed to divert them by reason and argument would have had a long contract on his hands.

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. 8 “The Boss”


More about this quote: wist.info/twain-mark/85029/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #twain #marktwain #aconnecticutyankee #convention #culture #custom #heritage #ideas #socialchange #socialconventions #tradition

Khurram Wadee reshared this.