WIST Quotations

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- “Age and Death,” Afterthoughts (1931)

Dave — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:43:04 +0000

The denunciation of the young is a necessary part of the hygiene of older people, and greatly assists the circulation of their blood.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
“Age and Death,” Afterthoughts (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- “Last Words,” All Trivia (1933)

Dave — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:40:31 +0000

Growing old is no gradual decline, but a series of tumbles, full of sorrow, from one ledge to another. Yet when we pick ourselves up we find no bones are broken; while not unpleasing is the new terrace which stretches out unexplored before us.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
“Last Words,” All Trivia (1933)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:48:26 +0000

Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our past behavior.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
(Attributed)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Myself” (1931)

Dave — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:41:17 +0000

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Myself” (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts (1931)

Dave — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 15:39:21 +0000

Every author, however modest, keeps a most outrageous vanity chained like a madman in the padded cell of his breast.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Age and Death” (1931)

Dave — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:03:12 +0000

Don’t laugh at a youth for his affectations; he is only trying on one face after another to find his own.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Age and Death” (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Arts and Letters” (1931)

Dave — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:10:06 +0000

The test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Arts and Letters” (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Arts and Letters” (1931)

Dave — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:47:25 +0000

The notion of making money by popular work, and then retiring to do good work, is the most familiar of all the devil’s traps for artists.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Arts and Letters” (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Arts and Letters” (1931)

Dave — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:54:30 +0000

The vitality of a new movement in Art must be gauged by the fury it arouses.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Arts and Letters” (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Arts and Letters” (1931)

Dave — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:44:45 +0000

He who goes against the fashion is himself its slave.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Arts and Letters” (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Arts and Letters” (1931)

Dave — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:36:51 +0000

What I like in a good author isn’t what he says, but what he whispers.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Arts and Letters” (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

There are few sorrows, however poignant, in which a good income is of no avail.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)

Dave — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:43:57 +0000

The indefatigable pursuit of an unattainable perfection, even though it consist in nothing more than the pounding of an old piano, is what alone gives a meaning to our life on this unavailing star.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)

Dave — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:44:17 +0000

There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)

Dave — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:15:27 +0000

How awful to reflect that what people say of us is true!

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)

Dave — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:23:49 +0000

That we should practise what we preach is generally admitted; but anyone who preaches what he and his hearers practise must incur the gravest moral disapprobation.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Life and Human Nature” (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Myself” (1931)

Dave — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:31:11 +0000

How can they say my life is not a success? Have I not for more than sixty years got enough to eat and escaped being eaten?

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-English essayist, editor, anthologist
Afterthoughts, “Myself” (1931)

Smith, Logan Pearsall -- Afterthoughts, “Other People” (1931)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

All Reformers, however strict their social conscience, live in houses just as big as they can pay for.