WIST QuotationsJan 28

A quotation from James Howell

Burn not thy fingers to snuff another man’s candle.

James Howell (c. 1594 - 1666) Welsh historian and writer
Paroimiographia [Παροιμιογραφία], or, Old Sayed Sawes & Adages, “New Sayings” (1659)

More about this quote: wist.info/howell-james/12025/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jameshowell #competition #conflict #cost #selfdefeating #selfdestruction

Howell, James - Paroimiographia [Παροιμιογραφία], or, Old Sayed Sawes & Adages, "New Sayings" (1659) | WIST Quotations

Burn not thy fingers to snuff another man's candle.

WIST Quotations
WIST Quotations Has Moved!Dec 4

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 have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life. Moreover, when we have an alibi for not writing a book, painting a picture, and so on, we have an alibi for not writing the greatest book and not painting the greatest picture. Small wonder that the effort expended and the punishment endured in obtaining a good alibi often exceed the effort and grief requisite for the attainment of a most marked achievement.

Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) American writer, philosopher, longshoreman
Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 181 (1955)

More about this quote: wist.info/hoffer-eric/29470/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #erichoffer #accomplishment #achievement #alibi #effort #excellence #excuse #failure #goals #justification #personaleffort #selfdefeating

Passionate State of Mind, Aphorism 181 (1955) - Hoffer, Eric | WIST Quotations

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 have…

WIST Quotations
WIST Quotations Has Moved!Oct 17

A quotation from C. C. Colton

If a cause be good, the most violent attack of its enemies will not injure it so much as an injudicious defense of it by its friends.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 475 (1820)

More info about this quote: wist.info/colton-charles-caleb…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cccolton #attacks #cause #defense #goodcause #meme #selfdefeating #vulnerability #zeal

Hacker NewsOct 1

Why Tech Inevitability is Self-Defeating

https://deviantabstraction.com/2025/09/29/against-the-tech-inevitability/

#HackerNews #TechInevitability #SelfDefeating #Innovation #Debate #FutureOfTech

Against Tech Inevitability

My dear startup founder friend, You told me that everything is “hyper-determined,” that “life is a big game because of that.” You’re not alone in t

Deviant/Abstraction
WIST Quotations Has Moved!Sep 30

A quotation from A. A. Milne

   “I have been Foolish and Deluded,” said Pooh, “and I am a Bear of No Brain at All.”
   “You’re the Best Bear in All the World,” said Christopher Robin soothingly.

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
Winnie-the-Pooh, ch. 3 “Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting” (1926)

More info about this quote: wist.info/milne-a-a/2843/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #aamilne #pooh #winniethepooh #poohbear #christopherrobin #reassurance #comforting #delusion #folly #friendship #limitations #praise #selfassessment #selfawareness #selfblame #selfcondemnation #selfcontempt #selfcriticism #selfdefeating #selfdeprecating #selfdeprecation #selfdoubt #selfimage #selfloathing #selfopinion #selfregard #selfreproach #selfrespect #selfworth #soothing #stupidity

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Sep 1, 2025

A quotation from Judith Martin

Q. Is it ever acceptable to be rude?
 
A. No. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to let people walk all over you. Etiquette does not render you defenseless. If it did; even I wouldn’t subscribe to it. But rudeness in retaliation for rudeness just doubles the amount of rudeness in the world.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
Interview (2011-08), “Q and A with Miss Manners,” by Arcynta Ali Childs, Smithsonian magazine

More info about this quote: wist.info/martin-judith/78705/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #judithmartin #missmanners #etiquette #impoliteness #retaliation #rudeness #selfcontrol #selfdefeating #selfdefense #selfdiscipline #selfesteem #selfinterest #selfpossession #selfpreservation #toxicity

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Aug 30, 2025

A quotation from La Rochefoucauld

Desire to appear clever often prevents our becoming so.
 
[Le désir de paraître habile empêche souvent de le devenir.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶199 (1665-1678) [tr. Tancock (1959)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/la-rochefoucauld-fra…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #larochefoucauld #appearance #cleverness #facade #perception #pretense #seeming #self-defeating

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Aug 20, 2025

A quotation from Franklin Roosevelt

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves — and the only way they could do this is by not voting.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Radio Broadcast (1944-10-05)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/roosevelt-franklin-d…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #fdr #franklinroosevelt #franklindroosevelt #America #apathy #democracy #righttovote #selfdefeating #vote #voting #votingrights

Steve HoldenJul 29, 2025
The enshittification of YouTube has reached the point where I am no longer watching much of the content I'd like to see because the advertising is too intrusive. #SelfDefeating
Your Autistic Life FR/EN/ESFeb 16, 2024

A note regarding the gamble that you take when you put something behind a paywall.

I ran into an article titled:

"America Should Only Have One Time Zone"

I thought this was a crazy idea, but I was curious. So I clicked on the link. I start reading, and then I come to something asking me to subscribe to read the rest of the article. (I did not realize I was on Substack.)

The bit I can read ends with this:

"But Katherine, I can almost hear you saying, this is meeting madness with more lunacy. No. Very smart people agree with me."

NIce lampshading here, but the problem is that with your idiotic paywall, I'll never get to read your fabulous argument as to why you proposition makes any bloody sense, and why I should not consider you a crackpot.

Don't get me wrong, I do have paywalls too on some of my articles, but the way *this* one is organized is self-defeating.

#paywalls #TimeZones #crackpots #SelfDefeating

https://www.discourseblog.com/p/america-should-only-have-one-timezone

America Should Only Have One Time Zone

Central Standard Time or bust.

Discourse Blog