WIST Quotations

2022-01-10 16:02:57

A quotation by Gracián, Baltasar

The truth is generally seen, rarely heard; seldom she comes in elemental purity, especially from afar; there is always some admixture of the moods of those through whom she has passed. The passions tinge her with their colors wherever they touch her, sometimes favorably, sometimes the reverse.

[La verdad ordinariamente se ve, extravagantemente se oye; raras vezes llega en su elemento puro, y menos quando viene de lejos; siempre trae algo de mixta, de los afectos por donde passa; tiñe de sus colores la passión quanto toca, ya odiosa, ya favorable.]

Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 80 (1647) [tr. Jacobs (1892)]

#quote #quotation #bias #emotion #truth
More notes and sourcing on WIST: https://wist.info/gracian-y-morales-baltasar/50736/

WIST Quotations

2021-07-08 17:58:41

A quotation by Bastiat, Frederic

No society can exist unless the laws are respected to a certain degree. The safest way to make laws respected is to make them respectable. When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.

[Aucune société ne peut exister si le respect des Lois n’y règne à quelque degré ; mais le plus sûr, pour que les lois soient respectées, c’est qu’elles soient respectables. Quand la Loi et la Morale sont en contradiction, le citoyen se trouve dans la cruelle alternative ou de perdre la notion de Morale ou de perdre le respect de la Loi.]

Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) French philosopher, economist, politician
The Law [La Loi] (1850) [tr. Russell]

#quotation #quote #law #morality #respectability
More notes and sourcing on WIST: https://wist.info/bastiat-frederic/47681/

Sylvia J

2021-02-24 15:41:01

‘The Truth Coming Out of her Well to Shame Mankind'

Based on a #quotation from #Democritus

According to a 19th-century legend, the #Truth and the #Lie meet one day. The Lie says to the Truth: “It’s a marvelous day today”! The Truth looks up to the skies and sighs, for the day was really beautiful. They spend a lot of time together, ultimately arriving beside a well.

The Lie tells the Truth: “The water is very nice, let’s take a bath together!” The Truth, once again suspicious, tests the water & discovers that it indeed is very nice. They undress & start bathing. Suddenly, the Lie comes out of the water, puts on the clothes of the Truth, & runs away. The furious Truth comes out of the well & runs everywhere to find the Lie and to get her clothes back. The #World, seeing the Truth naked, turns its gaze away, with contempt & rage. The poor Truth returns to the well and disappears forever, hiding therein, its shame.

Since then, the Lie travels around the world, dressed as the Truth, satisfying the needs of society, because, the World, in any case, harbors no wish at all to meet the #naked Truth.