WIST Quotations

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1966)

Dave — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 16:00:07 +0000

Character is what emerges from all the little things you were too busy to do yesterday, but did anyway.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1966)
(Source)

Parker, Dorothy -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 19:21:20 +0000

Tell him I was too fucking busy — or vice versa.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer, poet, wit
(Attributed)

In Hard Times, Vol. 6 (1967), the anecdote is that a messenger pounded on her door for several minutes, having been sent by a New Yorker editor for some promised writing. She finally opened a second-floor window, called down to find out what was the matter, and provided this retort.

In Oscar Levant, The Unimportance of Being Oscar (1968), it's phrased "Too fucking busy, and vice versa."

Parker, Dorothy -- “Faute de Mieux,” Enough Rope (1926)

Dave — Mon, 11 May 2020 14:41:48 +0000

Travel, trouble, music, art,
A kiss, a frock, a rhyme —
I never said they feed my heart,
But still they pass my time.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer, poet, wit
“Faute de Mieux,” Enough Rope (1926)

Faute de mieux means "for lack of something better or more desirable."

Adams, Abigail -- Letter to Mary Smith Cranch (1784)

Dave — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 15:41:25 +0000

I begin to think that a calm is not desirable in any situation in life. Every object is beautiful in motion; a ship under sail, trees gently agitated with the wind, and a fine woman dancing, are three instances in point. Man was made for action and for bustle too, I believe.

Abigail Adams (1744-1818) American correspondent, First Lady (1797-1801)
Letter to Mary Smith Cranch (1784)

Pratchett, Terry -- Post, alt.fan.pratchett (7 Jun 1994)

Dave — Wed, 27 May 2015 13:44:29 +0000

This isn’t life in the fast lane, it’s life in the oncoming traffic.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Post, alt.fan.pratchett (7 Jun 1994)
(Source)

Moynihan, Daniel Patrick -- Meet the Press (19 Jun 1994)

Dave — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 13:18:57 +0000

Life is one day at a time. And thank God! I couldn’t take much more.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003) American politician, diplomat, sociologist
Meet the Press (19 Jun 1994)

Morley, Christopher -- In Life (24 Oct 1969)

Dave — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:18:35 +0000

No man is lonely while eating spaghetti — it requires too much attention.

Christopher Morley (1890-1957) American journalist, novelist, essayist, poet
In Life (24 Oct 1969)

Marquis, Don -- “Variety,” Collier’s (12 May 1933)

Dave — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 14:43:29 +0000

The successful people are the ones who can think up things for the rest of the world to keep busy at.

Don Marquis (1878-1937) American journalist and humorist
“Variety,” Collier’s (12 May 1933)
(Source)

Stein, Gertrude -- “Reflection on the Atomic Bomb” (1946), Yale Poetry Review (Dec 1947)

Dave — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 12:57:24 +0000

Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.

Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) American expatriate author, feminist
“Reflection on the Atomic Bomb” (1946), Yale Poetry Review (Dec 1947)
(Source)

~Proverbs and Sayings -- Scottish Proverb

Dave — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:52:19 +0000

Many irons on the Fire, some must cool.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
Scottish Proverb
(Source)

In James Kelly, A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs, M.93 (1721)

Kerouac, Jack -- On the Road, Part 2, ch. 4 (1957)

Dave — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:51:32 +0000

I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till I drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) Canadian-American novelist and poet
On the Road, Part 2, ch. 4 (1957)
(Source)

Publilius Syrus -- Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 7 [tr. Lyman (1862)]

Dave — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:51:59 +0000

To do two things at once is to do neither.

Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 7 [tr. Lyman (1862)]

Straczynski, J. Michael "Joe" -- Babylon 5, 1×01 “Midnight on the Firing Line” (26 Jan 1994)

Dave — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:45:46 +0000

IVANOVA: You’ll excuse me, but I’m in the middle of fifteen things, all of them annoying.

J. Michael (Joe) Straczynski (b. 1954) American screenwriter, producer, author [a/k/a "JMS"]
Babylon 5, 1×01 “Midnight on the Firing Line” (26 Jan 1994)

Shakespeare, William -- Twelfth Night, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 7 (2.4.7) (1601)

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

ORSINO: … these most brisk and giddy-pacèd times …

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Twelfth Night, Act 2, sc. 4, l. 7 (2.4.7) (1601)
(Source)

Merton, Thomas -- “Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander”

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

The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence.

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) French-American religious and writer [a.k.a. Fr. M. Louis]
“Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander”