La Rochefoucauld, Francois - Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶269 (1665-1678) [tr. Tancock (1959), ¶269] | WIST Quotations

Few men are sufficiently discerning to appreciate all the evil they do. [Il n’y a guère d’homme assez habile pour connoître tout le mal qu’il fait.] First appeared in the 2nd (1666) edition. In manuscript, it reads "... assez pénétrant pour apercevoir tout le mal qu’il fait." (Source (French)). Other…

Stevenson, Adlai - Speech (1952-08-28), "Faith in Liberalism," State Committee of the Liberal Party, New York City | WIST Quotations

You can tell the size of a man by the size of the thing that makes him mad.

Orwell, George - Essay (1945-05), "Notes on Nationalism," Polemic Magazine (1945-10) | WIST Quotations

A nationalist is one who thinks solely, or mainly, in terms of competitive prestige. He may be a positive or a negative nationalist -- that is, he may use his mental energy either in boosting or in denigrating -- but at any rate his thoughts always turn on victories, defeats,…

Hoffer, Eric - True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Part 1, ch. 2, § 9 (1951) | WIST Quotations

The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready he is to claim all excellence for his nation, his religion, his race or his holy cause.

Franklin, Benjamin - Poor Richard (1746 ed.) | WIST Quotations

Good Sense is a Thing all need, few have, and none think they want.

Client Challenge

Folk are getting dangerously attached to AI that always tells them they're right

: Sycophantic bots coach users into selfish, antisocial behavior, say researchers, and they love it

You Do Not, In Fact, Have to Hand It to Them

Way back in 2016, Mark Zuckerberg made a surprise appearance at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, memorialized in a photograph of him striding to the stage past rows of men with the Oculus Rift VR headsets strapped to their faces: Fast forward a decade and now the founder of