WIST Quotations

Baum, L. Frank -- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, ch. 1 (1900)

Dave — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 21:05:22 +0000

When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled, now.

L. Frank Baum (1856–1919) American author [Lyman Frank Baum]
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, ch. 1 (1900)
(Source)

Rogers, Will -- Column (1927-02-27), “Weekly Article: Big Bouts for Farm Relief”

Dave — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 21:53:43 +0000

The trouble with the farmer up to now has been that every time somebody has thought of relief for him it has been to make it so he could borrow more money. That’s what’s the matter with him now. What he needs is some way to pay back. Not some way to borrow more.

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist
Column (1927-02-27), “Weekly Article: Big Bouts for Farm Relief”
(Source)

The Washington Post used "Big Bouts in Congress" as its headline.

The above text is how it was worded both as published and as catalogued in Will Rogers' Weekly Articles: The Coolidge Years, 1925-1927, No. 220 (1973). When generally quoted, however, it is frequently in a more condensed form:

Every time somebody has thought of relief for the farmer it has been to make it so he could borrow more money. What he needs is some way to pay back. Not some way to borrow more.

Virgil -- Georgics [Georgica], Book 1, l. 100ff (1.100) (29 BC) [tr. Ferry (2015)]

Dave — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 22:24:39 +0000

Farmers, pray for summers with lots of rain,
And winters with lots of sun.

[Humida solstitia atque hiemes orate serenas,
agricolae.]

Virgil (70–19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil]
Georgics [Georgica], Book 1, l. 100ff (1.100) (29 BC) [tr. Ferry (2015)]
(Source)

(Source (Latin)). Other translations:

Swaines pray for winters faire, and summers wet.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]

Ye Swains, invoke the Pow'rs who rule the Sky,
For a moist Summer, and a Winter dry.
[tr. Dryden (1709), ll. 146-147]

Ye husbandmen! intreat the gods by pray'r
For wat'ry solstices, and winters fair.
[tr. Nevile (1767)]

Swains! pray for wintry dust, and summer rain.
[tr. Sotheby (1800)]

Pray, ye swains, for moist summers and serene winters.
[tr. Davidson (1854)]

For winters dry, and showery summers, pray.
[tr. Blackmore (1871), l. 116]

Pray for showery summers and dry winters, husbandmen.
[tr. Wilkins (1873)]

Pray for wet summers and for winters fine,
Ye husbandmen.
[tr. Rhoades (1881)]

Now pay thy vows: be this the ploughman’s prayer:
Bright be the winter day, and moist the summer air.
[tr. King (1882), ll. 99-100]

Pray, ye swains, for moist summers and serene winters.
[tr. Bryce (1897)]

Pray for dripping midsummers and clear winters, O husbandmen.
[tr. Mackail (1899)]

Pray for wet summers and for winters fine,
Ye husbandmen.
[tr. Greenough (1900)]

For drizzling summers and sunny winters, husbandmen, pray.
[tr. Way (1912)]

For summers moist and windless winters fair
Pray heaven, ye farmer-folk.
[tr. Williams (1915)]

For moist summers and sunny winters, pray, farmers!
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1916)]

Wet midsummers and fair winters are what the farmer
Should ask for.
[tr. Day-Lewis (1940)]

Pray for wet midsummers, farmer friends,
And clear, cold winter skies.
[tr. Bovie (1956)]

Wet skies in midsummer and clear in winter
Farmers should pray for.
[tr. Wilkinson (1982)]

Farmers, pray for moist summers and mild winters.
[tr. Kline (2001)]

Farmers pray for wet summers and winters with clear blue skies.
[tr. Lembke (2004)]

The countryman should pray for wet summers and mild winters.
[tr. Fallon (2006)]

For humid summers and winters mild, pray, O farmers.
[tr. Johnson (2009)]

O farmers, pray that your summers be wet and your winters clear.
[Bartlett's]

Pratchett, Terry -- Discworld No. 11, Reaper Man [Death] (1991)

Dave — Sat, 27 Jul 2019 02:01:26 +0000

Lord, what can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man?

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Discworld No. 11, Reaper Man [Death] (1991)
(Source)

Eisenhower, Dwight David -- Speech, Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois (25 Sep 1956)

Dave — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 12:02:04 +0000

You know, farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general, US President (1953–61)
Speech, Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois (25 Sep 1956)

Johnson, Lyndon -- Speech (1947-05-07), House of Representatives

Dave — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 14:51:14 +0000

I am persuaded that the people of the world have no grievances, one against the other. The hopes and desires of a man who tills the soil are about the same whether he lives on the banks of the Colorado or on the banks of the Danube.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963–69)
Speech (1947-05-07), House of Representatives
(Source)

As part of an argument that the increasing tension between the Soviet Union and the US was over ideology and government actions, not between peoples.

Swift, Jonathan -- Gulliver’s Travels, Part 2 “Voyage to Brobdingnab,” ch. 7 (1726)

Dave — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:09:22 +0000

And he gave it for his opinion, that whosoever could make two ears of corn or two blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) English writer and churchman
Gulliver’s Travels, Part 2 “Voyage to Brobdingnab,” ch. 7 (1726)
(Source)