WIST

Love is like quicksilver in the hand, Sylvie. Leave the fingers open and it stays in the palm; clutch it, and it darts away.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
“Advice to the Little Peyton Girl,” Modern Story (Oct 1935)

 

Full text.

I think, no matter where you be,
You’ll hold me in your memory
And keep my image, there without me,
By telling later loves about me.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
“But Not Forgotten”

Now I know the things I know,
And do the things I do;
and if you do not like me so,
To hell, my love, with you!

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
“Indian Summer,” Enough Rope (1926)

I might repeat to myself slowly and soothingly, a list of quotations beautiful from minds profound — if I can remember any of the damn things.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
“The Little Hours,” Here Lies (1939)

This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
(Attributed)
Quoted in The Algonquin Wits (1968) ed. by Robert E. Drennan. The novel was Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

I’d like to have money. And I’d like to be a good writer. These two can come together, and I hope they will, but if that’s too adorable, I’d rather have the money.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
(Attributed)

If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
(Attributed)

This is on me.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
(Attributed)
Proposed epitaph for herself. In Robert E. Drennan, ed., "Dorothy Parker," The Algonquin Wits (1968)

It’s not the tragedies that kill us. It’s the messes.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
(Attributed)
Recalled at Parker's funeral by Lillian Hellman.

Razors pain you, Rivers are damp,
Acids stain you, And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful, Nooses give,
Gas smells awful. You might as well live.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
Not So Deep as a Well, “Résumé” (1937)

Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Roumania.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
Not So Deep as a Well, “Comment” (1937)

You can’t teach an old dogma new tricks.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
In Robert E. Drennan, ed., “Dorothy Parker,” The Algonquin Wits (1968)

Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
Interview, Writers at Work, ed. Malcolm Cowley (1958)