WIST Quotations

Marlowe, Christopher -- The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 1, sc. 3 (sc. 3), l. 270ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)

Dave — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 23:31:29 +0000

FAUSTUS: I see there’s virtue in my heavenly words:
Who would not be proficient in this art?
How pliant is this Mephistophilis,
Full of obedience and humility!
Such is the force of magic and my spells:
No, Faustus, thou art conjuror laureat,
That canst command great Mephistophilis:
Quin regis Mephistophilis fratris imagine.

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) English dramatist and poet
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Act 1, sc. 3 (sc. 3), l. 270ff (1594; 1604 “A” text)
(Source)

After ordering Mephistophiles to leave and change his form into something less hideous. The Latin reads "Return, Mephistopheles, in the shape of a friar" (which he had already ordered, in English, in the immediately preceding lines).

The B-text (1594; 1616) omits the last three lines from the A-text.

Stross, Charles -- The Jennifer Morgue (2006)

Dave — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 05:27:06 +0000

Computational demonology adds a new and unwelcome meaning to terms like “memory leak” and “debugger.”

Charles "Charlie" Stross (b. 1964) British writer
The Jennifer Morgue (2006)

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1789-01-08) to Richard Price

Dave — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 13:45:09 +0000

I concur with you strictly in your opinion of the comparative merits of atheism and demonism, and really see nothing but the latter in the being worshipped by many who think themselves Christians.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1789-01-08) to Richard Price
(Source)

Price had written to Jefferson on 26 Oct 1788 about the harm done by religion and wrote "Would not Society be better without Such religions? Is Atheism less pernicious than Demonism?"