WIST Quotations

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1881), “Virginibus Puerisque, Part 2”

Dave — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 18:44:13 +0000

Times are changed with him who marries; there are no more by-path meadows, where you may innocently linger, but the road lies long and straight and dusty to the grave. Idleness, which is often becoming and even wise in the bachelor, begins to wear a different aspect when you have a wife to support.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1881), “Virginibus Puerisque, Part 2”
(Source)

First published in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, ch. 1, part 2 (1881).

Shakespeare, William -- Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, sc. 1, l. 256ff (1.1.256-262) (1598)

Dave — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 22:41:01 +0000

PRINCE: In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke.

BENEDICK The savage bull may, but if ever the sensible Benedick bear it, pluck off the bull’s horns and set them in my forehead, and let me be vilely painted, and in such great letters as they write “Here is good horse to hire” let them signify under my sign “Here you may see Benedick the married man.”

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, sc. 1, l. 256ff (1.1.256-262) (1598)
(Source)

Austen, Jane -- Pride and Prejudice, ch. 1, Opening Lines (1813)

Dave — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 16:08:57 +0000

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

Jane Austen (1775–1817) English author
Pride and Prejudice, ch. 1, Opening Lines (1813)
(Source)

Martial -- Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 12, epigram 20 (12.20) (AD 101) [tr. McLean (2014)]

Dave — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 20:18:12 +0000

Themison has no wife — and never missed her.
Fabullus, you ask why? He has a sister.

[Quare non habeat, Fabulle, quaeris
Uxorem Themison? Habet sororem.]

Martial (AD c.39-c.103) Spanish Roman poet, satirist, epigrammatist [Marcus Valerius Martialis]
Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book 12, epigram 20 (12.20) (AD 101) [tr. McLean (2014)]
(Source)

"To Fabullus." Both Ker and Shackleton Bailey explicitly note that habet does, in fact, have a secondary meaning of "has sex with." (Source (Latin)). Other translations:

You lately were inquiring, why Silvester
Has not yet got a wife? -- He has a sister.
[tr. Hay (1755)]

Why Themison has not a wife, nor e'er missed her,
Fabullus, you ask? Honest Them has a sister.
[tr. Elphinston (1782)]

Do you ask, Fabullus, why Themison has not a wife? He has a sister.
[tr. Bohn's Classical (1859)]

Do you ask, Fabullus, why Themison has not got a wife? He has a sister.
[tr. Ker (1919)]

You wonder how he lives unmarried? Cease
To marvel, for his Reverence has a niece.
[tr. Pott & Wright (1921), "The Alternative"]

Do you ask, dear reader, why Themison
Has no wife? Why, hell!
The reason's rather obvious:
His sister does as well!
[tr. Marcellino (1968)]

Brother never
had a wife
he had sister
all his life.
[tr. Goertz (1971)]

Fabullus, you ask why Themison doesn't have a wife. He has a sister.
[tr. Shackleton Bailey (1993)]

Why no wife? He quickly concedes
His sister takes care of all his needs.
[tr. Ericsson (1995)]

Of course we know he'll never wed.
What? Put his sister out of bed?
[tr. Wills (2007)]

He doesn't need a wife
His sister is enough
[tr. Kennelly (2008), "Enough"]

You want to know, Fabullus, why Themison doesn’t have a wife. He has a sister.
[tr. @aleatorclassicus (2010)]

Fabullus, do you want to know why Mr.
Themison has no wife? He has a sister.
[tr. Powell]

Lincoln, Abraham -- Letter (1838-04-01) to Mrs. Orville H. Browning

Dave — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:44:34 +0000

I have now come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying, and for this reason: I can never be satisfied with any one who would be block-head enough to have me.

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861–65)
Letter (1838-04-01) to Mrs. Orville H. Browning
(Source)