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WIST Quotations @[email protected] · 2026-04-30 · 18:46 UTC

The last quality, perseverance, I particularly respect: it is the very hinge of all virtues. — On looking over the world, the cause of nine parts in ten of the lamentable failures which occur in men’s undertakings & darken and degrade so much of their history, lies not in the want of talents or the will to use them, but in the vacillating and desultory mode of using them — in flying from object to object, in starting away at each little disgust, and thus applying the force which might conquer any one difficulty to a series of difficulties so large that no human force can conquer them.
The smallest brook on earth, by continual running, has hollowed out for itself a considerable valley to flow in: the wildest tempest, by its occasional raging, over-turns a few cottages, uproots a few trees, and leaves after a short space no mark behind it. Commend me therefore to the Dutch virtue of perseverance! Without it all the rest are little better than fairy gold, which glitters in your purse, but when taken to the market proves to be — slate or cinders.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Letter (1822-03-15) to John Carlyle

More about this quote: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/29920…

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WIST Quotations @[email protected] · 2026-02-26 · 19:13 UTC

A quotation from Thomas Carlyle

Is not every true Reformer, by the nature of him, a Priest first of all? He appeals to Heaven’s invisible justice against Earth’s visible force; knows that it, the invisible, is strong and alone strong. He is a believer in the divine truth of things; a seer, seeing through the shows of things; a worshiper, in one way or the other, of the divine truth of things; a Priest, that is. If he be not first a Priest, he will never be good for much as a Reformer.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-15), “The Hero as Priest,” Home House, Portman Square, London

More about this quote: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/82359…

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WIST Quotations @[email protected] · 2026-02-26 · 19:13 UTC

A quotation from Thomas Carlyle

Is not every true Reformer, by the nature of him, a Priest first of all? He appeals to Heaven’s invisible justice against Earth’s visible force; knows that it, the invisible, is strong and alone strong. He is a believer in the divine truth of things; a seer, seeing through the shows of things; a worshiper, in one way or the other, of the divine truth of things; a Priest, that is. If he be not first a Priest, he will never be good for much as a Reformer.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-15), “The Hero as Priest,” Home House, Portman Square, London

More about this quote: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/82359…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #carlyle #thomascarlyle #activist #agitator #believer #changeagent #crusader #divinejustice #divinelaw #divinepurpose #divinetruth #divinewill #faith #ideologue #preacher #priest #prophet #radical #reform #reformer #seer #worshiper

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WIST Quotations @[email protected] · 2026-02-26 · 19:13 UTC

A quotation from Thomas Carlyle

Is not every true Reformer, by the nature of him, a Priest first of all? He appeals to Heaven’s invisible justice against Earth’s visible force; knows that it, the invisible, is strong and alone strong. He is a believer in the divine truth of things; a seer, seeing through the shows of things; a worshiper, in one way or the other, of the divine truth of things; a Priest, that is. If he be not first a Priest, he will never be good for much as a Reformer.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-15), “The Hero as Priest,” Home House, Portman Square, London

More about this quote: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/82359…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #carlyle #thomascarlyle #activist #agitator #believer #changeagent #crusader #divinejustice #divinelaw #divinepurpose #divinetruth #divinewill #faith #ideologue #preacher #priest #prophet #radical #reform #reformer #seer #worshiper

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WIST Quotations @[email protected] · 2026-02-26 · 19:13 UTC

A quotation from Thomas Carlyle

Is not every true Reformer, by the nature of him, a Priest first of all? He appeals to Heaven’s invisible justice against Earth’s visible force; knows that it, the invisible, is strong and alone strong. He is a believer in the divine truth of things; a seer, seeing through the shows of things; a worshiper, in one way or the other, of the divine truth of things; a Priest, that is. If he be not first a Priest, he will never be good for much as a Reformer.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-15), “The Hero as Priest,” Home House, Portman Square, London

More about this quote: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/82359…

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WIST Quotations @[email protected] · 2026-02-19 · 22:06 UTC

A quotation from Thomas Carlyle

But his [Shakespeare’s] laughter seems to pour from him in floods; he heaps all manner of ridiculous nicknames on the butt he is bantering, tumbles and tosses him in all sorts of horse-play; you would say, with his whole heart laughs. And then, if not always the finest, it is always a genial laughter. Not at mere weakness, at misery or poverty; never. No man who can laugh, what we call laughing, will laugh at these things. It is some poor character only desiring to laugh, and have the credit of wit, that does so. Laughter means sympathy; good laughter is not “the crackling of thorns under the pot.” Even at stupidity and pretension this Shakspeare does not laugh otherwise than genially. Dogberry and Verges tickle our very hearts; and we dismiss them covered with explosions of laughter: but we like the poor fellows only the better for our laughing; and hope they will get on well there, and continue Presidents of the City-watch. Such laughter, like sunshine on the deep sea, is very beautiful to me.

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Lecture (1840-05-12), “The Hero as Poet,” Home House, Portman Square, London

More about this quote: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/82239…

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