IcarosityA favorite #quotation
“It is, I find, in zoology as it is in botany: all nature is so full, that that district produces the greatest variety which is the most examined.”
—Gilbert White. 18th century English naturalist
WIST QuotationsFor me, it is hard to see the plan or design in earthquakes and pestilences. It is somewhat difficult to discern the design or the benevolence in so making the world that billions of animals live only on the agonies of others. The justice of God is not visible to me in the history of this world. When I think of the suffering and death, of the poverty and crime, of the cruelty and malice, of the heartlessness of this “design” and “plan,” where beak and claw and tooth tear and rend the quivering flesh of weakness and despair, I cannot convince myself that it is the result of infinite wisdom, benevolence, and justice.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Essay (1881-11) “The Christian Religion,” “Part 2” North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 300
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Ingersoll, Robert Green - Essay (1881-11) "The Christian Religion," "Part 2" North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 300 | WIST Quotations
For me, it is hard to see the plan or design in earthquakes and pestilences. It is somewhat difficult to discern the design or the benevolence in so making the world that billions of animals live only on the agonies of others. The justice of God is not visible to…
A quotation from Adlai Stevenson
The government must be the trustee for the little man because no one else will be. The powerful can usually help themselves — and frequently do.Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1955-10-29), “The Crisis in Agriculture,” Democratic Rally, Duluth, Minnesota
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Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form.
[Vieillir n’est qu’une mauvaise habitude; l’homme occupé n’a pas le temps de la prendre.]
[Vieillir n’est qu’une mauvaise habitude; l’homme occupé n’a pas le temps de la prendre.]
André Maurois (1885-1967) French author [b. Émile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog]
The Art of Living [Un Art de Vivre], ch. 8 “The Art of Growing Old” (1939) [tr. Whitall (1940)]
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Maurois, Andre - The Art of Living [Un Art de Vivre], ch. 8 "The Art of Growing Old" (1939) [tr. Whitall (1940)] | WIST Quotations
Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form. [Vieillir n’est qu’une mauvaise habitude; l’homme occupé n’a pas le temps de la prendre.] (Source (French))
Laws are coldly reasoned out and established upon what the lawmakers believe to be a basis of right. But customs are not. Customs are not enacted, they grow gradually up, imperceptibly and unconsciously, like an oak from its seed. In the fullness of their strength they can stand up straight in front of a world of argument and reasoning and yield not an inch.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Essay (1906), “The Gorky Incident,” Letters from the Earth (c. 1909; pub. 1962) [ed. DeVoto (1939)]
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Twain, Mark - Essay (1906), "The Gorky Incident," Letters from the Earth (c. 1909; pub. 1962) [ed. DeVoto (1939)] | WIST Quotations
Laws are coldly reasoned out and established upon what the lawmakers believe to be a basis of right. But customs are not. Customs are not enacted, they grow gradually up, imperceptibly and unconsciously, like an oak from its seed. In the fullness of their strength they can stand up straight…
A quotation from Robert Louis Stevenson
Solitude is the climax of the negative virtues. When we go to bed after a solitary day we can tell ourselves that we have not been unkind nor dishonest nor untruthful; and the negative virtues are agreeable to that dangerous faculty we call the conscience. That they should ever be admitted for a part of virtue is what I cannot explain. I do not care two straws for all the nots.Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1880-01/02?), “Reflections and Remarks on Human Life,” § 4.6 “Solitude and Society”
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Stevenson, Robert Louis - Essay (1880-01/02?), "Reflections and Remarks on Human Life," § 4.6 "Solitude and Society" | WIST Quotations
Solitude is the climax of the negative virtues. When we go to bed after a solitary day we can tell ourselves that we have not been unkind nor dishonest nor untruthful; and the negative virtues are agreeable to that dangerous faculty we call the conscience. That they should ever be…
A quotation from George Orwell
Artists don’t so much object to aesthetic discipline. Architects will design theatres or churches equally readily, writers will switch from the three-volume novel to the one-volume, or from the play to the film, according to the demand. But the point is that this is a political age. A writer inevitably writes — and less directly this applies to all the arts — about contemporary events, and his impulse is to tell what he believes to be the truth. But no government, no big organization, will pay for the truth. To take a crude example: can you imagine the British Government commissioning E. M. Forster to write A Passage to India? He could only write it because he was not dependent on State aid.George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1944-10-13), “As I Please” column, Tribune Newspaper
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Orwell, George - Essay (1944-10-13), "As I Please" column, Tribune Newspaper | WIST Quotations
Artists don’t so much object to aesthetic discipline. Architects will design theatres or churches equally readily, writers will switch from the three-volume novel to the one-volume, or from the play to the film, according to the demand. But the point is that this is a political age. A writer inevitably…
A quotation from Arthur Conan Doyle
You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
Story (1891-07), “A Scandal in Bohemia,” ch. 1 [Holmes], The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 1
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A quotation from Theodore Roosevelt
The most important factor in getting the right spirit in my Administration, next to the insistence upon courage, honesty, and a genuine democracy of desire to serve the plain people, was my insistence upon the theory that the executive power was limited only by specific restrictions and prohibitions appearing in the Constitution or imposed by the Congress under its Constitutional powers. My view was that every executive officer, and above all every executive officer in high position, was a steward of the people bound actively and affirmatively to do all he could for the people, and not to content himself with the negative merit of keeping his talents undamaged in a napkin. I declined to adopt the view that what was imperatively necessary for the Nation could not be done by the President unless he could find some specific authorization to do it. My belief was that it was not only his right but his duty to do anything that the needs of the Nation demanded unless such action was forbidden by the Constitution or by the laws. Under this interpretation of executive power I did and caused to be done many things not previously done by the President and the heads of the departments. I did not usurp power, but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power. In other words, I acted for the public welfare, I acted for the common well-being of all our people, whenever and in whatever manner was necessary, unless prevented by direct constitutional or legislative prohibition.Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Autobiography, ch. 10 "The Presidency" (1913)
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Roosevelt, Theodore - Autobiography, ch. 10 "The Presidency" (1913) | WIST Quotations
The most important factor in getting the right spirit in my Administration, next to the insistence upon courage, honesty, and a genuine democracy of desire to serve the plain people, was my insistence upon the theory that the executive power was limited only by specific restrictions and prohibitions appearing in…
A quotation from Thomas Carlyle
The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish something: the strongest, by dispensing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything. The drop, by continually falling, bores its passage through the hardest rock; the hasty torrent rushes over it with hideous uproar, and leaves no trace behind.Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
The Life of Friedrich Schiller, Part 2 (1825)
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Carlyle, Thomas - The Life of Friedrich Schiller, Part 2 (1825) | WIST Quotations
The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish something: the strongest, by dispensing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything. The drop, by continually falling, bores its passage through the hardest rock; the hasty torrent rushes over it with hideous uproar, and leaves…