WIST Quotations Has Moved!Aug 25, 2025

A quotation from John Adams

I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. — Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter (1776-07-03, p.m.) to Abigail Adams

More info about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/5205/

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Letter (1776-07-03, p.m.) to Abigail Adams - Adams, John | WIST Quotations

I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. -- Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more…

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!Jul 18, 2025

A quotation from La Rochefoucauld

The glory of great men must always be measured against the means they have used to acquire it.
 
[La gloire des grands hommes se doit toujours mesurer aux moyens dont ils se sont servis pour l’acquérir.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶157 (1665-1678) [tr. Tancock (1959)]

Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/la-rochefoucauld-fra…

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Show threadCiourte PiailleJul 11, 2025

Have you ever thought about exerting extreme #violence for good ends?
I know I did, for a hot second, at some point. I'm no super-powered human though, and #cowardliness may be a bigger obstacle than moral conundrum in my case (I'm not a fan of dying or even *just* getting permanently injured, physically or otherwise).

https://strongfemaleprotagonist.com/issue-6/page-122-2/

#StrongFemalProtagonist #webcomic #philosophy #goodEnds #endsAndMeans #means #ByAnyMeansNecessary

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Jul 9, 2025

A quotation from John Maynard Keynes

[Capitalism is] the astonishing belief that the nastiest motives of the nastiest men somehow or other work for the best results in the best of all possible worlds.

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) English economist
(Attributed)

Vague sourcing, extensive notes: wist.info/keynes-john-maynard/…

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!Jul 8, 2025

A quotation from Hannah Arendt

Still, the danger of the practice of violence, even if it moves consciously within a non-extremist framework of short-term goals, will always be that the means overwhelm the end. If goals are not achieved rapidly, the result will not merely be defeat but the introduction of the practice of violence into the whole body politic. Action is irreversible, and a return to the status quo in case of defeat is always unlikely. The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is a more violent world.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Essay (1969-02-27), “Reflections on Violence,” The New York Review of Books

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/arendt-hannah/47129/

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!Apr 17, 2025

A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt

Nevertheless, the fact remains that exactly as true patriots should be especially jealous of any appeal to what is base under the guise of patriotism, so men who strive for honesty, and for the cleansing of what is corrupt in the dark places of our politics, should emphatically disassociate themselves from the men whose antics throw discredit upon the reforms they profess to advocate.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Essay (1900-06), “Latitude and Longitude Among Reformers,” The Century Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 2

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/1…

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WIST Quotations moves again!Dec 17, 2024

A quotation from Emerson, Ralph Waldo:

«
Most of the great results of history are brought about by discreditable means.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/41438/

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WIST Quotations moves again!Jul 11, 2024

A quotation from Ebner-Eschenbach, Marie von:

«
Much less evil would be done on earth if evil could not be done in the name of good.

[Es würde sehr wenig Böses auf Erden getan werden, wenn das Böse niemals im Namen des Guten getan werden könnte.]
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/von-ebner-eschenbach-marie/70554/

#quote #quotes #quotation #cause #ends #endsandmeans #evil #goodcause #means

Aphorisms [Aphorismen], No. 97 (1880) [tr. Scrase/Mieder (1994)] - Ebner-Eschenbach, Marie von | WIST Quotations

Much less evil would be done on earth if evil could not be done in the name of good. [Es würde sehr wenig Böses auf Erden getan werden, wenn das Böse niemals im Namen des Guten getan werden könnte.] (Source (German)). Alternate translation: But little evil would be done in…

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WIST Quotations moves again!May 13, 2024

A quotation from Orwell, George:

«
It is not merely that “power corrupts”; so also do the ways of attaining power.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/orwell-george/19052/

#quote #quotes #quotation #corruption #endsandmeans #power

"Arnold Koestler" (1944-09) - Orwell, George | WIST Quotations

It is not merely that "power corrupts"; so also do the ways of attaining power. Originally written for Focus magazine. First published in Critical Essays (1946-02). See Acton.

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WIST Quotations moves again!Feb 20, 2024

A quotation from Damon, Bertha:

«
Getting what you go after is success; but liking it while you are getting it is happiness.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/damon-bertha/67320/

#quote #quotes #quotation #achievement #attainment #effort #endsandmeans #happiness #journey #success

A Sense of Humus, ch. 13 "Garden Sass" (1943) - Damon, Bertha | WIST Quotations

Getting what you go after is success; but liking it while you are getting it is happiness.

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