WIST Quotations

Barrie, James -- Peter Pan, Act 5 (1904, pub. 1928)

Dave — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 17:43:39 +0000

MRS. DARLING: (from the window) Peter, where are you? Let me adopt you too. (She is the loveliest age for a woman, but too old to see PETER clearly.)

PETER: Would you send me to school?

MRS. DARLING: (obligingly) Yes.

PETER: And then to an office?

MRS. DARLING: I suppose so.

PETER: Soon I should be a man?

MRS. DARLING: Very soon.

PETER: (passionately) I don’t want to go to school and learn solemn things. No one is going to catch me, lady, and make me a man. I want always to be a little boy and to have fun.

J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
Peter Pan, Act 5 (1904, pub. 1928)
(Source)

In Barrie's novelization, Peter and Wendy, ch. 17 "When Wendy Grew Up" (1911), this is rendered:

Mrs. Darling came to the window, for at present she was keeping a sharp eye on Wendy. She told Peter that she had adopted all the other boys, and would like to adopt him also.
“Would you send me to school?” he inquired craftily.
“Yes.”
“And then to an office?”
“I suppose so.”
“Soon I should be a man?”
“Very soon.”
“I don’t want to go to school and learn solemn things,” he told her passionately. “I don’t want to be a man. O Wendy’s mother, if I was to wake up and feel there was a beard!”
“Peter,” said Wendy the comforter, “I should love you in a beard;” and Mrs. Darling stretched out her arms to him, but he repulsed her.
“Keep back, lady, no one is going to catch me and make me a man.”

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Beard,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)

Dave — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 16:53:47 +0000

BEARD, n. The hair that is commonly cut off by those who justly execrate the absurd Chinese custom of shaving the head.

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) American writer and journalist
“Beard,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
(Source)

Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911). Originally published in the "Devil's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Wasp (1881-04-30).

Shear, Marie -- “Media Watch: Celebrating Women’s Words,” New Directions for Women (May/Jun 1986)

Dave — Thu, 07 May 2020 22:58:35 +0000

Male supremacy: Doctrine built upon three forms of superiority: the ability to grow a handlebar mustache, the ability to answer most of Nature’s calls efficiently, and the possession of pockets.

Marie Shear (1940–2017) American writer and feminist activist
“Media Watch: Celebrating Women’s Words,” New Directions for Women (May/Jun 1986)
(Source)

Shaw, George Bernard -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 20:03:00 +0000

Gentlemen: I shall never shave, for the same reason that I started a beard, and for the reason my father started his. I remember standing at his side, when I was five, while he was shaving for the last time. “Father,” I asked, “Why do you shave?” He stood there for a full minute and finally looked down at me. “Why the hell do I?” he said.

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright and critic
(Attributed)

Postcard response when invited by an electric razor company to shave off his beard with their product. Variant:

"I was about five at the time, and I was standing at my father's knee whilst he was shaving. I said to him, 'Daddy, why do you shave?' He looked at me in silence, for a full minute, before throwing the razor out of the window, saying, 'Why the hell do I?' He never did again."

Shakespeare, William -- Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, sc. 1, l. 36ff (2.1.36-37) (1598)

Dave — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 12:25:17 +0000

BEATRICE: He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, sc. 1, l. 36ff (2.1.36-37) (1598)
(Source)

Robbins, Tom -- Skinny Legs and All (1990)

Dave — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 13:02:31 +0000

Of the seven dwarves only Dopey had a shaven face. This should tell us something about the custom of shaving.

Tom Robbins (b. 1932) American novelist
Skinny Legs and All (1990)