WIST Quotations

Milne, A. A. -- Winnie-the-Pooh, ch. 4 “Eeyore Loses a Tail” (1926)

Dave — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 18:53:57 +0000

“And how are you?” said Winnie-the-Pooh.
Eeyore shook his head from side to side.
“Not very how,” he said. “I don’t seem to have felt at all how for a long time.”

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
Winnie-the-Pooh, ch. 4 “Eeyore Loses a Tail” (1926)
(Source)

Shakespeare, William -- All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 5, sc. 3, ll. 147ff (5.3.147) (1602?)

Dave — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:47:02 +0000

KING: I am wrapp’d in dismal thinkings.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 5, sc. 3, ll. 147ff (5.3.147) (1602?)
(Source)

Dante Alighieri -- La Vita Nuova [Vita Nova; New Life], ch. 16 / Sonnet 7, ll. 1-4 (c. 1294, pub. 1576) [tr. Frisardi (2012), ch. 9]

Dave — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 22:24:40 +0000

Over and over in my mind preside
the dark and somber moods Love puts me through.
Self-pity broods, so I have often cried,
“Alas, do other people feel this too?”

[Spesse fiate vegnonmi a la mente
le oscure qualità ch’Amor mi dona,
e venmene pietà, sì che sovente
io dico: «Lasso!, avviene elli a persona?»]

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet
La Vita Nuova [Vita Nova; New Life], ch. 16 / Sonnet 7, ll. 1-4 (c. 1294, pub. 1576) [tr. Frisardi (2012), ch. 9]
(Source)

Dante in the painful, self-pitying throes of unrequited love for Beatrice. "Nobody has known such tormented love as mine ..."

(Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:

Many the times that to my memory comes
The cheerless state imposed on me by Love;
And o’er me comes such sadness then, that oft
I say, alas, was ever fate like mine!
[tr. Lyell (1845)]

At whiles (yea oftentimes) I muse over
The quality of anguish that is mine
Through Love: then pity makes my voice to pine,
Saying, “Is any else thus, anywhere?”
[tr. Rossetti (c. 1847; 1899 ed.)]

Full many a time I ponder on the drear
And heavy hours which Love doth make my doom;
And then I cry, "Alas!" in piteous cheer,
"Was ever fate like mine, so wrapt in gloom?"
[tr. Martin (1862)]

The dark condition Love doth on me lay
Many a time occurs unto my thought,
And then comes pity, so that oft I say,
Ah me! to such a pass was man e’er brought?
[tr. Norton (1867), ch. 16]

Many a time the thought returns to me:
What sad conditions Love on me bestows!
And moved by Pity I say frequently:
"Can there be anyone who my state knows?"
[tr. Reynolds (1969)]

So many tmes there comes into my mind
The dark condition Love bestows on me,
That pity comes and often makes me say:
"Could every anyone have felt the same?"
[tr. Musa (1971)]

Time and again the thought comes to my mind
of the dark condition Love imparts to me;
then the pity of it strikes me, and I ask:
"Could ever anyone have felt the same?"
[tr. Hollander (1997) , sec. 7]

Often it is brought home to my mind
the dark quality that Love gives me,
and pity moves me, so that frequently
I say: "Alas! is anyone so afflicted?"
[tr. Kline (2002)]

Frequently there come to my mind
the puzzling characteristics Love gives me,
and I feel pity for them, so that often
I say: "Alas! Does this happen to anyone else?"
[tr. Appelbaum (2006)]

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1963)

Dave — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 15:32:57 +0000

The neurotic longs to touch bottom, so at least he won’t have that to worry about anymore.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 10 (1963)
(Source)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 9 (1963)

Dave — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 16:21:36 +0000

The neurotic doesn’t know how to cope with his emotional bills; some he keeps paying over and over, others he never pays at all.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 9 (1963)
(Source)

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)

Dave — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 22:31:06 +0000

Are you happy now? Are you likely to remain so till this evening? or next week? or next month? or next year? Then why destroy present happiness by a distant misery, which may never come at all, or you may never live to see it? for ever substantial grief has twenty shadows, and most of them shadows of your own making.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)
(Source)

Advice for fighting melancholy / depression / anxiety by "taking short views of life" and not borrowing trouble.

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1963)

Dave — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 15:35:42 +0000

Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1963)
(Source)

Fry, Stephen -- Speech, Samaritans annual report launch, London (1996-05-17)

Dave — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 21:04:41 +0000

There is no logical explanation for despair. You can no more reason yourself into cheerfulness than you can reason yourself an extra six inches in height. You can only be better prepared.

Stephen Fry (b. 1957) British actor, writer, comedian
Speech, Samaritans annual report launch, London (1996-05-17)

Regarding the emotional breakdown which led him once to abandon a play in mid-production, and subsequently again contemplate suicide. The Samaritans are a suicide-prevention group.

Quoted in Gary Younge, "Enter Fry, centre stage, for bravura performance on depression and suicide," The Guardian (1996-05-18).

Austen, Jane -- Mansfield Park, ch. 46 (1814)

Dave — Thu, 11 May 2023 15:41:27 +0000

There is nothing like employment, active indispensable employment, for relieving sorrow. Employment, even melancholy, may dispel melancholy, and her occupations were hopeful.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) English author
Mansfield Park, ch. 46 (1814)
(Source)

McLaughlin, Mignon -- The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1963)

Dave — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 15:32:10 +0000

Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1963)
(Source)

This phrase is often cited to Jean Kerr. That's because she paraphrases it in her play, Finishing Touches, Act 3 (1974):

FELICIA: Do you know the book The Neurotic's Notebook? There's a line in it I say to myself when I get discouraged. It goes: "Hope is the feeling you have that the feeling you have isn't permanent."

Wilder, Laura Ingalls -- “‘Thoughts are Things,'” Missouri Ruralist (5 Nov 1917)

Dave — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 16:09:38 +0000

A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing.

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) American writer
“‘Thoughts are Things,'” Missouri Ruralist (5 Nov 1917)
(Source)

Reprinted in Stephen Hines, ed., Laura Ingalls Wilder - Farm Journalist (2007).

Bukowski, Charles -- Factotum, ch. 31 (1975)

Dave — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 21:21:03 +0000

When you drank the world was still out there, but for the moment it didn’t have you by the throat.

Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) German-American author, poet
Factotum, ch. 31 (1975)

Holland, Barbara -- Endangered Pleasures (1995)

Dave — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 19:29:07 +0000

Gloom we have always with us, a rank and sturdy weed, but joy requires tending.

Barbara Holland (1933-2010) American author
Endangered Pleasures (1995)

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

Dave — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 15:36:59 +0000

Neurotic: someone who can go from the bottom to the top, and back again, without ever once touching the middle.

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

Sarton, May -- Journal of a Solitude, “September 15th” (1973)

Dave — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 14:21:33 +0000

I feel like an inadequate machine, a machine that breaks down at crucial moments, grinds to a dreadful halt, “won’t go,” or, even worse, explodes in some innocent person’s face.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Journal of a Solitude, “September 15th” (1973)
(Source)

Cavett, Dick -- “Smiling Through,” New York Times (27 Jun 2008)

Dave — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 21:30:00 +0000

When you’re downed by this affliction, if there were a curative magic wand on the table eight feet away, it would be too much trouble to go over and pick it up. […] In the depths of the malady, getting a stamp on a letter is a day’s work.

Dick Cavett (b. 1936) American writer and critic
“Smiling Through,” New York Times (27 Jun 2008)
(Source)

Regarding depression.

Thomas, Caitlin -- Not Quite Posthumous Letter to My Daughter (1963)

Dave — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 17:28:13 +0000

The wretched Artist himself is alternatively the lowest worm that ever crawled when no fire is in him: or the loftiest God that ever sang when the fire is going.

Caitlin Thomas (1913-1994) British author, wife of Dylan Thomas [née Macnamara]
Not Quite Posthumous Letter to My Daughter (1963)
(Source)

Garfield, James A. -- Letter to B. A. Hinsdale (30 Apr 1874)

Dave — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 17:22:51 +0000

The worst days of darkness through which I have ever passed have been greatly alleviated by throwing myself with all my energy into some work relating to others.

James A. Garfield (1831-1881) US President (1881), lawyer, lay preacher, educator
Letter to B. A. Hinsdale (30 Apr 1874)
(Source)

McCarthy, Cormac -- All the Pretty Horses (1992)

Dave — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 18:23:34 +0000

He imagined the pain of the world to be like some formless parasitic being seeking out the warmth of human souls wherein to incubate and he thought he knew what made one liable to its visitations. What he had not known was that it was mindless and so had no way to know the limits of those souls and what he feared was that there might be no limits.

Cormac McCarthy (1933-2023) American novelist, playwright, screenwriter
All the Pretty Horses (1992)
(Source)

Cioran, Emile -- Anathemas and Admirations, ch. 11 “That Fatal Perspicacity” (1986) [tr. R. Howard (1991)]

Dave — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 18:32:21 +0000

By virtue of depression, we recall those misdeeds we buried in the depths of our memory. Depression exhumes our shames.

Emile Cioran (1911-1995) Romanian philosopher and essayist [E.M. Cioran]
Anathemas and Admirations, ch. 11 “That Fatal Perspicacity” (1986) [tr. R. Howard (1991)]
(Source)

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth -- “The Rainy Day,” st. 3 (1842)

Dave — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 21:44:39 +0000

Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
“The Rainy Day,” st. 3 (1842)
(Source)

Lewis, C.S. -- A Grief Observed, ch. 1 (1961)

Dave — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 02:17:32 +0000

No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing.
At other times it feels like being mildly drunk, or concussed. There is a sort of invisible blanket between the world and me. I find it hard to take in what anyone says. Or perhaps, hard to want to take it in. It is so uninteresting. Yet I want the others to be about me. I dread the moments when the house is empty. If only they would talk to one another and not to me.

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
A Grief Observed, ch. 1 (1961)
(Source)

After the death of his wife, Joy Davidman. Opening words.

Adams, Douglas -- Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Phase 1, “Fit the 5th” (BBC Radio) (1978-04-05)

Dave — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 04:03:17 +0000

MARVIN: The first ten million years were the worst. And the second ten million, they were the worst too. The third ten million I didn’t enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline.

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Phase 1, “Fit the 5th” (BBC Radio) (1978-04-05)
(Source)

When adapted as a novel, Hitchhiker's Guide No. 2, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, ch. 18 (1980), this line by Marvin the Paranoid Android remained the same.

Shakespeare, William -- Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act 5, sc. 2, l. 15ff (5.2.15-19) (c. 1595)

Dave — Sat, 27 Aug 2016 00:10:56 +0000

KATHERINE: He made her melancholy, sad, and heavy,
And so she died. Had she been light like you,
Of such a merry, nimble, stirring spirit,
She might ha’ been a grandam ere she died.
And so may you, for a light heart lives long.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act 5, sc. 2, l. 15ff (5.2.15-19) (c. 1595)
(Source)

To Rosaline.

Buchwald, Art -- Leaving Home (1995)

Dave — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 02:08:25 +0000

Don’t commit suicide, because you might change your mind two weeks later.

Art Buchwald (1925-2007) American humorist, columnist
Leaving Home (1995)

A personal mantra Buchwald used to combat his intermittent depression. Possibly borrowed from Voltaire.

Doyle, Arthur Conan -- In The American Bee Keeper (May 1895)

Dave — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 16:51:53 +0000

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hopes hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go for a good spin down the road, without thought of anything but the ride you are taking.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) British writer and physician
In The American Bee Keeper (May 1895)

Churchill, Winston -- Remark to Lord Moran (14 Aug 1944)

Dave — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 13:00:16 +0000

When I was young, for two or three years the light faded out of the picture. I did my work. I sat in the House of Commons, but black depression settled on me. It helped me to talk to Clemmie about it. I don’t like standing near the edge of a platform whn an express train is passing through. I like to stand right back and if possible to get a pillar between me and the train. I don’t like to stand by the side of a ship and look down into the water. A second’s action would end everything. A few drops of desperation.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Remark to Lord Moran (14 Aug 1944)

In Lord Moran, Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran, ch. 19 (1966)

Franklin, Benjamin -- “A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity” (1725)

Dave — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 16:04:46 +0000

In short, we can judge by nothing but Appearances, and they are very apt to deceive us. Some put on a gay chearful Outside, and appear to the World perfectly at Ease, tho’ even then, some inward Sting, some secret Pain imbitters all their Joys, and makes the Balance even: Others appear continually dejected and full of Sorrow; but even Grief itself is sometimes pleasant, and Tears are not always without their Sweetness: Besides, Some take a Satisfaction in being thought unhappy, (as others take a Pride in being thought humble,) these will paint their Misfortunes to others in the strongest Colours, and leave no Means unus’d to make you think them thoroughly miserable; so great a Pleasure it is to them to be pitied; Others retain the Form and outside Shew of Sorrow, long after the Thing itself, with its Cause, is remov’d from the Mind; it is a Habit they have acquir’d and cannot leave.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
“A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity” (1725)
(Source)

Churchill, Winston -- Remark to Lord Moran (14 Aug 1944)

Dave — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 12:06:46 +0000

When I was young, for two or three years the light faded out of the picture. I did my work. I sat in the House of Commons, but black depression settled on me. It helped me to talk to Clemmie about it. I don’t like standing near the edge of a platform when an express train is passing through. I like to stand right back and if possible to get a pillar between me and the train. I don’t like to stand by the side of a ship and look down into the water. A second’s action would end everything. A few drops of desperation.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British statesman and author
Remark to Lord Moran (14 Aug 1944)

In Lord Moran, Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran, ch. 19 (1966)

Butcher, Jim -- Turn Coat, ch. 14 (2009)

Dave — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 16:22:12 +0000

If you can’t stop the bad thoughts from coming to visit, at least you can make fun of them while they’re hanging around.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Turn Coat, ch. 14 (2009)
(Source)

Flaubert, Gustave -- Letter to Louise Colet (25 Nov 1853)

Dave — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 13:08:20 +0000

Do not imagine you can exorcise what oppresses you in life by giving vent to it in art.

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) French writer, novelist
Letter to Louise Colet (25 Nov 1853)

Bovee, Christian Nestell -- Intuitions and Summaries of Thought, Vol. 2 (1862)

Dave — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 12:24:48 +0000

Melancholy sees the worst of things, — things as they may be, and not as they are. It looks upon a beautiful face, and sees but a grinning skull.

Christian Nestell Bovee (1820-1904) American epigrammatist, writer, publisher
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought, Vol. 2 (1862)

Rogers, Will -- Column (1932-11-25), “Weekly Article: And Here’s How It All Happened” [No. 518]

Dave — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:00:45 +0000

The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover was an engineer. He knew that water trickled down. Put it uphill and let it go and it will reach the dryest little spot. But he didn’t know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow’s hands.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1932-11-25), “Weekly Article: And Here’s How It All Happened” [No. 518]
(Source)

An abbreviated form, used in memes, omits sentences 2-4, but is often presented in text as the full quotation.

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 241 (1732)

Dave — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:56:52 +0000

A light Purse makes a heavy Heart.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 241 (1732)
(Source)

See John Ray.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- “The Comic,” closing words, Letters and Social Aims (1875)

Dave — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:42:10 +0000

When Carlini was convulsing Naples with laughter, a patient waited on a physician in that city, to obtain some remedy for excessive melancholy, which was rapidly consuming his life. The physician endeavored to cheer his spirits, and advised him to go to the theater and see Carlini. He replied, “I am Carlini.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“The Comic,” closing words, Letters and Social Aims (1875)
(Source)

This joke/anecdote has numerous variations over the last century and more. For example, see here and here.

Smith, Sydney -- Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 10 (1855)

Dave — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 15:18:54 +0000

Never give way to melancholy; resist it steadily, for the habit will encroach.

Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by His Daughter, Lady Holland, Vol. 1, ch. 10 (1855)
(Source)

In chapter 11 is a parallel quotation from Smith: "Never give way to melancholy: nothing encroaches more; I fight against it vigorously."

But Lady Holland observes that in Smith's notebook he also wrote, "I wish I were of a more sanguine temperament; I always anticipate the worst."

Bible, Vol. 1. Old Testament -- Book 20. Proverbs 17:22 (Prov 17:22) [tr. CEB (2011)]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 19:00:00 +0000

A joyful heart helps healing,
but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
Book 20. Proverbs 17:22 (Prov 17:22) [tr. CEB (2011)]

Alternate translations:

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
[KJV (1611)]

Being cheerful keeps you healthy. It is slow death to be gloomy all the time.
[GNT (1976)]

A glad heart is excellent medicine, a depressed spirit wastes the bones away.
[NJB (1985)]

A cheerful heart is a good medicine,
but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.
[NRSV (2021 ed.)]

A joyful heart makes for good health;
Despondency dries up the bones.
[RJPS (2023 ed.)]

Milne, A. A. -- Winnie-the-Pooh, ch. 6 “Eeyore Has a Birthday” (1926)

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

“Good morning, Eeyore,” said Pooh.
“Good morning, Pooh Bear,” said Eeyore gloomily. “If it is a good morning,” he said. “Which I doubt,” said he.

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) English poet and playwright [Alan Alexander Milne]
Winnie-the-Pooh, ch. 6 “Eeyore Has a Birthday” (1926)
(Source)

Abbey, Edward -- A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, ch. 4, “Life and Death and All That” (1989)

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

As a confirmed melancholic, I can testify that the best and maybe only antidote for melancholia is action. However, like most melancholics, I suffer also from sloth.

Edward Abbey (1927-1989) American anarchist, writer, environmentalist
A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, ch. 4, “Life and Death and All That” (1989)
(Source)