WIST Quotations

Smith, Alexander -- Essay (1863), “Of Death and the Fear of Dying”, Dreamthorp

Dave — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 20:51:52 +0000

Your death and my death are mainly of importance to ourselves. The black plumes will be stripped off our hearses within the hour; tears will dry, hurt hearts close again, our graves grow level with the church-yard, and although we are away, the world wags on. It does not miss us; and those who are near us, when the first strangeness of vacancy wears off, will not miss us much either.

Alexander Smith (1830-1867) Scottish poet
Essay (1863), “Of Death and the Fear of Dying”, Dreamthorp
(Source)

Millay, Edna St. Vincent -- “Lament” (1921-03), The Century Magazine, Vol. 101 (74), No. 5

Dave — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 20:32:13 +0000

Life must go on:
I forget just why.

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
“Lament” (1921-03), The Century Magazine, Vol. 101 (74), No. 5
(Source)

Collected in Second April (1921).

Montgomery, Lucy Maud -- Rainbow Valley, ch. 13 (1919)

Dave — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 15:12:18 +0000

It is never quite safe to think we have done with life. When we imagine we have finished our story fate has a trick of turning the page and showing us yet another chapter.

Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) Canadian author
Rainbow Valley, ch. 13 (1919)
(Source)

Rubin, Theodore Isaac -- Compassion and Self Hate: An Alternative to Despair, Part 2 (1975)

Dave — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 14:12:16 +0000

We can’t start over again, and it wouldn’t “be perfect” if we could. We can only continue.

Theodore Isaac Rubin (1923-2019) American psychiatrist and author
Compassion and Self Hate: An Alternative to Despair, Part 2 (1975)
(Source)

Brault, Robert -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 17:07:04 +0000

Life never tires of testing the proposition that life must go on.

Robert Brault (b. c. 1945) American aphorist, programmer
(Attributed)

Brecht, Bertholt -- The Good Person of Szechwan [Der gute Mensch von Sezuan], Prologue (1941) [tr. Bentley (1947)]

Dave — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:08:52 +0000

It’s all right to hesitate if you then go ahead!

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) German poet, playwright, director, dramaturgist
The Good Person of Szechwan [Der gute Mensch von Sezuan], Prologue (1941) [tr. Bentley (1947)]

Sandburg, Carl -- Remembrance Rock, ch. 2 (1948)

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

A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on.

Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) American poet, biographer
Remembrance Rock, ch. 2 (1948)
(Source)

Orville Brand "Bowbong" Windom speaking to his grandson, Raymond. Sometimes misquoted as "A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on."

While popular in its own right, the broader context of the quotation is also worth noting. Windom is recounting a story of a man criticized for sleeping through a play he was supposed to be reviewing, who said, "Sleep is an opinion." Windom continues:

And a baby is God's opinion that life should go on. A book that does nothing to you is dead. A baby, whether it does anything to you, represents life. If a bad fire should break out in this house and I had my choice of saving the library or the babies, I would save what is alive. Never will a time come when the most marvelous recent invention is as marvelous as a newborn baby. The finest of our precision watches, the most super-colossal of our supercargo planes, don’t compare with a newborn baby in the number and ingenuity of coils and springs, in the flow and change of chemical solutions, in timing devices and interrelated parts that are irreplaceable. A baby is very modern. Yet it is also the oldest of the ancients. A baby doesn’t know he is a hoary and venerable antique -- but he is. Before man learned how to make an alphabet, how to make a wheel, how to make a fire, he knew how to make a baby -- with the great help of woman, and his God and Maker.