WIST Quotations

Twain, Mark -- Letter (1906-10-09) to Maude Adams, advertisement in the Boston Globe

Dave — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 19:48:42 +0000

It is my belief that Peter Pan is a great and refining and uplifting benefaction to this sordid and money-mad age; and that the next best play on the boards is a long way behind it as long as you play Peter.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Letter (1906-10-09) to Maude Adams, advertisement in the Boston Globe

(Source (Image)). Adams played Peter Pan during its New York debut in 1905, and had the role when Twain saw it in November of that year; Twain submitted the advertisement to the Globe prior to the show's opening in Boston.

Quoted in Maria Tatar, The Annotated Peter Pan (2011) and in Phyllis Robbins, Maude Adams: An Intimate Portrait (1956) (also referenced contemporaneously here).

Martin, Judith -- Twitter (2011-12-29)

Dave — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 15:23:51 +0000

Miss Manners does not subscribe to the notion that merely being present and respectful, when someone else practices their religion, is tantamount to endorsing that religion.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
Twitter (2011-12-29)

Fielding, Henry -- The Temple Beau, Act 1, sc. 1 (1729)

Dave — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 15:03:30 +0000

The slander of some people is as great a recommendation as the praise of others. For one is as much hated by the dissolute world, on the score of virtue, as by the good, on that of vice.

Henry Fielding (1707–1754) English novelist, dramatist, satirist
The Temple Beau, Act 1, sc. 1 (1729)

Colton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 218 (1820)

Dave — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:04:08 +0000

There are two modes of establishing our reputation; to be praised by honest men, and to be abused by rogues. It is best, however, to secure the former, because it will be invariably accompanied by the latter.

Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780–1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 218 (1820)