#QOTD: "The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas." - Linus Pauling
Recent searches
Search options
#qotd
61 posts25 participants1 post today
A quotation from La Rochefoucauld
We only criticize ourselves in order to win the praise of others.
[On ne se blâme que pour être loué.]
François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶554 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶524]
Sourcing, notes, alternate translations: wist.info/la-rochefoucauld-fra…
Advice can get you into more trouble than a gun can.
Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1933-08-20), “Weekly Article: Don’t Get Excited,” No. 556
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/rogers-will/76269/
“Yo!” said the Dean.
“Yo what?” said Ridcully.
“It’s not a yo what, it’s just a yo,” said the Senior Wrangler, behind him. “It’s a general street greeting and affirmative with convivial military ingroup and masculine bonding-ritual overtones.”
“What? What? Like ‘jolly good’?” said Ridcully.
“I suppose so,” said the Senior Wrangler, reluctantly.
Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Reaper Man (1991)
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/pratchett-terry/3906…
WIST Quotations · Reaper Man (1991) - Pratchett, Terry | WIST Quotations"Yo!" said the Dean. "Yo what?" said Ridcully. "It's not a yo what, it's just a yo," said the Senior Wrangler, behind him. "It's a general street greeting and affirmative with convivial military ingroup and masculine bonding-ritual overtones." "What? What? Like 'jolly good'?" said Ridcully. "I suppose so," said the…
Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness, when bequeathed by those who, when alive, would part with nothing.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 314 (1820)
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/colton-charles-caleb…
A quotation from Samuel Johnson
I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
In George Birkbeck Hill (ed.), Johnsonian Miscellanies, Vol. 2, “Apophthegms, Sentiments, Opinions, & Occasional Reflections” (1897)
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/johnson-samuel/19790…
WIST Quotations · In George Birkbeck Hill (ed.), Johnsonian Miscellanies, Vol. 2, "Apophthegms, Sentiments, Opinions, & Occasional Reflections" (1897) - Johnson, Samuel | WIST QuotationsI never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read. When asked by someone whether they should introduce the author Hugh Kelly to him. Taken from John Hawkins (ed.), Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 11 (1787-1789), and the sources cited there.
Old age isn’t a battle; old age is a massacre.
Philip Roth (1933-2008) American novelist and short-story writer
Everyman (2006)
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/roth-philip/76261/
A quotation from Robert Ingersoll
Who can estimate the misery that has been caused by this most infamous doctrine of eternal punishment? Think of the lives it has blighted — of the tears it has caused — of the agony it has produced. Think of the millions who have been driven to insanity by this most terrible of dogmas. This doctrine renders God the basest and most cruel being in the universe. Compared with him, the most frightful deities of the most barbarous and degraded tribes are miracles of goodness and mercy. There is nothing more degrading than to worship such a god. Lower than this the soul can never sink. If the doctrine of eternal damnation is true, let me share the fate of the unconverted; let me have my portion in hell, rather than in heaven with a god infamous enough to inflict eternal misery upon any of the sons of men.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
Lecture (1874-05-03), “Heretics and Heresies,” Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…
WIST Quotations · Lecture (1874-05-03), "Heretics and Heresies," Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago - Ingersoll, Robert Green | WIST QuotationsWho can estimate the misery that has been caused by this most infamous doctrine of eternal punishment? Think of the lives it has blighted -- of the tears it has caused -- of the agony it has produced. Think of the millions who have been driven to insanity by this…
Then why not better use this proud excess
Of worthless wealth? Why lives in deep distress
A man unworthy to be poor, or why
The temples of the gods in ruins lie?
Why not of such a massy treasure spare
To thy dear country, wretch, a moderate share?
[Ergo,
quod superat non est melius quo insumere possis?
Cur eget indignus quisquam te divite? Quare
templa ruunt antiqua Deum? Cur, inprobe, carae
non aliquid patriae tanto emetiris acervo?]
Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Satires [Saturae, Sermones], Book 2, # 2, “Quae virtus et quanta,” l. 101ff (2.2.101-105) (30 BC) [tr. Francis (1747)]
Sourcing, notes, alternate translations: wist.info/horace/76256/
Helen Keller knew about hardships. And not giving up.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”
To be over-wise is to ossify; and the scruple-monger ends by standing stock-still.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1878-04), “Æs Triplex,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/stevenson-robert-lou…
WIST Quotations · Essay (1878-04), "Æs Triplex," Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37 - Stevenson, Robert Louis | WIST QuotationsTo be over-wise is to ossify; and the scruple-monger ends by standing stock-still. Collected in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers (1881).
So far as we can see, both horror and pain are necessary to the continuance of life on this planet, and it is therefore open to pessimists like Swift to say: “If horror and pain must always be with us, how can life be significantly improved?” His attitude is in effect the Christian attitude, minus the bribe of a “next world” — which, however, probably has less hold upon the minds of believers than the conviction that this world is a vale of tears and the grave is a place of rest.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1946-09), “Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver’s Travels,” Polemic, No. 5
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/orwell-george/76252/
#QOTD: "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." - Thomas J. Watson
"Bi et ace c'est quand tu fais l'amour ni avec les hommes, ni avec les femmes*" #QOTD
*Ni avec les personnes non-binaires évidemment
A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt
Nevertheless, the fact remains that exactly as true patriots should be especially jealous of any appeal to what is base under the guise of patriotism, so men who strive for honesty, and for the cleansing of what is corrupt in the dark places of our politics, should emphatically disassociate themselves from the men whose antics throw discredit upon the reforms they profess to advocate.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Essay (1900-06), “Latitude and Longitude Among Reformers,” The Century Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 2
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/1…
My head is heavy, my limbs are weary,
And it is not life that makes me move.
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley
A quotation from Thomas Carlyle
All greatness is unconscious, or it is little and naught.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Essay (1837-12-06), “On Sir Walter Scott,” The London and Westminster Review, No. 12/55, Art. 2 (1838-01)
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/76248…
If what we profess is not an organic part of our understanding, we are likely to profess it with vehemence and intolerance. Intolerance is the “Do Not Touch” sign on something that cannot bear touching. We do not mind having our hair ruffled, but we will not tolerate any familiarity with the toupee which covers our baldness.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 62 (1955)
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/hoffer-eric/1909/
A quotation from Josh Billings
Mankind ain’t apt tew respekt verry mutch what they are familiar with, it iz what we don’t know, or kant see, that we hanker for.
[Mankind ain’t apt to respect very much what they are familiar with; it is what we don’t know, or can’t see, that we hanker for.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 156 “Affurisms: Embers on the Harth” (1874)
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/billings-josh/76244/
Historians relate, not so much what is done, as what they would have believed.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1739 ed.)
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/franklin-benjamin/76…