WIST Quotations

Steele, Richard -- Essay (1713-04-09), The Guardian, No. 25

Dave — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 21:26:21 +0000

The prevailing humour of crying up authors that have writ in the days of our forefathers, and of passing slightly over the merit of our contemporaries, is a grievance that men of a free and unprejudiced thought have complained of through all ages in their writings.

Richard Steele (1672–1729) Anglo-Irish writer, journalist, playwright, politician
Essay (1713-04-09), The Guardian, No. 25

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- “The Age of Bronze,” st. 1 (1823)

Dave — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:29:37 +0000

The “good old times” — all times when old are good —
Are gone.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824) English poet
“The Age of Bronze,” st. 1 (1823)

Rogers, Will -- Column (1935-06-02), “Weekly Article”

Dave — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 16:25:37 +0000

Those were great old days, (but darn it any old days are great old days. Even the tough ones, after they are over, you can look back with great memories.)

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist
Column (1935-06-02), “Weekly Article”

Cox, Marcelene -- “Ask Any Woman” column, Ladies’ Home Journal (1960-05)

Dave — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 18:43:26 +0000

Not anything is more responsible for the good old days than the fact that the grownups of one generation always remember the world as it looked to them in their young days, not as it looked to their elders.

Marcelene Cox (1900–1998) American writer, columnist, aphorist
“Ask Any Woman” column, Ladies’ Home Journal (1960-05)

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1759-05-19), The Idler, No. 57

Dave — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 17:56:03 +0000

He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-05-19), The Idler, No. 57

Quoting his friend, Sophron (Wisdom, Prudence), who prefers old, tested ways to new ones.

Pinker, Steven -- The Sense of Style, Prologue (2014)

Dave — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 13:56:26 +0000

As people age, they confuse changes in themselves with changes in the world, and changes in the world with moral decline — the illusion of the good old days. And so every generation believes that the kids today are degrading the language and taking civilization down with it.

Steven Pinker (b. 1954) Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, author
The Sense of Style, Prologue (2014)

Asimov, Isaac -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 19:49:28 +0000

I don’t long for the good old days when there was no servant problem. Back in those days, I’d have been a servant.

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
(Attributed)

Ivins, Molly -- Bill of Wrongs, Introduction (2007) [with Lou Dubose]

Dave — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:21:46 +0000

Experience has taught me that things are likely to get worse, so these will eventually turn out to be the Good Old Days, and think what a fool you’ll feel like later if you don’t enjoy them now.

Molly Ivins (1944–2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Bill of Wrongs, Introduction (2007) [with Lou Dubose]

Atkinson, Brooks -- Once Around the Sun, “February 8” (1951)

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

In every age “the good old days” were a myth. No one ever thought they were good at the time. For every age has consisted of crises that seemed intolerable to the people who lived through them.

Brooks Atkinson (1894–1984) American drama critic and journalist
Once Around the Sun, “February 8” (1951)