WIST - A Collection of Quotations

Jefferson, Thomas

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:40:45 -0700

[I]t would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights: that confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism - free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power: that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no further, our confidence may go. ... In questions of powers, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.

]]> -- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) US President (1801-09) • The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798]]> • In protest of the Alien and Sedition Acts

Madison, James

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:38:26 -0700

Testimony of all ages forces us to admit that war is among the most dangerous enemies to liberty, and that the executive is the branch most favored by it of all the branches of Power.

]]> -- James Madison (1751-1836) US President (1809-17) • "Political Reflections" (22 Feb 1799)

~Other

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:37:29 -0700

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

]]> -- Other Authors • The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America (4 Jul 1776)

Adams, John

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:36:48 -0700

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.

]]> -- John Adams (1735-1826) US President (1797-1801) • Letter to Abigail Adams (3 Jul 1776) • The Colonial Congress approved of the Independence Resolution on 2 July. The final agreement on the Declaration, and its signing, was on 4 July.

Adams, John

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:35:57 -0700

Metaphysicians and politicians may dispute forever, but they will never find any other moral principle or foundation of rule or obedience, than the consent of governors and governed.

]]> -- John Adams (1735-1826) US President (1797-1801) • Boston Gazette (1775)

Lewis, C.S.

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:18:02 -0700

The word religion is extremely rare in the New Testament or the writings of mystics. The reason is simple. Those attitudes and practices to which we give the collective name of religion are themselves concerned with religion hardly at all. To be religious is to have one's attention fixed on God and on one's neighbor in relation to God. Therefore, almost by definition, a religious man, or a man when he is being religious, is not thinking about religion; he hasn't the time. Religion is what we (or he himself at a later moment) call his activity from the outside.

]]> -- C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer and scholar [Clive Staples Lewis] • The Twentieth Century (Apr 1955)

Addison, Joseph

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:08:44 -0700

When I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow: when I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind.

]]> -- Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman • "Thoughts in Westminster Abbey" (1711)

Ingersoll, Robert Green

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:05:08 -0700

So then, I am simply in favor of intellectual hospitality -- that is all. You come to me with a new idea. I invite you into the house. Let us see what you have. Let us talk it over. If I do not like your thought, I will bid it a polite "good day." If I do like it, I will say: "Sit down; stay with me, and become a part of the intellectual wealth of my world." That is all.

]]> -- Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer and orator • "The Limits of Toleration," debate at the Nineteenth Century Club, New York (8 May 1888) • Full text.

Sayers, Dorothy

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:03:53 -0700

The first thing a principle does is kill somebody.

]]> -- Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) English author, translator, apologist • Gaudy Night [Wimsey] (1936)

Huxley, Thomas Henry

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:03:10 -0700

Truth is better than much profit. I have searched over the grounds of my belief, and if wife and child and name and fame were all to be lost to me one after the other as the penalty, still I will not lie.

]]> -- Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [T.H. Huxley] • Letter to Charles Kingsley (23 Sep 1860)

~Other

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:29:18 -0700

Eat a chocolate. Light an Old Gold. And enjoy both! Two fine and healthful treats!

]]> -- Other Authors • Cigarette ad, P. Lorillard Co. (1929)

Schweitzer, Albert

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:29:13 -0700

To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic.

]]> -- Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Alsatian theologian, philosopher, physician, philanthropist • Out of My Life and Thought, An Autobiography, Epilogue (1933)]]> • Trans. C. T. Campion

Robbins, Tom

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:39:20 -0700

We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.

]]> -- Tom Robbins (b. 1936) American novelist • Still Life with Woodpecker (1980)

Voltaire

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:29:31 -0700

Nothing is so common as to imitate one's enemies, and to use their weapons.

[Rien n’est si ordinaire que d’imiter ses ennemis, et d’employer leurs armes.]

]]> -- Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet] • Questions sur l'Encyclopédie, "Oracles" (1770-1774)

Roosevelt, Eleanor

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:29:51 -0700

Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people?

]]> -- Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45) [Anna Eleanor Roosevelt] • My Day (16 Oct 1939)

Saroyan, William

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:19:09 -0700

One of us is obviously mistaken.

]]> -- William Saroyan (1908-1981) American writer • New York Mirror (10 Jun 1960)]]> • Response to a critic who had panned his latest play.

Santayana, George

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:19:13 -0700

Injustice in this world is not something comparative; the wrong is deep, clear, and absolute in each private fate.

]]> -- George Santayana (1863-1952) Spanish-American poet and philosopher [Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruíz de Santayana y Borrás] • The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress, vol. 2 "Reason in Society," ch. 4 "The Aristocratic Ideal" (1905-06)

Frost, Robert

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:19:19 -0700

The nearest friends can go
With anyone to death, comes so far short
They might as well not try to go at all.
No, from the time when one is sick to death,
One is alone, and he dies more alone.
Friends make pretence of following to the grave,
But before one is in it, their minds are turned
And making the best of their way back to life
And living people, and things they understand.

]]> -- Robert Frost (1874-1963) American poet • "Home Burial" (1914) • text.

Savile, George, Marquis of Halifax

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:19:05 -0700

Power is so apt to be insolent and Liberty to be saucy, that they are very seldom upon good Terms.

]]> -- George Savile, Marquis of Halifax (1633-1695) English politician and essayist • Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections, "Of Prerogative, Power and Liberty" (1750)]]> • text.

Russell, Bertrand

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:19:23 -0700

The worse your logic, the more interesting the consequences to which it gives rise.

]]> -- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher • A History of Western Philosophy, Book Three, part II, ch. 22 "Hegel" (1945)

Adams, John

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 07:09:55 -0700

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

]]> -- John Adams (1735-1826) US President (1797-1801) • Journal, notes for an oration at Braintree (Spring 1772)

Roosevelt, Theodore

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:10:04 -0700

If I must choose between righteousness and peace I choose righteousness.

]]> -- President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) US President (1901-1909) • America and the World War (1915)

Sophocles

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:10:00 -0700

No other touchstone can test the heart of a man, the temper of his mind and spirit, till he be tried in the practice of authority and rule.

]]> -- Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright • Antigone [Creon]

Scott, Hazel

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:09:49 -0700

Hazel Scott
I think we musicians are emissaries. Every time we go before the public, we're there to make converts. We can either be ugly and contemptuious in our behiavor, which will turn people off, or we can carry ourselves with dignity and pride. We can't expect anyone else to respect us if we don't respect ourselves. Why should they do more than us than we do for ourselves?
--

]]> -- Hazel Scott (1920-1981) Trinidad-American pianist, singer, writer • Notes and Tones (1977)]]> • Original interview Dec 1972.

Sagan, Carl

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:10:08 -0700

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe:, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

]]> -- Carl Sagan (1934-1996) American scientist and writer • Pale Blue Dot (1994)

Benchley, Robert

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:54:55 -0700

So who's in a hurry?

]]> -- Robert Benchley (1889-1945) American humorist • (Attributed) • When asked if he understood drinking was a slow death.

Chesterton, Gilbert Keith

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:54:44 -0700

Bigotry in the main has always been the pervading omnipotence of those who do not care crushing out those who care in darkness and blood.

]]> -- Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer • Heretics, ch. 20 (1905)

Ruskin, John

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:08:29 -0700

Whatever we build let us think we build for ever.

]]> -- John Ruskin (1819-1900) English art critic and writer • The Seven Lamps of Architecture, ch. 6 "The Lamp of Memory"

Whistler, James McNeill

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:54:55 -0700

I am not arguing with you -- I am telling you.

]]> -- James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) American artist • The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890)

Seneca the Younger

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:54:55 -0700

Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men

[Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes viros.]

]]> -- Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-AD 65) Roman statesman, philosopher, playwright [Lucius Annaeus Seneca] • De Providentia, 5, v. 9

Warren, Earl

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:11:22 -0700

The abhorrence of society to the use of involuntary confessions does not turn alone on their inherent untrustworthiness. It also turns on the deep-rooted feeling that the police must obey the law while enforcing the law; that, in the end, life and liberty can be as much endangered from illegal methods used to convict those thought to be criminals as from the actual criminals themselves.

]]> -- Justice Earl Warren (1891-1974) Chief Justice, US Supreme Court (1953-69) • Spano v New York, 360 U.S. 315 (1959)]]> • Full text.

Selden, John

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:09:35 -0700

A glorious Church is like a magnificent feast; there is all the variety that may be, but every one chooses out a dish or two that he likes, and lets the rest alone: how glorious soever the Church is, every one chooses out of it his own religion, by which he governs himself, and lets the rest alone.

]]> -- John Selden (1584-1654) English jurist, antiquary, politician, Orientalist • Table Talk, "Church" (1686)

Publilius Syrus

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:08:49 -0700

It is a bad plan that admits of no modification.

]]> -- Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher • Sententiae, Maxim #469

Ingersoll, Robert Green

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:06:29 -0700

Great virtues may draw attention from defects, they cannot sanctify them. A pebble surrounded by diamonds remains a common stone, and a diamond surrounded by pebbles is still a gem. No one should attempt to refute an argument by pronouncing the name of some man, unless he is willing to adopt all the ideas and beliefs of that man. It is better to give reasons and facts than names. An argument should not depend for its force upon the name of its author. Facts need no pedigree, logic has no heraldry, and the living should not awed by the mistakes of the dead.

]]> -- Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer and orator • The Great Infidels (1881)]]> • Full text.

Sayers, Dorothy

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:04:38 -0700

She always says, my lord, that facts are like cows. If you look them in the face hard enough they generally run away.

]]> -- Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) English author, translator, apologist • Clouds of Witness, ch. 4 [Bunter] (1926)

Rogers, Will

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:54:32 -0700

A comedian can only last till he either takes himself serious or his audience takes him serious.

]]> -- Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist • Newspaper column (28 Jun 1931) • Rejecting the idea of running for President.

Brontë, Emily

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:59:39 -0700

'A good heart will help you to a bonny face, my lad,' I continued, 'if you were a regular black; and a bad one will turn the bonniest into something worse than ugly.'

]]> -- Emily Brontë (1818-1848) English novelist • Wuthering Heights, ch. 7 [Nelly to Heathcliff] (1847)]]> • Full text.

Sandburg, Carl

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:58:39 -0700

Lay me on an anvil, O God.
Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar.
Let me pry loose old walls.
Let me lift and loosen old foundations.

]]> -- Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) American poet, biographer • "Prayers of Steel" (1920)

Roosevelt, Eleanor

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:57:02 -0700

And while accepting the fact that some of our press, our radio commentators, our prominent citizens and our movies may at times be blamed legitimately for things they have said and done, still I feel that the fundamental right of freedom of thought and expression is essential. If you curtail what the other fellow says and does, you curtail what you yourself may say and do. In our country we must trust the people to hear and see both the good and the bad and to choose the good.

]]> -- Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45) [Anna Eleanor Roosevelt] • My Day (29 Oct 1947)]]> • On the House Un-American Activities Committee

Chesterton, Gilbert Keith

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:55:34 -0700

It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem.

]]> -- Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer • The Scandal of Father Brown (1935)

Voltaire

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:54:26 -0700

Morality is everywhere the same for all men, therefore it comes from God; sects differ, therefore they are the work of men.

[La morale est la même chez tous les hommes, donc elle vient de Dieu; le culte est différent, donc il est l’ouvrage des hommes.]

]]> -- Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet] • Dictionnaire philosophique portatif, "Atheist," (1764)

Sandburg, Carl

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:29:24 -0700

The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over the harbor and city
on silent haunches, and then moves on.

]]> -- Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) American poet, biographer • "Fog" (1914)

Schweitzer, Albert

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:12:23 -0700

The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.

]]> -- Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) Alsatian theologian, philosopher, physician, philanthropist • (Attributed)

Serling, Rod

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:10:50 -0700

I ask for your indulgence when I march out quotations. This is the double syndrome of men who write for a living and men who are over forty. The young smoke pot — we inhale from our Bartlett's.

]]> -- Rod Serling (1924-1975) American writer • Speech at Moorpark College, California (3 Dec 1968)

Ericsson, Graham

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:09:27 -0700

I am less concerned about my relationship with God in the afterlife than I am in my relationship with him in this one.

]]> -- Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer • Heaven and Earth, ch. 2 (2002)

Saint Exupéry, Antoine de

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:06:35 -0700

Here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.

[Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.]

]]> -- Antoine de Saint Exupéry (1900-1944) French aviator and writer • Le Petit Prince [The Little Prince] (1943)]]> • Alternates:
"Here is my secret. It is very simple: one sees well only with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes."
"The essential things in life are seen not with the eyes, but with the heart."

Russell, Bertrand

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:03:33 -0700

Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact.

]]> -- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher • Conquest of Happiness, ch. 1 "What Makes People Unhappy?" (1930)

Sagan, Carl

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:20:17 -0700

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

]]> -- Carl Sagan (1934-1996) American scientist and writer • Cosmos (1980)

Roosevelt, Theodore

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:16:13 -0700

Among the wise and high-minded people who in self-respecting and genuine fashion strive earnestly for peace, there are the foolish fanatics always to be found in such a movement and always discrediting it — the men who form the lunatic fringe in all reform movements.

]]> -- President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) US President (1901-1909) • Theodore Roosevelt - An Autobiography, ch. 7 "The War of American and the Unready" (1913)

Sophocles

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:14:48 -0700

Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.

]]> -- Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright • Phaedra, fragment 842]]> • Also "Fortune never helps the fainthearted" (Fragments, l. 666)