Gentleness and cheerfulness, these come before all morality; they are the perfect duties.
¶ Across the Plains, ch. 12 "A Christmas Sermon" (1892)
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WIST is my collection of quotations I find meaningful, moving, amusing (intended or not), well-phrased, and/or to which I just say I "Wish I'd Said That." But just because I quote it here doesn't mean I actually agree with it. If you have any comments, corrections, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to
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Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Denis Diderot (1713-1784) French editor, philosopher
L'esprit de l'escalier
[Spirit of the staircase]
¶ Paradoxe sur le Comédien (1773-1777)
Alt trans. "Staircase inspiration." A reference to the remarks/retorts one only thinks of too late, as when descending the stairs of a building after an encounter inside.
Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British fabulist
It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.
¶ Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett), "Eleven Years Ago" (1990)
John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
The President must be greater than anyone else, but not better than anyone else. We subject him and his family to close and constant scrutiny and denounce them for things that we ourselves do every day. A Presidential slip of the tongue, a slight error in judgment — social, political, or ethical — can raise a storm of protest. We give the President more work than a man can do, more responsibility than a man should take, more pressure than a man can bear. We abuse him often and rarely praise him. We wear him out, use him up, eat him up. And with all this, Americans have a love for the President that goes beyond loyalty or party nationality; he is ours, and we exercise the right to destroy him.
¶ "America and Americans" (1966)
Other Authors
From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.
¶ Bible, 2 Kings 2:23-24 (NIV)
Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) English author, translator, apologist
I've always felt absolutely certain [life] was good -- if only one could get it straightened out. I've hated almost everything that ever happened to me, but I knew all the time it was just things that were wrong, not everything. Even when I felt most awful I never thought of killing myself or wanting to die -- only of somehow getting out of the mess and starting again.
¶ Busman's Honeymoon, ch. 14 [Harriet] (1937)
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) US President (1933-1945)
In the field of world policy I would dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbor.
¶ Inaugural Address (4 Mar 1933)
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) English philosopher, naturalist
We too often forget that not only is there "a soul of goodness in things evil," but very generally also, a soul of truth in things erroneous.
¶ First Principles, Pt. I "The Unknowable," ch. 1 "Religion and Science"" (1862)
Full text. Quoting from Shakespeare, Henry V. IV.i, "There is some soul of goodness in things evil / Would men observingly distil it out."
Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) US Navy Admiral
All men are by nature conservative but conservatism in the military profession is a source of danger to the country. One must be ready to change his line sharply and suddenly, with no concern for the prejudices and memories of what was yesterday. To rest upon formula is a slumber that, prolonged, means death.
¶ Address, US Naval Post Graduate School (16 Mar 1954)
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
The indefatigable pursuit of an unattainable perfection, even though it consist in nothing more than the pounding of an old piano, is what alone gives a meaning to our life on this unavailing star.
¶ Afterthoughts, "Life and Human Nature" (1931)
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