WIST Quotations

Hugo, Victor -- Poem (1876), “The Vanished City [La Ville Disparue],” Legend of the Ages: New Series [La Légende des siècles: La Nouvelle Série], No. 4 (1877) [tr. Carrington (1885)]

Dave — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 18:59:37 +0000

For, to make deserts, God, who rules mankind,
Begins with kings, and ends the work by wind.

[Car pour faire un désert, Dieu, maître des vivants,
Commence par les rois et finit par les vents.]

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician
Poem (1876), “The Vanished City [La Ville Disparue],” Legend of the Ages: New Series [La Légende des siècles: La Nouvelle Série], No. 4 (1877) [tr. Carrington (1885)]
(Source)

(Source (French))

Rogers, Will -- Column (1933-01-16), “Daily Telegram: Mr. Rogers, Singing in the Rain, Sounds a Warning to Florida” [No. 2013]

Dave — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 21:01:16 +0000

California is happy today. It’s raining! It’s raining!
That might mean just another mud hole to some places, but brother, when you haven’t seen a drop of water that hasn’t come through a faucet in ten months, why rain looks like a miracle from the government. Give California two months of rain in the year, and nothing can stop us but a lack of adjectives.

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist
Column (1933-01-16), “Daily Telegram: Mr. Rogers, Singing in the Rain, Sounds a Warning to Florida” [No. 2013]
(Source)

Bolt, Robert -- Lawrence of Arabia, Part 1, sc. 49 (1962) [with Michael Wilson]

Dave — Tue, 06 May 2025 23:31:46 +0000

DRYDEN: Lawrence, only two kinds of creatures get “fun” in the desert: Bedouins (his gaze wanders round the photographs of silent sun-scorched figures and the fragments of stone) — and gods. And you’re neither. Take it from me, for ordinary men, it’s a burning, fiery furnace.

LAWRENCE: (very quietly) No, Dryden, it’s going to be fun.

DRYDEN: (rather sourly) It is recognized that you have a funny sense of fun.

Robert Bolt (1924–1995) English dramatist
Lawrence of Arabia, Part 1, sc. 49 (1962) [with Michael Wilson]
(Source)

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 21, Jingo (1997)

Dave — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 14:04:40 +0000

Night poured over the desert. It came suddenly, in purple. In the clear air, the stars drilled down out of the sky, reminding any thoughtful watcher that it is in the deserts and high places that religions are generated. When men see nothing but bottomless infinity over their heads they have always had a driving and desperate urge to find someone to put in the way.

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Discworld No. 21, Jingo (1997)
(Source)

Martin, Steve -- L. A. Story (1991)

Dave — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:04:45 +0000

SARA: Roland thinks L.A. is a place for the brain-dead. He says, if you turned off the sprinklers, it would turn into a desert. But I think — I don’t know, it’s not what I expected. It’s a place where they’ve taken a desert and turned it into their dreams. I’ve seen a lot of L.A. and I think it’s also a place of secrets: secret houses, secret lives, secret pleasures. And no one is looking to the outside for verification that what they’re doing is all right. So what do you say, Roland?

ROLAND: I still say it’s a place for the brain-dead.

Steve Martin (b. 1945) American comedian, actor, writer, producer, musician
L. A. Story (1991)
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