WIST Quotations

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 4, st. 179 (1818)

Dave — Mon, 19 May 2025 20:03:08 +0000

Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean — roll!
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;
Man marks the earth with ruin — his control
Stops with the shore.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824) English poet
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 4, st. 179 (1818)
(Source)

Schulz, Charles -- Peanuts [Linus] (1981-05-29)

Dave — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 15:54:13 +0000

Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears that we never use.

Charles Schulz (1922–2000) American cartoonist
Peanuts [Linus] (1981-05-29)
(Source)

The phrase was also used as the title in a Peanuts collection of Linus' wisdom, Life Is Like A Ten-Speed Bicycle (1997), which included this strip.

Miller, Henry -- Plexus, ch. 2 (1953)

Dave — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 21:37:45 +0000

The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnified world in itself.

Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist
Plexus, ch. 2 (1953)
(Source)

Sometimes misquoted as "magnificent world".

Nicoll, James -- LiveJournal post (17 Aug 2005)

Dave — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 15:06:36 +0000

I don’t mind hidden depths but I insist that there be a surface.

James Nicoll (b. 1961) Canadian reviewer, editor
LiveJournal post (17 Aug 2005)
(Source)