WIST Quotations

Gaiman, Neil -- Neverwhere, ch. 14 (1996)

Dave — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 17:00:51 +0000

The Marquis de Carabas looked up at him. His eyes were very white in the moonlight. And he whispered, “What’s it like being dead? It’s very cold, my friend. Very dark, and very cold.”

Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Neverwhere, ch. 14 (1996)
(Source)

Billings, Josh -- Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 155 “Affurisms: Ink Lings” (1874)

Dave — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 15:32:08 +0000

Thare iz a grate deal ov charity in this world so koldly rendered that it fairly hurts, it iz like lifting a drowning man out ov the water bi the hair ov the hed, and then letting him drop on the ground.

[There is a great deal of charity in this world so coldly rendered that it fairly hurts. It is like lifting a drowning man out of the water by the hair of the head, and then letting him drop on the ground.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 155 “Affurisms: Ink Lings” (1874)
(Source)

Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 5 “Des Passions et des Affections de l’Âme [On the Soul],” ¶ 13, 1805 entry (1850 ed.) [tr. Auster (1983)]

Dave — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 13:06:06 +0000

In every kind of debauch there enters much coldness of soul. It is a conscious and voluntary abuse of pleasure.

[Il entre, dans toute espèce de débauche, beaucoup de froideur d’àme; elle est un abus réfléchi et volontaire du plaisir.]

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 5 “Des Passions et des Affections de l’Âme [On the Soul],” ¶ 13, 1805 entry (1850 ed.) [tr. Auster (1983)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Into every kind of excess there enters much coldness of soul; it is a thoughtful and voluntary abuse of pleasure.
[tr. Calvert (1866), ch. 5]

There is much coldness of soul in every kind of excess; -- it is the deliberate and voluntary abuse of pleasure.
[tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 4, ¶ 11]

There is an element of callousness in every kind of dissipation; it is a deliberate, willful abuse of pleasure.
[tr. Collins (1928), ch. 5]