WIST Quotations

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1870-12 (1870 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:46:40 +0000

Love iz sed tew be blind, but i kno lots ov phellows in love, who kan see twice az mutch in their sweethearts as i kan.

[Love is said to be blind, but I know lots of fellows in love who can see twice as much in their sweethearts as I can.]

Josh Billings (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1870-12 (1870 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 06 Jul 2017 17:38:40 +0000

All books are either dreams or swords,
You can cut, or you can drug, with words.

Amy Lowell (1874–1925) American poet
“Sword Blades and Poppy Seed,” l. 291 (1914)

See Howell (1659).

Dave — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 13:52:27 +0000

I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried — “La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!”

John Keats (1795–1821) English poet
“La Belle Dame sans Merci,” st. 10 (1819)