Mastodawn

It is not a bad thing that children should occasionally, and politely, put parents in their place.

[Il n’est pas mauvais que les enfants remettent de temps en temps, avec politesse, les parents à leur place.]

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954) French writer
My Mother’s House [La Maison de Claudine], “The Priest on the Wall [Le curé sur le mur]” (1922) [tr. Troubridge/McLeod (1949)]

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Colette, Sidonie-Gabrielle - My Mother's House [La Maison de Claudine], "The Priest on the Wall [Le curé sur le mur]" (1922) [tr. Troubridge/McLeod (1949)] | WIST Quotations

It is not a bad thing that children should occasionally, and politely, put parents in their place. [Il n’est pas mauvais que les enfants remettent de temps en temps, avec politesse, les parents à leur place.] (Source (French))

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WIST Quotations 12h ago

A quotation from Marcus Aurelius

Kindness is invincible, if it be sincere and not hypocritical or a mere facade. For what can the most insulting of people do to you if you are consistently kind to him, and, when the occasion allows, gently advise him and quietly put him on the proper course at the very time when he is attempting to do you a mischief. “No, my son, we were born for something other than this; it is not I who am harmed, it is you, my son, who are causing harm to yourself.”

[τὸ εὐμενὲς ἀνίκητον, ἐὰν γνήσιον ᾖ καὶ μὴ σεσηρὸς μηδὲ ὑπόκρισις. τί γάρ σοι ποιήσει ὁ ὑβριστικώτατος, ἐὰν διατελῇς εὐμενὴς αὐτῷ καί, εἰ οὕτως ἔτυχε, πρᾴως παραινῇς καὶ μεταδιδάσκῃς εὐσχολῶν παῤ αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν ὅτε κακοποιεῖν σε ἐπιχειρεῖ: ῾μή, τέκνον: πρὸς ἄλλο πεφύκαμεν. ἐγὼ μὲν οὐ μὴ βλαβῶ, σὺ δὲ βλάπτῃ, τέκνον.᾿]

Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 11, ch. 18 (11.18) (AD 161-180) [tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]

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Marcus Aurelius - Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 11, ch. 18 (11.18) (AD 161-180) [tr. Hard (1997 ed.)] | WIST Quotations

Kindness is invincible, if it be sincere and not hypocritical or a mere facade. For what can the most insulting of people do to you if you are consistently kind to him, and, when the occasion allows, gently advise him and quietly put him on the proper course at the…

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WIST Quotations Jan 2

A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson

A happy man or woman is a better thing to find than a five-pound note. He or she is a radiating focus of goodwill; and their entrance into a room is as though another candle had been lighted. We need not care whether they could prove the forty-seventh proposition; they do a better thing than that, they practically demonstrate the great Theorem of the Liveableness of Life.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1877-07), “An Apology for Idlers,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 36

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Stevenson, Robert Louis - Essay (1877-07), "An Apology for Idlers," Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 36 | WIST Quotations

A happy man or woman is a better thing to find than a five-pound note. He or she is a radiating focus of goodwill; and their entrance into a room is as though another candle had been lighted. We need not care whether they could prove the forty-seventh proposition; they…

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WIST Quotations Dec 31

A quotation from John Heywood (and a Happy New Year to all!)

Let the world slide, let the world go:
A fig for care, and a fig for woe!
If I can’t pay, why, I can owe;
And death makes equal the high and low.
Be merry, friends!

John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Ballad (1576), “Be Merry Friends,” st. 17

More about this quote: wist.info/heywood-john/11825/

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Heywood, John - Ballad (1576), "Be Merry Friends," st. 17 | WIST Quotations

Let the world slide, let the world go: A fig for care, and a fig for woe! If I can't pay, why, I can owe; And death makes equal the high and low. Be merry, friends! Collected in John Payne Collier (ed.), A Book of Roxburghe Ballads (1847), which includes…

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!Dec 1

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

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!Nov 7

A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson

There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy, we sow anonymous benefits upon the world, which remain unknown even to ourselves, or when they are disclosed, surprise nobody so much as the benefactor.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1877-07), “An Apology for Idlers,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 36

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!Sep 22

A quotation from Joseph Addison

Cheerfulness is, in the first place, the best promoter of health. Repinings, and secret murmurs of heart, give imperceptible strokes to those delicate fibres of which the vital parts are composed, and wear out the machine insensibly; not to mention those violent ferments which they stir up in the blood, and those irregular disturbed motions which they raise in the animal spirits.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1712-05-24), The Spectator, No. 387

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Daily Happy Reasons Aug 24

The last war Liechtenstein took part in was in 1866. They sent out 80 men for the Austro Prussian war. 81 returned - the original 80, unscathed, and a friend they'd made along the way.

#goodnews #cheerfulness #thingstobehappyabout #liechtenstein

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Jul 31, 2025

A quotation from Josh Billings

Cheerfullness makes the plainest features butiful, the severest winter agreeable; it elevates the lowly, and adds a charm tew grateness, all its own.

[Cheerfulness makes the plainest features beautiful, the severest winter agreeable; it elevates the lowly, and adds a charm to greatness.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 281 “Variety: Bred and Butter” (1874)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/billings-josh/78119/

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!May 14, 2025

A quotation from Addison

Good-nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty. It shows virtue in the fairest light, takes off in some measure from the deformity of vice, and makes even folly and impertinence supportable.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1711-09-13), The Spectator, No. 169

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/addison-joseph/6068/

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Essay (1711-09-13), The Spectator, No. 169 - Addison, Joseph | WIST Quotations

Good-nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty. It shows virtue in the fairest light, takes off in some measure from the deformity of vice, and makes even folly and impertinence supportable.

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