"So, Jeeves!" "Yes, sir." "What do you mean, Yes, sir?" "I was endeavouring to convey my appreciation of the fact that your position is in many respects somewhat difficult, sir.WIST Quotations
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A quotation (not) from Thomas Carlyle
A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
(Spurious)
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A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men. Attributed with this wording to Carlyle by Dale Carnegie in How to Win Friends And Influence People, ch. 1 (1936).WIST Quotations
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LEELA: Never mind, Doctor, I’ve found the answer.
DOCTOR: You have?
LEELA: Knife them in the neck!
Doctor Who (1963-1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
15×02 “The Invisible Enemy,” Part 4 (1977-10-22) [w. Bob Baker, Dave Martin]
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LEELA: Never mind, Doctor, I've found the answer. DOCTOR: You have? LEELA: Knife them in the neck! (Source (Video), dialog verified). Sometimes paraphrased: "Don't worry, Doctor. I found the answer: knife them in the neck!"WIST Quotations
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A quotation from Josh Billings
Thare are two kinds of men that fear makes phools ov, them who are afrade of nothing, and them who are afrade of everything.
[There are two kinds of men that fear makes fools of, them who are afraid of nothing, and them who are afraid of everything.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1877-09 (1877 ed.)
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Thare are two kinds of men that fear makes phools ov, them who are afrade of nothing, and them who are afrade of everything. [There are two kinds of men that fear makes fools of, them who are afraid of nothing, and them who are afraid of everything.]WIST Quotations
The fiercest fanatics are often selfish people who were forced, by innate shortcomings or external circumstances, to lose faith in their own selves. They separate the excellent instrument of their selfishness from their ineffectual selves and attach it to the service of some holy cause. And though it be a faith of love and humility they adopt, they can be neither loving nor humble.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 2, ch. 7, § 38 (2.7.38) (1951)
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A quotation from Frederick Douglass
Americans! your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. You boast of your love of liberty, your superior civilization, and your pure Christianity, while the whole political power of the nation (as embodied in the two great political parties), is solemnly pledged to support and perpetuate the enslavement of three millions of your countrymen. You hurl your anathemas at the crowned headed tyrants of Russia and Austria, and pride yourselves on your Democratic institutions, while you yourselves consent to be the mere tools and body-guards of the tyrants of Virginia and Carolina.
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) American abolitionist, orator, writer
Speech (1852-07-05), “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York
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MARCUS: Don’t our friends, the philosophers, put their names on the very books they write condemning the quest for fame?
[Quid? Nostri philosophi nonne in his libris ipsis, quos scribunt de contemnenda gloria, sua nomina inscribunt?]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 1, ch. 15 (1.15) / sec. 34 (1.34) (45 BC) [tr. Habinek (1996)]
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MARCUS: Don't our friends, the philosophers, put their names on the very books they write condemning the quest for fame? [Quid? Nostri philosophi nonne in his libris ipsis, quos scribunt de contemnenda gloria, sua nomina inscribunt?] Cicero suggests …WIST Quotations
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Lost Time is never found again.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard Improved (1748 ed.)
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While there is a chance of the world getting through its troubles I hold that a reasonable man has to behave as though he was sure of it. If at the end your cheerfulness is not justified, at any rate you will have been cheerful.
H. G. Wells (1866-1946) British writer [Herbert George Wells]
Apropos of Dolores, ch. 2 (1938)
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As you have it in your power, sir, to do some service to letters, I implore you not to clip the wings of our writers so closely, nor to turn into barn-door fowls those who, allowed a start, might become eagles; reasonable liberty permits the mind to …WIST Quotations
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A quotation from Douglas Adams
You can’t help but try and follow an animal’s thought processes, and you can’t help, when faced with an animal like a three ton rhinoceros with nasal passages bigger than its brain, but fail.
Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Last Chance to See, ch. 3 (1990) [with Mark Carwardine]
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You can't help but try and follow an animal's thought processes, and you can't help, when faced with an animal like a three ton rhinoceros with nasal passages bigger than its brain, but fail.WIST Quotations
A quotation from Anthony Burgess
Languages never stand still. Modern spelling crystallizes lost pronunciations: the visual never quite catches up with the aural.
Anthony Burgess (1917-1993) English novelist
A Mouthful of Air: Language, Languages … Especially English, ch. 21 “Sounds from the Past” (1992)
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The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom; every one, having an inward veneration for the opinions and manners approved and received among his own people, cannot, without very great reluctance, depart fro…WIST Quotations
A quotation from Bertrand Russell
Absence of finality is of the essence of the scientific spirit.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Education and the Social Order [Education and the Modern World], ch. 1 “The Individual versus the Citizen” (1932)
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I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden; or, Life in the Woods, ch. 2 “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” (1854)
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I do not believe the President’s sex life is any of our business. After thirty years of political reporting, I have been unable to establish a link between marital fidelity and high performance in public office. It really doesn’t matter who they screw in private, as long as they don’t screw the public.
Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (1998-03), “A Dodge Too Far,” The Progressive, Vol. 62, No. 3
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I do not believe the President's sex life is any of our business. After thirty years of political reporting, I have been unable to establish a link between marital fidelity and high performance in public office.WIST Quotations
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That is the question of the New Frontier. That is the choice our nation must make -- a choice that lies not merely between two men or two parties, but between the public interest and private comfort -- between national greatness and national decline …WIST Quotations
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Wealth is not his who hath it, but his who enjoyes it.
[La robba no n’e di chi la fa, m’a di chi la gode.]
James Howell (c. 1594–1666) Welsh historian, writer, aphorist
Paroimiographia [Παροιμιογραφία]: Proverbs, or, Old Sayed Sawes & Adages, “Proverbs in Italian” (1659)
[compiler]
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Wealth is not his who hath it, but his who enjoyes it. [La robba no n'e di chi la fa, m'a di chi la gode.]WIST Quotations
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And his hands would plait the priest’s entrails,
For want of a rope, to strangle kings.
[Et ses mains ourdiraient les entrailles du prêtre,
Au défaut d’un cordon pour étrangler les rois.]
Denis Diderot (1713-1784) French editor, philosopher
Poem (1772), “Les Éleuthéromanes”
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And his hands would plait the priest's entrails, For want of a rope, to strangle kings. [Et ses mains ourdiraient les entrailles du prêtre, Au défaut d’un cordon pour étrangler les rois.WIST Quotations
ORSINO: If music be the food of love, play on.
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken and so die.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 1, sc. 1, l. 1ff (1.1.1-3) (1601)
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ORSINO: If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken and so die.WIST Quotations
A quotation from Abraham Lincoln
Often an idea about it would occur to me which seemed to have force and make perfect answer to some of the things that were said and written about my actions. I never let one of those ideas escape me, but wrote it on a scrap of paper and put it in that drawer. In that way I saved my best thoughts on the subject, and, you know, such things often come in a kind of intuitive way more clearly than if one were to sit down and deliberately reason them out.
To save the results of such mental action is true intellectual economy. It not only saves time and labor, but also the very best material the mind can supply for unexpected emergencies.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Remark (1863) to James F. Wilson (Attributed)
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A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt
You can not live at all if you do not learn to adapt yourself to your life as it happens to be.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Memoir (1949), This I Remember, ch. 20 “The Last Term: 1944–1945”
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You can not live at all if you do not learn to adapt yourself to your life as it happens to be. This passage was not included in her compiled Autobiography (1961).WIST Quotations
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Can people hold on to their anger against others, and then look for healing from the Lord? Can they refuse to have mercy on people like themselves, and then pray about their own sins? If they, who are just flesh, hold on to anger, who will secure par…WIST Quotations
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And, oh! whate'er Heaven destined to betide, Let neither flattery soothe, nor pity hide. Prepared I stand: he was but born to try The lot of man; to suffer, and to die. [πέρι γάρ μιν ὀιζυρὸν τέκε μήτηρ.WIST Quotations
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MARY: I don’t grasp things this early in the day. I mean, I hear voices, all right, but I can’t pick out the verbs.
Jean Kerr (1922-2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Mary, Mary, Act 3 (1961)
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MARY: I don't grasp things this early in the day. I mean, I hear voices, all right, but I can't pick out the verbs.WIST Quotations
A quotation from Richard Steele
Whenever you commend, add your reasons for doing so; it is this which distinguishes the approbation of a man of sense from the flattery of sycophants and admiration of fools.
Richard Steele (1672-1729) Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, playwright, politician
Essay (1713-04-08), The Guardian No. 24
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Dear love, dear life, you do not need adorning -- hair curled, silk rustling down your slender side. Not by that heavy scent, those foreign bangles, is this your natural beauty magnified. No.WIST Quotations
ORSINO: These most brisk and giddy-pacèd times.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 7 (2.4.7) (1601)
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A quotation from Edward R. Murrow
The politician in my country seeks votes, affection and respect, in that order. This is not unique or surprising. […] The politician of necessity leads an isolated life, so far as his colleagues are concerned, because most of them are his rivals. Many of them are men of undoubted charm, ability and incredible energy, and yet too often they lack purpose or appetite for anything beyond their own careers. With few notable exceptions, they are simply men who want to be loved.
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) American journalist
Speech (1959-10-19), “Television and Politics,” British Association Granada Lectures, London Guildhall
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The politician in my country seeks votes, affection and respect, in that order. This is not unique or surprising. [...] The politician of necessity leads an isolated life, so far as his colleagues are concerned, because most of them are his rivals.WIST Quotations
A quotation from Bulwer-Lytton
The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) English novelist and politician
Kenelm Chillingly: His Adventures and Opinions, Book 3, ch. 12 [Kenelm] (1873)
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The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself. Sometimes given as “The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes and inspires rather than instructs.”WIST Quotations
A quotation from Bill Watterson
CALVIN: (building a snowman) I should be doing my homework now. But the way I look at it, playing in the snow is a lot more important. Out here I’m learning real skills that I can apply throughout the rest of my life.
HOBBES: Such as?
CALVIN: Procrastinating and rationalizing.
Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1993-02-15)
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CALVIN: (building a snowman) I should be doing my homework now. But the way I look at it, playing in the snow is a lot more important. Out here I'm learning real skills that I can apply throughout the rest of my life.WIST Quotations
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A quotation from Ambrose Bierce
ERR, v.i. To believe or act in a way contrary to my beliefs and actions.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Err,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1884-05-24)
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ERR, v.i. To believe or act in a way contrary to my beliefs and actions. Not collected in later books.WIST Quotations
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A quotation from Elizabeth Bear
We claim the dignity of age, but the truth is, age leaves us without any dignity at all.
Elizabeth Bear (b. 1971) American author [pseud. for Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky]
Bone and Jewel Creatures, ch. 4 [Bijou] (2010)
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He was going for the Holy Grail. The boys all took a flier at the Holy Grail now and then. It was a several years' cruise.WIST Quotations
A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson
The friendly cow all red and white,
I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple-tart.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Poem (1884-07), “The Cow,” st. 1, The Magazine of Art, Vol. 7
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A quotation from La Rochefoucauld
Interest, upon which we commonly lay the Blame of all our ill Actions, oftentimes deserves the commendation due to our Good ones.
[L’intérêt, que l’on accuse de tous nos crimes, mérite souvent d’être loué de nos bonnes actions.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶305 (1665-1678) [tr. Stanhope (1694)]
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Interest, upon which we commonly lay the Blame of all our ill Actions, oftentimes deserves the commendation due to our Good ones. [L’intérêt, que l’on accuse de tous nos crimes, mérite souvent d’être loué de nos bonnes actions.WIST Quotations
A quotation from Terry Pratchett
“If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly,” said Granny, fleeing into aphorisms, the last refuge of an adult under siege.
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 3, Equal Rites (1987)
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"If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly," said Granny, fleeing into aphorisms, the last refuge of an adult under siege.WIST Quotations
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When thy next neighbours house is all on fire,
’Tis thy concern to make his flames expire;
For fire will gather strength if let alone,
And with thy neighbours house burn down thine owne.
[Nam tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet.
Et neglecta solent incendia sumere vires.]
Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 18 “To Lollius,” l. 84ff (1.18.84-85) (20 BC) [tr. A. B.; ed. Brome (1666)]
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When thy next neighbours house is all on fire, ’Tis thy concern to make his flames expire; For fire will gather strength if let alone, And with thy neighbours house burn down thine owne. [Nam tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet.WIST Quotations
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Right, and "rational actor" simplifies a bunch of other assumptions.
Problem of course is that the simplifications ... fail to predict much actual behaviour.
With agent-based modelling (not AI, this is stuff that started appearing in the 1980s / 1990s), it's been possible to move on from that, at least within simulations. Mathematical models still stumble on anything remotely complex though.
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in reply to WIST Quotations • • •We often explain our praise only when we wish to appear impartial.
For even our reasons may be another form of vanity.
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