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Saxe, John Godfrey -- “I’m Growing Old,” st. 3

https://wist.info/saxe-john-godfrey/72085/

Published: September 6, 2024 14:50

I’m growing fonder of my staff; I’m growing dimmer in the eyes; I’m growing fainter in my laugh; I’m growing deeper in my sighs; I’m growing careless of my dress; I’m growing frugal of my gold; I’m growing wise; I’m growing, — yes, — I’m growing old!

Johnson, Lyndon -- Speech (1964-01-08), “State of the Union,” Joint Session of Congress, Washington, D. C.

https://wist.info/johnson-lyndon/72079/

Published: September 6, 2024 13:52

Let me make one principle of this administration abundantly clear: All of these increased opportunities — in employment, in education, in housing, and in every field — must be open to Americans of every color. As far as the writ of Federal law will run, we…

Herbert, George -- Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 776 (1640 ed.)

https://wist.info/herbert-george/72067/

Published: September 6, 2024 13:04

Law sutes consume time, and mony, and rest, and friends. [Lawsuits consume time, and money, and rest, and friends.]

Nietzsche, Friedrich -- The Gay Science [Die fröhliche Wissenschaft], Book 1, § 14 (1882) [tr. Kaufmann (1974)]

https://wist.info/nietzsche-friedrich/72055/

Published: September 5, 2024 22:34

Gradually we become tired of the old, of what we safely possess, and we stretch out our hands again. Even the most beautiful scenery is no longer assured of our love after we have lived in it for three months, and some more distant coast attracts our…

Carlyle, Thomas -- “The State of German Literature,” Edinburgh Review No. 92, Art. 2 (1827-10)

https://wist.info/carlyle-thomas/72051/

Published: September 5, 2024 22:12

… [T]he three great elements of modern civilization, Gunpowder, Printing, and the Protestant Religion …. A review of Franz Horn’s The Poetry and Oratory of the Germans, from Luther’s Time to the Present (1822-1824), and Outlines for the History and…

Feynman, Richard -- The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. 2, ch. 20 “Solutions of Maxwell’s Equations in Free Space,” sec. 20–3 “Scientific Imagination” (1964)

https://wist.info/feynman-richard/72043/

Published: September 5, 2024 21:52

On the other hand, even if we cannot see beauty in particular measured results, we can already claim to see a certain beauty in the equations which describe general physical laws. For example, in the wave equation (20.9), there’s something nice about the…

Billings, Josh -- Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 155 “Affurisms: Ink Lings” (1874)

https://wist.info/billings-josh/72047/

Published: September 5, 2024 21:44

We all git tired pretty soon looking at a goose standing on one leg.

Russell, Bertrand -- Authority and the Individual, Lecture 4 (1949)

https://wist.info/russell-bertrand/72034/

Published: September 4, 2024 21:50

Self-respect will keep a man from being abject when he is in the power of enemies, and will enable him to feel that he may be in the right when the world is against him. If a man has not this quality, he will feel that majority opinion, or governmental…

Eliot, George -- Scenes of Clerical Life, “Janet’s Repentance,” ch. 6 (1857)

https://wist.info/eliot-george/72029/

Published: September 4, 2024 21:25

Any coward can fight a battle when he’s sure of winning; but give me the man who has pluck to fight when he’s sure of losing. That’s my way, sir; and there are many victories worse than a defeat.

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 512 (1725)

https://wist.info/fuller-thomas-1654/72016/

Published: September 4, 2024 20:17

Endeavour rather to get the Approbation of a few good Men, than the Huzza of the Mob.

Mitchell, Margaret -- Gone with the Wind, Part 4. ch. 38 [Scarlett] (1936)

https://wist.info/mitchell-margaret/72012/

Published: September 4, 2024 12:46

Death and taxes and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them! On death and taxes, see Bullock.

Hanauer, Nick -- Lecture (2019-07) “The Dirty Secret of Capitalism — and a New Way Forward,” TEDsummit, Edinburgh

https://wist.info/hanauer-nick/72025/

Published: September 4, 2024 12:27

Greed is not good. Being rapacious doesn’t make you a capitalist, it makes you a sociopath. And in an economy as dependent upon cooperation at scale as ours, sociopathy is as bad for business as it is for society. (Source (Video), 14:19)

Smith, Sydney -- The Letters of Peter Plymley, Letter 5 (1807)

https://wist.info/smith-sydney/72004/

Published: September 3, 2024 22:13

But now persecution is good, because it exists; every law which originated in ignorance and malice, and gratifies the passions from whence it sprang, we call the wisdom of our ancestors: when such laws are repealed, they will be cruelty and madness; till…

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Ignoramus,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)

https://wist.info/bierce-ambrose/72000/

Published: September 3, 2024 22:06

IGNORAMUS, n. A person unacquainted with certain kinds of knowledge familiar to yourself, and having certain other kinds that you know nothing about. Included in The Devil’s Dictionary (1911). Originally published in the “Devil’s Dictionary” column in the…

Barrie, James -- Margaret Ogilvy, ch. 10 “Art Thou Afraid His Power Shall Fail?” (1896)

https://wist.info/barrie-james/71996/

Published: September 3, 2024 21:55

I had been gone a fortnight when the telegram was put into my hands. I had got a letter from my sister, a few hours before, saying that all was well at home. The telegram said in five words that she had died suddenly the previous night. There was no…

Barzun, Jacques -- “Of What Use the Classics Today?,” Lecture, St. John’s College (1987-07-17)

https://wist.info/barzun-jacques/71989/

Published: September 3, 2024 21:08

The need for a body of common knowledge and common reference does not disappear when a society is largely pluralistic, as ours has become. On the contrary, it grows more necessary, so that people of different origins and occupation may quickly find…

Hugo, Victor -- Les Misérables, Part 1 “Fantine,” Book 1 “An Upright Man,” ch. 1 (1.1.1) (1862) [tr. Donougher (2013)]

https://wist.info/hugo-victor/71985/

Published: September 2, 2024 22:36

True or false, what is said about men often figures as large in their lives, and above all in the fate that befalls them, as what they do.   [Vrai ou faux, ce qu’on dit des hommes tient souvent autant de place dans leur vie et souvent dans leur destinée…

Jacobs, Jane -- Dark Age Ahead, ch. 1 “The Hazard” (2004)

https://wist.info/jacobs-jane/71981/

Published: September 2, 2024 22:08

Unity, like so many good things, is good only in moderation. The same can be said of disunity.

Augustine of Hippo -- (Attributed)

https://wist.info/augustine-of-hippo/71974/

Published: September 2, 2024 21:58

The rich are like beasts of burden, carrying treasure all day, and at the night of death unladen; they carry to their grave only the bruises and marks of their toil. I could not find something similar to this in searches of Augustine’s writings. The usual…

Bible, vol. 2, New Testament -- Matthew 11:28-30 [JB (1966)]

https://wist.info/bible-nt/71970/

Published: September 2, 2024 20:56

Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light. Alternate translations:…

Jerome, Jerome K. -- Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, “On Getting on in the World” (1886)

https://wist.info/jerome-jerome-k/71962/

Published: September 2, 2024 19:39

We are so bound together that no man can labor for himself alone. Each blow he strikes in his own behalf helps to mold the Universe. First published in Home Chimes (1885-01-24).

Shakespeare, William -- Macbeth, Act 1, sc. 7, l. 68ff (1.7.68-71) (1606)

https://wist.info/shakespeare-william/71954/

Published: September 2, 2024 17:32

MACBETH: If we should fail — LADY MACBETH: We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we’ll not fail. The sticking-place on a crossbow was where the bowstring was screwed or wound to prior to its bolt being shot. The line was most famously…

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 1, ¶ 85 (1795) [tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 69]

https://wist.info/chamfort-nicolas/71950/

Published: September 2, 2024 17:22

Poets, orators, even philosophes, say the same things about fame we were told as boys to encourage us to win prizes. What they tell children to make them prefer being praised by their nannies to eating jam tarts is the same idea constantly drummed into us…

Miller, Henry -- The Books in My Life, ch. 1 “They Were Alive and They Spoke to Me” (1952)

https://wist.info/miller-henry/71946/

Published: September 2, 2024 17:18

A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on you are enriched threefold.