WIST Quotations

Barry, Dave -- Dave Barry Turns 40, ch. 2 “Your Disintegrating Body” (1990)

Dave — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 16:03:20 +0000

There really are things you can do to keep your body looking healthy and youthful for years to come. But before I discuss these things, I want you to answer the following questions honestly: Are you willing to make the hard sacrifices needed to be really healthy? Are you willing to commit yourself totally to a program of regular exercise, close medical supervision, and the elimination of all caffeine, alcohol, and rich foods, to be replaced by a strict diet of nutrition-rich, kelp-like plant growths so unappetizing that they will make you actually lust for tofu?
Or are you the kind of shallow, irresponsible person who wants a purely cosmetic change, a “quick and dirty” surface gloss that may make you look young and healthy, but actually has no long-term value? Me too.

Dave Barry (b. 1947) American humorist, author, columnist
Dave Barry Turns 40, ch. 2 “Your Disintegrating Body” (1990)
(Source)

Barry, Dave -- Dave Barry Turns 40, ch. 2 “Your Disintegrating Body” (1990)

Dave — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 16:48:11 +0000

Is there something you can do about it? You’re darned right there is! You can fight back. Mister Old Age is not going to get you, by golly! All you need is a little determination — a willingness to get out of that reclining lounge chair, climb into that sweatsuit, lace on those running shoes, stride out that front door, and hurl yourself in front of that municipal bus.
No, wait. Sorry. For a moment there I got carried away by the bleakness of it all. Forget what I said. Really. There is absolutely no need to become suicidally depressed about the fact that every organ in your body is headed straight down the toilet.

Dave Barry (b. 1947) American humorist, author, columnist
Dave Barry Turns 40, ch. 2 “Your Disintegrating Body” (1990)
(Source)

Watterson, Bill -- Calvin and Hobbes (1995-05-09)

Dave — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 19:49:53 +0000

CALVIN: How come grown-ups don’t go out to play?

CALVIN’S DAD: Grown-ups can only justify playing outside by calling it exercise, doing it when they’d rather not, and keeping records to quantify their performance.

CALVIN: That sounds like a job.

CALVIN’S DAD: … Except you don’t get paid.

CALVIN: So play is worse than work?

CALVIN’S DAD: Being a grown-up is tough.

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1995-05-09)
(Source)

Thoreau, Henry David -- A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, “Wednesday” (1849)

Dave — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 19:50:34 +0000

This world is but canvass to our imaginations.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, “Wednesday” (1849)
(Source)

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1734 ed.)

Dave — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 17:26:34 +0000

Be temperate in wine, in eating, girls, and sloth;
Or the Gout will seize you and plague you both.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1734 ed.)
(Source)

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Dawn,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)

Dave — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 16:29:25 +0000

DAWN, n. The time when men of reason go to bed. Certain old men prefer to rise at about that time, taking a cold bath and a long walk, with an empty stomach, and otherwise mortifying the flesh. They then point with pride to these practices as the cause of their sturdy health and ripe years; the truth being that they are hearty and old, not because of their habits, but in spite of them. The reason we find only robust persons doing this thing is that it has killed all the others who have tried it.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Dawn,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
(Source)

Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911). Originally published in the "Devil's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Wasp (1881-12-02).

Van Vechten, Carl -- The Tiger in the House: A Cultural History of the Cat, ch. 2 (1920)

Dave — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 19:05:02 +0000

Now a cat will not take an excursion merely because a man wants a walking companion. Walking is a human habit into which dogs readily fall but it is a distasteful form of exercise to a cat unless he has a purpose in view.

Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) American writer and photographer
The Tiger in the House: A Cultural History of the Cat, ch. 2 (1920)
(Source)

Home, Henry -- Introduction to the Art of Thinking, ch. 2 (1761)

Dave — Fri, 15 May 2020 20:24:28 +0000

A rich man cannot enjoy a sound mind nor a sound body without exercise and abstinence; and yet these are truly the worst ingredients of poverty.

Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696-1782) Scottish jurist, agriculturalist, philosopher, writer
Introduction to the Art of Thinking, ch. 2 (1761)
(Source)

Morris, William -- “Useful Work versus Useless Toil,” lecture (1884)

Dave — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 15:34:12 +0000

Yet I think that to all living things there is a pleasure in the exercise of their energies, and that even beasts rejoice in being lithe and swift and strong. But a man at work, making something which he feels will exist because he is working at it and wills it, is exercising the energies of his mind and soul as well as of his body. Memory and imagination help him as he works. Not only his own thoughts, but the thoughts of the men of past ages guide his hands; and, as a part of the human race, he creates. If we work thus we shall be men, and our days will be happy and eventful.

William Morris (1834-1896) British textile designer, writer, socialist activist
“Useful Work versus Useless Toil,” lecture (1884)
(Source)

Printed in Signs of Change (1888).

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Tomorrow Is Now (1963)

Dave — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 03:09:32 +0000

Ability is not something to be saved, like money, in the hope that you can draw interest on it. The interest comes from the spending. Unused ability, like unused muscles, will atrophy.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Tomorrow Is Now (1963)
(Source)

Montessori, Maria -- The Advanced Montessori Method: Spontaneous Activity in Education, Vol. I (1917)

Dave — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 01:44:22 +0000

To ensure moral salvation, it is primarily necessary to depend on oneself, because in the moment of peril we are alone. And strength is not to be acquired instantaneously. He who knows that he will have to fight, prepares himself for boxing and dueling by strength and skill; he does not sit still with folded hands.

Maria Montessori (1870-1952) Italian educator, philosopher, educator, physician
The Advanced Montessori Method: Spontaneous Activity in Education, Vol. I (1917)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1841), “Compensation,” Essays: First Series, No. 3

Dave — Mon, 22 May 2017 16:13:03 +0000

In general, every evil to which we do not succumb is a benefactor. As the Sandwich Islander believes that the strength and valor of the enemy he kills passes into himself, so we gain the strength of the temptation we resist.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Compensation,” Essays: First Series, No. 3
(Source)

Adams, John -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 21:15:24 +0000

Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
(Attributed)
(Source)

Attributed by Josiah Quincy III, as described anecdotally in L. Maria Child's essay "Hints About Health," collected in her book Looking Toward Sunset: From Sources Old and New, Original and Selected (1865). Child describes Quincy attributing his own long life and acuity to the above advice given by Adams when Adams was asked how his mind was so vigorous in old age.

At one point I had this exchange sourced as being a letter from Adams to Quincy (1825-02-14). I am at present unable to find a record or reference online of such a letter.

Sometimes (perhaps due to the recipient's name), the quote is misattributed to Adams' son, John Quincy Adams.

Richter, Jean-Paul -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 01:53:07 +0000

The virtues, like the body, become strong more by labor than by nourishment.

Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825) German writer, art historian, philosopher, littérateur [Johann Paul Friedrich Richter; pseud. Jean Paul]
(Attributed)

Quoted in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).

Butler, Samuel -- The Way of All Flesh (1903)

Dave — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 17:51:52 +0000

Never learn anything until you find you have been made uncomfortable for a good long while by not knowing it; when you find that you have occasion for this or that knowledge, or foresee that you will have occasion for it shortly, the sooner you learn it the better, but till then spend your time in growing bone and muscle; these will be much more useful to you than Latin and Greek, nor will you ever be able to make them if you do not do so now, whereas Latin and Greek can be acquired at any time by those who want them.

Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Way of All Flesh (1903)

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)

Pratchett, Terry -- Interview in Leonard Marcus, The Wand in the World: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy (2006)

Dave — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 13:22:31 +0000

Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can.

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Interview in Leonard Marcus, The Wand in the World: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy (2006)
(Source)

This quotation is sometimes given with "But I may be wrong" as a following sentence, but that does not appear in the original.

Barbauld, Anna -- “An Inquiry into those Kinds of Distress which Excite Agreeable Sensations” (1773)

Dave — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 12:11:12 +0000

The awakenings of remorse, virtuous shame and indignation, the glow of moral approbation,– if they do not lead to action, grow less and less vivid every time they recur, till at length the mind grows absolutely callous.

Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743-1825) English woman of letters, educator, editor [née Aikin]
“An Inquiry into those Kinds of Distress which Excite Agreeable Sensations” (1773)

O'Rourke, P. J. -- “A Cool and Logical Analysis of the Bicycle Menace,” Republican Party Reptile (1987)

Dave — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 13:28:21 +0000

Bicycles are good exercise. And so is swinging through trees on your tail. Mankind has invested more than four million years of evolution in the attempt to avoid physical exertion. Now a group of backward-thinking atavists mounted on foot-powered pairs of Hula-Hoops would have us pumping our legs, gritting our teeth, and searing our lungs as though we were being chased across the Pleistocene savanna by saber-toothed tigers. Think of the hopes, the dreams, the effort, the brilliance, the pure force of will that, over the eons, has gone into the creation of the Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Bicycle riders would have us throw all this on the ash heap of history.

P. J. O'Rourke (b. 1947) American humorist, editor
“A Cool and Logical Analysis of the Bicycle Menace,” Republican Party Reptile (1987)

Fromm, Erich -- The Art of Loving, ch. 4 (1956)

Dave — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 13:38:17 +0000

Discipline should not be practiced like a rule imposed on oneself from the outside, but that it becomes an expression of one’s own will; that it is felt as pleasant, and that one slowly accustoms oneself to a kind of behavior which one would eventually miss, if one stopped practicing it.

Erich Fromm (1900-1980) American psychoanalyst and social philosopher
The Art of Loving, ch. 4 (1956)

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1787-08-10) to Peter Carr

Dave — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 11:51:38 +0000

Above all things, lose no occasion of exercising your dispositions to be grateful, to be generous, to be charitable, to be humane, to be true, just, firm, orderly, courageous, &c. Consider every act of this kind, as an exercise which will strengthen your moral faculties and increase your worth.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1787-08-10) to Peter Carr
(Source)

Steele, Richard -- Essay (1709-03-17), The Tatler, No. 147

Dave — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:27:30 +0000

Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body: as by the one, health is preserved, strengthened and invigorated; by the other, virtue, which is the health of the mind, is kept alive, cherished and confirmed. But as exercise becomes tedious and painful when we make use of it only as the means of health, so reading is apt to grow uneasy and burdensome, when we apply ourselves to it only for our improvement in virtue. For this reason, the virtue which we gather from a sable, or an allegory, is like the health we get by hunting; as we are engaged in an agreeable pursuit that draws us on with pleasure, and makes us insensible of the fatigues that accompany it.

Richard Steele (1672-1729) Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, playwright, politician
Essay (1709-03-17), The Tatler, No. 147
(Source)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1899-04-10), “The Strenuous Life,” Hamilton Club, Chicago

Dave — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:09:21 +0000

I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life. The life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech (1899-04-10), “The Strenuous Life,” Hamilton Club, Chicago
(Source)

Barzun, Jacques -- Essay (1950-10-15), “The Educated Man,” Life Magazine

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

This is in fact the test and use of a man’s education, that he finds pleasure in the exercise of his mind.

Jacques Barzun (1907-2012) French-American historian, educator, polymath
Essay (1950-10-15), “The Educated Man,” Life Magazine
(Source)

More commonly given as "The test and use of a man's education is that he finds pleasure in the exercise of his mind."

Essay collected, under the same name, in Barzun, Begin Here: The Forgotten Conditions of Teaching and Learning, ch. 15 (1991).

Butler, Samuel -- The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)

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

If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do.

Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist, satirist, scholar
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)