Mastodawn

CALVIN: I don’t care about issues! I’ve got better things to do than argue with every wrong-headed crackpot with an ignorant opinion! I’m a busy man! I say, either agree with me or take a hike! I’m right, period! End of discussion!

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1993-11-16)

More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/83998…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #agreement #argument #debate #demands #differenceofopinion #ignorance #inflexibility #issues #opinion #opinionofothers #selfrighteousness #stubbornness

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Dec 15

A quotation from Henry Steele Commager

What threatens our security is not change but the inability to change; what threatens progress is not revolution but stagnation; what threatens our survival is not novel or dangerous ideas but the absence of ideas.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Speech (1971-04-10), “The University and the Community of Learning,” Kent State University, Ohio

More about this quote: wist.info/commager-henry-steel…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #henrycommager #change #conservatism #progress #stagnation #statusquo #survival #inflexibility #ideas #security

Speech (1971-04-10), “The University and the Community of Learning,” Kent State University, Ohio - Commager, Henry Steele | WIST Quotations

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!Dec 11, 2025

A quotation from Cicero

All men make mistakes; but it is fools who persist in them.

[Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 12, ch. 2 / sec. 5 (12.2/12.5) (43-03 BC) [tr. @sentantiq (2012)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/cicero-marcus-tulliu…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cicero #meme #changeofmind #correction #error #foolishness #folly #inflexibility #mistake #revision #selfcorrection #stubbornness #stupidity

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Sep 18, 2025

A quotation from Abe Lincoln

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1865-04-11), Washington, D.C.

More info about this quote: wist.info/lincoln-abraham/1817…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #abelincoln #abrahamlincoln #determination #fundamentals #inflexibility #principle #uncompromising

Speech (1865-04-11), Washington, D.C. - Lincoln, Abraham | WIST Quotations

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible. Discussing how plans for the Reconstruction needed to be flexible, but the principles behind it not. Lincoln's last public address before his assassination on 14 April.

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WIST Quotations Has Moved!Apr 21, 2025

A quotation from Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Categorizing is necessary for humans, but it becomes pathological when the category is seen as definitive, preventing people from considering the fuzziness of boundaries, let alone revising their categories.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (b. 1960) Lebanese-American essayist, statistician, risk analyst, aphorist
The Black Swan, Part 1, ch. 1 “The Apprenticeship of an Empirical Skeptic” (2007)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/taleb-nassim-nichola…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #reality #truth #boundaries #brightline #categorization #category #classification #complexity #comprehension #inflexibility

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Feb 27, 2025

A quotation from Chris Boucher

THE DOCTOR: The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don’t alter their views to the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views, which can be uncomfortable, if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.

Chris Boucher (1943-2022) British TV screenwriter, script editor, novelist
Doctor Who, 14×04 “The Face of Evil,” Part 4 (1977-01-22)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/boucher-chris/4681/

#quote #quotes #quotation #belief #cognitivedissonancen #dolt #factsn #inflexibility #opinion #power #rigidity #stupidity #truth #viewpoint

WIST Quotations moves again!Dec 12, 2024

A quotation from Cicero, Marcus Tullius:

«
Unchanging consistency of standpoint has never been considered a virtue in great statesmen.

[Numquam enim in praestantibus in re publica gubernanda viris laudata est in una sententia perpetua permansio.]
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/cicero-marcus-tullius/559/

#quote #quotes #quotation #changeofmind #circumstances #consistency #constancy #inflexibility #leadership #politician #stubbornness

WIST Quotations moves again!Apr 23, 2024

A quotation from Smith, Sydney:

«
I am old, but I certainly have not that sign of old-age, extolling the past at the expense of the present.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/smith-sydney/6879/

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Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855) - Smith, Sydney | WIST Quotations

I am old, but I certainly have not that sign of old-age, extolling the past at the expense of the present.

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Roonie the Rabbit Mar 31, 2024

You like to think you're not predictable. #webcomics #comicstrip #inflexibility #weather #bunny #squirrel #sun GET THESE BY EMAIL: https://rooniecomics.com/comics/predictable-2/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=post&utm_content=rooniecomics

Comic: "Predictable." from ROONIE THE RABBIT

SQUIRREL (as the Sun rises): The Sun rises in the East and sets in the West. SUN (thinking as it heads higher in the sky at midday): Don't be so sure! I'm not so predictable! I'm a wild card! I might just go south today! You don't know! Ha ha! The Sun moves West and towards the horizon for dusk. SUN (as it sets): (sigh) SUN (as it sets): (sigh)

WIST Quotations moves again!Mar 26, 2024

A quotation from Mencken, H. L.:

«
Firmness in decision is often merely a form of stupidity. It indicates an inability to think the same thing out twice.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/mencken-hl/68140/

#quote #quotes #quotation #decision #decisionmaking #firmness #inflexibility #reasoning #reconsideration #resolution #stubbornness #stupidity

A Little Book in C Major, ch. 5, § 30 (1916) - Mencken, H. L. | WIST Quotations

Firmness in decision is often merely a form of stupidity. It indicates an inability to think the same thing out twice. Variant: FIRMNESS: A form of stupidity: proof of an inability to think the same thing out twice. [A Book of Burlesques, "The Jazz Webster" (1924)]

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