Letter from Jones to the Marquis de Lafayette, (1 May 1779)
“Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Variant: Someone who is a clever speaker and maintains a 'too-smiley' face is seldom considered a humane person.
Source: The Analects, Chapter I
“It is the custom of all men, everywhere, to be obtuse where women are concerned.”
Murray Leinster book The Pirates of Zan
Source: The Pirates of Zan (1959), Chapter 10
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Wording in Ideas and Opinions: Everything that the human race has done and thought is concerned with the satisfaction of deeply felt needs and the assuagement of pain. One has to keep this constantly in mind if one wishes to understand spiritual movements and their development. Feeling and longing are the motive force behind all human endeavor and human creation, in however exalted a guise the latter may present themselves to us.
1930s, Religion and Science (1930)
Context: Everything that men do or think concerns the satisfaction of the needs they feel or the escape from pain. This must be kept in mind when we seek to understand spiritual or intellectual movements and the way in which they develop. For feelings and longings are the motive forces of all human striving and productivity—however nobly these latter may display themselves to us.
“Men are seldom more commonplace than on supreme occasions.”
Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist
Supreme Occasions
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XVII - Material for a Projected Sequel to Alps and Sanctuaries
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) English and American political activist
The Crisis No. IV.
1770s, The American Crisis (1776–1783)
Context: Men who are sincere in defending their freedom, will always feel concern at every circumstance which seems to make against them; it is the natural and honest consequence of all affectionate attachments, and the want of it is a vice. But the dejection lasts only for a moment; they soon rise out of it with additional vigor; the glow of hope, courage and fortitude, will, in a little time, supply the place of every inferior passion, and kindle the whole heart into heroism.
“Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses.”
Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist
16 August 1925
Enough Rope (1926)
“It is seldom that we find either men or places such as we expect them.”
No. 58 (May 26, 1759)
The Idler (1758–1760)
Context: It is seldom that we find either men or places such as we expect them.... Yet it is necessary to hope, though hope should always be deluded, for hope itself is happiness, and its frustrations, however frequent, are yet less dreadful than its extinction.
“To the real question, How does it feel to be a problem? I answer seldom a word.”
W.E.B. Du Bois book The Souls of Black Folk
Source: The Souls of Black Folk
