WIST Quotations

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 3 (1963)

Dave — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 19:08:29 +0000

We can never understand other people’s motives, nor their furniture.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 3 (1963)
(Source)

Morris, William -- “The Art of the People,” speech, Birmingham Society of Arts (1879-02-19)

Dave — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 20:32:56 +0000

I have never been in any rich man’s house which would not have looked the better for having a bonfire made outside of it of nine-tenths of all that it held.

William Morris (1834-1896) British textile designer, writer, socialist activist
“The Art of the People,” speech, Birmingham Society of Arts (1879-02-19)
(Source)

Fry, Stephen -- Moab Is My Washpot, “Joining In,” ch. 3 (1997)

Dave — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 16:28:41 +0000

There is simply no limit to the tyrannical snobbery that otherwise decent people can descend into when it comes to music.

Stephen Fry (b. 1957) British actor, writer, comedian
Moab Is My Washpot, “Joining In,” ch. 3 (1997)
(Source)

Franklin, Benjamin -- “Apology for Printers,” Philadelphia Gazette (1731-06-10)

Dave — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 01:31:49 +0000

It is as unreasonable in any one Man or Set of Men to expect to be pleas’d with every thing that is printed, as to think that nobody ought to be pleas’d but themselves.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
“Apology for Printers,” Philadelphia Gazette (1731-06-10)
(Source)

Hume, David -- “Of the Standard of Taste” (1739)

Dave — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 19:10:54 +0000

Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty. One person may even perceive deformity, where another is sensible of beauty; and every individual ought to acquiesce in his own sentiment, without pretending to regulate those of others.

David Hume (1711-1776) Scottish philosopher, economist, historian, empiricist
“Of the Standard of Taste” (1739)
(Source)

Anouilh, Jean -- Mademoiselle Colombe, Act 2, sc. 2 (1950) [tr. Kronenberger (1954)]

Dave — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 19:00:18 +0000

Things are beautiful if you love them.

Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) French dramatist
Mademoiselle Colombe, Act 2, sc. 2 (1950) [tr. Kronenberger (1954)]
(Source)

Hepburn, Audrey -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 17:39:53 +0000

Elegance is the only beauty that never fades.

Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) Belgian-English actress
(Attributed)

Morris, William -- “The Beauty of Life,” lecture, Birmingham Society of Arts and School of Design (19 Feb 1880)

Dave — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 16:34:47 +0000

The greatest foe to art is luxury, art cannot live in its atmosphere.

William Morris (1834-1896) British textile designer, writer, socialist activist
“The Beauty of Life,” lecture, Birmingham Society of Arts and School of Design (19 Feb 1880)
(Source)

Fuller, Bryan -- American Gods, 1×03 “Head Full of Snow” (2017-05-14) [with Michael Green]

Dave — Wed, 24 May 2017 00:04:06 +0000

ZORYA POLUNOCHNAYA: Kissing is disgusting. But in a nice way, like bleu cheese or brandy.

Bryan Fuller (b. 1969) American screenwriter, television producer
American Gods, 1×03 “Head Full of Snow” (2017-05-14) [with Michael Green]
(Source)

This line does not appear in the original novel by Neil Gaiman.

Yoshida, Kenko -- Essays in Idleness [Tsurezuregusa] (c. 1330)

Dave — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 21:11:20 +0000

People often say that a set of books looks ugly if all volumes are not in the same format, but I was impressed to hear the Abbot Koyu say, “It is typical of the unintelligent man to insist on assembling complete sets of everything. Imperfect sets are better.”

Yoshida Kenkō (1284-1350) Japanese author and Buddhist monk [吉田兼好]
Essays in Idleness [Tsurezuregusa] (c. 1330)

Chesterton, Gilbert Keith -- The Defendant, “A Defence of Ugly Things” (1901)

Dave — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 11:47:30 +0000

There are some people who state that the exterior, sex, or physique of another person is indifferent to them, that they care only for the communion of mind with mind; but these people need not detain us. There are some statements that no one ever thinks of believing, however often they are made.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
The Defendant, “A Defence of Ugly Things” (1901)

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1888-09), “A Letter to a Young Gentleman who Proposes to Embrace the Career of Art,” Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 3

Dave — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 12:15:08 +0000

To know what you like is the beginning of wisdom and of old age. Youth is wholly experimental. The essence and charm of that unquiet and delightful epoch is ignorance of self as well as ignorance of life. These two unknowns the young man brings together again and again, now in the airiest touch, now with a bitter hug; now with exquisite pleasure, now with cutting pain; but never with indifference, to which he is a total stranger, and never with that near kinsman of indifference, contentment.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1888-09), “A Letter to a Young Gentleman who Proposes to Embrace the Career of Art,” Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 3
(Source)

Collected in Across the Plains, ch. 10 (1892).

Santayana, George -- The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress, Vol. 3 “Reason in Religion,” ch. 6 “The Christian Epic” (1905-06)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

Matters of religion should never be matters of controversy. We neither argue with a lover about his taste, not condemn him, if we are just, for knowing so human a passion.

George Santayana (1863-1952) Spanish-American poet and philosopher [Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruíz de Santayana y Borrás]
The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress, Vol. 3 “Reason in Religion,” ch. 6 “The Christian Epic” (1905-06)
(Source)

Maugham, W. Somerset -- (Attributed)

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

My own belief is that there is hardly anyone whose sexual life, if it were broadcast, would not fill the world at large with surprise and horror.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) English novelist and playwright [William Somerset Maugham]
(Attributed)