WIST Quotations

Barrie, James -- Peter and Wendy, ch. 17 “When Wendy Grew Up” (1911)

Dave — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 18:31:20 +0000

As you look at Wendy, you may see her hair becoming white, and her figure little again, for all this happened long ago. Jane is now a common grown-up, with a daughter called Margaret; and every spring cleaning time, except when he forgets, Peter comes for Margaret and takes her to the Neverland, where she tells him stories about himself, to which he listens eagerly. When Margaret grows up she will have a daughter, who is to be Peter’s mother in turn; and thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.

J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
Peter and Wendy, ch. 17 “When Wendy Grew Up” (1911)
(Source)

Final lines of the novel.

Barrie's novelization of the play Peter Pan (1904, but first published 1928) incorporated a coda to the story from his 1908 sequel, When Wendy Grew Up, An Afterthought, which had this line, Wendy speaking to Nana:

WENDY: This is how I planned it if he ever came back. Every Spring Cleaning, except when he forgets, I'll let Jane fly away with him to the darling Never Never Land, and when she grows up I hope she will have a little daughter, who will fly away with him in turn – and in this way may I go on for ever and ever, dear Nana, so long as children are young and innocent.

Democritus -- Frag. 272 (Diels) [tr. Freeman (1948)]

Dave — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 15:59:09 +0000

The man who is fortunate in his choice of a son-in-law gains a son; the man unfortunate in his choice loses his daughter also.

[Δημόκριτος ἔφη, ὡς γαμβροῦ ὁ μὲν ἐπιτυχὼν εὗρεν υἱόν, ὁ δὲ ἀποτυχὼν ἀπώλεσε καὶ θυγατέρα.]

Democritus (c. 460 BC - c. 370 BC) Greek philosopher
Frag. 272 (Diels) [tr. Freeman (1948)]
(Source)

Diels citation "272. (0 N.) ... Zweifelhalft, da Apophthegmenform."; collected in Joannes Stobaeus (Stobaios) Anthologium IV, 70, 18.

Alternate translations:

"One who is lucky in his son-in-law gains a son, one who is unlucky loses a daughter." [tr. Barnes (1987)]
"The man who is lucky in his son-in-law gains a son, whilst the man who fails loses a daughter."

Friday, Nancy -- My Mother/My Self, ch. 2 (1977)

Dave — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 16:35:55 +0000

Blaming mother is just a negative way of clinging to her still.

Nancy Friday (1933-2017) American author and feminist
My Mother/My Self, ch. 2 (1977)
(Source)

McGinley, Phyllis -- Poem (1952-03-15), “Homework for Annabelle,” st. 4, New Yorker, Vol. 28, No. 4

Dave — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 16:24:22 +0000

For high is the price of parenthood,
And daughters may cost you double.
You dare not forget, as you thought you could,
That youth is a plague and a trouble.

Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978) American author, poet
Poem (1952-03-15), “Homework for Annabelle,” st. 4, New Yorker, Vol. 28, No. 4
(Source)

Reprinted in Love Letters (1954). Full poem.

Keillor, Garrison -- The Book of Guys, Introduction (1993)

Dave — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 18:38:06 +0000

The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, berates them, shakes his antlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, “Daddy, I need to ask you something,” he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan.

Garrison Keillor (b. 1942) American entertainer, author
The Book of Guys, Introduction (1993)

Addison, Joseph -- Essay (1712-08-05), The Spectator, No. 449

Dave — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:12:51 +0000

Certain it is, that there is no kind of affection so pure and angelic as that of a father to a daughter. He beholds her, both wise and without regard to her sex. In love to our wives there is desire, to our sons there is ambition; but in that to our daughters, there is something which there are no words to describe.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1712-08-05), The Spectator, No. 449
(Source)