A quotation from **Adlai Stevenson** > Public confidence in the integrity of the Government is indispensable to faith in democracy; and when we lose faith in the system, we have lost faith in everything we fight and stand for. **Adlai Stevenson** (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman Speech […]

A quotation from **Samuel Johnson** > Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes, and seeing them gratified. He that labours in any great or laudable undertaking, has his fatigues first supported by hope […]

A quotation from **Robert Ingersoll** > Nothing can be plainer than that each nation gives to its god its peculiar characteristics, and that every individual gives to his god his personal peculiarities. **Robert Green Ingersoll** (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator Lecture […]

A quotation from **Ursula K. Le Guin** > It’s like all the time I was working keeping house and raising the kids and making love and earning our keep I thought there was going to come a time or there would be some place where all of it came together. Like it was words I was saying, all my life […]

A quotation from **H. A. Thompson** > Worry — Interest paid on trouble before it falls due. **Harry "H. A." Thompson** (1867-1936) American magazine editor, publisher Article (1905-11-25), “Sense and Nonsense: Some Definitions,” _Saturday Evening Post_ * * * More about this quote […]

A quotation from **C. C. Colton** > Habit will reconcile us to every thing but change, and even to change, if it recur not too quickly. **Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton** (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist _Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words_ , Vol. 1, § 558 (1820) * * * More about […]

A quotation from **Robert Louis Stevenson** > You may safely go to school with hope; but ere you marry, should have learned the mingled lesson of the world: that dolls are stuffed with sawdust, and yet are excellent play-things; that hope and love address themselves to a perfection never […]

A quotation from **Horace** > When a man’s fortune will not fit him, ’tis as ofttimes with a shoe — if too big for the foot, it will trip him; if too small, will chafe. > > _[Cui non conveniet sua res, ut calceus olim, > si pede maior erit, subvertet, si minor, uret.]_ **Horace** (65-8 BC) […]

A quotation from **George Orwell** > I know it is the fashion to say that most of recorded history is lies anyway. I am willing to believe that history is for the most part inaccurate and biased, but what is peculiar to our own age is the abandonment of the idea that history _could_ be […]

A quotation from **Abraham Lincoln** > I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the Army and the Government needed a Dictator. Of course it was not _for_ this, but spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain successes, can […]

A quotation from **Christopher Marlowe** > What doctrine call you this, _Che sera, sera_ : > What will be, shall be? Divinity, adieu! **Christopher "Kit" Marlowe** (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet _The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus_ , Act 1, sc. 1 (sc. 1), l […]

A quotation from **Edna St. Vincent Millay** > With him for a sire and her for a dam, > What should I be but just what I am? **Edna St. Vincent Millay** (1892-1950) American poet Poem (1920-11), “The Singing-Woman from the Wood’s Edge,” _Vanity Fair_ , Vol. 14, No. 3 * * * More about this […]

A quotation from **Moliere** > M. JORDAN: Ah, it’s a lovely thing to know a thing or two. > > _M. JOURDAIN: Ah, la belle chose que de savoir quelque chose.]_ **Molière** (1622-1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin] _Bourgeois Gentleman [Le Bourgeois […]

A quotation from **Theodore Roosevelt** > Of all species of silliness the silliest is the assertion sometimes made that the woman whose primary lifework is taking care of her home and children is somehow a “parasite woman.” It is such a ridiculous in version of the truth that it ought not to be […]

A quotation from **Thomas Carlyle** > It is well said, in every sense, that a man’s religion is the chief fact with regard to him. A man’s, or a nation of men’s. By religion I do not mean here the church-creed which he professes, the articles of faith which he will sign and, in words or […]

A quotation from **Eric Hoffer** > There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day: we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we […]

A quotation from **Josh Billings** > Intelekt without judgement iz what ails about one halff the smart people in this world. > > [Intellect without judgment is what ails about one half the smart people in this world.] **Josh Billings** (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry […]

A quotation from **Cicero** > Nothing flourishes for ever; each generation gives place to its successor. > > _[Nihil enim semper floret; aetas succedit aetati.]_ **Marcus Tullius Cicero** (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher _Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations],_ No. 11 […]

A quotation (sort of) from **Ben Franklin** > Beware, beware! he’ll cheat ’ithout scruple, who can without fear. **Benjamin Franklin** (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist _Poor Richard_ (1743 ed.) * * * More about this quote: wist.info/franklin-benjamin/34… […]

A quotation from **Franklin Roosevelt** > We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other Nations, far away. We have learned that we must live as men and not as ostriches, nor as dogs in the manger. **Franklin Delano […]

A quotation from **Montaigne** > Everyone’s shit smells good to himself. > > _[Stercus cuique suum bene olet.]_ **Michel de Montaigne** (1533-1592) French essayist _Essays_ , Book 3, ch. 8 (3.8), “Of the Art of Discussion [De l’art de conferer]” (1587) [tr. Screech (1987)] * * * More info […]

A quotation from **Robert Holmes** > JO GRANT: Doctor, stop being childish. > THE DOCTOR: What’s wrong with being childish? I like being childish. **Robert Holmes** (1926-1986) British television screenwriter _Doctor Who_ (1963), 08×01 “Terror of the Autons,” Part 3 (1971-01-16) * * * More […]

A quotation from **Douglas Adams** > FORD: And you’d better be prepared for the jump into hyperspace. It’s unpleasantly like being drunk. > ARTHUR: Well what’s so unpleasant about being drunk? > FORD: You ask a glass of water. **Douglas Adams** (1952-2001) English author, humourist […]

A quotation from **Marcus Aurelius** > Besides, if a man is afraid of pain, he is afraid of something happening which will be part of the appointed order of things, and this is itself a sin; if he is bent on the pursuit of pleasure, he will not stop at acts of injustice, which again is […]

A quotation from **George Carlin** > One of the codicils of my will is: “I, George Carlin, being of sound mind, do not wish, upon my demise, to be buried or cremated. I wish to be _BLOWN UP.”_ **George Carlin** (1937-2008) American comedian _Last Words_ , ch. 18 (2019) [with Tony Hendra] * * […]

A quotation from **Bertrand Russell** > For my own part, speaking personally, I have found the happiness of parenthood greater than any other that I have experienced. **Bertrand Russell** (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher _Conquest of Happiness_ , Part 2, ch. 13 “Family” […]

A quotation from **Freeman Dyson** > I felt it myself. The glitter of nuclear weapons. It is irresistible if you come to them as a scientist. To feel it’s there in your hands, to release this energy that fuels the stars, to let it do your bidding. To perform these miracles, to lift a million […]

A quotation from **Thomas Fuller** > Thou canst scarcely be truly wise till thou hast been deceived. Thy own Errors will teach thee more Prudence, than the grave Precepts, and even Examples of others. **Thomas Fuller** (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer _Introductio ad […]

A quotation (not) from **Richard Feynman** > You are under no obligation to remain the same person you were a year ago, a month ago, or even a day ago. You are here to create yourself, continuously. **Richard Feynman** (1918-1988) American physicist (Spurious) * * * More about this quote […]

A quotation from **Abraham Lincoln** > If both factions, or neither, shall abuse you, you will probably be about right. Beware of being assailed by one and praised by the other. **Abraham Lincoln** (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65) Letter (1863-05-27) to Gen. John […]

A quotation from **Robert Louis Stevenson** > Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great. **Ralph Waldo Emerson** (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet Essay (1841), “Prudence,” _Essays: First Series_ , No. 7 * * * More about this […]

A quotation from **Bill Watterson** > CALVIN: (in front of the class yelling) Today for “Show and Tell,” I refuse to show you what I brought and I refuse to tell you anything about it. > CALVIN: (grinning evilly) It’s a mystery that will haunt you all your […] [Original post on my-place.social]

A quotation from **Ambrose Bierce** > TURKEY, _n._ A large bird whose flesh when eaten on certain religious anniversaries has the peculiar property of attesting piety and gratitude. Incidentally, it is pretty good eating. **Ambrose Bierce** (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist “Turkey,” […]

A quotation from **Hannah Arendt** > … the strange interdependence between thoughtlessness and evil …. **Hannah Arendt** (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist _Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil_ , Postscript (1963) * * * More about this quote […]

A quotation from **A. A. Milne** > He hadn’t gone more than half-way when a sort of funny feeling began to creep all over him. It began at the tip of his nose and trickled all through him and out at the soles of his feet. It was just as if somebody inside him were saying, “Now then, Pooh, time […]

A quotation from **Eleanor Roosevelt** > Much has been said in this country about not wanting to participate in foreign wars and people who have said it, must now face the fact that foreign wars come very close to our own shores. We will always have not only the religious groups, but many […]

A quotation from **Daniel Webster** > At the moment when God in his mercy has blessed the Christian world with a universal peace, there is reason to fear, that, to the disgrace of the Christian name and character, new efforts are making for the extension of this [slave] trade by subjects and […]

A quotation from **Euripides** > NURSE: Terrible is the temperament of royalty, > Who are rarely controlled, always imperious; > It is hard for them to give up their wrath. > To get used to living like everybody else > Is better. > > [ΤΡΟΦΌΣ: δεινὰ τυράννων λήματα καί πως > ὀλίγ᾽ ἀρχόμενοι […]

A quotation from **the Bible** > And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding … > > [καὶ ἡ εἰρήνη τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ ὑπερέχουσα …] **The Bible** (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture Philippians 4: 7 [KJV (1611)] * * * More info about (and translations of) this […]

A quotation from **John Adams** > It is in vain to Say that Democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious or less avaricious than Aristocracy or Monarchy. It is not true in Fact and no where appears in history. Those Passions are the same in all Men under all forms of Simple […]

A quotation from **Henry Commager** > When a people are confronted with problems that are both incomprehensible and unbearable, they lash out not at those who contrived the problems but at those who expose them. When they are confronted by moral problems that they find insoluble, or perhaps […]

A quotation from **Montesquieu** > Political freedom in a citizen is the tranquility of mind that comes from the opinion each one has of his security; and for him to have this freedom, the government must be such that one citizen cannot fear another citizen. > > _[La liberté politique, dans un […]

A quotation from **Mignon McLaughlin** > Tough and funny and a little bit kind: that is as near to perfection as a human being can be. **Mignon McLaughlin** (1913-1983) American journalist and author _The Second Neurotic’s Notebook_ , ch. 4 (1966) * * * More about this quote […]

A quotation from **Victor Hugo** > To put everything in balance is good, to put everything in harmony is better. Above the scales there’s the lyre. > > _[Mettre tout en équilibre, c’est bien; mettre tout en harmonie, c’est mieux. Au-dessus de la balance il y a la lyre.]_ **Victor Hugo** […]

A quotation from **Wendell Berry** > Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do. **Wendell Berry** (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist […]

A quotation from **Addison** > A cheerful temper, joined with innocence, will make beauty attractive, knowledge delightful, and wit good-natured. **Joseph Addison** (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman Essay (1710-07-01), _The Tatler_ , No. 192 * […] [Original post on my-place.social]

A quotation from **Judith Martin** > Q: Should you tell your mother something if it is important when she is talking to company? I am 6. > > A: Yes, you should (after saying “Excuse me”). Here are some of the things that are important to tell your mother, even though she is talking to company […]

A quotation from **Shakespeare** > SALISBURY: O, call back yesterday, bid time return …. **William Shakespeare** (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet _Richard II_ , Act 3, sc. 2, l. 70 (3.2.50) (1595) * * * More about this quote: wist.info/shakespeare-william/… #quote #quotes#quote#quotation […]

A quotation from **the Poetic Edda** > Thence come the maidens > mighty in wisdom, > Three from the dwelling > down ‘neath the tree; > Urth is one named, > Verthandi the next, — > On the wood they scored, — > and Skuld the third. > Laws they made there, > and life allotted > To the sons of […]