#selfrestraint

2025-12-23

A quotation from Euripides

CREON: A woman of hot temper — and a man the same —
Is a less dangerous enemy than one quiet and clever.
 
[ΚΡΈΩΝ: Γυνὴ γὰρ ὀξύθυμος, ὡς δ᾽ αὔτως ἀνήρ,
ῥᾴων φυλάσσειν ἢ σιωπηλὸς σοφή.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 319ff (431 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1963)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/euripides/80979/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #euripides #medea #anger #badtemper #cunning #danger #fury #plotting #scheming #selfcontrol #selfrestraint #silence #subtlety #temper #wrath #rage #warningsign

2025-12-22

A quotation from Joseph Addison

I have often thought if the minds of men were laid open, we should see but little difference between that of the wise man and that of the fool. There are infinite reveries, numberless extravagances, and a perpetual train of vanities which pass through both. The great difference is, that the first knows how to pick and cull his thoughts for conversation, by suppressing some, and communicating others; whereas the other lets them all indifferently fly out in words.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1711-11-17), The Spectator, No. 225

More about this quote: wist.info/addison-joseph/80953…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #josephaddison #blurting #chatter #consideration #conversation #discretion #fool #minds #selfcensorship #selfcontrol #selfrestraint #streamofconsciousness #thoughts #wisdom

WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-12-02

A quotation from Euripides

NURSE: Terrible is the temperament of royalty,
   Who are rarely controlled, always imperious;
   It is hard for them to give up their wrath.
   To get used to living like everybody else
   Is better.
 
[ΤΡΟΦΌΣ: δεινὰ τυράννων λήματα καί πως
   ὀλίγ᾽ ἀρχόμενοι, πολλὰ κρατοῦντες
   χαλεπῶς ὀργὰς μεταβάλλουσιν.
   τὸ γὰρ εἰθίσθαι ζῆν ἐπ᾽ ἴσοισιν
   κρεῖσσον.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 119ff (431 BC) [tr. Podlecki (1989)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/euripides/80529/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #euripides #medea #absolutepower #abuseofpower #anger #badmood #badtemper #compromise #equality #power #rage #royalty #selfcontrol #selfrestraint #temper #temperament #tyrant #indignation #grudge #wrath #tantrum

WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-12-02

A quotation from John Adams

It is in vain to Say that Democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious or less avaricious than Aristocracy or Monarchy. It is not true in Fact and no where appears in history. Those Passions are the same in all Men under all forms of Simple Government, and when unchecked, produce the same Effects of Fraud Violence and Cruelty. When clear Prospects are opened before Vanity, Pride, Avarice or Ambition, for their easy gratification, it is hard for the most considerate Phylosophers and the most conscientious Moralists to resist the temptation. Individuals have conquered themselves, Nations and large Bodies of Men, never.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter (1814-12-17) to John Taylor

More about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/49248/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #ambition #aristocracy #avarice #democracy #greed #humancondition #humannature #mob #monarchy #pride #temptation #vanity #selfcontrol #selfrestraint

WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-10-17

A quotation from Horace

Anger’s a short frenzy, curb thy Soul,
And check thy rage, which must be rul’d or rule:
Use all thy Art, with all thy force restrain,
And take the strongest Bit, and firmest Rein.
 
[Ira furor brevis est: animum rege; qui nisi paret
imperat; hunc frenis, hunc tu compesce catena.]

Horace (65-8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 1, ep. 2 “To Lollius,” l. 62ff (1.2.62) (20 BC) [tr. Creech (1684)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/1953/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #horace #anger #badtemper #fury #insanity #madness #rage #selfcontrol #selfrestraint #tantrum #temper #wrath

knowledge is power,
but access ain't permission.
ethics asks restraint.

#haiku #senryu #poem #ShortPoem #SmallPoem #SmallPoems #knowledge #power #restraint #SelfRestraint #ethics

WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-08-14

A quotation from Bernard Levin

   Almost all of us want to be richer than we are, even if we are very rich indeed. To be sure, there are exceptions; saints, ascetics, those who travel light and will not add even the weight of a wallet, a few whose material ambitions are fully satisfied and who therefore truly want nothing further. But the rest of us want more than we have, and the specially thoughtful sometimes wonder whether there could ever come a time when we didn’t.
   The crucial question, though, leaving out of consideration the exempted categories, is: what are we willing to do to increase our wealth?

Bernard Levin (1928-2004) British journalist, critic, broadcaster, satirist
Essay (1989-03-23), “Do You Seriously Want to Be Swindled?” The Times, London

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/levin-bernard/78387/


#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bernardlevin #avarice #ethics #greedy #limits #morals #profit #prosperity #richest #selfrestraint #wealth

WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-08-05

A quotation from J. M. Barrie

The best of our fiction is by novelists who allow that it is as good as they can give, and the worst by novelists who maintain that they could do much better if only the public would let them.

J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
Essay (1891-03), “Mr. Kipling’s Stories,” Contemporary Review, Vol. 59

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/barrie-james/78213/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jmbarrie #author #dedication #effort #publicopinion #selfrestraint #writing

WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-07-01

A quotation from Joseph Joubert

My dreams are more amorous than my actions have ever been.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], 1805 entry [tr. Auster (1983)]

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/joubert-joseph/77274…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #joubert #actions #amorousness #dreams #selfrestraint #lust #sexualfantasy #sexuality

WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-05-29

A quotation from Josh Billings

Patience will tire out ennything but musketoes.
 
[Patience will tire out anything but mosquitoes.]

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. 156 “Affurisms: Embers on the Harth” (1874)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/billings-josh/76795/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #joshbillings #discipline #endurance #patience #selfrestraint #annoyance

WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-03-06

A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt

Self-restraint, self-mastery, common sense, the power of accepting individual responsibility and yet of acting in conjunction with others, courage and resolution — these are the qualities which mark a masterful people. Without them no people can control itself, or save itself from being controlled from the outside.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Speech (1910-04-23), “Citizenship in a Republic [The Man in the Arena],” Sorbonne, Paris

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/7…

#quote #quotes #quotation #collaboration #commonsense #cooperation #courage #independence #nation #people #resolve #responsibility #selfcontrol #selfrestraint

WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-02-27

A quotation from John Adams

The true source of our sufferings, has been our timidity.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Essay (1765-09-30), “A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law,” No. 3, Boston Gazette

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/adams-john/75227/

#quote #quotes #quotation #apprehension #fear #selfinflicted #selfrestraint #suffering #timidity #trouble

WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-02-04

A quotation from Ambrose Bierce

PATIENCE, n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Patience,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/74496…

#quote #quotes #quotation #abiding #composure #despair #forbearance #fortitude #patience #perseverance #selfrestraint #virtue #waiting #hopelessness #despondency #givingup

WIST Quotations Has Moved!wist@my-place.social
2025-01-29

A quotation from Steven Moffat

JEFF: You’re not ready for the Giggle Loop. […] Basically, it’s like a feedback loop. You’re somewhere quiet. There’s people. It’s a — it’s a solemn occasion. A wedding. No — it’s a minute’s silence for someone who’s died. […] Minute’s silence ticking away. Tick. Tick. Tick. The Giggle Loop begins. Suddenly, out of nowhere, this thought comes into your head: the worst thing I could possibly do during a minute’s silence is laugh. (Overturns an empty beer glass) And as soon as you think that, you almost do laugh, automatic reaction. But you don’t, you control yourself. You’re fine. Whoo — but then you think how terrible it would have been if you’d laughed out loud in the middle of a minute’s silence. And so you nearly do it again, only this time it’s a bigger laugh. (Stacks a beer glass on top of the first one) And then you think how awful this bigger laugh would have been. And so you nearly laugh again, only this time it’s a very big laugh. (Stacks another glass) It’s an enormous laugh! Let this bastard out, and you get whiplash! (Stacks another glass) Suddenly, you’re in the middle of this completely silent room (Stacks another glass) and your shoulders are going like you’re drilling the road! And what do you think of this situation? Oh, dear Christ, you think it’s funny!

Steven Moffat (b. 1961) Scottish television writer, producer
Coupling, 01×03 “Sex, Death and Nudity” (2000-05-26)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/moffat-steven/74360/

#quote #quotes #quotation #embarrassment #escalation #feedbackloops #funeral #giggling #giggleloop #laughter #propriety #selfcontrol #selfrestraint #spiral

WIST Quotations moves again!WISTquote@zirk.us
2024-08-19

A quotation from Franklin, Benjamin:

«
Do not do that which you would not have known.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
wist.info/franklin-benjamin/71

#quote #quotes #quotation #action #reputation #secret #selfrestraint #shame

WIST Quotations moves again!WISTquote@zirk.us
2024-04-03

A quotation from Fuller, Thomas (1654):

«
Believe not all thou hearest, nor speak all thou believest.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
wist.info/fuller-thomas-1654/7

#quote #quotes #quotation #belief #credulity #selfrestraint #silence #skepticism

WIST Quotations moves again!WISTquote@zirk.us
2023-08-08

A quotation from Euripides:

«
The wise man preserves a smooth-tempered self-control.
[πρὸς σοφοῦ γὰρ ἀνδρὸς ἀσκεῖν σώφρον᾽ εὐοργησίαν.]
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
wist.info/euripides/62453/

#quote #quotes #quotation #calm #goodtemper #moderation #selfcontrol #selfrestraint #temper #wisdom

2023-04-12

@samuelpepys

What a wonderful passage by our friend Mr #Pepys. He fears he was too unrestrained with the priest, and his admission of that fear is covered by layer upon layer of #hesitation and grammatical #SelfRestraint.

- it comes to my mind ...
- to observe ...
- that I sense ...
- to have been a little ...

... too free. Finally it has come out: "I have been too free."

In the construction "I observe ... that I sense", #introspection becomes sentence structure, #diary becomes #style.

WIST Quotations moves again!WISTquote@zirk.us
2023-04-12

A quotation from Franklin, Benjamin:

«««««
If all Printers were determin’d not to print any thing till they were sure it would offend no body, there would be very little printed.
»»»»»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
wist.info/franklin-benjamin/60

#quote #quotes #quotation #inoffensiveness #media #offense #printer #selfcensorship #selfrestraint #censorship

Franklin - If all Printers were determined not to print till they were sure it would offend no body, there would be very little printed - wist.info quote

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